Office of the Provost

Provost’s Update

April 5, 2024 Friday Update

Good afternoon, colleagues. Here is the update from Academic Affairs.

Mid-semester can be a stressful time for our students, faculty, and staff. Given this, I wanted to remind you of the on-going support and resources we have for students and for you. Support U helps students through case management, emergency grants, and the food center and pantry. It also connects students with resources on and off campus. Support U workshops are available to help staff and faculty identify students who may be experiencing challenges or crises and learn how to refer students to resources, including case managers.

Separately, there is ongoing work via Campus Cares to support student, faculty, and staff wellbeing by amplifying and elevating wellbeing-related work, analyzing campus systems, and fostering awareness of related policies and procedures.

I would like to highlight Wellness Wednesday communications and I encourage you to sign up for the Wellness Wednesday e-mail. Each week, the Campus Cares team sends out a wellbeing focused e-mail with various activities, events, etc. The newsletter aims to share stories of faculty and staff who are promoting a culture of care at UWM. Sign up to receive the e-mail here, or submit a story here.

I also want to note that there is ongoing analysis and data collection about the UWM culture, planning for the Fall 2024 Wellness Symposium, finalizing a UWM-specific definition of wellbeing, and building toward creating a caring environment at UWM via the Campus Cares Framework.

Appreciations

I appreciate Priya Nambisan (Public Health), who was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for 2024-2025 for India. Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. Alumni of the Fulbright program include 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 80 MacArthur Fellows. Congratulations, Priya, you are in august company indeed!

I also appreciate Habib Tabatabai (Electrical Engineering), whose comments were featured in two news reports on the collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore: WISC News in Madison and CBS58 in Milwaukee. Well done, Habib!

Much appreciation to Lubar College of Business faculty Colleen Boland and Tracy Rank-Chapman. Dr. Boland was reappointed to the Auditing and Attestation Subcommittee of the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants for 2024-25. The subcommittee is responsible for final approval of the Certified Public Accountant exam questions in the audit content area. Dr. Rank-Chapman received the Early Career Award from the Society for Consumer Psychology, which is bestowed upon researchers within eight years of earning a PhD to recognize emerging scholars whose research shows promise in shaping the field of consumer psychology. Congratulations, Colleen and Tracy!

Special Announcement

We will host four finalists on the UWM campus for the position of Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health (ZCPH) Dean beginning next week. Details about the candidates, campus visit dates, schedules, and open forums are available on the Zilber College Dean search website. Access to finalist CVs will require logging in with UWM credentials.

The open forums will be hybrid, and the Teams livestreamed links are posted on the search website. Each finalist will make a 20-30 minute presentation followed by a Q&A session, and audience members may ask live (in-person or virtual) questions of the candidates. All open forums will be held from 8:45 – 10 a.m. at the Zilber College of Public Health, Rm. 129 Triplex (1240 N. 10th Street). Candidates, along with their campus visit dates and open forum dates, are listed below.

Zilber College Dean Search Website

Suzanne Babich
Campus Visit Dates: April 8-10

Open Forum Date: Tuesday, April 9
Mark Kittleson
Campus Visit Dates: April 10-12
Open Forum Date: Thursday, April 11
Monica Wendel
Campus Visit Dates: April 14-16
Open Forum Date: Monday, April 15
Steven Lacey
Campus Visit Dates: April 16-18
Open Forum Date: Wednesday, April 17

Mission Moments

The UWM Libraries are addressing textbook costs and college affordability for UWM students. In 2023-24, the Libraries purchased a number of faculty-assigned materials for classes, which included not only textbooks, but also novels, anthologies, foreign language materials, and academic titles. The Libraries worked with publishers to acquire e-resources that support an unlimited number of simultaneous users. Licensed access was purchased for 400 resources in 15% of all fall and spring classes. The cost to the Libraries was only $28,000, with an estimated total savings to students of $425,000! In one course alone, the cost of textbooks went from $400 to $40 per student.

Advancing 2030 Plan Priorities

Student Success

Join the fun and excitement in honor of 414 for UWM Giving Days on Tuesday, April 16 from Noon-2 p.m. (with brief remarks at 12:30 p.m.) in the UWM Student Union Concourse. Enjoy food, music, games, crafts, and photo ops. Free to all. Don’t forget to sport your UWM colors and get ready to ROAR!
You’re invited to take part in the city-wide Spring Make a Difference Day on Saturday, April 20. This is a city-wide event where volunteers help older adults in the community prepare their yards and neighborhood for spring! Information and registration.
Check out these 10 simple ways you can support students’ mental health and positively impact student success! Seeing yourself as someone who can play a part in supporting students’ mental health is important to student success. Check out the Student Health and Wellness Center’s list of 10 Simple Ways to Support Students’ Mental Health and choose to do one today! There are many ways you can support student engagement in self-care and connect them to a variety of emotional and mental health resources.
The Dean of Students Office presents, “Support U: Fostering a Culture of Support at UWM,” and invites all faculty and staff to attend an upcoming session, where participants will learn how to identify and support students who may be experiencing challenges or crises. More information.

Curricular Innovation

The Teaching with Primary Sources Workshop provides a small cohort of instructors with an opportunity to accelerate development of a new class or re-energize an old syllabus. The three-day workshop will run from 9 a.m.-Noon on June 4, 6, and 11 in the new Archives on the third floor of the Golda Meir Library. The time commitment is nine hours in active sessions and an additional three hours of reading and preparation time. Apply by May 10.

Research Advancement

Two exhibits open on Thursday, April 11 in the UWM Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery. The opening reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. with curator remarks at 5:30 p.m.

Saintly: Christian Women in Early Modern Europe explores the relationship between laywomen and holy women from the Christian canon by examining depictions of the Virgin Mary and Women Saints in works from the 16th through 18th Curated by graduate student Nikki Ranney, this thesis exhibition bring perspective to the religious lives of women during this period and the expectations to which they were subjected.
What the Folk? accompanies a course on American Folk Art taught by the UWM Art History department and explores the terminology and history that have shaped understandings of folk art, self-taught art, Americana, outsider art, and visionary art. It asks which artists and objects are included in such categories, why people have invested in the concept of folk art, and how we can uncover stories of American artists whose work deserves greater attention, no matter what it is called.

Register and encourage students to attend the 2024 NMDSI Symposium on April 24. The Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute hosts its second annual AI symposium, “Bridging Innovation & Impact,” on Wednesday, April 24 in the Student Union and virtually. Information and registration.

Inclusion and Diversity

The C21 Reproductive Justice Collaboratory presents:

“Reproductive Writes,” a workshop connecting writing with reproductive freedoms, on Tuesday, April 16 in the Case Commons at the UWM Student Union. To increase participation, there will be two sessions: 1:30-2:45 p.m. or 3:30-4:45 p.m.
“Amplifying the Work of Reproductive Justice in Milwaukee,” a deep dive into the work of a local, community-based reproductive justice organization working to improve maternal-infant health equity, on Thursday, April 18 from 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Information and registration.

Artistic Representations of Aging is a multidisciplinary event that will take place on Friday, April 19 from 4:30-8 p.m. in the UWM Student Union Ballroom West. View the juried photo exhibit, “Reflections of Resilience,” from 4:30-6 p.m. and hear a musical performance by Lizbeth Vallejo Ruiz and Rayden Vaughan Montez. The film, “Unsyncable,” begins at 6 p.m., followed by a panel discussion RSVP.
UWM Student Caregivers in Higher Education Survey will provide UWM with an understanding of the caregiving population on campus and how to create a more inclusive environment. Students who have ANY caregiving role are encouraged to participate in completing a survey on their experiences as a student caregiver at UWM.

Workforce and Community

PSOA and Violin Faculty Bernard Zinck will perform a benefit concert with French pianist Carole Chicha at Plymouth Church UCC on Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m. A raffle will offer a chance to win a one-week stay in the Loire Valley, France. More information.
UWM Employees can learn more about financial wellbeing, planning, and saving during the Universities of Wisconsin America Saves Week April 8-12. Webinars will be offered all week. More information.
Witness the solar eclipse on April 8 in and outside the UWM Student Union! Students, faculty, staff, and the public are invited to enjoy free food, activities, eclipse glasses, and opportunities to view the eclipse between 1 and 3 p.m.
All faculty and staff are invited to presentations on UWM’s new brand personality. There will be three presentations of the brand personality on April 9 and 10. The information will be the same in all three presentations, so employees only need to attend one. All sessions are one hour long and will be held in the Union Fireside Lounge. The dates are:

Tuesday, April 9 at 9 a.m.
Tuesday April 9 at 1 p.m.
Wednesday, April 10 at 9 a.m.

The career outcomes of recent alumni using data from the First Destination Survey will be presented virtually by the Center for Student Experience and Talent (SET) on Wednesday, May 1 at noon. Information and registration
UWM has recently seen a unique type of scam involving musical instruments. Here’s what to look out for with musical instrument scams:

A scammer will email you with information about musical instruments that are available for free or for purchase.
If the instrument is being promised for free, the scammer will ask that you pay for shipping fees.
The scammer will ask that you respond to the email or text privately to plan for the musical instrument to be sent to you.
See example

What to do if you receive a musical instrument scam:

Do not respond to these requests.
If you believe you have received a musical instrument scam in your inbox, or are unsure, forward the email to UWM’s Information Security team at abuse@uwm.edu. This notifies our information security experts, and they can help you determine if the email is a scam.
If you receive a musical instrument request from someone you know, contact them in an alternate way, and confirm if they sent the email. Do not respond to any phone numbers listed in the email.

If you believe you have fallen victim to a musical instrument scam, please contact the UWM Help Desk. For more information about cybersecurity, visit UWM’s Cybersecurity website.