Good morning, colleagues. Here is this week’s update from Academic Affairs.
Kudos
UWM’s online programs were rated highly by U.S. News in their annual report. Our online bachelor’s program was ranked No. 39, we were ranked 26th best online bachelor’s program for veterans, and the online Psychology B.A. was No. 9 nationally. Kudos to all!
Andrew Whetten (Mathematical Sciences) and Hannah Demler (University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign) had their paper, “Detection of Multidecadal Changes in Vegetation Dynamics with Intra-Annual Climate Variability in the Columbia River Basin,” was published in a special issue of Remote Sensing titled, “Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Statistics: Methods and Applications in Remote Sensing.” Congratulations, Andrew!
Winson Chu (History) recently co-edited a digital project with the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., to provide online documents and audiovisual sources on German history since the 1500s. His module on “Germanness” contains some 200 sources and is now online. Well done, Winson!
Krista Grensavitch (History; Comparative Ethnic Studies; Women’s and Gender Studies) was appointed as a Teaching Resource Developer for the American Historical Association’s “Teaching Things: Material Culture in the History Classroom,” a twelve-month project funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Krista will be part of a collaborative research team that will produce resources that employ material culture for use in secondary and college level history classrooms. Congratulations, Krista!
In the News
Rebecca Klaper (Freshwater Sciences) spoke with CBS58 about the recent $1M donation from the Brookby Foundation, which will go toward the construction of the new, state-of-the-art research vessel, RV Maggi Sue.
Sandra McLellan (Freshwater Sciences) was featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and on Fox6 News, CBS58, WISN12, and TMJ4 discussing what her ongoing research is showing about COVID-19 levels in wastewater.
Milwaukee Athletics
Elaina LaMacchia of the Milwaukee women’s soccer team has signed a professional contract with Pink Bari CF in Italy. LaMacchia enjoyed a stellar campaign last fall, earning First-Team All-League honors and the Goalkeeper of the Year after another incredible season – leading the nation with her 0.42 goals-against average while finishing second across the NCAA DI level with her .882 save percentage.
Milwaukee placed 181 student athletes on the 2021 Horizon League Fall Academic Honor Roll. The Panthers have now led the Horizon League five times in the past seven semesters, with the 181 student-athletes setting a new school record for one semester (the prior mark of 173 was set in fall 2020). A total of 1,510 student-athletes earned the distinction league-wide.
The Week
Monday
I start the week with my standing meeting with Robin Van Harpen, followed by a Chancellor meeting, my weekly check-in with Dave Clark and Kay Eilers, and my weekly staff meeting.
Tuesday
In the morning, I have a Coronavirus Management Team (CMT) Leadership meeting, my bi-weekly meeting with Mark Harris, and my monthly meeting with Kim Litwack. In the afternoon, I have the University Committee meeting, an interview with Chief Human Resources Officer finalist Jason Beier, my one-on-one with Chancellor Mone, and a research meeting.
Wednesday
Today, I have a Strategic Partnerships meeting, my one-on-one with Kevin Hartman, my monthly meeting with Nancy Frank, Ivy Hu, and Mo Zell, my monthly meeting with Tina Freiburger and Hope Longwell-Grice, my standing meeting with Peter Sands, my one-on-one with Tim Behrens, and a check-in with the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
Thursday
In the morning, I have another CMT Leadership meeting, the APBC meeting, my monthly meeting with Joely Urdan, and a meeting to develop briefing materials for the next System President. In the afternoon, I have my one-on-one with Nigel Rothfels, an interview with Chief Human Resources Officer finalist Makda Fessahaye, and my monthly meeting with Scott Gronert.
Friday
Today, I’ll meet with direct reports and attend to administrative tasks.
Announcements
Spring 2022 Enrollment Census CampaignThe Enrollment Census Campaign for spring 2022 begins this week. If you are an instructor, look for an email with a subject line that includes “Action Requested;” in the email, you’ll find a personalized link for submitting attendance and participation information. This process helps us to identify students who are no-shows in multiple courses; last semester, more than 20,000 reports were submitted. As a result, we reached out to more than 130 students who were not participating in two or more courses.
DEI Professional Development
The Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is excited to offer several Racial Justice and Equity professional development opportunities this spring, beginning in February. Space is limited, so register soon! Registration information.
Asia: In Conversation Series
The first conversation entitled, “Dialogues on Engaging Muslim Communities in Research,” will be held on Friday, February 11 at 2 p.m. and features Janan Najeeb (Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition), Anna Mansson McGinty (Women’s and Gender Studies), Caroline Seymour-Jorn (Comparative Literature), and Kristin Sziarto (Geography).
Spring 2022 DEI Action Planning Institute
The DEI Action Planning Institute is designed to provide units with tools and structure to develop DEI Action plans. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, February 11. Participants must have the endorsement of their unit head and representatives selected prior to submission of the application. Apply online.
Darwin Day
Come celebrate Charles Darwin’s 213th birthday with the Department of Geosciences at the Greene Geological Museum on February 12 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Freshwater Colloquium Series
The spring semester 2022 Freshwater Sciences Colloquium Series will examine the important issues of water and environmental equity in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Presentations will take place at noon on Fridays via Zoom.
- February 4: Equitable Access to our Shared Common Waters, JoAnna Bautch
- February 11: Environment and Social Justice – Progress toward Change in Riga, Justine Pantelejeva
- February 25: Environmental Justice and Native Writing in the 21st Century, Professor Kim Blaeser
- March 4: Governor’s Climate Task Force and Climate and Economic Equity Taskforce, Janet Meissner Pritchard
- March 11: Environmental Justice Initiatives: Examples of Water Sector Innovation and Implementation, Erin Povak
- March 18: Environmental Justice in the Water Sector in Milwaukee, Brenda Coley
- April 8: Harbor District Revitalization and Environmental Justice, Natalia Hernandez
- April 22: Environmental Justice Impacts of Green Infrastructure on Disadvantaged Communities, Duyen Lam
Other
This must be one of the best Test matches in women’s cricket history.
Take care,
Johannes
Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs