UW-Milwaukee

  1. From Ukraine to UWM, tennis player finds a new life

    Photo of Nadiia Konieva, who has taken a long journey from escaping the war in Ukraine to Poland and then to Milwaukee, where she’s a freshman psychology student and tennis player. (Milwaukee Athletics photo)

    May 11, 2023

    A week after the Russians invaded Ukraine, 16-year-old Nadiia Konieva set off on a journey that led her to the women’s tennis team at UWM. Konieva and her mother, Iryna, fled to Poland from their home in Kharkiv, leaving behind her father, Serhii, other family and all of her friends. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, lies […]

  2. UW-Milwaukee FlexRide proves microtransit can connect unemployed with jobs

    Photo of Eric Lynde (from left) of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and UWM Professor Robert Schneider (right) meeting FlexRide driver Mitchell Smith at the Sherman Phoenix pickup location. It is one pickup site for a ride to employers in Butler and Menomonee Falls. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)

    April 28, 2023

    Suburban employers have job vacancies they can’t fill. There are plenty of job seekers in Milwaukee County, but many don’t own a vehicle and the Milwaukee County Transit System can provide service only to the county line. To try to solve this mismatch, UWM urban planners partnered with the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) […]

  3. New mural inspires sense of belonging at UW-Milwaukee

    Photo of some of the staff and students who contributed to the mural: Natalia Ornelas (from left), retention specialist/coach; Karen Parrish Baker, director of TRIO SSS; Maram Odeh Badad, junior IT major, SSS scholar and peer success assistant; Andreea Vasi, economics doctoral candidate and SSS program assistant; Demond Stewart, SSS senior advisor/coach; and Tia Richardson, artist. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)

    April 10, 2023

    A blank wall is an inspiring canvas for artistic creations. When the TRIO Student Support Services program, based in Mitchell Hall, acquired a large multipurpose room with an inviting blank wall, students and staff saw decorating possibilities. The result of their efforts was a mural, unveiled last month, focused on the theme of belonging.  Students […]

  4. UWM student works to bring fresh food directly to those in need

    Photo of Gianni Vaccaro delivering meals in Riverwest one recent day. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)

    March 17, 2023

    Often, children don’t get too excited about green vegetables. But Gianni Vaccaro found that the students she worked with at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee at Siefert School got really excited about salad. The youngsters often ate three meals a day at the club, said Vaccaro, who was then a film major […]

  5. UW-Milwaukee alum works to help refugees find new lives in Wisconsin

    Photo of UWM alum Rebekah Davis, who says that helping people is the most rewarding part of her job. “I’ve become more patriotic because of my work with refugees. I appreciate my country more knowing that there are countries all over the world that are unsafe,” she said. (Photo by Erin Bloodgood)

    March 9, 2023

    Rebekah Davis has met interesting people from all over the world, learning about their lives, perspectives and culture. It’s all part of her job helping refugees resettle in Wisconsin. Davis, who earned her master’s degree from the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, is a program and policy analyst for the Bureau of Refugee Programs […]

  6. UWM students take health care into the community

    Photo of Erika Gainey, a senior nursing student, who completed an internship last semester at the UWM Health and Wellness Center inside the House of Peace community center. Gainey and other UWM students take the opportunity to talk with residents who use the center about their health and how to improve it. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)

    February 28, 2023

    Every Monday last semester, nursing senior Erika Gainey left her last class on campus and drove to the intersection of Walnut Avenue and 17th Street, where the Capuchin Community Service House of Peace sits in the heart of the 53205 ZIP code. There, she persuaded residents using the House of Peace to take a moment and […]

  7. First year of diversity internship program finds success for students, employers

    Photo of Isaac Gonzales (right) shows his supervisor at Molson Coors, Jonah Turner, a tool Gonzales created that makes cleaning plant equipment easier. At semester's end, the graduating senior in engineering was offered a job. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)

    February 23, 2023

    Isaac Gonzalez used software that he learned in his engineering courses to solve a problem in a manufacturing plant. Alex Valle learned business and email etiquette on the job, aspects of business that weren’t covered in his coursework. And Naomi Chang found out about jobs in the communication field that could be career options for […]

  8. Helping health care providers break the news about incurable illnesses

    Photo of Melinda Kavanaugh, professor of social work at UWM, who draws on her experience as a medical social worker in hospital neurology units. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)

    February 17, 2023

    For years, Melinda Kavanaugh worked as a medical social worker in hospital neurology units. She knew firsthand how unprepared many physicians were to deliver a devastating diagnosis such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease (ALS/MND). “I would frequently see the door open and a doctor’s head pop out with a look of sheer panic, motioning […]

  9. UWM alum passing along the magic of music to youth with Latino Arts Strings

    Photo of Dinorah Márquez Abadiano (center) posing with some of her students before a performance: Natali Rodriguez (from left), Zaara Bonilla, Lili Hernandez Dingel, Lucy Apolinar and Carolina Islas. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)

    February 8, 2023

    A seed planted by a Texas music teacher several generations ago is still bearing fruit on the south side of Milwaukee. “My first teacher was Mr. James Angerstein, who is still alive today. I tell my students he is your musical grandfather. He was the kind of teacher who became a father figure, a mentor …. […]

  10. UWM alumna carves out a career in business and media, with an emphasis on the positive

    Photo of UW-Milwaukee alumna Nyesha Stone: Unsure about a career in traditional journalism, Nyesha Stone instead started a communications and public relations business, Carvd N Stone. “I couldn’t get the jobs I wanted, so I decided to make my own path.” (Photo courtesy of Nyesha Stone)

    February 1, 2023

    When Nyesha Stone graduated from UWM in 2018 with her degree in journalism, advertising and media studies, she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to go into traditional newspaper journalism — and jobs were scarce anyway. “It’s hard to get into traditional news sometimes, even if you have had internships and worked for local newspapers,” […]

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