Good Morning, Colleagues. Here is this week’s update:
UW System Monthly Applications and Admissions Report
Here are some highlights from the UW System regarding enrollments (I just quote from the report):
* Overall new freshman applications across the System for Fall 2015 are up 9 percent over last year. The largest increases are seen at UW-Madison (14%), UW-Milwaukee (12%), UW-Eau Claire (13%), UW-Green Bay (17%), and UW-Superior (20%).
* Overall new freshman admissions are up 5 percent – in comparison to the same time last year. UW-Parkside and UW-Superior have increases at or greater than 40 percent based on small numbers, but other increases are seen at UW-Milwaukee (17%), UW-Eau Claire (18%), UW-Green Bay (12%), UW-Stevens Point (14%), and UW-Stout (12%).
* Our graduate students applications are also up by 3.9% overall (masters at 4.7% and doctoral at 2.7%).
State Budget
At this point nothing has been finalized and the Governor will announce his budget on February 3. I know that the Chancellor plans to communicate with campus updating us on the apparent direction the state budget is taking and possible implications for us and UW System.
Kudos
– College of Nursing Visiting Professor Barbara Nichols has been honored with a Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award, which was conferred and celebrated on Monday in Madison. The award is given to people who have made outstanding contributions to Dane County and who exemplify King’s values and non-violent philosophy. And to echo Dean Lundeen’s words: This is a very well-deserved honor for Barbara!
– The Department of English has announced the winner of the second Leslie Whitaker Memorial Fund Award. An award of $3,000 will go to Marc Tasman, Senior Lecturer, Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies, and Christopher Willey, Lecturer in Art and Design, Peck School of the Arts, both of whom teach foundational courses for the Digital Arts and Culture (DAC) certificate at UWM. Their two-year project, “Negotiating Digital Culture,” will include a series of workshops for both students and instructors that cover the following: structuring creativity within curriculum, incorporating interdisciplinary approaches to research, and technical skills training. More information about the award can be found at https://uwm.edu/whitakeraward.
Synopsis of the week
Tuesday
The Chancellor’s Cabinet meets and I have a lunch meeting with Chancellor Mark Mone and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael Laliberte – we use the time to finalize the agenda for the next CEMAT meeting (Chancellor’s Enrollment Management Team). I have regular monthly meetings with Dean Brett Peters (College of Engineering and Applied Science) and Dean Scott Emmons (Peck School of the Arts). I also have meetings with Vice Chancellor for Development Patricia Borger and Interim Vice Provost for Research Mark Harris.
Wednesday
I’m in Madison all day for a Common Systems Review Group (CSRG) budget meeting. CSRG has oversight of information technologies that are widely used across UW System. In the afternoon there is an Academic Leadership Council meeting and Scott Emmons will chair the meeting on my behalf – if I make it back in time from Madison, I will join the meeting. We have the following items on the agenda: One HR: A plan to improve the HR function; a report on the parking and transit study; CEMAT update; avenues for conflict resolution at UWM; and First Friday sponsor sign-up.
Thursday
Thursday is a full day of meetings. I have scheduled meetings with Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administrative Affairs Robin Van Harpen, Dean of the Graduate School Marija Gajdardziska-Josifovska, and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael Laliberte. I also have my weekly meeting with the Chancellor.
Friday
There is another CSRG budget meeting (luckily, this time it will be a videoconference), plus a budget and planning meeting with the Office of Research leadership team, and a joint planning meeting with Johnson Controls.
Announcements
Spring A2S Retention Summit
– The A2S Spring Retention Summit, which will focus on retention beyond the first year, will be held on February 12 from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in the Union Wisconsin Room (register by February 6 at http://bit.ly/1DpqNYT).
Posters Sought for A2S Summit
– As part of the “Beyond the First Year Summit,” we would like to showcase the excellent scholarship around student success, student retention, and pedagogy that occurs on our campus. To that end, we request that faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students consider submitting posters for display at this important campus event. If you are interested in presenting your scholarship at this summit, please contact Rodney Swain (rswain@uwm.edu) or Phyllis King (pking@uwm.edu) by Friday, February 6, 2015.
Spring Memo
– The spring 2015 start of semester memo is posted at: http://uwm.edu/acad_aff/policy/begin_semester_memo.pdf.
NASA Visitor on Campus
– This Friday we will host Dr. David Kankam, NASA’s Glenn Research Center (GRC). As the University Affairs Officer, Dr. Kankam is responsible for GRC research collaboration with academia, to help advance Center programs and NASA mission, and for directing the NASA Space and Aeronautics Academies at Glenn. (See https://space-academy.grc.nasa.gov/y2008/profiles/dr-m-david-kankam/ ). Dr. Kankam’s visit to UWM includes a keynote address for the WiscAMP program and a meeting with STEM faculty.
Global Studies Research Fellows: Application deadline extended to Monday, February 2
– The Center for International Education has extended the deadline for applications for the Global Studies Research Fellows to February 2. More information, including application guidelines, available at: http://bit.ly/GSFellows1516.
Retirement Reception for Laurie Peterson
– Please join the Accessibility Resource Center in celebrating Laurie Petersen’s retirement from UWM at a reception on Friday, January 30 from 3-4:30 p.m. in Union 345 A/B. See http://www.evite.com/event/03D1VEDYWRG45YVFGEPESXQVC644BQ?utm_campaign=view_invitation_button&gid=03D16XED7BN44EZDCEPETTEX2KMEWA&utm_medium=email&utm_source=GUEST_INVITE_EVENT.
4th Street Forum on the Road
– Living as a Low-Wage Worker: In collaboration with Milwaukee Public TV, the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare warmly invites the campus community to examine this issue during a taping of MPTV’s “4th Street Forum on the Road,” Thursday, January 29 in UWM’s Alumni Fireside Lounge. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.; taping begins at noon. This event is free and open to the public.
Proposals Requested for UW System Conference on Academic Literacy
– The UW System Conference on Academic Literacy will take place at UW-Marathon County’s Center for Civic Engagement in Wausau, Wisconsin on Thursday, June 4, 2015. Conference proposals are due no later than February 1, 2015. The submission form is at https://uwex.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bxBkCTtUoHVNO7z.
CETL Funding Opportunity for Innovative Instructional Strategies
– The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) is offering a funding opportunity that supports instructors in sharing the innovative strategies that they utilize in creating rich, meaningful, online and blended learning environments for their students. Instructors will receive a $400 stipend to work with CETL staff in the design of a project that focuses on the implementation of a strategy around one (or more) of our targeted themes in at least one of their spring courses. More information on this opportunity, including the targeted themes and how to apply, can be found here: http://uwmltc.org/?p=11010. Note that the deadline is this Wednesday, January 21.
From the UWM Libraries
– UWM Libraries’ Data Services offers a workshop on using OpenRefine to transform data, fix errors, and generally manipulate tabular datasets this Wednesday at noon in the Digital Humanities Lab, 2nd floor east wing, Golda Meir Library. More at https://uwm.edu/libraries/event/digging-into-data-workshop-data-clean-up-with-openrefine.
– The Libraries old catalog, PantherCat, was retired at the end of December. For those not familiar with using the new shared UW System catalog, Search@UW, a workshop will be held this Thursday at noon in Library Instruction Room A, Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons, Golda Meir Library. More information is available at https://uwm.edu/libraries/event/workshop-searchuw-for-panthercat-users-2/.
From UITS
– Microsoft Office 365 Tip of the Week
When you need to have a quick conversation with someone across campus or just down the hall, use Lync to instant message from the comfort of your desk. For more information, search “Lync” in the UWM Knowledge Base at https://kb.uwm.edu.
Other
No comments about the Packer game, but AB De Villiers broke the world record over the weekend by scoring the fastest 100 runs in international cricket – he did it with only 31 balls!
Take care,
Johannes
Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs