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

Kudos

Daria Mueller (Social Work PhD student) and Rachel Monaco-Wilcox (CEO and founder of LOTUS Legal Clinic) won the Hon. Charles Dunn Author Award from the State Bar of Wisconsin for their article, “Under the Radar: Human Trafficking in Wisconsin.” Well done, Daria and Rachel!

Brian Schafer (Milwaukee cross country and track & field team) has been selected as one of just two students in the region to receive a prestigious academic award. The senior runner and civil engineering major was awarded the Outstanding Senior Engineering Student by the Wisconsin Section of the American Society for Civil Engineering (ASCE) at the recent Spring Technical Conference. Congratulations, Brian!

Vanessa Bravo (senior BS in Occupational Studies student) has been working with Dr. Bhagwant Sindhu (Occupational Sciences and Technology) as a SURF student and was recently accepted into the McNair program. Congratulations, Vanessa!

In the News

In collaboration with the College of Nursing, the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District is piloting the Walking School Bus at three elementary schools.

Milwaukee Athletics

The countdown is on as the first “Milwaukee Athletics Tailgate” at Miller Park is set for this coming Saturday, May 12. The Milwaukee baseball team will be playing in its annual contest at Miller Park, hosting Wright State on the field, while student-athlete success will be celebrated off of it with festivities surrounding the inaugural “Black & Gold Scholarship Fundraiser,” highlighted by the scholarship raffle drawing for the chance to win a custom-painted Harley Davidson motorcycle.

The Week

Monday

My week starts with my standing meeting with Robin Van Harpen, followed by an International Recruitment planning meeting, June Board of Regents planning meeting, a meeting with the Academic Staff Committee, and deep-dive meeting with the Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet. I also have my weekly meeting with my staff.

Tuesday

In the morning, I’ll attend the Nonprof-IT Student Showcase (this is a SOIS initiative), I have my monthly meeting with Bob Greenstreet, a UW Campus Restructuring meeting, and my monthly meeting with Ron Perez. In the afternoon, I have my monthly meeting with Nancy Nelson, my weekly meeting with the Chancellor, and I’ll attend the Academic Staff Senate meeting.

Wednesday

I have meetings with several of my direct reports, a meeting regarding Data Sciences Innovation Institute, my monthly meeting with Kanti Prasad, and a meeting with  Mark Harris. I will also attend the Lavender Graduation event in the evening here on campus.

Thursday

I start the day with the APBC meeting, my standing meeting with Katie Miota, and my monthly meeting with Brett Peters. Later, I’ll attend SOE’s All School meeting, the Faculty Senate meeting, and the UW System Provosts’ “Zoom” meeting on the campus restructuring.

Friday

Today, I have a SOIS meeting, a meeting with the McNair students to hand out their stoles, and I’ll make opening remarks at the ARC Excellence Awards ceremony. I have an End of Semester Update with CEAS, a meeting with Robin Van Harpen regarding SPC targets, and I hope to pop in to the Natural Science End of Year Social.

Saturday

I’ll provide remarks at the Honors College graduation and attend the PALM (Promoting Academics in Latino Milwaukee) reception and graduation.

Announcements

Binational Week of Education

The first Semana Binacional de Educación (Binational Week of Education) takes place May 7-10 with programs being held at 27 Mexican Consulates throughout the United States, including the Mexican Consulate in Milwaukee (1443 N. Prospect Avenue). The goal of this community event is to share information about educational opportunities with the local immigrant community. The Roberto Hernández Center will give a presentation on the opportunities that the Center offers to Hispanic students at UWM on May 9 at 12 p.m. (Contact: Alberto Maldonado, donpepe@uwm.edu), and at 10 a.m. on May 10, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese will present on the benefits of being bilingual and the opportunities available at UWM to study the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures (Contact: Kathleen Wheatley, wheatley@uwm.edu).

Evening with Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy, author of “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” and “The God of Small Things,” will speak on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 p.m. in the UWM Union Wisconsin Room. Sponsored by Boswell Book Co. and the UWM L&S Humanities Division. Tickets for UWM faculty and staff are on sale at the Union info desk and are $16 for faculty/staff and $13 for students. All tickets include a paperback copy of Roy’s new novel “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness!” Tickets for the general public are available online.

Artist Talk

Internationally known Egyptian artist Bassem Yousri will present an artist talk in the Golda Meir Special Collections Library on Tuesday, May 8 at 3:30 p.m. He will screen his film, “Wardrobe Man,” and hold a talk back on May 9 at 3:30 pm in Curtin Hall 175.

ARC Excellence Awards

The ARC Excellence Awards Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence on Friday, May 11 from 11:45 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the Golda  Meir Library 4th Floor Conference Center. The Accessibility Resource Center Excellence Awards is an annual event recognizing instructional and other staff members who demonstrate exemplary service to ARC students and staff. This year marks the 20^th anniversary of these awards with a special celebration, including a light lunch, presentation of awards to this year’s recipients, and honoring past winners.

ARC congratulates the Excellence Award Winners for 2018:
Kari Dawson, University Housing
Dylan Barth and Amy Mangrich, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Erma Green, Instructor, Curriculum and Instruction

Marcia Parsons Retirement Celebration

Please join the Peck School of the Arts Department of Dance in giving appreciation, gratitude, and much love to our dearest Marcia Parsons! We will be honoring her 39 years of excellence in teaching, research, service, and mentorship at UWM on May 13. Please help us plan appropriately for food and refreshments by emailing your RSVP to sferro@uwm.edu or on our Facebook page.

Scholarly Communication

UWM Libraries and SAGE Publishing invite you to a program in the Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Series, “Beyond Journal Publishing,” on May 14 from 12:30 – 3 p.m. in the Digital Humanities Lab, located on the second floor of the east wing of the Golda Meir Library. Registration requested.

Wisconsin Academic Advising Association (WACADA)

The WACADA Spring Professional Development Day Planning Committee is still seeking volunteers to assist with implementing the event on Monday, May 21 in the Student Union in the following ways: usher/directional support; registration/information table attendant; session attendant; and tech support.

Take care,

Johannes