Chancellor’s Update: Welcome to the Fall Semester

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Dear Faculty and Staff,

Welcome, one and all, to our Fall 2016 semester and our 60th anniversary year. Whether you have been on campus all summer, are returning on this first day of a new contractual period, or are new to UWM – your presence here matters.

As we prepare to officially welcome back our students next week, I want to stress the importance of our collective impact. We are in a time when vigorous free speech is colliding with perceptions of incivility and political correctness. This is to be expected at a vibrant campus like UWM.

We uphold free speech at the highest level for all individuals. A university without thorough and animated dialogue is not a true learning environment.

Yet, there is a growing restlessness across our nation’s campuses and very real demands to address complex issues of equality, race, sexual assault, violence and poverty, LGBT+ rights, and religious expression. How we face and continue to respond to these issues in the coming year is critical. I challenge us all to do so with civility, a sense of unity and humility. This will allow us to hear and consider all ideas, to work collectively to resolve conflict and to move forward.

Last week I wrote to you about our commitment to a unified Milwaukee and our moral responsibility to lift up our city through education and our engagement. A shining example of our impact is today’s kickoff and orientation for our eight Social Compact grant winners. Together with community partners our faculty and staff are:

  • Providing stress management skills to those in poverty
  • Making inroads to end homelessness in Milwaukee
  • Improving community access for persons with disabilities
  • Reducing energy costs of low-income households through cooperative energy sharing
  • Helping Milwaukee County women with the transition to life after imprisonment
  • Providing assessment and evaluation to help women out of poverty
  • Teaching inner-city high school students about sustainable foods systems and the growing urban agricultural market
  • Expanding neighborhood-based job placement and financial coaching service

There are brilliant members of our faculty, staff and students driving these efforts – and many others – and there is exceptional research. We are an engaged research university. Our research mission and R1 status are more important than ever. It’s critical that we continue to maximize our research and partnerships.

This summer has been energized on a number of fronts. Here are just a few of the many important activities that have taken place:

  • We have provided monthly budget update messages on our collective progress to manage our budget cuts and structural deficit
  • UW System Regents approved on Aug. 18 a biennial budget request for $42.5M in new funding. With the 2017-19 state budget process underway, we have had several meetings with legislators on and off campus and more are planned in the coming weeks. We also held a public forum on the UWM budget in June. UW System Board of Regents President Regina M. Millner and Vice President John Robert Behling released on Friday a powerful column about the incredible return on investment that the UW System provides to the state.
  • Last week we held a comprehensive Chancellor’s Enrollment Management Action Team retreat to discuss our progress and work ahead on our new strategic enrollment plan, investments in advising, student retention, and targeted recruitment efforts. This is critical work. Each one of us needs to be involved. No one office is solely responsible to recruit and retain students. Read a summary of the discussion here.
  • Earlier in the summer we held a Chancellor’s Expanded Cabinet retreat to advance our work to best uphold and enhance our R1 status, student success, and engagement and to serve students, faculty and staff in an ever-changing climate. Read a summary of the 2016-17 action plan here.
  • At the close of the 2015-16 fiscal year the campus, led by Development & Alumni Relations, raised nearly $29 million in 2015-16, bringing the total amount raised for Made in Milwaukee, Shaping the World: The Campaign for UWM to $110,776,291. This is evidence of the impassioned support for UWM.
  • A complete re-design of the UWM website, which will be launched on Aug. 30. In the meantime, watch your e-mail for further communications and resources to help you make the most of the outstanding new UWM site.

Looking ahead, I ask that you please mark your calendars for Thursday, Sept. 15 at 2:30 p.m. for my Fall Plenary Address. It will take place in the concert hall of the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts. I will provide updates on our budget, compensation, significant campus achievements, and doubling down on community engagement.

There is much promise before us as we combine our energies with the advocacy of our alumni, donors, and partners to further advance UWM. We are all essential to this campus and play important roles in our longstanding record of dedication to our students, research and community. I am grateful for your dedication and passion to lift up all of those we serve.

Best regards,

Mark A. Mone
Chancellor
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee