Chancellor’s Activities: Access, Advances, Alumni and Advocacy

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Dear UWM Faculty and Staff,

This winter has been bracing in terms of weather — and with many advances, alumni engagement and advocacy for UWM. I’m pleased to share a summary of my activities since late January.

Access and Student Success

Today, I am a panelist at the Advancing Equity in Our Colleges and Universities summit. With five other regional higher education institutions leaders we will discuss how to reimagine leadership for educating diverse students. Doing things differently to attract and retain diverse students is critical as Wisconsin continues to see tremendous growth in its populations of color.Our continued focus on student retention and enrollment management – across all functions – is how we will successfully attract, retain, support and graduate more students. Engaging with students is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. We can all make a difference in our students’ lives and sense of belonging on our campuses. Say hello to students, ask how their day is going or what is on their mind. Students respond positively to this simple act of caring. There are many other ways that we can have an impact. I highly encourage you to read and apply the excellent ideas in the new ‘Student Success Best Practices’ weekly messages.Advances
Earlier this month, I had an action-packed follow-up trip to the headquarters of Microsoft that included a meeting with UWM alum and CEO Satya Nadella. We are seeking to expand relations with Microsoft and our Connected Systems Institute, among other areas. I was also a panelist at the company’s Campus Connections Conference and spoke about ‘Delivering 21st Century Skills.’

The focal point of recent surveys — and that I underscore in my presentations — is the preponderance of CEOs and employers regionally and globally emphasizing the need for educating in areas that are foundational to UWM: humanities, liberal arts and social sciences as exhibited in critical thinking, interpersonal skills and communication abilities.

Last week, we hosted the Higher Education Regional Alliance (HERA) M7 Metro Momentum Pathways Winter Summit at our Milwaukee campus where I was delighted to give welcome remarks to the 170+ attendees who are working hard to advance student success. Georgia State University’s Tim Renick gave a great presentation on using data analytics to eliminate equity gaps. As chair of HERA, I visited the Carthage College Board of Trustees on Feb. 11.

Drawing on our success of our comprehensive fund-raising campaign, I am working with our Development team to advance several bridge campaigns. We’ve met with donors to support our Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, our planned new research vessel, a Student Promise program to increase graduation rates, and programming around our evolving Engineering Math and Sciences footprint.

Alumni Engagement
A couple of days ago, I returned from a successful fund-raising trip with donors and alumni in Naples, FL. In several meetings, I visited our alumni in the area and presented an overview and updates on UWM’s trajectory.

Did you know that there are more than 1,300 UWM employees who are alumni? I look forward to celebrating and distributing awards at the annual Alumni Employee Awards and Appreciation luncheon on Feb. 26th.

If you’re a chocolate lover you may appreciate this Chancellor Mone Tries Making Chocolates video we made with alumna Julie Waterman, the founder and owner of Indulgence Chocolatiers. Julie is one of our many remarkable alumni who has used her UWM experiences to succeed.

Advocacy
This past Tuesday, the Wisconsin State Assembly voted unanimously to support the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin, which UWM is leading. We are now waiting to see if the bill will be scheduled for a Senate vote. Earlier, the Joint Finance Committee approved passage of $2M in initial funding for the FCW.

On another advocacy front, we are working with UW System on a Building a Diverse Workforce proposal as part of UWS’ budget request.

On Valentine’s Day, our Milwaukee campus hosted UW System’s ‘All in Wisconsin’ tour which demonstrates how the UWS meets Wisconsin’s needs and also generates ideas about how the System can continue to do so. More than 70 attendees at the Business Breakfast heard remarks from Board of Regents President Drew Petersen, UWS President Ray Cross and me. I moderated a discussion with attendees about how UWS and UWM can be better partners. Two student roundtable discussions followed – one focusing on ‘Entrepreneurs in Action’ (several of the student participants are pictured above); and the other on ‘Student Success.’ The visit ended with a news conference regarding UWS’ campus climate surveys slated for this spring.

UWM is becoming quite well known as a strong partner thanks to the work many of you are doing. Earlier this month, I was asked to deliver the keynote address at STEM Forward’s 67th Annual Engineers Week Banquet on Feb. 12. in which I shared updates on UWM’s strategic partnerships.

And …
Looking ahead, I will give welcoming comments at the 21st annual UWM Drag Show this Saturday, Feb. 22. On Monday, I will meet with our 2030 Think Tank co-chairs and on Thursday, I will help kick off the Milwaukee Engineering Research Conference.

Enjoy these last few days of February and especially the gift of an extra day on the 29th!

Best regards,

Mark A. Mone
Chancellor
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee