Policies: Guidelines for the Establishment of Centers, Institutes, and Related Units

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Organizational areas outside traditional curricular structures to address specific topics or issues are usually labeled centers, institutes, or other designations (hereafter termed centers). UW-Eau Claire has a variety of centers with varied purposes and characteristics ranging from "letterhead" centers that give identity to a small interdisciplinary group to larger enterprises that involve significant commitments of staffing, space and other resources. Below is a listing of formally recognized centers and institutes.

Centers typically are involved in the following efforts:
  1. Research, production and dissemination of scholarly information
  2. Sponsorship of seminars or study groups that are not part of the general curriculum
  3. Sponsorship of programs that offer students the opportunity to develop skills in an applied setting
  4. Developing grant and contract proposals and administering grant- and contract-supported programs
  5. Organization of services to campus or community groups. 
The general University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire model of approval (unit director or department chair, college associate dean where appropriate, college dean or appropriate official in units other than colleges, and vice chancellor and provost) is to be followed in proposing a center. Final UW-Eau Claire approval of centers rests with the Chancellor.

Each proposal for a center or institute must contain the following information:
  1. Name, Purposes and Functions
  2. Organizational Structure and Bylaws or Operating Procedures
     (indicate the center's placement within the University's existing organizational structure and identify any potential risks or legal liability regarding the scope of services to be provided)
  3. Information on Possible Overlap and Evidence of Support from Affected Departments/Units
  4. Evaluation Process for the Proposed Center, including Metrics for Success
  5. Budget and Source(s) of Funding
  6. Key Center Personnel
  7. Facilities Requirements and Plans to Meet Those Needs.
Centers will be reviewed through the unit/program review process. Exemptions will be issued by the Associate Vice Chancellor at the time of approval.
Download Approval Form

Approved Centers:

  • Academic Skills Center
  • Center for Adaptive Microsystems
  • Center for Alcohol Studies and Education
  • Center for Awareness of Sexual Assault
  • Center for Communication Disorders
  • Center for Entrepreneurship
  • Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
  • Center for Health and Aging Services Excellence
  • Center for History Teaching and Learning
  • Center for Racial and Restorative Justice
  • Chippewa Valley Center for Economic Research and Development
  • Confluence Center for Chippewa River Studies
  • English as a Second Language Program
  • History Solutions
  • Human Development Center
  • Institute for Advanced Nanoscience
  • Institute for Health Sciences
  • Leadership Institute
  • Learning Enhancement and Progression Clinic (LEAP)
  • Materials Science Center
  • Nursing Center for Health
  • Political Science Center for Global Politics
  • Psychological Service Center
  • Small Business Development Center
  • Summer Institute
  • University Writing Center
  • UW-Eau Claire Community Fitness Program
  • UW-Eau Claire Political Research Institute
  • Watershed Institute for Collaborative Environmental Studies