Location: Via Teams
Present: J. Almquist, E. Cochrane, A. Dempsey Fischer, P. Dixon, G. Dukes, L. Eastman, S. Fuller Muñiz, P. Geraci, G. Henion, J. Lessila, K. Morgan, T. Nation, C. Parks, C. Peterson, K. Premeau, R. Harrison, M. Renk, L. Ross, S. Ruditys, M. Vallejo, K. Valerius, C. Warneke, L. Wieczorek, S. Wirka
Absent: N. Brautigam, C. Fitzpatrick, R. Wahl
Guests: Chancellor T. Gibson, Provost A. Daire, S. Genung, E. Watson
- Call to Order-The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m.
- Approval of minutes for July 15, 2025-The minutes were approved as submitted via autoconsent.
- Chancellor Update-Chancellor T. Gibson-The Senate welcomed Chancellor Gibson to the meeting. The meeting was suspended at 10:03 due to hackers interrupting the meeting. The meeting was reconvened at 10:08 a.m. L. Eastman will follow up with Campus Security and other appropriate departments about the hackers.
The Chancellor is looking forward to starting the new semester in September. He updated the Senate on the campus projects that were funded by the new campus budget. The Payplan was approved by the Governor and will be moving forward. - Provost Update-A. Daire-was on hand to address the Senate. Enrollments are looking good. Everyone has been working hard to increase recruitment and retention of our students. UWM is nearing 76% retention rate which will help offset some of the revenue that has been lost due to foreign student enrollment declines.
- R. Van Harpen & D. Knab-FAA and Budget update-Vice Chancellor Van Harpen and D. Knab were unable to attend today’s Senate meeting and will be re-scheduled.
- Chair Update-Chair Dukes met recently to discuss campus financial issues and potential layoffs. Focus on retaining quality staff is always important. Chancellor Gibson was appreciative of the hard work of UWM’s University Staff.
- UWM Digital Accessibility-E. Watson updated the Senate on Digital Accessibility. UWM is moving to a more accessible web presence. It will be in line with Federal and State regulations which will be in place in April 2026. As the campus moves towards accessibility pages, documents and more will be updated and reside to help all who visit our campus web site.
- Committee/Member Reports-
- Campus AI committee-The campus is exploring options to use for AI. Microsoft, Google, Chatgpt are being reviewed for affordablility and flexibility. L. Eastman will keep the Senate updated on any decisions.
- Secretary of the University’s office will be moving their website to WebID 2.0 to make it more Accessible for all. It should be ready by the beginning of the semester. If anyone has questions or needs anything they can contact the Secretary of the University’s office.
- New/Other Business-There was no new or other business.
- Adjournment-The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.