MILWAUKEE _ The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will award more than 3,300 degrees at its 118th commencement on Sunday, May 20, at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, 400 W. Kilbourn Ave.
Degrees will be awarded at two ceremonies, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Peter Feigin, president of the Milwaukee Bucks, will be the featured speaker at both the 9 a.m. “black” ceremony and the 1:30 p.m. “gold” ceremony.
The university will present 2,488 bachelor’s degrees, 711 master’s degrees, 143 doctoral degrees and 44 flexible option degrees. The oldest degree recipient this spring is 69, while the youngest is 19.
COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER: Peter Feigin
Since taking over as president of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2014, Peter Feigin has helped transform the organization. His charge: to create a championship team that plays in a state-of-the-art, multipurpose facility, driving the creation of new partnerships, new jobs and a new sense of community for the city of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin.
Feigin rebuilt and injected new energy into the Bucks’ business operations, creating increases in attendance, revenue and TV viewership. Beyond that, he’s created a culture of accountability and fun. The Bucks were named one of Milwaukee’s best places to work in 2015, and Feigin was named the Milwaukee BizTimes’ CEO of the Year in 2015.
Feigin played a leading role in the creation of a new multipurpose arena, which is nearing completion on N. Fourth Street in Milwaukee, just north of the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The project also includes a state-of-the-art training center for the Bucks and 30 acres of mixed use development around the arena that will create a vibrant, urban community area.
Feigin has devoted significant time and energy to community efforts in Milwaukee. He spearheaded the development of the Milwaukee Bucks Foundation, and he serves on the boards of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Public School Foundation, chairs the American Heart and Stroke Association, and co-chairs the African American Chamber of Commerce and the COA Parents of the Year.
HONORARY DEGREES: Dan Egan and Ken Germanson
Honorary degrees will be presented during the “black” ceremony to Dan Egan and Ken Germanson. Egan will be made an Honorary Doctor of Environmental Journalism. Germanson will be made an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
Egan is a reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a senior water policy fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences. He has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and he has won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, John B. Oakes Award, AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award, and J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award. He is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and the author of “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.”
Germanson is a longtime Milwaukee area labor leader, amateur historian and community activist. He is a 1951 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but he began his education at the old University of Wisconsin Extension Division, which offered a two-year program at several sites in downtown Milwaukee. At the time, there was no four-year public university in Milwaukee, and he joined with other students in leading a “Mission to Madison” campaign to establish one; UWM debuted as a comprehensive university in 1956.
SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
The numbers of degrees awarded by UWM schools and colleges are below. The numbers include bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and flex degrees.
College of Letters and Science: 915
Lubar School of Business: 670
School of Education: 264
College of Engineering & Applied Science: 269
College of Health Sciences: 303
Peck School of the Arts: 200
College of Nursing: 215
Helen Bader School of Social Welfare: 232
School of Information Studies: 176
School of Architecture & Urban Planning: 90
Zilber School of Public Health: 26
Global Studies Interdisciplinary: 13
School of Freshwater Sciences: 9
Joint Programs L&S and CEAS: 4
MEDIA ACCESS
Members of the media wishing to cover the commencement ceremonies should enter through the Panther Arena’s main doors and ask for assistance from an usher.
For more information, contact: John Schumacher, schuma63@uwm.edu, 414-229-6778, or Michelle Johnson, john3453@uwm.edu, 414-229-7490.
ABOUT UWM
Recognized as one of the nation’s 115 top research universities, UW-Milwaukee provides a world-class education to 25,000 students from 91 countries on a budget of $653 million. Its 14 schools and colleges include Wisconsin’s only schools of architecture, freshwater sciences and public health, and it is a leading educator of nurses and teachers. UW-Milwaukee partners with leading companies to conduct joint research, offer student internships and serve as an economic engine for southeastern Wisconsin. The Princeton Review named UW-Milwaukee a 2018 “Best Midwestern” university based on overall academic excellence and student reviews, and the Sierra Club has recognized it as Wisconsin’s leading sustainable university.