Good morning, colleagues. Here is this week’s update from Academic Affairs.
Kudos
UWM’s online bachelor programs rose in the U.S. News & World Report rankings this year to the 37th position nationally, up from a 48th-place ranking last year, placing us in the top 10% of programs. In the U.S. News rankings for best online programs for veterans, UWM ranked 24th nationally, up from a 31st-place ranking last year. Congratulations to all of the faculty, staff, and administrators whose work is reflected in the rankings!
UWM Health Care Administration (HCA) undergraduate student Cedrick Antonio and his IPE team from the Medical College of Wisconsin earned second-place honors in the Wisconsin Area Health Education Centers 2021 Interprofessional Case Competition! Well done, Cedrick and team!
UWM’s Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) Program was granted ten years of continuing accreditation by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS), until 2030. Congratulations to the Biomedical Sciences Department and College of Health Sciences faculty and staff involved in this reaccreditation!
UWM’s Institute for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation (IPIT), an umbrella organization that enhances collaboration and growth for multi-disciplinary research and teaching activities in all areas of infrastructure and transportation, received a $122,618 award from the Department of Transportation to help the state agency prepare and develop its workforce in times of high attrition, vacancies, and rapid changes in the transportation industry, profession, and technologies. Researchers on this project include Romila Singh (Organizations and Strategic Management), Xiao Qin (Civil and Environmental Engineering, IPIT Director), Nadya Fouad (Educational Psychology), and Mark Gottlieb (IPIT). Congratulations!
Kudos to Viktorija Bilic and Kate Scholz (Translation and Interpreting Studies) for their work connecting UWM to our Milwaukee and greater Wisconsin community. Kate Scholz was the organizer behind an internship in UWM’s graduate program in Translation and Interpreting Studies with the Pabst Mansion. German-English Translation students Marisa Irwin and Nastassja Myer completed their internship in summer of 2020, translating approximately 350 letters, written from 1841-1887 by members of the Pabst and Best families, under the supervision of Viktorija Bilic and Pabst Mansion curator Jocelyn Slocum. Their work is featured in the UWM Report and the graduate students will present on the project on February 24 at 7:30 p.m. on Facebook Live. Well done Viktorija, Kate, Marisa, and Nastassja!
Amanda Schoofs (Music) will be a featured composer at Western Illinois University’s New Music Festival in March 2021. Congratulations, Amanda!
In the News
Joan Prince (Global Inclusion and Engagement) was featured as a panelist on CSPAN’s African Americans in Education (1:27:07).
Barbara Meyer (Occupational Science & Technology) was featured in a Fox 6 story about comments Aaron Rodgers made about his future.
New Director in the Office of Sponsored Programs
Mark Harris shared the good news with me that Kate Mollen has accepted the position of Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs. Kate has been interim director of OSP for the last year and will be stepping into the role formally today. She was previously Associate Director of Pre-award at UWM and came to us from Huron Consulting, where she worked with many varied research institutions across the United States.
Milwaukee Athletics
Milwaukee placed 173 student athletes on the 2020 Horizon League Fall Academic Honor Roll. The Panthers’ total number of honorees topped the Horizon League for the fourth time in the past five semesters, just ahead of second-place Oakland (168). Women’s track and field/cross country led the way for Milwaukee with 32 members. Women’s swim/dive was second for the Panthers with 24, with baseball right behind at 23 members.
For the first time in its NCAA Division I history, the Milwaukee Women’s basketball team is receiving votes in both national top-25 polls. The Panthers received votes in the January 26 Associated Press poll, as well as the USA Today/WBCA Coaches poll. Milwaukee checked in at 15-1 overall at the time and led the Horizon League with an undefeated record of 12-0. The 15 wins were the most in NCAA Division I. Go Panthers!!
The Week
Monday
I start the week with the Coronavirus Management Team (CMT) Leadership meeting, followed by my weekly meeting with Robin Van Harpen, an American Indian Studies advisory meeting, a meeting regarding the creation of a new BFA in Design and Visual Communication, the Chancellor’s Cabinet meeting, my weekly staff meeting, and my weekly check-in with Dev Venugopalan and Laura Pedrick.<
Tuesday
In the morning, I will attend a Regent Liaison meeting with Chancellor Mone and other members of the Chancellor’s cabinet. In the afternoon, I’ll attend the UC meeting and I have my weekly meeting with the Chancellor. Then, the Chancellor and I will meet with College of Health Sciences faculty and staff, and I have my monthly meeting with Val Klump and Tim Grundl.
Wednesday
Today, I have my standing meeting with Jennifer Abele, Sue Weslow, and Chancellor Mone, my one-on-one with Kathy Dolan, a 2030 Large Group meeting with the Chancellor, an all-staff meeting at the UWM Libraries where I’ll present the Janet and Carl Moebius Outstanding Achievement award, a meeting with the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the UW System Provost Council Pre-Board meeting.
Thursday
In the morning, I have another CMT Leadership meeting. Then I’ll attend the virtual Board of Regents meeting, where Jean Bell-Calvin (Nursing), Morgan Jenswold (Health Sciences student), and I will present, “UWM’s Impact – Community Health Partnerships for Prosperity,” to the Research, Economic Development, and Innovation Committee.
Friday
Today, I again have the Board of Regents meeting. Then I have my bi-weekly meeting with Mark Harris, my monthly meeting with Dave Clark and Kay Eilers, and a Department of Revenue Gateway Program meeting.
Announcements
Webinar Event with Noam Chomsky
Please join UWM’s Department of African and African Diaspora Studies for a very special free webinar event with Noam Chomsky on Friday, February 5 at 1:30 p.m. Widely renowned for his revolutionary work in linguistics, political activism, and international affairs, Dr. Chomsky will reflect on the social change of the longue durée. The webinar will be hosted via Zoom and streamed live to the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies Facebook page. Anyone wanting a chance to ask a question (camera or text) should register to join the event on Zoom. If we reach our maximum attendee limit on Zoom when the event goes live, it can still be watched live on our Facebook page. Anyone with questions can email Rachel Hegland (rhegland@uwm.edu).
AFSA Reception and Awards Ceremony
The Asian Faculty and Staff Association (AFSA) is delighted to announce its 2021 Virtual Spring Reception and Awards Ceremony on Thursday, February 25 from 12-1 p.m. This event welcomes new faculty and staff, honors our 2020 AFSA student award recipients, and serves as our signature fundraising event to support AFSA’s student awards. Please RSVP by February 11. We will also host virtual Silent Auction and 50/50 raffle. Proceeds go directly to our AFSA student awards, the UWM Food Pantry, and Chancellor’s Student Success Fund. Create an account to participate.
“Adopt the Food Center”
Adopt a Day at the UWM Food Center & Pantry! Help keep the doors open at the UWM Food Center & Pantry in Spring 2021 by signing up your department, office, or student organization to Adopt a Day! By signing up, you commit to recruiting 4-5 people to bag groceries and/or staff the pantry and serve our patrons during the assigned hours. A training PowerPoint will be provided to you two weeks before your assigned dates. Sign up! Email Quincy Kissack (kissack@uwm.edu) with questions.
Panther Response Team
Would you like to learn about volunteering with a team when critical community needs arise? The Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership, and Research will host a virtual Panther Response Team Info Session on Friday, February 5 at noon, where you can learn about the UWM Panther Response Team (PRT) and how you can get involved with emergency response organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the American Red Cross. Sign up!
Call for Conference Papers
The Religious Studies Student Organization’s annual conference will be held April 10. They are calling for undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines to submit a paper concerning, or incorporating, Religious Studies. The deadline to submit abstracts is March 12.
Other
Surfing duck in Australia. . .
Take care,
Johannes
Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs