Provost's March 15, 2024 Friday Update

Office of the Provost

March 15, 2024 Friday Update

Good afternoon, colleagues. Here is this week's update from Academic Affairs.

Before proceeding with our regularly scheduled update, I’d like to pause to acknowledge and appreciate the many years, and often decades, of service of our CGS colleagues. We lament the many external factors that contributed to Monday’s announcement of the Waukesha and CGS closure, and know it is happening despite tireless efforts at providing excellent education to the Waukesha community. We have significant headwinds in front of us, so it is critically important for us to ensure we are doing all we can to retain the students we do have. An important part of this effort is Moon Shot for Equity and our work with EAB.

Our Moon Shot for Equity commitment focuses on implementing the most effective evidence-based strategies to impact student success. Last week, cross-campus stakeholders met with a visiting EAB consultant to advance work on aligning comprehensive supports and resources to provide coordinated care for students. This alignment includes enhanced outreach to students, faculty, and staff to increase understanding of the link between student mental health and academic success; we will also seek to drive expanded use of Navigate. Furthermore, our work included a discussion about a “stepped care” model. In this model, care – including self-help resources, peer support, online tools, and on- and off-campus therapy – is stepped up or down based on students’ changing concerns.

In addition, the EAB visit included expanded study of course and curricular outcomes, with a focus on DFW rates and excess credits accumulated by students. We recognize that course success may be influenced by multiple factors including student supports, classroom experiences, and the experiences of students themselves. Armed with this data, we are acting, with faculty and staff input, to design appropriate interventions. Your participation is appreciated and is critical to student and campus success.

I appreciate Monna Arvinen-Barrow (Rehabilitation Sciences and Technology), the lead editor of the second edition of Psychology of Sport Injury and Rehabilitation. The book was published in late January and is the first sport injury psychology book to comprehensively address both the biopsychosocial and sociocultural facets of sport injury psychology in a patient-centered, holistic, and interprofessional manner. Congratulations, Monna!

My appreciation goes out to both the Office of Dual Enrollment and the English Department for co-hosting an all-day conference on March 8 for 150 high school students taking UWM’s English 101 in their high schools. The conference was designed to provide students with new ways to understand and use rhetorical concepts that are central to the English 101 curriculum. Well done!

In honor of International Women’s Day last Friday, the Center for International Education (CIE) thanked its women staff members who collectively have more than 323 years of experience in the field of international education. These employees work diligently to support UWM students and scholars from around the globe.

Ramadan Mubarak! The holy month of Ramadan began on Sunday, March 10 and runs through Tuesday, April 9. Students benefit from the support of their colleges during Ramadan and can feel a sense of belonging when their traditions are honored. Learn more about Ramadan and how we can support our students, faculty, and staff who are celebrating the holiest month in Islam.