 | When Professors are Parents | | “If you want to attract competent women, you need to offer child care,” said Nancy Borghesi (’69 BA L&S). “This is a gap, the Achilles heel, in what the UW offers, and we need to face it.”
Nancy and her husband, David (’70 BBA), of Chicago, Illinois, have made a gift to the New Campus Child Care Initiatives fund to help recruit and retain the brightest and best graduate students and professors who also happen to be mothers.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of Child Care and Family Resources coordinates eight centers that each week serve 500 children from ages six weeks to 6 years. More than just day care centers, these UW facilities are model early childhood education programs that are often used as laboratories for teaching and research in the fields of psychology, communications, nursing, education and human development and family studies. The centers serve children of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff of the University and the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. |
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| The waiting list figures are staggering—547 children are currently waiting for full- or part-time care on campus, according to director of the UW Office of Child Care and Family Resources Lynn Edlefson. The children are on waiting lists because their parents want outstanding quality care and close proximity to their children, Lynn said.
Overall, teachers in UW child care centers have educational backgrounds, experience and longevity that far surpass the licensing requirements of the state. The cost of child care in Dane County and on campus is not inexpensive; the average cost for infant care is $12,000 per academic year and $8,500 for preschoolers, which is greater than what student parents will pay for UW tuition. Ninety-four percent of UW center budgets are allocated to personnel costs, and the average starting salary for teachers is $26,000.
The system is facing additional pressure as new facilities being constructed for biotechnology, art, engineering and other disciplines attract new students and faculty who are parents in need of child care. In addition, the physical location of a new building will mean demolition of one facility, but because child care facilities are not considered academic buildings, no state funds can be used to build its replacement. Private gifts are critical to ensure their continued existence.
“Dave and I decided to give one gift this year, rather than several smaller ones, and maximize the impact,” said Nancy. “We felt that a gift to child care would be one that provided an immediate impact in an area of critical importance. While this is an issue across the Big Ten, we do not want the lack of child care services to prevent the UW from securing and retaining the very best people.” |
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| | The Borghesis also have honored Nancy’s mother and alumna of the School of Human Ecology (SoHE) Helen Fuller Taylor with a gift to the 100 Women Campaign Wall of Honor in the School.
SoHE is home to the University Preschool Lab, which is both an integral part of education and research for the School and a campus child care center. Private support is being sought to double the size of the current preschool. |
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