Chancellor Mark Mone formally assumed leadership of Wisconsin’s premier urban research university in December 2014. A month later, Mone and UWM faced a significant challenge when the governor proposed significant cuts to the University of Wisconsin System, including UWM. While dealing with that challenge, the university continued to move ahead with plans to build on its expertise in research, teaching and community engagement.
On Oct. 2, Chancellor Mone will reflect on the university’s progress in challenging times and make his tenure official as he is inaugurated as UWM’s ninth chancellor. To emphasize the university’s continued strength in top-tier interdisciplinary research, UWM’s new Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex (KIRC) will be dedicated as part of inauguration day ceremonies.
The KIRC dedication and building tours are among a number of public events that will be part of the celebration.
“The new Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex is just one symbol of our progress and strength going forward,” Mone said. “We will continue to face challenges, but with the help of our faculty, staff, alumni and friends in the community, we will continue to meet them.”
“No one is better positioned to handle the challenges the university faces than Chancellor Mone,” said David Misky, president of the UWM Alumni Association Board of Trustees and assistant executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee. “He has incredible support within the university, but he also has a wonderful relationship with business. Both of these relationships will be incredibly useful.”
More about Mone
After seven months as interim chancellor, Mone was named to the position permanently in late 2014 by the UW System Board of Regents. Prior to becoming interim chancellor, he had served as the Chancellor’s Designee for Strategic Planning and Campus Climate. In that role, he worked with senior campus leadership, governance groups and all stakeholders to develop UWM’s 2020 strategic plan and campus-level programs to improve the organizational climate.
A professor of business focused on executive education, organizational behavior and theory, he has been a member of the UWM faculty since 1989 and served more than 15 years as associate dean for executive education and business engagement. From that background, colleagues say, Mone brings a strong dedication to the UWM mission and community as well as a collaborative leadership style.
In speaking to the regents at a June 2015 meeting at UWM, Mone spoke passionately about the university’s impact on southeastern Wisconsin. “UWM is the only public urban research university in Wisconsin, with a strong reputation for community engagement, economic revitalization and entrepreneurism. It is an economic driver in the Midwest, with an annual $1.5 billion impact in Wisconsin alone since 2012.”
In addition, he proudly noted that UWM continues to serve a unique mission in Wisconsin’s largest urban area – making a college education accessible for many first-generation and economically disadvantaged students. “We continue to offer incredible value for the dollar.”
