Good morning, colleagues. We enter a week of snow and cold and here is this week’s update from Academic Affairs. Classes are canceled today and I include an important message from HR (Tim Danielson) that was sent out this morning to the Preps:
“Considering the winter storm and that classes at UWM are cancelled for today, I encourage you to consider the possibility of allowing employees to work from home when their duties and responsibilities allow. For those whose duties do not allow for work from home, please let them know they may choose to come in to work or utilize leave. For positions whose duties require attendance for vital services to be provided, such as food service for students, I ask you to please execute whatever protocol you normally utilize under these conditions.”
College of Health Sciences Dean Candidates
Finalists were announced for the College of Health Sciences dean position, with candidate visits beginning next week. Candidate and visit information is on the finalists page. Campus visit dates and open forum sessions are listed below.
Beth Meyerand
Visit Dates: February 4-5
Open Forum: Monday, February 4, 11 a.m.-Noon, Union Fireside Lounge
Timothy Behrens
Visit Dates: February 12-13
Open Forum: Tuesday, February 12, 11 a.m.-Noon, Union Fireside Lounge
Cheryl Bailey
Visit Dates: February 19-20
Open Forum: Tuesday, February 19, 11 a.m.-Noon, Union Fireside Lounge
John Nauright
Visit Dates: February 21-22
Open Forum: Thursday, February 21, 11 a.m.-Noon, Union Fireside Lounge
Kudos
The American Association of Geographers has awarded Mark Schwartz, Geography, with its
Rachel Buff shared with me that the Cultures and Communities Program has received a $6000 grant from Milwaukee Public Schools to provide “drop-in Ethnic Studies” teaching. A team of five undergraduates (Margarita Garcia-Rojas, Max McHone, Paul Newcomb, Myah Palechek, and Alexandra Talsky) will be teaching materials they developed last fall in social studies classes at Riverside High School this spring. Kudos to all!
UWM students volunteered to uplift young girls in the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast. Alicia and Carolyn led Dove’s Free Being Me Program with the girl scouts. For five weeks, the UWM students worked with a small group of 7th and 8th graders on self-empowerment and redefining beauty. Olivia and Paige led the Think Like an Engineer Program with two groups of about 20-40 elementary students. The students went through a ‘design process’ with the girl scouts while doing STEM- (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) related projects each week that included catapults and air planes. Bravo to our students!
Trudy Turner, Anthropology, received a National Science Foundation grant to organize a workshop on advancing data management and sharing practices in the anthropological sciences. The workshop will take place February 8 and 9 at the UWM Downtown Conference Center. Participants will include primatologists, paleontologists, skeletal and human biologist. Well done, Trudy!
In the news
WUWM’s Dave Edwards was featured in a Spark News article that praised his many contributions to public broadcasting in Milwaukee.
The Week
Monday
Its going to be a busy week, but my Monday calendar has changed due to the weather and I will have most of my meetings via phone and emails. The planned Chancellor’s retreat for today has been cancelled and will also be moved to a later date.
Tuesday
In the morning, I have the Connected Systems Institute Core Team meeting, my monthly meeting with Scott Emmons, and CEMAT meets. Later, I have my monthly meeting with Ron Perez, a Trio Grant meeting with Dave Clark and Stephen Schmid, and my weekly staff meeting.
Wednesday
Today, there is a UWM/ILSC Language Schools meeting where we will continue to explore opportunities for international recruitment of students, followed by my standing meeting with Alan Shoho and the Chancellor, my monthly meetings with Kanti Prasad and Trudy Turner, and my weekly meeting with the Chancellor.
Thursday
In the morning, I have my monthly meeting with Stan Stojkovic and a Campus Budget Planning meeting. In the afternoon, I have a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Compact Steering Committee meeting, my standing meeting with Margaret Noodin (Margaret is the director of the Electa Quinney Institute), my monthly meeting with Student Association leadership, and my monthly meeting with Joely Urdan.
Friday
I start the day presenting the charge to the College of General Studies Dean Search and Screen Committee. I’m having lunch with Lyman Tschanz, Vice President of Connected Enterprise Consulting at Rockwell Automation. Later, I’ll be busy with administrative tasks.
Announcements
Data Privacy Day
Today is Data Privacy Day. Here are some tips to keep your data safe.
Meditation
Starting tomorrow, January 29, you can join faculty, staff, and students for 30 minutes of meditation during the Tuesday and Thursday Mindfulness Meditation Breaks from 12:15-12:45 p.m. in Union 344. Just drop in for any session. Contact Paul Dupont (pdupont@uwm.edu) for more information.
Common Reading Experience Suggestions
The Common Reading Experience leadership team is currently reviewing articles to select the text to be read by this fall’s entire incoming class. Please consider recommending a text you have read and believe would be a compelling discussion topic. Submissions are due Monday, February 4
Classroom Safety Training
Instructor-focused classroom and campus safety training is once again under way, with the goal of reaching 100 percent of UWM’s faculty and instructional staff. This training will help ensure that we are prepared to respond to situations that could cause students to feel unsafe. If you have not yet attended a training session, please make it a priority this semester! Register online. Questions regarding sign-up procedures should be directed to Aundria Johnson (414-229-4627; aundria@uwm.edu). Contact Officer Craig Rafferty (414-229-4627; rafferty @uwm.edu) for questions regarding the content of the training.
Center for 21st Century Studies
On Friday, February 1 at 3:30 p.m. in Curtin 175, the Center for 21st Century Studies hosts a lecture by Distinguished Professor Jane Gallop (English), who will give a talk based on her new book, Sexuality, Disability, and Aging: Queer Temporalities of the Phallus.
Poetry Reading
Rodrigo Toscano, recipient of a New York State Fellowship in Poetry, will present a poetry reading on Thursday, February 14 at 7 p.m. at the Hefter Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Other
Stay warm!
Take care,
Johannes
Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs