Provost's Update: Friday, October 24, 2025

Office of the Provost

Friday, October 24, 2025

Good morning, colleagues. Here is this week’s update from Academic Affairs.

I am committed to ensuring equitable access to education, and as a public access university, this is mission-critical. The University of Wisconsin and the Department of Justice have released new policy and guidance on digital accessibility for April 2026.

At UWM, we are actively working toward a more inclusive digital environment for all. This extensive effort involves strategic planning and campus-wide implementation, with each of us playing a vital role. By carefully considering every digital item—from our website to our course materials—we can ensure equitable access to information across the university.

No matter what your role is at UWM, I would like to encourage you to become familiar with the following resources and training to help ensure that UWM provides accessible digital materials:

See the university action plan, get resources, documentation, and guides at uwm.edu/digital-accessibility/

Attend a live training or complete modules to learn about digital accessibility for any or all typical applications like PowerPoint, Word, Canvas, video, and more.

PhD student Zo Andriantomanga’s (Economics) paper has been selected to receive an Abramson Scroll from the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). The Abramson Scroll is awarded annually to one of the most outstanding articles published in Business Economics, NABE’s flagship journal, over the past year. The award was presented at the NABE Annual Meeting in Philadelphia (October 12–14).

Prof. Ryo Amano (Mechanical Engineering), Director of the US DOE Industrial Training & Assessment Center (ITAC), has published a book titled "Fundamentals of Turbomachinery: Theory and Applications" with Wiley.

Prof. Amanda Seligman (History and Urban Studies) and Jaclyn Kelly (UWM History Department alum and Executive Director of the Wisconsin Labor History Society) have won the American Historical Association's William and Edwyna Gilbert award for articles on teaching. The article receiving recognition is Amanda I. Seligman and Jaclyn J. Kelly, “Staging Historical Reenactments on Twitter: History, Methods, and Ethics,” The History Teacher (Vol. 57, no. 2, February 2024): 179-209.

UWM Planetarium Director Jean Creighton was recently confirmed as President-Elect of the Great Lakes Planetarium Association, a 200+ member organization dedicated to supporting astronomy and space science education at planetariums throughout the Midwest. Jean is excited to broaden the reach of her passion for astronomy and education.

The Student Parent Success Program, the Center for International Education, and the UWM Graduate School are teaming up to host a children’s clothing drive for UWM graduate students. Do you have gently used children’s clothing that your little one has outgrown? Consider donating! Drop off items at the Graduate School (Mitchell Hall, Room 261, second floor) anytime until Oct. 24. Your donations will go a long way in supporting UWM grad student families!
Have you interacted with a student that you were especially concerned about, but you didn’t quite know what to say, who to tell, or what to do? Perhaps the student confided in you about a serious personal issue, said something that led you to worry about them, or acted in a way that concerned you. The Dean of Students Office invites all faculty and staff to attend the workshop, Support U: Fostering a Culture of Support at UWM. You’ll learn how to identify and support students who may be experiencing challenges or crises. You’ll also learn about how to make referrals, seek assistance, and connect students to the Dean of Students Office Case Managers, as well as campus and community resources. The workshop is especially useful for employees newer to UWM or those wanting to learn more about the support function in the Dean of Students Office.
- Wednesday 11/12 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. in the Union, Room 240
Master’s and Doctoral students in any discipline at UW-Milwaukee are invited to propose an event or program to the Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) for the Spring 2026 semester. Selected submissions will be developed in collaboration with C21 staff and will be provided with a working budget of $1,000. This event programming offers a hands-on opportunity that will make a strong addition to any graduate CV. Applications may be submitted by individual students or groups. C21 reserves the right to have final approval of all projects. Learn more about the theme and how to apply. The proposal deadline is November 16, 2025, at 11:59 p.m.
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions will share its 2025 cycle insights and plans for the 2026 onboarding cycle for students at a biannual Onboarding Update on Thursday, October 30 from 2:15-3:45 p.m. via Teams. All faculty and staff are encouraged to attend or watch the recording. See more details about this event.

The Office of the Provost invites internal applications for the Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship. UWM may nominate one candidate, to be selected through an internal review process. This program supports humanities and humanistic social science faculty who seek formal training outside their areas of specialization to pursue advanced, cross-disciplinary research. It enables scholars to acquire new competencies that foster innovative and effective ways of bringing humanistic knowledge to address societal challenges. See more information and full listing of eligibility and application requirements.
The UWM community is invited to a conversation with renowned humanitarian and distinguished leader David Beasley on Nov. 20, at 3 p.m. in the UWM Student Union, Wisconsin Room. In this conversation, moderated by Chia Vang, UWM vice chancellor for community empowerment and institutional inclusivity, Beasley will reflect on his tenure with the United Nations World Food Programme, sharing key highlights and offering insights into pressing issues facing the United States and the global community today. The discussion begins at 3 p.m., followed by a reception at 4:30 p.m. Learn more about the free event at this webpage.
On Oct. 30, 2025, the PAWS login page will be updated with a fresh look. The functionality will remain the same; proceed to log in as you usually would. Additionally, please use the new web address, uwm.edu/paws, when navigating to PAWS. The previous web address, paws.uwm.edu, will be retired on December 19, 2025.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more present in our classrooms, offices, and daily work, many of us are navigating uncertainty, curiosity, and concern. Some feel excited by the possibilities, while others feel unprepared or left out of the conversations shaping AI's future on our campus. Learn more at AI in Higher Education: A Dialogue Across Perspectives on October 24 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom. This event, co-sponsored by CETL, CEII, and UITS, offers a space to come together and explore our diverse experiences with AI, share perspectives, and build skills for engaging in thoughtful, inclusive conversations about the technology. This session is designed for faculty, instructors, students, grad students, and staff. All perspectives welcome—no AI experience or expertise required. Learn more and register online.
Join the Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) at UW-Milwaukee for a panel discussion that explores how Milwaukeeans and MKE organizations might sustain, expand, and care for the humanities across our city. The State of the Humanities MKE panel invites four Milwaukee-based humanities advocates—Michael Carriere (MSOE), Art Derse (MCW), Jodi Eastberg (MIAD), and Maggie Nettesheim Hoffmann (Marquette)—to discuss: What’s important about the humanities in Milwaukee, especially in our current moment? What are we fighting to sustain, expand, or ideate? How can we care for the humanities in MKE? What does this look like? The panel will take place on October 30 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 p.m. in Curtain Hall Room 175. Learn more and register online.
The deadline for digital accessibility compliance is April 2026. For October, CETL is inviting instructors to complete the following steps towards making Spring 2026 course materials digitally accessible. Learn more on CETL’s website.
- Clean Up Course Files with TidyUP. Use the TidyUP tool in Canvas to identify and remove duplicate or unused files. This helps streamline course content to focus accessibility efforts on materials used by students.
- Identify Key File Types and Register for Targeted Training. Review the remaining course materials most important for Spring courses. Determine which file type (e.g., PowerPoints, Word docs, videos) appears most frequently, then register for the associated digital accessibility training session(s).
- Run UDOIT Advantage in Your Canvas Course. Use the UDOIT Advantage tool to scan courses for accessibility issues, provide actionable feedback, and help prioritize updates to Spring 2026 courses to ensure course materials meet accessibility standards.

Each year, the Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) offers fellowships to UWM faculty and academic staff that provide the time, space, and collegial support to generate new knowledge and ideas. C21 is currently accepting applications from researchers whose work aligns with some aspect of the ’26-’27 theme, Slow Action. The year of slow action will explore the practices, methodologies, histories, and theories of collective organizing across communities and institutions, with a focus on building values-rooted systems and deliberate, actionable pathways that endure over time to support shared goals. We welcome multiple interpretations of this open topic. The application deadline is Friday, December 5, 2025, 11:59 PM. See the full details and how to apply. Questions? Email c21@uwm.edu.
The Stahl Center Distinguished Lecture Series guest speaker, Dr. Doris Bergen, the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto, will give a presentation on her book, "We have been lied to: How Antisemitism, Anti-Black, and Misogyny are Linked," in the Golda Meir Library 4th floor Conference Center on October 22 from 7 to 9:00 p.m. Dr. Bergen will also host a workshop titled, "Can We Still Talk? The Widening Rift Between Holocaust Studies and Genocide Studies,” in which she will explore the conceptual, theoretical and ethical opportunities and limits of putting memories and histories of violent pasts in conversation on October 23 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Lubar Entrepreneurial Center. See more about these events.
UWM’s nonprof-IT work with Mothers Against Gun Violence was recently featured on CBS 58’s Sunday Morning program. Watch the full video to see the impact. Nonprof-IT provides IT solutions to nonprofits at no cost, and UWM students gain real-world experience working with teams and projects. Learn more.
The 2025 Morris Fromkin Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Gabriela Nagy, assistant professor in the UWM Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, on Thursday, October 30, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. in the 4th-floor Conference Center of the UWM Golda Meir Library, 2311 E. Hartford Avenue. The title of her talk is, “Resilience, Resistance, and Rhetoric: What Latino/a Immigrants Teach Us About Health and Humanity.” Please register in advance.
The Helen Bader School of Social Welfare welcomed eight students this fall into the Youth-Oriented Substance Use and Trauma Counseling Program (YOSUT III). The program trains clinically-oriented Master of Social Work students who are committed to serving children or youth in the dual competencies of substance use and trauma counseling, and places them in professional integrated behavioral health settings serving high-need/high-demand areas. Students receive a $25,000 stipend over two semesters to offset the cost of advanced clinical training. The YOSUT III project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a four-year award totaling $2.4 million. Social Work Professors Lisa Berger and Dimitri Topitzes are the co-directors of the YOSUT III program.
UWM biomedical engineer Jacob Rammer has been collaborating with clinicians in the Philippines to improve care for kids with mobility challenges. Rammer helped to establish that country's only mobility analysis lab for tracking and treating diseases like cerebral palsy. He and his students are also developing an app to help patients recover from surgery safely. Read the full story.
Assistant Professor Roger Shen (Electrical Engineering) recently spoke to Spectrum News about the significance of energy efficiency in using embedded systems powered by "edge AI devices" to rein in data center demand. Shen pairs efficient algorithms with edge processing by these small devices right at the source of the data instead of data centers. Watch the video.
Join SET and The Community for a powerful week of immersive events exploring incarceration, re-entry, and education through simulation, film, and storytelling at UWM from November 3–7, 2025. Learn, empathize, and be inspired — these events are free (except the Celebration) and open to students, staff, and the public. Learn more about this series of events and RSVP.
Dr. Ching-Hong Yang, Professor of Biological Sciences at UWM, is leading USDA-funded research on a natural compound, RejuAgro A (RAA), produced by the soil bacterium Pseudomonas soli. His team developed Reju Agro, a sprayable biocontrol product that has shown strong effectiveness against apple fire blight, citrus canker, and citrus greening (HLB). In field trials, infections were reduced from 92% to 25%. With a new $1.5 million USDA grant, Dr. Yang is now testing trunk injection applications in citrus, aiming to provide growers with one of the most promising biological tools against HLB. Read the full story here.

The Southeast Wisconsin Transportation Symposium, now in its fourth year and hosted by UWM’s Institute for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation (IPIT) and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, brought together researchers, students and transportation professionals to showcase related research. Learn more and see photos.
Five members of the UWM Foundry research group, led by and including Professor Pradeep Rohatgi (Materials Science & Engineering), have been granted a U.S. patent for their innovative work on providing corrosion resistance to low-carbon steel. Their process gives mild steel a surface similar to stainless steel at a much lower cost. See more.