UW-Extension cutting about 80 jobs to absorb budget hit

According to Chancellor Cathy Sandeen, the University of Wisconsin System-Extension will cut about 80 positions as part of a reorganization plan resulting from cuts to the system in the state budget.

Sandeen said Feb. 10 that the job cuts would come from the Cooperative Extension, a branch that works with people at a local level on agricultural, parenting, and economic development issues through offices in each of the state’s 72 counties.

No county offices are expected to close, but the job eliminations in the 700-person Cooperative Extension division will be finalized in about a year. Close to 40 of the positions slated for cuts are already vacant.

The move follows cuts from the two-year state budget Gov. Scott Walker signed in July, trimming $250 million from the UW System. Extension’s share of that cut is about $7 million.