Provost's Update: Friday, December 19, 2025

Office of the Provost

Friday, December 19, 2025

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

I want to share some re-enrollment information as this term comes to an end. As of Monday’s Dec. 15 report, 16,270 students are enrolled for the Spring 2026 term. This is 69.3% of our eligible continuing students; nearly 6,900 eligible students have not yet re-enrolled. In total, we are 78% of the way to matching our total spring 2025 enrollment levels. Student Enrollment Management and Student Success (SEMSS) has several ongoing and coordinated efforts that have positioned us to surpass last spring’s enrollment.

We have a pilot program that implemented early alerts to identify at-risk students and connect them with advisors, supplemented these alerts with peer mentor calls, and success coach interventions.
We have also launched a targeted re-enrollment campaign and timely text nudges to encourage Spring and Fall registration.
The Office of Student Scholarships offers retention grants at the start of the open enrollment period to reduce account balances and remove registration holds, along with personalized assistance to remove barriers to enrollment. 
The Student Success Center and pathway units are supporting students who have received grade adjustments through the Grade Recovery Pilot Program.
Advisors are using Navigate360 for targeted engagement, complemented by texting campaigns with clear calls to action and early advisement strategies through individual, group, and seminar-based interactions. 
College advising units provided walk-in/drop-in advising and special enrollment events, ensuring timely assistance for students who have not yet re-enrolled or are returning after time away.

I encourage instructors and departments to engage with re-enrollment efforts. SEMSS has published a list of several high-impact practices for instructors to integrate into your courses and engage with students to encourage re-enrollment. See the webpage for practices you can implement in your courses.

from Provost and Vice Chancellor
Andrew P. Daire
and your partners in Academic Affairs.

Prof. Caroline Seymour-Jorn (World Languages and Cultures) gave an invited lecture, “Magical Realism in Jordan and Egypt: Interrogating Indigeneity, Colonialism and Futurity in the fiction of Samiha Khrais and Hani Abdel Mourid,” at Columbia University, April 23, 2025 and presented a paper, “Cancer as Dispossession, Cancer as Alienation: Diagnosis and Treatment in the Novels of Laila al-Atrash and Nemat el-Behairy,” at the Middle East Studies Association in Washington, DC in November.

Prof. Bettina Arnold (Anthropology) was featured in a segment regarding mistletoe on the nationwide program “All Things Considered” by National Public Radio. Read the article and listen to the 2-minute segment online.

Assoc. Prof. David DiValerio (History and Religious Studies) recently recorded an episode of the Wisdom Podcast about his recently published book, Mountain Dharma. The Wisdom Podcast is one of the most popular podcasts about Buddhist studies and has a global listenership. Learn more and listen to the episode.

The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce UWM’s nominees for two prestigious national fellowships. Ivan Ascher (Political Science) and Srishti Meera Sardana (Psychology) were nominated for the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program, and Derek G. Handley (English) was nominated for the Mellon Foundation’s New Directions Fellowship. These nominations recognize each scholar’s remarkable contributions to UWM and their disciplines, and their potential to shape broader conversations in the academy and beyond. Special thanks to Chia Vang, Bryan Porter, Sara Benesh, Scott Gronert, Jason Puskar, Jennifer Johung, Leslie Harris, and colleagues in the Chancellor’s Office and Office of Research for working closely with Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Bilen-Green to review internal applicant pools, select UWM’s nominees, and strengthen and submit the final applications. We appreciate everyone’s time, insight, and collaboration in ensuring that each nomination reflects the excellence of UWM’s faculty.

Professor Nancy Rice (Teaching and Learning) died on December 3, 2025. Dr. Rice joined UWM in August of 2001. Over more than two decades at UWM, she made a lasting impact through her teaching, scholarship, leadership, and deep commitment to her students and colleagues. Her teaching and scholarship centered on disability representation, inclusive education, and teacher preparation, with a focus on how educational materials influence attitudes toward students with disabilities. She encouraged generations of future teachers to approach their work thoughtfully, critically, and with empathy. See full obituary.

The Provost’s Update will be on a short hiatus and will return on Friday, January 16, 2026. See the Spring 2025 Update schedule and instructions for submitting items.

M-Cubed has released it 2025 impact report. In 2025, more than 1,900 high school students joined college tours; 2,000 earned college credit; and more than 1,100 met local employers ready to hire. At the same time, 300 educators united to align learning from classroom to career, and families strengthened their roles as partners in their children’s success. See the full report.
For the third consecutive year, Milwaukee Athletics and UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts, along with Pilot Project Brewing and Craft Beverage Warehouse, collaborated on a campaign that provided a real-world learning opportunity for UWM students to design the can packaging for Pilot’s “Panther Pale Ale” beer. Students in the Art 329 – Package Design class, led by Robert Grame, Co-Area Head and Associate Professor, submitted multiple designs for review by the selection committee. This year, Design and Visual Communications student Macy Franti’s artwork was selected to be featured on the product packaging with the canned product available for purchase at Panther Arena, Pilot Project Brewing, and other locations throughout the city. Click here to see Franti’s design and for further details on the cross-campus collaboration.

Join the many UWM alumni, faculty, staff, students, and community partners who are committed to building a culture of mentorship across campus at the National Mentoring Month Luncheon on Thursday, Jan. 15, from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in the Student Union. You’ll hear from mentoring experts, connect with campus mentoring partners and programs, and enjoy lunch with your colleagues. Best of all, you’ll help shape the future of mentorship at UWM. See full information and registration.
Recharge your leadership journey with inspiring keynotes, engaging breakout sessions, and meaningful networking at UWM’s 2026 Women Leaders Conference. Join us in-person at the historic Pfister Hotel or live online on March 6, 2026. Keynote speakers include Julia Landauer, a two-time National NASCAR Racecar Champion and Corporate Strategist, and Dr. Jeanette Epps, former NASA Astronaut, Aerospace Engineer, and CIA Officer. Plus, choose three breakout sessions from 12 sessions focusing on leadership, personal development, and more. Learn more.

Dong Gong of Vector Architects was awarded the 2025 Marcus Prize for Architecture. Dong Gong, founder and design principal at Beijing-based Vector Architects, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Marcus Prize, one of the world’s leading architecture awards honoring emerging international talent. The prize is administered biennially by the School of Architecture & Urban Planning at UWM. Read more.
The Center for Water Policy has continued its multidisciplinary research on the most urgent freshwater policy challenges in 2025. See a recap of the academic articles, policy briefs, and other reports that examine a broad set of issues shaping the future of water sustainability and governance. See the annual report.