Good morning, colleagues. Here are this week’s updates from Academic Affairs:
Budget Meeting
We welcome you to attend the campus budget meeting today at 2 p.m. in the Union Ballroom West. For those unable to attend in person, it can be viewed remotely.
Learning Assessment Reporting
As we approach the end of the academic year, I would like to remind everyone to update the student learning assessment activities and data in WEAVE Online for 2015-16. This will immensely assist with our preparations for the next accreditation review by the Higher Learning Commission. I want to thank all the departments that have submitted the general education assessment information for review by APCC. Let us keep the momentum going!
Kudos
Iris Xie and Rakesh Babu
Professor Xie and Assistant Professor Babu, School of Information Studies, were selected to receive a FY2016 IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries award in the amount of $495,600. Their project, “Creating digital library (DL) design guidelines on accessibility, usability, and utility for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users,” was one of only 20 projects selected out of 88 applications requesting over $32 million (IMLS is funding approximately $6.3 million over the projects selected). This project builds on the pilot study that was funded by the RGI grant. Congratulations, Iris and Rakesh!
Ginny Stoffel and Roger Smith
April is Occupational Therapy Month and the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) had their Annual Conference and Expo in Chicago from April 7-10. This was the third year as the largest ever gathering in the profession worldwide, with more than 10,819 practitioners, researchers, and students, and with Dr. Ginny Stoffel, College of Health Sciences, as the AOTA President (2013-2016). In this capacity, she awarded Dr. Roger O. Smith the AOTA Eleanor Clarke Slagle lectureship, the highest academic scholarly award in the United States. Dr. Smith, also from the College of Health Sciences, will present the lecture at the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the AOTA, to be held in Pennsylvania in 2017. Congratulations, Roger, this is a big honor!
Institute of World Affairs
The UWM Institute of World Affairs collaborated with Delta Sigma Theta sorority in developing and training a new Model U.N. Club at Milwaukee School of Languages (MSL) in preparation for UWM’s annual Wisconsin High School Model United Nations conference this past March. The students from MSL and their experience were recently featured on Milwaukee Public Television’s Black Nouveau in a story by Liddie Collins.
WUWM’s Precious Lives
WUWM’s Precious Lives radio/podcast/print series about youth and gun violence is a finalist for a Peabody Award. Additional partners include WNOV, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, and funders Bader Philanthropies and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.
Tanya Joosten
Tanya Joosten, Academic Affairs, was invited to write a post on Pearson’s blog. Read her post, “Studying the Effectiveness of Online Learning Needs to Continue,” online.
Whitney Welch
College of Health Sciences PhD student Whitney Welch was selected for the American Kinesiology Association Doctoral Scholar Award. The award recognizes students with distinctive academic and leadership records. Congratulations Whitney
The Week:
Monday
The Chancellor’s Cabinet meets and I have a Chancellor’s Enrollment Management Action team meeting. Agenda items include enrollment figures, a proposed Strategic Enrollment Management dashboard, and student recruitment materials. I also have a meeting with VC Robin Van Harpen and at 2 p.m., I will attend the Campus Budget Meeting (see above).
Tuesday
I have a number of direct report meetings and also the Budget Communication Task Force meeting.
Wednesday
We have our Length of Service ceremony (3:00 p.m. in the Union Ballroom) and I have meetings with direct reports.
Thursday
I’m attending a meeting of the Academic Planning and Budget Committee, the UWM Chapman Society luncheon with donors, and I meet with University Committee Chair John Reisel.
Friday
I have a weekly meeting with the Chancellor, followed by a meeting with the American Indian Advisory Group, a meeting with Dean Rodney Swain, and additional direct report meetings.
Announcements
Grant Opportunity
The UWM Social Compact Grants deadline for applications is Thursday, April 28 at 4pm. For more information, see https://uwm.edu/sejecgrants/ or contact Christy Uttech at 414-229-4331.
International Dessert Competition
Please come to Greene Hall today (Monday) between 3:30 and 5 p.m. to see and taste the desserts from around the world made individually or as teams by our own students for the 3rd UWM International Dessert Competition.
From the Urban Studies Program
The UWM Urban Studies Programs is hosting its 21st Urban Studies’ Student Research Forum on Saturday, April 30 from 12-6 p.m. in the UWM Union Alumni Fireside Lounge.
From the College of Health Sciences
The College of Health Sciences Research Forum is scheduled for Friday, April 22 at 12 p.m. in Enderis Hall 109. The topic is, “UWM Research Foundation- Supporting Research Collaborations.” The panelists are UWM Research Foundation President Brian Thompson and Senior Licensing Manager Jessica Silvaggi.
Online Program Council
The OPC will meet on Friday, April 22 at 10:30 a.m. in Lubar S250. Agenda items include cool tools (David Delgado, CETL); recognition of Certificate in Online Teaching recipients (Diane Reddy, CETL); O365/Sharepoint for group work in online courses and programs (Dylan Barth, CETL); and distance learning conference (Simone Conceicao, Administrative Leadership).
UWM Title IX Training
The Office of Equity/Diversity Services is conducting a training session on May 26 at 10 a.m. in Union Room 191. More information. Registration.
Author Panel Discussion: The Americas Award
Join us as we celebrate The Americas Award’s first 18 years with a panel discussion on Thursday, April 21 at 2 p.m. in the Digital Humanities Lab. Please register.
Call for Proposals: Academic Staff Professional Development Awards
Along with the Academic Staff Committee and the Academic Staff Awards Committee, I am pleased to announce professional development awards to support UW-Milwaukee academic staff. Proposals are being accepted for the 2016-2017 UWM Academic Staff Professional Development Individual (max $1,500) or Group (max $3,000) Awards. Deadline is May 2. Applications can be found on the Academic Staff Awards Committee website.
From the UWM Libraries
The Friends of the UWM Golda Meir Library Used Book Sale continues Monday-Wednesday, April 18-20, on the library’s fourth floor.
Natasha Schüll, Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University, presents a talk, “Addiction by Design: From Slot Machines to Candy Crush,” on April 22 at 2 p.m. in the UWM Digital Humanities Lab, located on the second floor east wing of the Golda Meir Library.
Run 4 Water MKE
Registration is now open for the Run4WaterMke 2016 to be held on Saturday, April 23 at 9 a.m. at Veterans Park. This is the fifth year this fundraiser for water projects is being undertaken by UWM’s Chapter of Engineers without Borders.
From the Office of Undergraduate Research
Faculty, academic staff, and graduate students are needed to serve as judges at the annual UWM Undergraduate Research Symposium, scheduled for the afternoon of April 29. We do not require any particular expertise. Registration to be a judge is quick and simple; tell us whether you would like to judge at the oral or poster session (or both!) and we’ll be back in touch with you directly with details. This is a particularly pleasant campus service opportunity.
From the UWM Military and Veterans Resource Center
The 3rd Annual UWM Military and Veterans Graduation Ceremony will be held on May 12 at 7 p.m. in the Student Union Fireside Lounge. Military and veteran spring and summer 2016 graduates can RSVP for the ceremony by emailing MAVRC Interim Assistant Director Sarah Terry at tarah@uwm.edu with full name, academic degree, and number of guests.
Japanese Spring Festival
All are invited to the UWM Japanese Program’s Spring Festival, which will showcase student work (presentations will be in Japanese with English subtitles), on Monday, May 2 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.
Other
As you may have heard in the news, over the last week there were 3 major earthquakes in Japan, Ecuador and Tonga. Our condolences and thoughts go out to the residents of these countries as well as to our students, faculty & staff affected by these earthquakes.
Take care,
Johannes
Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs