UWM’s academic programs form the backbone of the institution. Since the beginning of UWM, the program array has been thoughtfully developed through collaborative work involving the faculty, staff, and administration. As such, the programs offered by UWM represent the commitment to UWM’s mission to offer a balanced array of high quality undergraduate and graduate programs in basic disciplines and professional areas. The ultimate goal is to maintain the high quality of the programs to prepare students with the best possible outcomes to pursue their life goals.

New Academic Initiatives

Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin

Led by UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin would include all 13 UW System institutions, cross multiple disciplines, and solidify Wisconsin’s world leadership in freshwater science, technology, entrepreneurship, and economic growth. The Collaborative will address 10 grand water challenges in Wisconsin and the world. Each challenge will be addressed by a consortium of campuses. The Collaborative is designed to unleash the collective assets of the UW System and place them into an elite, one-of-a-kind program of training and research, while launching a talent development program in which students fully engage in a diverse, multidisciplinary course of study across UW campuses.

Associate of Arts and Science Degree

In 2017 UW System began a restructuring process to merge UW Colleges campuses with receiving UW universities. UWM’s new College of General Studies offers the Associate of Arts and Science degree at the UWM at Waukesha and UWM at Washington County branch campuses. The complementary strengths of the faculty at the main and branch campuses will position UWM to expand the geographic reach of community outreach and partnership activities as well as enhancing the scope of such engagement-encompassing activities such as educational activities, fine arts performances, internships, research, K-12 outreach, and collaborations aimed at enhancing the economic well-being of the communities served by the campuses. The deeper relationships between the Associate degree program at the branch campuses and the bachelor’s degree programs at the main campus will enable students to successfully navigate pathways through the combined educational offerings in the most affordable way.

Connected Systems Institute

Launched in spring 2019, the multidisciplinary Connected Systems Institute focuses on the “industrial internet of things” (IIoT), which uses sensors to gather data from equipment, machines and manufactured products through secure data networks. The institute is a multidisciplinary collaboration involving the College of Engineering & Applied Science, the Lubar School of Business and the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center at UWM, as well as Rockwell Automation, Microsoft Corp., the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and other industry leaders. Through the institute, beginning in fall 2019, students can pursue a joint master’s degree in engineering and business that focuses on connected systems. Institute plans also call for other certificate programs and ongoing professional development. When fully built out, the Connected Systems Institute will house state-of-the-art IIoT simulation, emulation, test bed and test plant facilities, enabling engineering students, researchers and industry engineers to collaborate and enhance key skills.

The Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute

In partnership with Northwestern Mutual and Marquette University, UWM has established the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute. The institute will focus on strengthening the technology talent pipeline, promoting Milwaukee as a region that attracts and retains technology firms and talent, and solving problems with research. Data Science classes will be offered during the 2019-2020 academic year to students at both UWM and Marquette. There will be components at each university campus, as well as programming at Northwestern Mutual’s innovation lab, Cream City Labs, located at Northwestern Mutual’s downtown Milwaukee campus.