New Wayne State President Roy Wilson is pressing lawmakers to boost state aid to the university and, at the same time, hoping to attract high-profile research academics to the school.
Detroit News: Among Wilson’s strategies is lobbying lawmakers who historically have not been friendly to WSU, hoping to persuade them to put measures in place that could help shore up Wayne State’s funding. He’s also immersed in efforts to launch one of WSU’s largest fundraising campaigns this year to help it surpass other prestigious urban research institutions, such as Temple University in Philadelphia and the University of Illinois-Chicago.
In an interview with the News, Wilson was critical of the state's metrics for awarding performance-based aid to public universities, saying they potentially "incent" the wrong behavior.
Wilson also said he hopes to increase Wayne's investment in its research infrastructure as well as recruiting big-name research academics. Over the last five years, research grants to Wayne have fallen as the school has been unable to take care of things such as lab maintenance.
Wilson replaced Alan Gilmour as Wayne State's president in August. He signed a five-year contract that pays him about $500,000 annually.
