The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has a balanced budget for the first time since 2012, Chancellor Mark Mone announced in his fall plenary address Thursday.<\/p>\n
In fact, the current budget is shaping up to be the best it\u2019s been in the last decade, Mone added. The university achieved this feat through strategic position control and is transitioning to a new budget model that will incentivize UWM’s strategic initiatives.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s welcome news because the population of students finishing high school is not expected to rise until 2035. And students, Mone noted, are UWM\u2019s lifeblood. Thirty percent of the university\u2019s funding now comes from tuition revenue.<\/p>\n
The Wisconsin Legislature gets its first look at the 2019-21 biennial budget request in January, and the UW System Board of Regents will be making a pitch for an increase in state support.<\/p>\n
Again, compensation will be part of the request.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a 4 percent pay plan underway in the current budget, andwe\u2019re asking for more in the next biennial budget,\u201d Mone said, adding that it\u2019sa top priority.<\/p>\n
Adding to the university\u2019s brighter outlook is the $205.3 million raised during the \u201cMade in Milwaukee, Shaping the World\u201d campaign, breaking all previous fundraising records. When it launched in 2014, the goal was $175 million. The campaign has been so successful, it will continue through June 2019.<\/p>\n
Another sign of positive momentum, said Mone, is the appearance of UWM in several rankings.<\/p>\n
One is the index of the top 500 research institutions in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Shanghai Ranking. UWM is back on the list for the first time since 2011.<\/p>\n
Improving UWM research and the student experience has required strategic partnerships that\u00a0are student-centric, future-focused and reach across disciplines, and aim to support the needs of employers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat employers say they need are those who think in a different way than someone just training for a specific job,\u201d said Mone.<\/p>\n
To encourage more people to seek higher education and acquire critical thinking skills, Mone is chairing the Higher Education Regional Alliance (HERA), an unprecedented collaboration in the M7 region that knits together 18 institutions that enroll 176,000 postsecondary students.<\/p>\n
HERA aims to make it easier for people to access employment by increasing the number of working adults with two- or four-year degrees to 60 percent by 2027.<\/p>\n
UWM teamed up with Northwestern Mutual and Marquette University this summer to form the Data Science Institute, which will help brand the area as a tech hub and solve problems through computational research. Data science affects almost every aspect of the tech sector, and the partnership will give UWM students intern opportunities. It also will fund professorships at both UWM and Marquette University.<\/p>\n
Funding of the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center represents another model of sustainability for UWM, blending private donations and UW System matching funds to erect the facility at the corner of Kenwood Boulevard and Maryland Avenue. LEC, expected to open in spring 2019, will be a \u201cdifferentiator for UWM,\u201d said Mone, especially for students interested in owning their own business.<\/p>\n
Mone added the real success of UWM lies in its people. More than 70 percent of the campus\u2019 enrollment are continuing students. What influences those students to return and to finish their degrees?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe answer is you,\u201d he said, \u201cand it\u2019s not just in the classroom. It\u2019s from our advisors to our custodial staff. It\u2019s the commitment that happens every day at UWM.\u201d<\/p>\n