Provost's Update: Friday, June 13, 2025

Office of the Provost

Friday, June 13, 2025

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

Since our last campus-wide update in March, progress has been made in advancing the UWM 2030 Action Plan. Our work reflects a stronger focus on implementation, alignment, and accountability.

During the 2025-26 academic year, Vice Provosts Bilen-Green and Clark have worked with the 2030 Commitment Sponsors to refine strategies and break them down into measurable, actionable tactics. This work provides clearer direction for the sponsors, while also enabling tracking progress across the university.

In collaboration with the 2030 Co-Leads and Vicky D Anjou-Pomerleau (Office of Assessment and Institutional Research, OAIR), Commitment Sponsors, have identified key elements for each of the four UWM 2030 Commitments including institutional goals, strategies, tactics, metrics, benchmarks, and targets. A new summary document, 2030 Strategic Plan Refresh outlines these components. This document reflects the illustrative campus-level approaches and metrics that may be included in a public-facing dashboard. This document does not capture unit-level activities. Colleges, schools, and divisions may develop additional strategies, tactics, and metrics that align with and continue to these institutional goals.

A public launch of the UWM 2030 Dashboard by OAIR is targeted for this summer. The dashboard will provide stakeholders and other interested audiences with information on indicators of progress associated with each commitment.

We continue to invite faculty and staff to share accomplishments and activities aligned with the four commitments for inclusion in the Advancing 2030 Plan Commitments section of the Provost’s Update. Thank you to everyone supporting and advancing UWM’s 2030 Action Plan.

UWM Librarian Georgia Brown, Public Services Librarian of the American Geographical Society Library, was a special guest on The Look Back, a show for 4-6 graders to learn Wisconsin history through artifacts. During the visit, Brown showed the visiting historians early maps of Wisconsin and how to read older maps. Watch the episode now.

Prof. Leslie Harris (Communication) has be selected as the recipient of the 2025 the Research in the Humanities Award. Presented by the UWM Office of Research, this award recognizes outstanding scholarship and research in the Humanities within the past two years. Prof. Harris has demonstrated a comprehensive grasp of the subject of inquiry and has made substantive contributions to humanistic thought through her publication entitled The Rhetoric of White Slavery and the Making of National Identity. Learn more.

We are pleased to congratulate our newly elected student association (SA) leaders who began their terms on June 1, 2025. See results. SA is UWM's official student government, advocating for student needs, allocating Segregated University Fees, and collaborating with campus partners to shape policies and improve the student experience. There are still vacant Senate seats for the 2025–26 academic year. We welcome both student self-nominations and recommendations from faculty and staff. If you know a student who would be a strong advocate or is looking to grow their leadership skills, please encourage them to get involved or provide us with their information so we can reach out and encourage them along their journey. Learn more.
The Center for International Education has been in direct communication with enrolled and admitted students who may be affected by the recently issued federal travel ban which bars the nationals of 12 countries from entry into the U.S. and places further restrictions on entries from another seven countries. See a listing of campus-wide federal updates.
The 2025-2026 edition of the UWM Academic Catalog has been published. See the 2025-2025 catalog. Archived editions of prior academic catalogs can be found in the Catalog Archive section on the website.
Jill Budny (Honors College) and Thomas Malaby (Anthropology) will take 18 Honors students to Greece this summer as part of their study abroad course (Self, City, Stranger in Ancient & Contemporary Greece). Students will examine how ancient and modern Greeks have sought to develop the citizen-self while also wrestling with issues of belonging in relation to those labeled as “outsiders.” After three weeks of online instruction, the group will travel to Greece and explore sites such as the Acropolis, Mycenae, Epidauros, and Delphi. This is the first year the course will be offered.
Looking to learn more about the Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) plan? Dive in by attending the SEM strategy breakout sessions. Leaders will introduce the details behind their strategy, including annual measures, the supporting tactics and progress measures, goals for the coming year, and how school/college/divisional units can engage in the efforts. Sessions are open to all faculty and staff.

We are seeking applications for the fourth cohort of the 2025-2026 Mosaic Leadership Academy! The Mosaic Leadership Academy is designed to create community and leverage campus resources to foster the knowledge, skills, and networks of UWM employees. The overall goal of this academy is to support the promotion and retention of UWM employees by identifying pathways to administrative and academic leadership positions and providing leadership-focused professional development and coaching. The program is a collaboration between the Division of Community Empowerment and Institutional Inclusivity and the Department of Human Resources. Application deadline extended to June 30, 2025. Learn more and apply now.
Join SET on Thursday, August 7th for our summer conference on student employment: Developing Student Employees Through Experiential Learning, a half-day event focused on transforming student employment into a high-impact, growth-centered experience. Through engaging sessions led by campus leaders and experts, we’ll explore practical strategies for onboarding, mentoring, performance management, and experiential learning integration. Whether you're a supervisor, mentor, faculty, or program coordinator, this conference will provide valuable tools to support student success and development. Thursday, August 7th, Lubar Hall, Room S151, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM. For more information contact Susi Gómez Kennedy.

Know an outstanding UWM alumnus or alumna? Nominate them for recognition at the 2026 Alumni Awards Evening, taking place on Feb. 20, 2026, at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. Submit your nomination (or recommendation) by Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. Learn more or nominate someone.