Good morning colleagues. Here are this week’s updates from Academic Affairs:
-Digital Future Update: Chancellor Lovell has approved a significant investment in UWM's IT Infrastructure: See http://www4.uwm.edu/technology/news/itinfrastructure.cfm. All three of the Digital Future working groups (Teaching and Learning; Research; and University Operations and Services) identified the criticality of our basic network infrastructure to UWM's future as a "digitally forward" institution. The increased flexibility that will result from this network upgrade positions us well for the future.
-The Chancellor has asked me to distribute this important announcement: the Advisory Committee on Mental Health has been at work implementing the recommendations from the Final Report of the UWM Mental Health Task Force through the work of 5 subcommittees. In line with the Great Place to Learn and Work initiatives, its 22 members have already made considerable progress toward addressing campus mental health needs. Through a Kubly Foundation grant, Campus Connect Suicide Gatekeeper Training has been conducted of 740 UWM faculty, staff, and students to expand the campus’s eye toward signs and symptoms of significant distress and risk for suicide. Already, those who have been through the training have reported that they used their skills to assist 389 UWM students, 106 UWM faculty/staff, and 174 individuals not affiliated with UWM. Current policies and procedures related to mental health are being gathered and reviewed so that they can be made centrally available to students, faculty and staff, and new procedures that are needed can be developed. Web-based resources are being developed to assist students in assessing their strengths and problem areas and to provide concrete ways to improve life skills that can improve their adjustment and coping with life stressors. Outreach programs are being developed and offered to assist those students who are traditionally less likely to reach out to available counseling services. Resources available for UWM faculty and staff are also being reviewed. Here is one important document that the committee would like to highlight: Assisting the Emotionally Distressed Student: A Resource for Faculty and Staff, available at https://www4.uwm.edu/norris/documents/distressed.pdf.
-Proposals are now being accepted for fall 2012 First Year Learning Communities. It is the goal of the FYLC program to develop a learning environment that combines effective instructional methods, co-curricular learning and events, and High Impact Practices to lead to academic success and stronger connections to campus for first semester students. Proposals are due March 1, 2012. More information and the proposal form can be found at: http://www4.uwm.edu/ssc/fac_staff/learningcommunities.cfm. Questions? Please contact Ericca Rolland at 414-229-6760 or pollacke@uwm.edu.
-Mentors are needed in all four divisions (Arts and Humanities, Natural Sciences, Professions, and Social Sciences), but particularly in the Division of Professions. If you know of a tenured faculty member in your department or another department that you believe would be an effective mentor, please send the faculty member’s name and department to Paula Rhyner (prhyner@uwm.edu). To volunteer to mentor a junior faculty member, please take 30 seconds to sign up via the following link: https://www4.uwm.edu/employeedev/services/mentoring/volunteer.cfm. If you are a junior faculty member and would like to request a mentor, please use the following link: https://www4.uwm.edu/employeedev/services/mentoring/request.cfm.
-The 15th Annual Festival of Films in French will be held from Friday, Feb 3, through Sunday, Feb 12. Fourteen films are featured--all free--including "A cat in Paris,"nominated for best animated film, and a 1922 silent film never shown in the US (with live musical accompaniment). See http://www4.uwm.edu/cie/frenchfilm/
-Chancellor Mike Lovell and I will be participating in a Brown Bag Forum with the Zilber School of Public Health from 12-1 p.m. tomorrow in the Alumni House Garden Room.
-The Best Place to Work Kick-off meeting will be this Wednesday, inaugurating the work of the Best Place to Work Action and Leadership Team, which will be working on implementing a slate of climate-related initiatives.
-How can your unit tangibly shift its practice to be more inclusive? This is an example of one of the many questions that have been submitted for the “What's your question about diversity and inclusion at UWM?” We invite you to register for "Inclusive Excellence 2012 - Realigning for Inclusivity: Reframing Diversity at UWM" on Friday, March 2, 2012 at http://mydevelopment.uwm.edu/longview.cfm?eventid=44986. If you are unable to attend the IE conference you can submit your question(s) at IE-2012@uwm.edu.
-On Friday, February 10, 3:30 p.m. in Curtin 118, the Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) is sponsoring a lecture by Freida Knobloch (American Studies, Wyoming) on her efforts to transform the field of environmental studies. -Additionally, C21 Provost Fellow Rebekah Sheldon is presenting her research into the formal qualities of fiction that capture and transmit feeling via the work of Chuck Palahniuk, William Burroughs, Mark Z. Danielewski, and Samuel Delany on Monday, February 6, 11:30 a.m. in Curtin 939. All C21 events are free and open to the public.
-The Board of Regents meets this Thursday and Friday. See http://www.wisconsin.edu/bor/meetings/archive/2012.htm.
-Kudos to:
-The UWM men's swimming and diving team, which capped an undefeated season with a big win over Green Bay, finishing the regular season 10-0. See http://uwmpanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-swim/recaps/020412aaa.html
-The GEAR UP program, which was awarded a Community Investment Grant from Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation to provide a Summer Academy for seventh and eighth grade students in the West Allis school district, as well as UWM Charter schools. The Academy will take place on UWM’s campus from June 25th through August 3rd.
-Congratulations to the Giants and also to UWM's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/uwmilwaukee. UWM's Facebook page was nationally recognized. The page ranked #3 in Extra Large schools (greater than 20,000 students) for most engaging Facebook page of 2011 and also ranked #8 in the nation & #1 in Extra Large schools for the largest year in growth & engagement increases. UW-Milwaukee mentioned on slides 22, 34 & 39: http://bluefuego.com/index.php/2012/01/2011-state-of-higher-ed-facebook-pages/. A company named Blue Fuego tracks and ranks higher ed Facebook pages.
Take care,
Johannes
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