January 25, 2021  |  News & Events, Provost's Updates, Timely Announcements

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

State of the University Address – Wednesday

This is just a reminder that on Wednesday, January 27, the Chancellor and other campus leaders will provide updates on UWM, UW System, and State budgets; COVID-19; and successes, challenges, and 2030 planning and work.

2021 Spring Semester Information:

Tenure-Clock Extension Requests: Probationary faculty are able to extend their probationary period (i.e. tenure clock extension) due to factors related to the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Tenure-track faculty who have their mandatory tenure review scheduled after January 1, 2021, are eligible to submit a request. Requests must be submitted prior to May 23, 2021. This memo details the process and deadlines for submitting requests.
Instructor FAQ: The Instructor FAQ was recently updated for Spring 2021 semester. In addition to the linked document, instructors and staff should visit the UWM COVID-19 FAQ website for additional information and current updates.

Kudos

Sandeep Gopalakrishnan (Nursing) was awarded the World Association for Light Therapy (WALT) 2020 New Young Investigator Excellence in PBM Clinical Sciences Award. Congratulations, Sandeep!

In November 2020, two teams of undergraduate students from the Mathematical Sciences Department competed in the SCUDEM V, a challenge in mathematical modeling with differential equations. Katelyn Mongerson, Olivia Peterson, and Carson Radtke worked on a problem involving the management of different conflict resolution strategies, while Chinh Nguyen, Kathryn Pecha, and Abraham Perez considered a model of a bird perched on a bicycle wheel in a viral video. Both teams won a Meritorious award for their submissions. Well done!

The Office for Development and Alumni Relations received two Gold awards, one for the 2020 Panther Prowl (entered in the Alumni Relations Pivot category) and one for the UWM Campaign Finale Celebration (entered in the Events on a Shoestring category), in the Pride of CASE District V Awards, sponsored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Development and Alumni Relations collaborated with University Relations on several aspects of these events. See a list of all entries. Congratulations!

Colleen Galambos (Social Work) has been appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (the Academies) Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes. Well done, Colleen!

UWM’s 6th annual Teaching and Learning Symposium was a tremendous success – 61 colleagues contributed to the program and 327 instructors and staff engaged in the full-day, virtual event. Congratulations to the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) for organizing this important symposium! You can access the recordings and materials for each session:

  1. Visit the Attend page of the Symposium website
  2. Find the session in the program you are interested in
  3. Click the download button to the left of the session title – a new tab will open with a SharePoint folder & you may need to log in with your UWM credentials
  4. Click on the resource you’d like to view or download.

The Panthers women’s basketball team (15-1, 12-0 Horizon League) continued their winning streak on Saturday with a double overtime 85-83 victory against IUPUI. The win marked the first place Panthers’ 12th straight, matching a program record from the 2005-06 season. Well done!

Milwaukee Athletics

The schedules for the Milwaukee women’s soccer and volleyball and men’s soccer 2020-21 campaigns, which were postponed from the fall to this spring, have been released by the Horizon League office. Head to the respective team schedule pages on MKEPanthers.com for detailed information.

Catch up on all the exciting things happening in Milwaukee Athletics by reading the latest issue of The Roar Report, presented by Carmel Builders. The winter issue is highlighted with a feature story on Daulton Varsho, the former member of the Panther baseball team (2015-17) who became the first player in program history to make it to the Major Leagues when he debuted this summer.

The Week

Monday
I start the week with my usual Coronavirus Management Team Leadership meeting, followed by my weekly meeting with Robin Van Harpen, and the Chancellor’s Cabinet meeting. I’ll provide an Academic Affairs update at the Associate Deans meeting, then I have an Academic Partnerships meeting, my weekly staff meeting, and my weekly check-in with Dev Venugopalan and Laura Pedrick.

Tuesday
In the morning, I have my standing meeting with Phyllis King, a CEMAT Leads meeting, and my bi-weekly meeting with Paul Klajbor. In the afternoon, I have a rehearsal for the Faculty/Staff Town Hall, a Peck School of the Arts meeting, I have my weekly meeting with Chancellor Mone, then the Chancellor and I will meet with the Zilber School of Public Health faculty and staff. Finally, I’ll attend the School of Freshwater Sciences all-school meeting.

Wednesday
Today, I have the Deans Morning Meeting, the Faculty and Staff Town Hall, my monthly meeting with Dave Clark, my one-on-one with Pat Borger, a meeting with Student Association leadership, and my monthly meeting with Kim Litwack and Amy Harley. (Kim has agreed to act as the oversight dean for the Zilber School and Amy took on the role as senior associate dean).

Thursday
In the morning, I have the APBC meeting and my one-on-one with Tom Luljak. In the afternoon, I have a Campus Budget Planning meeting and Faculty Senate.

Friday
Today, I have my standing meeting with Brian Thompson, a budget meeting, and the bi-monthly UW System Provost Council meeting.

Announcements

Webinar Event with Noam Chomsky
The Department of African and African Diaspora Studies presents a special free webinar event, The Long Arc of Activism and Social Change with Noam Chomsky in conversation with Jeffrey Sommers and Patrick Bellegarde-Smith. The event will be held on Friday, February 5, at 1:30 p.m. on Zoom and Facebook Live. Register here.

Educational Technology Fee Call for Proposals
Proposals are requested for student technology-related projects, funded by the educational technology fee and to be reviewed by the Ed Tech Fee Advisory Committee. Project proposals should be submitted electronically on the Educational Technology Fund Form A to ed-tech@uwm.edu no later than midnight, February 26.

UWM Engineers Without Borders Fundraising Event
The UW-Milwaukee chapter of Engineers Without Borders is hosting a 5K run/walk to raise funds for a water distribution project in rural Guatemala! The event is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 25 from 9-10:30 a.m. at Veterans Park in Milwaukee (1500 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive). Price of registration will increase on April 3. Explore how you can become a participant or a sponsor!

Training Opportunities
The spring Tech Training schedule is now available with free, online classes. No registration required!

Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership, and Research
The Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership, and Research would like to extend a shout-out to the students and staff that volunteered at Eastbrook Academy on MLK Day. Volunteers helped the school assemble its new library, make welcome back decorations for students, and organize/clean the gym materials. Thank you to these individuals for choosing to spend MLK day serving our community instead of taking the day off. See pictures from the event.

Other

The longest goal scored in a competitive soccer match. . . and it was a bit depressing after the Packers’ loss yesterday!

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs