Kudos 

Wilkistar Otieno (Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering) received UW System’s 2022 Outstanding Women of Color in Education Award. She was selected as the UWM honoree for this award and will be formally recognized in a ceremony at UW-Madison on November 10. Congratulations, Wilkistar! 

Russel Cuhel, Carmen Aguilar, and graduate student Ryan Roekle shared their research on algal blooms and ammonia at the Great Lakes Sport Fisherman Foundation October membership meeting. Well done, Russel, Carmen, and Ryan! 

Laodong Guo (Freshwater Sciences) received $360,805 from the Division of Chemistry-National Science Foundation to study how microplastics and nanoplastics degrade in aquatic environments. Congratulations, Laodong! 

In the News 

Yaidi Cancel Martinez (Urban Planning) discussed the unique characteristics and challenges of Wisconsin veterans across four key areas—education, economy, housing, and health—on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Morning Show. Her 115-page report, the “State of Veterans in Wisconsin,” was part of UWM’s Center for Economic Development technical assistance research for a local non-profit organization serving Wisconsin veterans. 

Water Policy Specialist Andrian Lee and Director Melissa Scanlan recently discussed their research on equitable access to safe drinking water and historic investments in water infrastructure with The Conversation. 

Milwaukee Athletics 

Three former Milwaukee student athletes and a tandem of soccer coaches will be inducted into the Bud K. Haidet Milwaukee Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday, November 12. Members of the Class of 2022 include Tony Sanneh (men’s soccer), Samia Taylor (women’s track and field), Tyler Bucholz (men’s track and field), head coach Michael Moynihan (women’s soccer), and longtime associate head coach David Nikolic (women’s soccer). Contact Chris Roche (rochec@uwm.edu) with questions. 

The Week in Retrospect 

This week began and ended with events honoring our students and staff. On Monday night, I was able to attend the Melvin Lurie Memorial Prize Ceremony, which is an annual event celebrating the success of students in the Master of Human Resources and Labor Relations program. I also met with the first of our candidates for Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications and provided an update on realignment communications and other topics at the Associate Deans meeting. On Tuesday, I provided a similar update at the Academic Staff Senate meeting. On Wednesday, I met our second candidate for the VC of Marketing and Communications and joined a partnership briefing on the Milwaukee Anchor Collaborative, a group that includes UWM and is committed to building job and business opportunities in eight of Milwaukee’s most economically challenged zip codes. Friday finishes up with the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare Awards Ceremony. 

Announcements

• Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars
  UWM and the UW System Office of Academic Programs and Faculty Advancement invite applications for the 2023-24 Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars program. During the program, participants will develop and implement an equity-minded Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project. Please email application materials to sriforgi@uwm.edu by November 11:
  • Letter stating your interest in and qualifications for the WTFS Program (two-page maximum)
  • Teaching and learning philosophy, as it intersects with equity, diversity, and inclusion (three-page maximum)
  • Abbreviated curriculum vitae (two-page maximum)
  • Reference letter from your Department Chair or Dean

• No More Clutter
  Beginning this fall, Microsoft will no longer support the Clutter feature in Outlook. After its retirement, those who have enabled this feature to sort less important emails into the Clutter folder will see all incoming email in their general inbox.

• MFA Fatigue
  If you ever receive a series of unfamiliar Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) requests, scammers already have your password and are spamming your MFA. Learn the best way to stop scammers from bypassing MFA.

• Panther Scholarship Portal
  The Panther Scholarship portal is now accepting applications for 2023-24.

• Funding for Water-related Undergraduate Summer Research
  The FreshWater@UW program at the UW Aquatic Sciences Center will offer up to 25 funded positions for water research projects throughout the UW System during summer 2023. Recruiting begins November 1. Learn more.

Campus Events

• Lab Safety Escape Room
  University Safety and Assurances is excited to offer a Lab Safety Escape Room on Thursdays and Fridays through October. It is free to all faculty, students, and staff. If your team would like to have some fun with safety and compete with other departments or groups on campus to show off your knowledge of lab safety or to just have fun and learn, sign up now!

• The Post-Roe Research Landscape
  The Center for 21^st Century Studies (C21) will host an open conversation about university research in the context of the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Wednesday, October 19 from 12-1:30 p.m. in Curtin 939. The conversation will feature representatives from across campus, including Donna McGee (Legal Affairs), Sam Westcott (Sponsored Programs), and Reproductive Justice Collaboratory Project members Maria Novotny and Rachel Bloom-Pojar. Virtual attendance is also available via Zoom (registration required).

• Horror TV of the 1970s
  A video interview, part of the UCLA Film and Television Archive virtual screening event: Horror Television of the 1970s: “The House and the Brain,” will be held on Thursday, October 20 at 2 p.m. central.

• Adventures in Archaeology: UWM Student Research Experiences Abroad
  UWM Classics, Art History, and Anthropology students who participated in archaeological programs abroad over the summer of 2022 will share their research experiences at a UWM Undergraduate Symposium on Thursday, October 20 from 4-6:30 p.m. in Mitchell 159.

• An Afternoon with Mishuana Goeman
  Women’s and Gender Studies is pleased to welcome Dr. Mishuana Goeman (Professor and Chair of Indigenous Studies at University of Buffalo) as this year’s WGS Vilas Lecture Speaker. Her talk, “Indigenous Art as Revisioning and Unsettling Colonial Enclosure,” takes place on Friday, October 21 at 3 p.m. in Greene Hall.

• Exploring Majors Fair
  The annual, campus-wide Exploring Majors Fair will be held on Monday, October 24 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the Union Ballroom. Students will have the opportunity to speak with faculty and staff representatives from all UWM majors, minors, and certificates.

• IMPACT Series
  The Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (NMDSI) IMPACT Education Speaker Series will meet virtually on Friday, October 28 from 12-12:30 p.m. Juliana Hirt, Senior Analytics Engineer at Northwestern Mutual and doctoral student, research assistant, and instructor in the School of Information Studies at UWM will share her impressions and rationale as to the importance of early exposure to data organization and retrieval as part of a robust data science curriculum.

• Constellations of the Zodiac
  Delve into the astronomy and mythology behind the zodiac and learn how to find your zodiac constellation in the night sky. Explore the stories and science of the zodiac constellations with a focus on what makes this month’s constellation, Scorpius, unique.

• Faculty Mentoring
  National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) Webinar Discussions: The Faculty Mentoring Program in Collaboration with the Multicultural Scholars Collaborative and Mosaic Network are offering opportunities for structured discussion related to webinars available through the NCFDD over the course of this academic year. The first meeting, to reflect together on the NCFDD Panel, “What I Wish I Had Known as a New Faculty Member,” will be on Tuesday, November 1 at noon. Both in person and Zoom options available. More information.

Something Different 

These were late summer visitors to our garden. In flight, it is hard to believe that they are not hummingbirds.    

Take care,