Good morning, colleagues. Here is this week’s update from Academic Affairs.
Reminder: College of Health Sciences Dean Candidate on campus this week:
- Ron Cisler visits campus Monday-Tuesday (April 2-3)
Open Forum: Monday, April 2, 11 a.m.-Noon, Union Fireside Lounge
Candidate CVs and campus interview schedules are online. Feedback forms, to submit feedback to the Provost, are also posted on the finalists’ page.
Kudos
Richard P. Smiraglia (SOIS) has been selected as the recipient of the 2018 Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology, sponsored by OCLC and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA). Congratulations, Richard!
From the College of Nursing: They will have more than 30 faculty, staff, and students representing the College by presenting and contributing to accepted abstracts and symposium presentations at the upcoming Midwest Nursing Research Conference in Cleveland, OH from April 12-15. Well done!
And from the Honors College: They completed their first alternative spring break last week, with a successful trip to New Orleans to perform service for Hands On New Orleans. Fifteen students, plus Director Peter Sands and Senior Lecturer Ben Schneider, worked on a vegetable garden in the Lower Ninth Ward and painted a school fitness room in the city, toured the Treme neighborhood, Armstrong Park, and St. Louis #2 cemetery, as well as marched in a Second Line parade, and sampled the sights, sounds, and tastes of the Crescent City. Way to go!
Brian Firkus (PSOA alum), AKA Trixie Mattel, just won season three of RuPaul’s Drag Race Allstars. Trixie has 300k followers on Twitter, two TV shows, and has just released an album. Congratulations, Trixie (Brian)!
Matt Richie (Social Welfare doctoral student) recently received a Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship Award from the Graduate School. He’s working on his PhD in Social Welfare with an emphasis in Criminal Justice. Well done, Matt!
In the News
UWM’s Industrial Assessment Center was featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The FY18 Omnibus Appropriations Bill was signed into law on March 23, representing an enormous victory for low-income, first-generation students. This legislation guarantees a $60 million funding increase for Federal TRIO Programs for a total appropriation of $1.01 billion – the highest ever in TRIO history! This translates to approximately a 6% increase for each individual program. In addition to this important increase for TRIO, the legislation includes many other significant increases for low-income students, including a $10 million increase for GEAR UP; a $175 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award; a $140 million increase for Federal Work Study; and an additional $107 million for the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant.
The Week
Monday
I start the day early with a breakfast meeting with CHS dean candidate Ron Cisler, followed by my weekly meeting with Robin Van Harpen, a budget meeting with Robin, Drew Knab, and Paul Klabor, and an EAB meeting with Marija Gajdardziska-Josifovska and Laura Pedrick. Later, the Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet has a deep dive meeting, the Chancellor and I meet with V/C Pat Borger for a philanthropy update, I have my bi-weekly meeting with Mark Harris, and my weekly staff meeting.
Tuesday
I start the day with the deans’ morning meeting. Following this meeting, V/C Joan Prince and I continue our meetings with deans and associate deans regarding Diversity Plans. Today, we meet with the Lubar School of Business, Peck School of the Arts, Libraries, Graduate School, Office of Research, Letters and Science, Freshwater Sciences, and Continuing Education, and I have my monthly meeting with Tom Lipinski. In the afternoon, I’ll attend the UC meeting, I have a meeting with the newly appointed Center for Water Policy Director Tracy Boyer, and I also have my wrap-up meeting with CHS dean candidate Ron Cisler.
Wednesday – Friday
Wednesday to Friday I will be in Madison for a number of meetings including the International Education Advisory Board meeting (that I chair), the UW System Provost meeting, and Board of Regents meeting. We have one agenda item for the Education Committee – the MA in Translation and Interpreting Studies. I return to campus Friday afternoon and will have a Budget Model working group meeting.
Saturday
I will present awards at the Wisconsin Science Olympiad (see Announcement below).
Announcements
Three Minute Thesis
The Graduate School, Office of Research, and UWM Research Foundation, are sponsoring their inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) event on Wednesday, April 4 from 3 – 5 p.m. in the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts. The 3MT is an academic competition that challenges PhD students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience.
Experiential Learning
Does your department engage in various forms of experiential learning such as internships, practicums, co-ops, service-learning, or others? Join us for our second campus-wide gathering to discuss how we can make UWM a destination campus for experiential learning, and improve our existing practices. The event also takes place on Wednesday, April 4 at 2 p.m. in Union 240. For more information, contact Paul Roebber at roebber@uwm.edu.
CIE Spotlight
The short film, “Design that Heals,” will be shown on Thursday, April 5 at 5:30 p.m. in Curtin 175 followed by a panel discussion.
UW System Restructure Student Forum
Join the UW Restructure Team Leads at UWM for an update and opportunity to ask questions on Thursday, April 5 from noon – 2 p.m. in Union 280.
Wisconsin Science Olympiad
More than 1,500 young scientists from all over the state will be at UWM Friday and Saturday, April 6 and 7, to compete in the Wisconsin Science Olympiad for middle and high school students. A STEM Expo runs from noon to 3:30 p.m. Friday in the Union Ballroom and competitions start at 7:45 a.m. Saturday. Events in the Klotsche Center and Union Ballroom are open to spectators. The opening ceremony, with a raptor presentation by the Schlitz Audubon Center, is at 4 p.m. Friday in the Wisconsin Room. An awards reception at the Klotsche Center will follow competition at 4 p.m. Saturday. Winners will advance to the National Science Olympiad in Fort Collins, Colorado, May 18 and 19.
Latin American Film Series
Join us at the Union Cinema for the 40th Annual Latin American Film Series from April 6-14, organized by the UWM Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, with UWM Union Student Involvement and Union Cinema. All screenings are free and open to the public.
UWM Union Distinguished Lecture Series
Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, 2016 presidential candidate, and philanthropist, will speak for the UWM Union’s Distinguished Lecture Series on Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in the UWM Union Wisconsin Room. Her talk, “My Leadership Journey,” will be followed by a book sale and signing. This event is sponsored by the College Republicans at UWM, Student Involvement, Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business, Division of Global Inclusion and Engagement Free Speech Series, and the Young America’s Foundation, with assistance from the School of Information Studies, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Dept. of Political Science, and Women in Business.
Lavender Graduation
The LGBT Resource Center will be celebrating its 9th Annual Lavender Graduation on May 9. Do you know someone who has gone above and beyond in their work at UWM and in the greater Milwaukee Community? Nominate them to be recognized at this year’s Lavender Graduation ceremony!
Furrow Magazine
UWM’s student-run literary journal, Furrow, is based out of the English Department and publishes a full-color print edition every spring. The new issue will be released May 9.
ARC Excellence Awards
Please join the Accessibility Resource Center and other UWM faculty and staff on Friday, May 11 at noon in the Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor Conference Room, for a special celebration of ARC Excellence Awards – 20 years, including a light lunch, presentation of awards to this year’s nominees, honoring of all past nominees, and presentation of Matt Glowacki’s, “Diversity According to Family Guy & South Park.” Reservations required.
Other
Although the origins of April Fool’s Day are not certain, it was documented that in 1700 in England, pranksters began popularizing the annual tradition. Some of the best-known hoaxes: the 168 miles per hour fastball from a rookie pitcher in 1985, and spaghetti harvested from trees in 1957.
Take care,
Johannes
Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs