Student Senate hosted Stephanie Jamelske, UW-Eau Claire budget officer, who presented the spending plan for the Blugold Commitment during the 2017-2018 school year.

“The major primary platform of the Blugold Commitment is that we want every undergraduate student before they graduate to participate in multiple high-impact practices,” Jamelske said.

According to the proposal, all UW-Eau Claire students will participate in multiple high-impact educational practices before graduation. These practices include collaborative undergraduate research, immersion experience beyond the borders of the campus and internships/practica.

Jamelske said research has shown these high-impact practices help students with learning in their undergraduate education.

The Blugold Commitment presentation showed an estimate of over $10.1 million being collected in the 2017-2018 year from approximately 9,182 students. The spending plan for the tuition shows a subtotal of over $4.5 million going toward previously approved ongoing programs such as the internship and practicum coordination, support for immersive experiences and other ongoing high-impact learning and teaching experiences. These could include the Eau Queer film festival, the writing center and the leadership and learning communities for new students.

Furthermore, more than $2.1 million is planned to be allocated to continue the Provost initiative, which is dedicated to faculty positions in many different fields.

Finally, about $3.4 million is being dedicated to financial assistance for students, which includes three grant programs: the Blugold “Hold Harmless” grant, the Blugold Special grant and the Blugold Study Abroad grant.

The Student Senate meeting concluded with the appointment of Bobbi Freagon, Lisa Krawczyk and Ryan Keller to the Advising, Retention and Career Center Committee.