Good morning, colleagues. This is the final update from Academic Affairs for 2022 and I wish you all a joyful Winter break. My weekly missives will resume on January 13.
2030 Feature of the Week
The Revising Curriculum Action Team has wrapped up their first round of school/college presentations. As a result, the group now has substantial feedback for revisiting the original proposal. The team anticipates a revised proposal in early spring.
Kudos
Mike Gibisser (Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres) will premiere his new feature-length documentary, “A Common Sequence,” at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary, made in collaboration with Mary Helena Clark, is an interconnected look at tradition, colonialism, property, faith, and science, as seen through labor practices that link an endangered salamander, mass-produced apples, and the evolving fields of genomics and machine learning. Congratulations, Mike!
Sarah Riforgiate (Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Communication) was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Award (Tenured Instructor) by the National Communication Association’s Organizational Communication Division, as a part of its 2022 Mentoring, Teaching, Service, and Research Awards. Well done, Sarah!
Glendalys Valdés (Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies (JAMS) student) won an Emmy at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Chicago/Midwest Chapter College Production Awards for her TV news story, “Environmental Crimes Rattle Puerto Rico.” Glendalys won this award through the program’s immersion class, which is generously funded by the Milwaukee Press Club’s Endowment Board. Congratulations, Glendalys!
Kudos to Nancy Bird-Soto (Spanish and Portuguese) and Amy Olen (Translation & Interpreting Studies) for the publication of Luisa Capetillo: Escalando La Tribuna, a bilingual edition of essays by Puerto Rican anarcho-feminist and labor activist Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922).
In the News
The Theatre Department’s production of Piggsville was reviewed in Shepherd Express.
Kimberly Hassell (Social Welfare) was interviewed for a story in Milwaukee Magazine about the Milwaukee Police Department’s pledge to increase its proportion of women to 30% of sworn officers by 2030. According to the article, 16% of Milwaukee police officers are currently women, and just 13% of police officers nationwide are women. Within the UWM Police Department, 24% of sworn personnel are women.
Amy Watson (Social Welfare) was interviewed on MSNBC about Mayor Adams’s controversial new policy on mental illness.
Research from the Center for Water Policy on directing federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to disadvantaged communities was featured in the December 2022 issue of Wisconsin Lawyer.
Sarah Vigeland (Physics) and Jean Creighton (Planetarium, Physics) discussed gravitational waves on CBS 58 News.
Phil Chang (Physics) discussed the recent nuclear fusion breakthrough on CBS 58 News and Spectrum News 1.
Milwaukee Athletics
The Milwaukee baseball team released its full schedule for the upcoming 2023 season, highlighted by 21 home games at Franklin Field.
The Week in Retrospect
We are closing in on the end of the semester and I’m sure that everyone is extra busy, but hopefully also enjoying some of the end-of-year festivities. On Monday, I provided an update to the Associate Deans on the UW System Strategic Plan and spring enrollment. In the evening, the Honors Commencement was a highlight with a celebration of outstanding students that included proud families and friends as supporters. Later in the evening, I joined the Chancellor, Michael Doylen, and Library staff to provide coffee, hot chocolate, and doughnuts to students studying late in the library for finals. On Tuesday, I provided updates to the Academic Staff Senate. On Wednesday, I met with the Deans and we discussed the new Tuition Promise Program as well as new graduate assistant training. On Thursday, I gave a brief update at the APBC meeting, provided an update at the Faculty Senate, and attended holiday events for Advancement, L&S, and SARUP. Today, I will visit a meeting of faculty and staff of what will be the new Zilber College of Public Health.
Announcements
- AFSA Newsletter
The Asian Faculty and Staff Association (AFSA) newsletter is available online. There are two important dates to note:- Scholarship application deadline is December 31
- Save the Date! AFSA Reception will be held February 24
- Enrollment Yield Survey
If you are involved in enrollment yield activities, the University Marketing Committee’s Yield Subgroup asks that you please complete this short survey. Sharing your most effective results and pain points will enable the group to recommend ways to synthesize, implement, and improve efforts across the university. The deadline to complete the survey has been extended to December 22.
- Length of Service Ceremony – Save the Date!
Please save the date for the UWM Length of Service Ceremony on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 2:30 p.m. in the Union’s Wisconsin Room. At the ceremony, we will recognize awardees from 2022 and 2023. Please refer to the article in next week’s UWM Report for further details. Awardees will be notified via email in the coming days. Questions? Contact Laura Bandemer-Purifoy (lpurifoy@uwm.edu).
Events
- Chemistry Building Topping Off Celebration
Enjoy complimentary warm beverages with assorted toppings as the new Chemistry Building gets topped off with its final beam. The celebration will take place on Thursday, January 26, 2023 from 10-11 a.m., with remarks by Chancellor Mone at 10:30 a.m., at the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center American Family Dream Lab.
Something Different
Last week was the loudest sound, this week is the loudest from an animal. The distance it travels will surprise you!
Take care,
Scott
Scott Gronert
Interim Provost