Department Updates

Four people cluster together in a crowded room with chairs in a row behind them. Two younger women have their backs to the viewer, talking to an older white man and woman dressed in business casual.
Chancellor Mone and Professor Jennifer Jordan speak with urban studies graduate students at the 27th Annual Urban Studies Student Research Forum in May.

Urban Studies

Students’ hard work and dedication to their research paid off as the Urban Studies program showcased their work at the 27th Annual Student Research Forum.

Urban studies majors in the 600 Capstone Seminar course and several graduate students in urban studies, geography, and public health presented their work during a juried poster session in the Union Alumni Fireside Lounge in May.

A young white woman with long blond hair and glasses, wearing a white striped sweater, holds an award as she stands next to a black and yellow research poster with a blue ribbon attached to it.
Urban studies major Caitlin Monahan won the Undergraduate Award for her research.

Several students were recognized for their work. Urban studies major Caitlin Monahan won the Undergraduate Award for her poster titled “The Prevalence of Change: House Flipping as a Gentrification Mechanism in Milwaukee.” Maria Francis, a PhD candidate in Urban Studies, received the Graduate Award for her poster titled “Unveiling Narratives: Resisting Adversity and Empowering Youth through Milwaukee’s Community Media Project.

A young woman with brown skin and black hair in a low ponytail wears a white blouse and holds a certificate. She stands next to a black and yellow research poster with a blue ribbon attached to it.
PhD candidate Maria Francis won the Graduate Award for her research.

Part of the afternoon event included two panel presentations. The first featured a viewing and talk back of a student-created video of the Cherry Street Community Garden as part of the Climates of Inequality Media Project, a multi-university collaboration focused on environmental and social justice. The 7-minute video can be viewed here.

Three people sit in a row behind a table with a black table cloth printed with the UWM Urban Studies logo. Behind them in a projector screen showing an image with some writing.
Panelists discussed community engagement in Milwaukee’s Walnut Hill neighborhood.

The main panel discussion, co-moderated by urban studies PhD candidates Maria Francis and Yuchen Zhao, brought together community members, students and faculty, and city officials to discuss community engagement and neighborhood collaboration in the Walnut Hill neighborhood.  The panel included Adrian Spencer (Deputy Director, Rooted & Rising – Washington Park), Joseph Kaltenberg (Milwaukee Parks Manager, City of Milwaukee Dept. of Public Works); Angela Pruitt (Neighborhood Leader and Community Garden Steward); Sinai Mendoza-Zarate (Executive Director, Chavez BID & Urban Studies MS student); and Darrell Terrell (Neighborhood Leader and Art Lot Steward).

By the Urban Studies Program

Chemistry & Biochemistry

An image of a three-story building with a white and gray exterior divided into multiple panels.

UW-Milwaukee’s new Chemistry Building received a 2025 Mayor’s Design Award on May 16 at UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Opened in Fall 2024 after six years of construction, the cutting-edge, 163,400-square-foot building strengthens UWM’s role as a scientific research and education leader. Designed with modern architecture and equipped with advanced labs, flexible classrooms and collaborative spaces, the building supports both academic and industry innovation.

Since 1997, the Mayor’s Design Award has recognized projects that contribute to Milwaukee’s built environment by enhancing public spaces, expanding educational and job opportunities, fostering social connections, and setting new standards for development and architecture.

By Luella Dooley-Menet, Marketing & Communications

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.