Dear UWM Faculty, Staff, and Students,
Welcome back! I hope that you had some time to reflect and relax between semesters, whether on campus or away. We have a lively spring semester ahead, beginning with a number of important campus forums.
Winter Welcome, January 25 – 30
The new semester starts strong with a number of events and activities to help you meet new friends and colleagues, and to explore our winter-time campus. Be engaged and see all of the remarkable things UWM offers during Winter Welcome, from sports and recreation, to community volunteering opportunities, to arts and crafts, and hot chocolate and coffee socials, and more.
Campus Budget Meeting, January 29
Important and highly collaborative work continues on addressing the state budget cuts for FY16 and FY17 and managing our structural deficit. Please join me, governance leaders and colleagues for updates on enrollment management, the Chancellor’s Campus Organization and Effective Team (CCOET), Budget Planning Task Force and Budget Model Planning Work Group, governance group work, and Budget Communication Task Force.
For those who are unable to attend the Friday, Jan. 29, 2:30 p.m. Campus Budget Meeting in the Student Union Wisconsin Room East, it will be available via livestreaming: https://uwm.edu/streamingvideo/universityrelations/. Please send questions to: budget-questions@uwm.edu.
Spring Plenary Address, February 3
In my Spring Plenary address at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 3, I will provide a mid-year update, and discuss our reach and path ahead. You may note that this is a different day of the week than in the past and that the Faculty Senate meeting is on the prior Thursday, January 28. We are trying this new approach to give students, faculty and staff a chance to settle into new schedules. I encourage everyone to join us in the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts. A live webcast of my address will be available to those unable to attend in person: https://uwm.edu/streamingvideo/plenaries/
PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate, February 11
Earlier this month I shared that the Public Broadcast System (PBS) will sponsor the Democratic presidential candidate debate on Thursday, February 11, at 8 p.m. in the Zelazo Center’s Helen Bader Concert Hall. This is a significant opportunity to showcase our campus to the world. PBS will distribute tickets to the debate. We continue to work with them on an allotment of tickets, which we understand will be a small amount. We would like UWM’s portion of tickets to go to current UWM students and we are working on a process to do so. I will keep you updated. As a public institution, UWM does not endorse or promote any political candidates. We do encourage students, faculty and staff to educate themselves about all candidates and to participate in our nation’s political process.
The spring semester is, indeed, off to a lively start. I look forward to and wish you all the best for a new semester.
Best regards,
Mark A. Mone
Chancellor
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee