Report to the Board of Regents
UW-La Crosse students are near the top nationally for paying back their student loans. UWL’s excellent job placement rates and award-winning It Make$ Cents! financial literacy program contribute to high five-year repayment rates for Pell Grant recipients. Eighty-two percent of students paid toward their loan principal five years later.
UW-Parkside Assistant Chancellor of Human Resources and Employee Engagement Sheronda Glass received the Milwaukee Business Journal Top HR Award in the government category. Vice Chancellor Scott Menke credits Sheronda with creating a strong relationship between HR and UW-Parkside faculty and staff. Sheronda says the key to building trust is to remember there is a human side to everything.
The UW-Green Bay community is inspiring 1,700 fifth-graders from 29 schools to begin dreaming about college. In October, more than 250 college students served as tour guides and role models for the annual Phuture Phoenix Field Trip days.
A UW-Eau Claire kinesiology research study led the Eau Claire Police Department to change how officers carry their equipment. The study found that load-bearing vests significantly reduce lower back pain experienced with the traditional duty belt. The results have attracted the interest of law enforcement agencies across the country.
UW-Whitewater media arts and game development major Breanna Addie brought witches and wizards to life using sophisticated and professionally valuable video editing tools and techniques. A moving portrait display honored scenes from the Harry Potter movies at the famous Warriors and Wizards festival in Jefferson.
UW-Superior held a dedication ceremony on Indigenous People’s Day for the Maawanji’idiwin – or “The Place Where We Come Together” – Medicine Wheel and Community Gathering Area. The Medicine Wheel represents the human races connected together and is the first of its kind at any four-year college campus in the area.
UW-Stout recently dedicated Sorensen Hall in honor of Chancellor Emeritus Charles W. Sorensen, who passed away in February. Sorensen, the university’s longest-serving leader, retired in 2014 after 26 years. Under his leadership, UW-Stout doubled its undergraduate programs, won the national Malcolm Baldrige Award for quality and performance excellence, and became Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University.
UW-Stevens Point was selected as the only recipient of a Great Lakes region Sea Grant award for salmon research. The highly competitive award will help the university’s aquaculture facility in Bayfield support land-based Atlantic salmon production in the Great Lakes.
The UW-River Falls Dairy Judging team took first place at the World Dairy Expo, a national title they last won in 1995. Dairy judging skills extend well beyond evaluating dairy animals. These experiences teach students skills like commitment, communication, and teamwork, all abilities that will be valuable in their future careers.
At a time when there is global interest in increased food production, UW-Platteville researchers received a
U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to help meet increased demand for food, fiber, and fuel using sustainable practices and the same amount of land. The project integrates research with education and outreach to ensure its value to local farming communities.
Three sisters’ educational journeys led to UW-Oshkosh’s accelerated nursing program. Kiara Turzinski, Danielle Espe and Amanda Dernbach didn’t think to pursue nursing as their first degree. However, thanks to UWO’s Accel 12-month program, a second-degree option geared towards addressing the nationwide nursing shortage, they have come together as a family, passionate for helping others.
For many war-scarred veterans, adjusting to civilian life is difficult. Many are finding help through the Feast of Crispian, created in part by two UW-Milwaukee theater faculty. The event uses Shakespeare to help veterans process their trauma and give them the words to convey their emotions.
More than half of UW-Madison students take a chemistry course, pointing to the central role chemistry plays in career preparation. This fall, construction began on a state-of-the-art tower and other needed renovations to the university’s aging chemistry building. These improvements will reduce bottlenecks in course scheduling and allow the university to accommodate future chemical education and research.
PhD student-turned-entrepreneur Paige Peters won federal funding to advance her Milwaukee-based company with the help of a course in small-business innovation offered by the UW System-supported Center for Technology Commercialization. Her company is piloting a revolutionary wastewater treatment system to reduce public health risks in flood-weary Midwestern communities.