Chancellor Mark Mone used Thursday afternoon’s fall plenary address to celebrate UWM’s many successes and emphasize the need for embracing change to ensure UWM is able to meet the many challenges it faces both now and in the future.
Speaking to an in-person and virtual audience from the Helene Zelazo Center, Mone opened his annual address with an anecdote that spoke to his long career at UWM. While welcoming students during move-in, he had a chance meeting with a former student, who just happened to be moving his son into Sandburg Hall.
The story illustrates UWM’s long-term importance and staying power within the community, and how its mission passes down from generation to generation. It also reflects how UWM must continually adapt to best serve the modern needs of students and the broader community.
Mone lauded how UWM’s new initiatives and strategic partnerships help UWM do just that. He pointed toward efforts like the new Milwaukee Direct Admit program, which streamlines the application process for incoming students, and transfer agreements with regional technical colleges, which guarantee admission for their graduates and makes transferring credits to UWM simple and stress-free.
He also noted new degree and microcredential offerings in areas like tech and health care, as well as several significant new awards for funding research.
The business community continues to view UWM as a valuable partner, too, as evidenced by Microsoft’s opening the nation’s first manufacturing-focused AI Co-Innovation Lab at UWM’s Connected Systems Institute. And infrastructure improvements will allow UWM to accommodate more students in modernized environments, such as the new, just-opened Chemistry Building, as well as pending renovations and construction projects focused on health sciences, engineering and neuroscience.
As important as it is to celebrate these successes, however, Mone urged people to not shy away from the very real challenges that UWM must acknowledge. Put simply, national enrollment trends show that UWM faces greater competition for a smaller pool of students. And in addition to declining enrollment trends, UWM also must adjust for steady declines in state funding, a combination that led to the difficult decision to close its two branch campuses and the College of General Studies, as well as the resulting layoffs and non-renewals of faculty and staff at the end of the current academic year.
Mone shared the recommendations put forth in a Deloitte financial assessment, which included a renewed focus on recruitment and retention, as well as a re-examination of its program offerings and workloads. He noted that UWM has started working on some recommendations and is already well down the road on implementing others as part of its 2030 Action Plan and Strategic Framework.
But he closed his presentation by laying out an earnest case for the need to embrace change and agility as UWM moves forward. He said it’s imperative that everyone at UWM recognize the importance of buying into student-centric initiatives, regardless of what their role is at the university. He noted the dividends paid when people engage and listen to create a collegial environment. And he reiterated the value of maintaining a cultural mindset that is open to new and innovative ways of addressing the challenges of the day.
