April 16, 2018  |  News & Events, Provost's Updates

Good morning colleagues. Here is this week’s update from Academic Affairs. 

Reminder: College of Health Sciences Dean Candidate on campus this week: 

  • Andrew Butler visits campus Monday-Tuesday (April 16-17) 
    Open Forum: Monday, April 16, 11 a.m.-Noon, Union Room 191 

Candidate CVs and campus interview schedules are online. Feedback forms, to submit feedback to the Provost, are also posted on the finalists’ page. 

Kudos 

Three graduate students – all from the College of Letters and Science – took the top prizes in UWM’s inaugural Three-Minute Thesis competition (3MT®), an elevator pitch-style event that aims to explain complex research to a general audience in three-minute increments. Well done! 

Kaitlin Trokan (English Education student) was selected for a highly competitive Fulbright award to the Slovak Republic to teach English next academic year. Kaitlin Trokan is a senior in the undergraduate UWM English Education program and currently student teaching as an intern at Audubon Technology and Communication High School in MPS. She will be graduating this May. Congratulations, Kaitlin!

Jenny Kehl (Freshwater Sciences) has been selected to be Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright Research Chair. She will serve as the Fulbright Research Chair and Visiting Professor for Political Science, Law, and Governance at McMaster University in Toronto-Hamilton to conduct work on the political economy of water security and environmental governance. Congratulations, Jenny! 

Craig Berg (Curriculum and Instruction) and Ilya Avdeev (Mechanical Engineering) received a three-year $600K NSF grant entitled, “RET Site: Milwaukee Water-Energy Nexus Education Initiative.” Well done, Craig and Ilya!

Weizhong Wang (Electrical Engineering) received a $50,000 2018-19 Applied Research Grant from UW System for his project, “Development of Secure Secret/Private Key Management Method for the Edge Nodes of the Internet of Things (IoT) Networks.” Congratulations, Weizhong!

Xiaohua Peng (Chemisty and Biochemistry) also received an Applied Research Grant. She will receive $49,000 for her project, “ROS-Activated Prodrugs that Target Cancer Cells.” Well done, Xiaohua!

Milwaukee Athletics News 
Catch up on all the exciting things happening in Milwaukee Athletics by reading the latest issue of The Roar Report! This installment contains updates on each in-season Panther sports program as well as feature stories on the seniors on this year’s women’s basketball team and former Panther baseball player Daulton Varsho. 

Congratulations to the staff and student-athletes that represented the Milwaukee Athletic Department this past weekend at the annual NCAA Inclusion Forum in Indianapolis. Director of Athletics Amanda Braun, Senior Associate Athletics Director Kathy Litzau, and women’s basketball head coach Kyle Rechlicz served as panelists, while student-athlete Alyssa Fischer (women’s basketball) and Assistant Business Manager Andrew Docter also attended the forum, which was held April 14-16 at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. 

The Week 

Monday 

Today begins with a breakfast meeting with CHS dean candidate Andrew Butler, followed by my weekly meeting with Robin Van Harpen, and my monthly meeting with the Academic Staff Committee. Later, I’ll have the Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet meeting, my bi-weekly meeting with Mark Harris, and my weekly staff meeting. 

Tuesday 

I start the day with the bi-weekly Deans’ Morning Meeting, followed by my monthly meeting with Val Klump, meetings with direct reports, and a collaboration planning meeting with WCTC Vice President Brad Piazza. I’ll attend the UC meeting, the Multicultural Network meeting, and I have my wrap-up meeting with CHS dean candidate Andrew Butler. 

Wednesday 

In the morning, the Chancellor and I meet with School of Education leaders to get an update on the Grow Your Own initiative, followed by my weekly meeting with the Chancellor, and my monthly meeting with Dave Clark and L&S. In the afternoon, I have my monthly meeting with Brett Peters, a Campus Space-Planning meeting, a planning meeting for the June Board of Regents meeting that takes place at UWM, and my monthly meeting with Joely Urdan. 

Thursday 

have standing meetings with Peter Sands, Katie Miota, and Brian Thompson, a one-one-one with V/C Joan Prince, monthly meetings with Scott Emmons and Marija Gajdardziska-Josifovska, a UW System Provosts “Zoom” meeting on the restructuring of the 2 year colleges, and I’ll attend the Faculty Senate meeting. In the evening, I’ll attend the College Possible Dream Big dinner.

Friday 

I end the work week with a number of meetings with direct reports,  administrative tasks. I also have an ISS Executive Sponsorship meeting and a meeting on Early College Credit. 

Announcements 

From C21 
Fulbright Visiting Fellow Gabriel Menotti will present, “3D Replication Technologies: Digital Artifacts for the Radical Mediation of History,” in Curtin Hall 118 on Friday, April 20 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. 

SOIS Spring Student Research Day 
SOIS invites you all to join the event in support of their students as they present their current research at the 2018 School of Information Studies – Student Research Day on Friday, April 20 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. in Greene Hall. 

2nd Annual Story Telling Festival

You are also invited to an evening of storytelling at the 2nd annual UWM Story Festival: A Celebration of Community. The evening will begin with a one-hour networking event for UWM faculty and researchers and community non-profit leaders who want to explore future partnerships. At 6 p.m. the storytelling will begin. Food will be served from 5-6 p.m. This free event is open to members of community. Co-sponsors include Ex Fabula, The Milwaukee Rep, WI Humanities Council, the CESN Network, and the MPS Arts & Humanities Grant.  

Joint Discussion – MCW and UWM College of Nursing 

UWM and MCW invite you to attend the discussion, “Difficult Conversations: How difficult conversations can open the door to address community needs and impact positive change,” presented by Dr. Christina Whichman (MCW) and Dr. Jennifer Doering (UWM) on May 1. This is a free event, but RSVP is needed by April 24.

Scholarly Communication: Copyright Issues in New Publication Models 
The UWM Libraries invite you to a morning of professional development with Nancy Sims, a copyright subject specialist at the University of Minnesota Libraries, on Monday, May 7 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. in the 4th Floor Conference Center. Registration required. 

Integrated Support Services (ISS) 

The ISS project will launch its first prototype hub in June. 

Other 

Sweden has built the first electrified road that will charge vehicles as they drive!

Take care, 

Johannes

Johannes Britz

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs