You’re invited to visit more than 40 UWM sites participating in UWM Doors Open Milwaukee on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Attendees will enjoy behind-the-scenes access, interactive tours, food trucks, shopping at the Makers Market featuring alumni and student creators, and a variety of activities for people of all ages. It’s all part of UWM’s new presenting sponsorship of Historic Milwaukee’s popular annual event.
“UW-Milwaukee is proud to serve as the presenting sponsor of Doors Open Milwaukee, a one-of-a-kind event that brings our community together,” UWM Chancellor Thomas Gibson said. “We are excited to welcome visitors to campus, and our alumni back home, to experience firsthand some of the great work happening every day at UWM. I believe we have an obligation to be stewards of place, and events like Doors Open allow us to deepen our ties to the community we serve.”
This is the 16th edition of Doors Open Milwaukee, which offers tours of more than 150 sites across Milwaukee and provides a rare chance to explore the architecture, design and history of places across the city. Various UWM sites have participated throughout the years, but this marks the first time UWM is coordinating such a large and cohesive Doors Open Milwaukee involvement.
The fun and festivities are also happening in conjunction with Panther Family Weekend, which includes a men’s soccer game and the Alumni, Parent and Family Brunch.
“We can’t wait to showcase the people, the places and the experiences that make UWM such a special place for our students, our alumni and everyone in our community,” said Amy Lensing Tate, executive director of the UWM Alumni Association. “Doors Open is our chance to invite Milwaukee in and welcome our alumni home. To discover what’s new, reconnect with the places that shaped them, and celebrate the extraordinary people and ideas moving both UWM and our city forward.”
The event is designed so that visitors can make a quick stop or stay for the day, and there are plenty of activities and giveaways. Be one of the first 2,000 registered attendees to stop by an Ask Me tent on UWM’s main campus to receive a free UWM Doors Open Milwaukee tote bag. Also at the tent, pick up a bingo card and complete it during your visit to earn a limited-edition UWM sticker pack.
And don’t miss the Makers Market in Spaights Plaza, featuring the creations of more than 50 local alumni, student and community makers, bakers, sculptors, jewelers and artists. You’ll find artisanal foods, handcrafted jewelry, one-of-a-kind artwork and more, all while enjoying music and food truck fare.
Here is the full list of participating UWM sites:
American Geographical Society Library
We invite you to come explore many historic Milwaukee maps and atlases, as well as other Milwaukee-centric materials from UWM’s archives and special collections. Located on the third floor of the Golda Meir Library, the AGSL is home to nearly 2 million items related to exploring our world, including maps, atlases, globes, photographs, monographs, serials and digital geospatial data.
Biological Sciences Greenhouse in Northwest Quad
Perched on the Northwest Quad roof, it’s home to an instructional collection of 670 plant species representing over 110 plant families. Stop in to see the many specimens that are rare in cultivation or endangered in the wild and see short films featuring native pollinators, microscopic plant wonders and interactive displays for interested folks of all ages.
Cambridge Commons Residence Hall
More than 700 UWM students make Cambridge Commons their home away from home, enjoying suite-style living, riverfront views and thoughtful gathering spaces. Enjoy a guided 15- to 20-minute tour led by University Housing staff, finishing with a walkthrough of a furnished residence hall room.
Chemistry Building
Explore UWM’s newest building, its research laboratories and collaborative spaces. Watch ice cream being made with liquid nitrogen, then taste the results, and enjoy other family-friendly demonstrations.
Children’s Learning Center
Meet the educators and tour the facility that provides care and an emergent curriculum of play-based learning for children from 6 weeks to 12 years of age in a beautiful, newly renovated site in the Northwest Quad.
College of Engineering & Applied Science
Home to cutting-edge technology and research where students study a range of fields, from artificial intelligence to biomedical engineering to energy storage and more. Take a peek in the Kulwicki Garage, which exhibits memorabilia from NASCAR racing legend and UWM alum Alan Kulwicki (’77 BS).
Connected Systems Institute
Get a firsthand glimpse at what the future of manufacturing looks like and see the home of Microsoft’s AI Co-Innovation Lab, as well as a fully functional manufacturing cell that uses advanced systems. You’ll also learn about UWM’s SAP University Competence Center, one of only five such centers worldwide, which gives students hand-on access to enterprise technology.
Connection & Achievement Collective
Tour campus resource centers, which foster student success through belonging, engagement and community. Explore the centers, meet staff and discover student stories and traditions.
Criminal Justice & Criminology
Head to UWM’s Northwest Quad and test your knowledge in an interactive true crime trivia challenge called Crack the Case, featuring real criminal cases in which you can investigate clues and surprising twists. Discover how criminal justice professionals piece together the facts to uncover the truth.
David O. Nicholas Applied Finance Lab in the Lubar College of Business
State-of-the-art facility using the exact technology used by financial professionals. Finance professors will teach the basics about valuations during 10-minute presentations at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Downer Woods
Explore the 11-acre urban forest nestled in the northeast corner of UWM’s campus and one of Milwaukee’s most unique natural spaces. Join one of the four guided tours that start at the top of each hour from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. or walk the path on your own.
Edith S. Hefter Conference Center
One of Milwaukee’s finest early 20th-century Lake Drive estates, designed in 1911 by architect Fitzhugh Scott. Enjoy a 20-minute behind-the-scenes guided tour of the building’s first floor, showcasing the restorations and highlighting unique elements and hidden spaces.
Emile H. Mathis Gallery
This gallery in Mitchell Hall displays exhibitions that include works from the 9,000-piece UWM Art Collection curated by UWM Art History faculty and staff, students and partners. Visitors can peek into one of the collection’s behind-the-scenes storage areas.
Helen Bader Office of Applied Gerontology
Head to UWM’s Northwest Quad and test your knowledge with the Healthy Aging Trivia Challenge, a fun, interactive trivia game that dispels common myths about aging and highlights the habits and inspiring stories that support healthy aging for all ages. Participants are welcome to play, learn surprising facts, and discover that it’s never too early, or too late, to embrace healthy aging.
History Department Retro Computing Lab
Part nostalgic digital playground, part digital and technological history lesson, with some of the 50 vintage computers dating back to the 1970s – from PCs and Apple Macintosh machines to legends like the Apple II, Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. Spend a few minutes playing your favorite old-school games and meet the UWM history professor who created the space, preserves the machines and makes it what it is today.
Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health
Wisconsin’s only accredited school of public health, located in downtown Milwaukee in a 1918 cream city-brick building that originally served as a tank house for the Pabst Brewing Co. A restoration was completed in 2013 and received LEED Gold certification. Tour its welcoming and collaborative spaces, including an airy courtyard, a spacious kitchen and a bright lobby atrium.
Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex
State-of-the-art facility for scientific discovery, fostering research that crosses traditional boundaries. Meet LIGO physicists and enjoy guided tours and interactive exhibits in the main atrium, including infrared selfie pictures and demonstrations about black holes. The student-led Coffeeshop Astrophysics team will present a trio of 20-minute lectures to explain some of the science behind our understanding of the universe.
Kenilworth Square East Gallery
The six-story Kenilworth Square building, once a Ford Model T plant, is now home to UWM student apartments, classrooms, studios, performance spaces and retail stores. The Kenilworth Square East Gallery, on the building’s first floor, is hosting the Continuum 2026 exhibition, featuring two shows: “Touching the Earth: Kevin Giese & Friends” and “Mentorship & Memory: The Haitian Exchange with John Colt.”
Lubar Entrepreneurship Center
A powerful resource for entrepreneurs, innovators and anyone who wants to make a positive change in their community, housed in an open-air, multifunctional space that fosters collaboration. Meet student and community innovators, and try a quick, creative challenge showing how entrepreneurial thinking can turn everyday problems into new possibilities.
Makers Market in Spaights Plaza
Shop local and discover something unexpected from more than 50 student, alumni and community makers, artists and small businesses, including artisanal foods, handcrafted jewelry and one-of-a-kind artwork while enjoying music and food truck fare.
Manfred Olson Planetarium
Enjoy 20-minute stargazing shows featuring a guided tour of the night sky and its constellations at 1 p.m., 1:45 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:15 p.m., 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Please note that portions of the presentation take place in complete darkness and may not be suitable for children under the age of 4.
Office of Sustainability
Tours show how UWM turns waste into revenue, everything from food scraps to surplus furniture, including a 900-pound bale of plastic bags. Tours leave from the School of Architecture & Urban Planning’s first-floor Marcus Commons area at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Office of Undergraduate Research in the Student Union
Student researchers will discuss their work with visitors and showcase their research through posters and displays.UWM offers more than 1,000 research opportunities for students, half of which are paid positions. UWM’s research program ranks among the top 3% of research universities in the country.
Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin Center
The practice facility for the UWM NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams, and home to the Bud K. Haidet Hall of Fame and the Legacy of Excellence exhibit. Shoot on the same court as the Panthers and explore their training amenities.
Peck School of the Arts Mainstage Theatre
The 290-seat capacity theater is spacious and acoustically rich, equipped with cutting-edge technology and adaptable staging capabilities. Walk through for a glimpse of the set for “Company” by Stephen Sondheim, which runs Oct. 7-11. Also, explore artifacts from past performances in the lobby.
School of Architecture & Urban Planning Downtown Milwaukee Model
Its striking L-shaped building, designed exclusively for architecture and urban planning students, includes a central atrium with floor-to-ceiling windows. In the school’s advising office, see an impressive 8-by-12-foot, three-dimensional scale model of downtown Milwaukee featuring nearly 400 meticulously re-created buildings produced with 3D printers.
School of Freshwater Sciences
Perched on the shore of Lake Michigan and dedicated to researching, understanding, preserving and teaching about one of the world’s most precious natural resources. Explore research labs and interactive exhibits showcasing groundbreaking work in fish ecology, aquaculture, water chemistry, invasive species and climate change.
School of Information Studies
Stop by UWM’s Northwest Quad and play Spot the Scam: Cybersecurity Challenge. Think like an information security professional as you identify phishing attempts, suspicious links and weak passwords.
Stritch Family Literacy Center
Located in the UWM Children’s Learning Center, it combines decades of university-led literacy research with compassionate, individualized instruction to help every child and adolescent reach their full reading potential. Tour the facilities, meet staff and gather more information on the benefits available to children.
UWM Student Union
The center of campus life, with over 27,000 visitors each day during the school year. Freshly renovated in 2023 to enhance spaces with natural light and modernize its look, it’s a place for dining, gathering, recreation, support services and events.
Thomas A. Greene Geological Museum
One of the world’s most important geological collections with about 5,000 of its items on display, including a collection of Chinese minerals recently acquired on loan. Visitors can create earthquakes by jumping near the museum’s seismometer and use an interactive sandbox that generates topographic maps of sand.
Union Studio Arts and Craft Centre
Participate in a free button-making demonstration and join guided tours at this student-run maker space in the Student Union, which brings together artists and community members to share ideas and create in multiple disciplines, including ceramics, screen-printing, fibers, metals and film photography. Children under age 14 are welcome when accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Union Art Gallery
The Union Art Gallery in the Student Union exhibits a wide variety of contemporary art. Its current show, “A Tending,” features the work of UWM alumna Jennifer Bastian (’07 MA, ’08 MFA.) Through fiber, sculpture, installation and photography, Bastian creates environments that invite reflection, vulnerability and care.
Union Cinema
Since 1972, the Union Cinema, located in the newly renovated UWM Student Union, has delivered a variety of entertaining and intellectually engaging film and video programming. Visitors will receive a behind-the-scenes tour of the cinema and its booth with a projectionist.
Union Recreation Center
Enjoy free access to the rec center in the newly renovated UWM Student Union. It features a 10-lane bowling alley, 12 championship-sized billiards tables and a new esports lounge with 45 high-end gaming PCs and five console gaming stations.
WUWM 89.7 Milwaukee’s NPR
Enjoy self-guided tours of the city’s premier public radio news station and see the studios that produce award-winning shows like “Lake Effect.”
Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts
One of UWM’s most beloved and beautiful spaces with a grand entrance and two elaborate stained-glass displays, highlighted by the 758-seat Helen Bader Concert Hall. Enjoy pop-up classical guitar performances and be sure to reserve time for exploring the beautiful stained-glass windows and other architectural features.
Ziemer Clinical Simulation Center
A state-of-the-art learning environment housed in UWM’s Northwest Quad with lifelike manikins, patient simulators and real-world medical equipment that let students learn and practice hands-on skills and patient care.
