UW–Madison celebrates 2026 Administrative Improvement Award recipients

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has a strong tradition of employees working to ensure operational excellence across many services. The Administrative Improvement Awards recognize this outstanding work and commitment to enhanced service delivery, process development and redesign, increased efficiency, cost savings, and overall administrative improvements.

Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rob Cramer is the executive sponsor of the Administrative Improvement Awards. "UW-Madison has been celebrating the pursuit of operational excellence for many years. As we are challenged to get even better, we can build on these efforts across campus," Cramer said. "Initiatives like the ones being recognized help us support the university's mission while also evolving to meet the current pressures on higher education."

From its classrooms and labs to its administrative offices, UW-Madison prides itself on fostering a culture of innovation in service of the teaching, research, and public service mission and delivering a world-class student experience.

Ten team projects were selected to receive the 2026 Administrative Improvement Award. Learn more about the awards. If you would like to attend the celebration event on April 9, register by March 30.

Campus Lactation Space Map Initiative

Gail Adank, Megan Devault, Jaime Dregne, Lucy Eidson, Jamie Kenowski, Joel Malak, Perri Moran, Jenn Streator, Cigdem Unal

UW-Madison's lactation space map underwent a full overhaul to address outdated and inconsistent information. Through a digital audit, standardized intake forms, site visits, and a survey, the project team created a reliable, publicly accessible map with clear ownership. Next steps include formalizing roles and embedding design standards into future campus construction.

Dining and Culinary Services Food Waste Prevention Initiative

Jodi Bodnar, Jeff Casey, Todd Christopherson, Andrew Dzananovic, Mark Gauthier, Nathan Giesen, Ken Gleed, Kethaka Jayawickrema, Kevin Kontny, Joe Mehring, David Mitchel, David Odenweller, Jennifer Powers, Nick Ruppel, Dan Schmitz, Jolene Stark

University Housing Dining & Culinary Services, in partnership with students, piloted Leanpath food waste tracking technology, targeting a 50% reduction in back-of-house waste. In March 2025, after baseline data were collected, the teams set goals and created a culture around food waste prevention. Since that time, the initiative has prevented nearly 86,000 pounds of food waste and saved $169,000. Next steps include integrating tracking into menu software and expanding to front-of-house plate waste monitoring.

SMPH Fiscal KnowledgeBase Platform

Annie Anderson, Beth Atkinson, Rob Cramer, Amy Ferguson, Anca Freilinger, Meghann Grove, Leah Krasniqi, Claire Ly, Michelle Murphy, Heather Richter, Jamie Soyk, Karla Thompson, JoAnne Vaccaro, Allie Watters, Jenna Wepfer, Darlene Wood, Rick Ziegler

SMPH department chairs flagged prolonged expense reimbursement timelines as a source of faculty frustration and administrative burden. In response, the Fiscal KnowledgeBase work group created a single, structured hub linking staff to systems, policies, and guidance. A travel reimbursement pilot reduced average turnaround from 23.48 days to 7.03 days across over 23,000 reports. Next steps include building a governance model and expanding the KB to cover UW Health fiscal processes for staff working across both organizations.

Math Placement Exam Equity Initiative

Maria Dahman, Greer Davis, Julie Gorski, Kayla Jensen, Lo Klink, Diana Maki, Carren Martin, Tracy Mores, Sonya Sedivy, Jen Walsh, Jim Wollack

A $40 fee for UW-Madison's Math B Placement Test created barriers for low-income students, delaying math course enrollment and requiring manual waiver requests. In Spring 2025, Testing & Evaluation Services partnered with Financial Aid to proactively issue vouchers to eligible students. Voucher usage increased by over 500%, with almost 1,400 students benefiting in 2025. Next steps include securing sustainable funding and implementing an in-house proctoring system to eliminate the fee for all eligible students.

Morgridge Hall General Assignment Classroom Technology Planning and Implementation

Matt Alexander, Derek Dombrowski, William Huang, Ben Johnson, Donovan Kron, Ben Peters, Abe Schrump, Patrick Wodzinski

Morgridge Hall set a new standard for General Assignment classroom technology, going beyond baseline audio-visual requirements to incorporate handwriting extraction, two-way hybrid sessions, and camera tracking. New design review and Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QAQC) processes improved collaboration during construction. The upgrades drove higher-than-anticipated classroom utilization by enabling optimized room assignments. Next steps include refining installation specifications, adopting collaborative markup software, and 3D printing AV parts to reduce costs and improve response times.

UW-Madison Workday Multilingual Multishift Training Program

Carolina Bonetto, Brianne Capper, Sam Hudson, Shuwen Li, Jennifer Sell, Anna Vembu Julian

Standard online Workday training was inaccessible to multilingual and multishift employees who don't regularly use computers. A unified training plan consolidated coordination across divisions, with sessions held in accessible locations. Over five weeks, 120 sessions were delivered in six languages to over 700 employees. Post-training surveys showed 92% of participants liked the training, 90% felt confident using Workday, and 95% found their trainer helpful.

Campus and Visitor Relation's 360-degree Virtual Tour

Emily Bollenbach, Joe Bedermann

Research revealed that peer institutions offered immersive virtual experiences while UW-Madison's existing Guidebook tour fell short in meeting accessibility and user expectations. The team replaced it with an ADA-compliant, web-based tour built from a four-day photoshoot across over 40 campus spaces. Since launching in May 2025, the tour has attracted over 20,500 unique users from across the world. Next steps include continued promotion during admissions season and the possible development of a "Downtown Madison Highlights" tour.

Green Gains: Recycling Audit for Cost Savings

Tim Blankenship, Travis Blomberg, Martin Flanagan, Malorie Garbe, Jeremy Oimoen, Jeff Templin

The Office of Sustainability conducted four hand-sort audits of UW-Madison's recycling streams across University Housing and Academic facilities to better capture rebates on recyclable materials. Findings from the hand-sorting supported successful renegotiations with Pellitteri Waste Systems, aligning commodity percentages with actual material composition. This resulted in an annual estimated savings of $46,000. Next steps focus on reducing the contamination rate from 17% to below 5% through behavior and purchasing initiatives.

Intended Completion Term Project

Aaron Apel, Corey Campbell, Anne Eckenrod, Heather Hollister, Paul Oshefsky, Katie Paar, Heidi Tuescher-Gille

UW-Madison replaced an automated, often inaccurate Expected Graduation Term calculation with a student-driven Intended Completion Term (ITC). As part of the Pre-Enrollment Checklist, students now review and update their projected completion term each enrollment period. Since implementation, 49,600 students have engaged with the tool, with 34% updating their graduation term. Next steps include using ICT data to proactively notify students who haven't applied to graduate, even though they indicated they planned to graduate.

Badger Data Platform Implementation

Sanjana Aleti, Randy Carey, James Falkofske, Eric Gentz, Wendy Gordon, Mark Manville, Kevin Musser, Brad Sanders

Fragmented institutional data systems created inconsistent access, security vulnerabilities, and reliance on manual data downloads. The Badger Data Platform addressed this by establishing a unified ecosystem with a single user account, single sign-on, and common security framework connecting the three largest institutional data warehouses. This eliminated siloed navigation, strengthened data governance, and enabled more agile decision-making. Next steps include connecting previously inaccessible systems like Salesforce and Canvas to expand analytical capabilities.