Good morning, colleagues. Here is this week’s update from Academic Affairs.
Kudos
Earlier this month, Dr. Joan M. Prince, Vice Chancellor of Global Inclusion and Engagement, received the prestigious Phoenix award from the Congressional Black Caucus and Congresswoman Gwen Moore in Washington, D.C. The award is presented annually to an individual who has transformed the community through service, mentoring, and leadership. Congratulations, Joan!
The Department of Dance is excited to announce that Ephrat Asherie (MFA ’16) is the recipient of the inaugural Harkness Promise Award, granted by Dance Magazine. This award highlights innovative thinking and how artistic citizenship positively impacts dance and the broader community through performance, education, and activism. Well done, Ephrat!
Professor Tina Freiburger and Ph.D. student Ali Sheeran (Criminal Justice) recently published their book, Teaching Research Methods. Congratulations, Tina and Ali!
The National Science Foundation has renewed the Science & Technology Center’s “Biology with X-ray Lasers” for a further five years. The $25M award follows a highly competitive nationwide process open to applicants in any area of science and engineering. UWM is a leading participant in this Center. Kudos to Abbas Ourmazd (Physics) and the whole team!
Scott Strath (Kinesiology) has received supplemental support in the amount of $99,549 from the National Institutes of Health for the project titled, “Calibrating free-living physical activity characteristics across functionally-limited populations using machine-learned accelerometer approaches.” This new award supplements an earlier award of $2.82M from the NIH for the same project, which is now in its second year. Dr. Strath is also co-PI on a new NIH R21 in the amount of $431,382 in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The project is entitled, “Update and Novel Validation of the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ).” Well done, Scott!
Male Allies and Advocates Workshops
As part of UWM’s effort to build a more inclusive climate for female faculty members, the university is offering Male Allies and Advocates Workshopson September 27 and 28 in the Library 4th Floor Conference Center. All male faculty members are invited to the interactive workshops, which will look at ways to improve the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women, especially in the STEM areas. 110 people have signed up for the workshops and there is still space available – male faculty members can sign up for one of the workshops online.
In the News
Chia Vang (History and Global Inclusion and Engagement) was featured in a Journal Sentinel story on Hmong involvement in area farmers markets.
The work of Psychology faculty member Karen Frick and her research group was featured in a WTMJ story on Alzheimer’s research.
Milwaukee Athletics
Fans of Milwaukee men’s and women’s basketball can now view the entire 2018-19 season schedules on the MKE website. Game dates and opponents are all set, so fans can check their schedules and pencil in dates on their calendars now!
The Week
Monday
I’m attending the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute Town Hall meeting in the Library (4th floor) and I have standing meetings with Robin Van Harpen, Alan Shoho and the Chancellor, and my staff. The Chancellor’s Executive and Expanded Cabinet meets, I have another meeting with Alan Shoho on developing the teacher pipeline, a budget planning meeting, and a meeting related to the Chancellor’s Committee on Hispanic Serving Initiatives. The CEMAT Executive Committee also meets.
Tuesday
Tuesday is also a busy day. I have standing meetings with Tom Luljak, Alberto Maldonado, Scott Gronert, Michael Doylen, and Dave Clark. I will also attend a meeting on Student Work Experiences and Career Services, then a CEMAT leads meeting, and a Student Success and Research Excellence meeting with the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and a UW Colleges restructuring meeting.
Wednesday
I’m attending a UWM Foundation board meeting, I meet with the Chancellor and Mark Harris, I have a campus space planning meeting, and standing meetings with Alan Shoho, Kim Litwack, and Trudy Turner, and a meeting with the Chancellor. I’m also making remarks at the 5th Annual Graduate Fellowship Celebration (see below) and the UWM African American Students, Faculty, and Alumni meet and greet at the UWM Black Cultural Center.
Thursday
I have a meeting with the cultural attaché from the embassy of the Sultanate of Oman, a budget model meeting and a meeting with Kanti Prasad, plus administrative work.
Friday
I’m attending the Male Allies Workshop in the morning (see above), but this will be primarily an administrative work day and meetings with my direct reports.
Announcements
From the Lubar School of Business
The 31st Annual Lurie Ceremony will be held today at UWM’s Hefter Center. Professor Adrienne Eaton, Rutgers University, will receive the 2018 Melvin Lurie Memorial Prize for Labor-Management Cooperation and an exemplary student from the master’s program will receive the Melvin Lurie Memorial Prize for academic excellence.
Full Moon Ceremony
Join Wisconsin-based Indigenous women’s hand drum group, Strawberry Moon Women’s Singers, tonight from 6-8 p.m. in the Pangea Mall (green space between Bolton and Lubar) for a Full Moon Ceremony honoring Grandmother Metztli (Moon). Sacred songs and teaching of the Mexica or Macehual tradition will be shared. SMWS sings songs in Spanish, Nahuatl, English, and Anishinaabemowin.
Book-Banning Discussion
Joyce M. Latham (SOIS) will be leading a community discussion around the banning of books in the US at the Mead Public Library in Sheboygan, WI on Tuesday, September 25 at 6:30 p.m. The discussion will center around three books that highlight the common reasons people ban and challenge books across different age groups and viewpoints: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain; And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell; and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowing.
Unified Communication/Skype for Business
UWM’s upcoming Unified Communications/Skype for Business project will convert campus telecommunications services to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) using Skype for Business as the platform. Register for an upcoming focus group session to provide feedback on this project.
From the Graduate School
The UWM Graduate School will honor its new fellows with a celebration on September 26 at 4:30 p.m. in the Library 4th Floor Conference Center.
Adventures in Research
Join us for our first UWM Facebook Live event on Thursday, September 27 at 12:30 p.m., when we kick off our “Adventures in Research” series, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what’s going on in UWM’s laboratories. This inaugural event takes you to the Prototyping Center at UWM’s Innovation Campus in Wauwatosa. We’ll talk with Director Kyle Jansson, who will show you how they take an idea and create a physical product. It’s a maker must-see!
From the English Department
The English Department’s 8th Annual Literature and Theory Lecture will be delivered by Sharon Marcus (Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University) on September 27 at 2 p.m. in Curtin 368. The lecture is titled, “The Drama of Celebrity: Imitation.” Graduate students will have an opportunity to meet with Professor Marcus for graduate student bagel hour on Friday, September 28 from 10-11 a.m. in Curtin 939. A discussion of Professor Marcus’s essay, “Erich Auerbach’s Mimesis and the Value of Scale,” will be held on Friday, September 28 at 11:15 a.m. in Curtin 939.
From the Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership, and Research
On Saturday, September 29, the American Red Cross will team up with the UWM Panther Response Team (PRT) to Sound the Alarm with home fire safety and smoke alarm installations in UWM’s Kenwood campus neighborhood. RSVP online to volunteer or contact the CCBLLR in Union G28.
From UITS
In order to meet the requirements of the new UW System Information Security Policies, an upgrade is required for our VPN service. The new service is available now and will be required in order to use remote desktop beginning Monday, October 1.
There is a new WiFi network at UWM called UWM Visitor. It is for guests visiting campus that do not have an ePantherID. Faculty and staff should continue to use UWMWiFi, logging in with their ePantherID and password. Please visit our webpage for more information.
From Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies
On October 4 at 1:30 p.m. in Physics 137, the Department of Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies presents, “Higher Education, Free Speech, and Campus Codes,” a talk by Alexander Tsesis, Raymond & Mary Simon Chair in Constitution Law and Professor at the Loyola School of Law in Chicago.
Latinx Heritage Month
The 2018 Hispanic Heritage Month award will be presented to César Pabón Perez on Friday, October 5 at the Hefter Conference Center.
Campus Connect Gatekeeper and Booster Sessions
Registration is now open for Fall 2018 Campus Connect Gatekeeper and Booster sessions. Join a training and help to strengthen our network of UWM students, faculty, and staff prepared to reach out to students in crisis!
Shared Financial System Shutdown
UWM’s system-wide shared financial system (SFS) will undergo an upgrade from PeopleSoft version 9.1 to version 9.2 and will be shut down from Friday, October 5 until Wednesday, October 10.
From the UWM Libraries
Optimize scholarly efforts with research tools from the Libraries. Select from three targeted sessions on October 12—faculty/staff breakfast; grad/post-doc lunch; student afternoon (ice cream!) Free. Registration required.
From the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL)
Submit a proposal for the 4th Annual UWM Teaching and Learning Symposium by October 15.
Classroom Safety Training
Instructor-focused classroom and campus safety training will help ensure that we are prepared to respond to situations that could cause students to feel unsafe. The focus is on disruptive students, students in crisis, and what to do in case of a violent incident. Please register.
UWM Biosafety Program
See the UWM Biosafety Program’s newsletter for important information about the Biosafety Program at UWM, including training opportunities, the IBC protocol submission process, protocol approval requirements for PIs, and IBC protocol submission deadlines.
Other
Woods wins again! Also, this week is deaf awareness week.
Take care,
Johannes
Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs