The University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee (also known as UWâ€"Milwaukee, UWM or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wisconsin System. It is also one of the two doctoral degree-granting public universities and the second largest university in Wisconsin.
As of the 2015-2016 school year, the University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee had an enrollment of 27,156, with 1,604 faculty members. It is located in Milwaukee's upper East Side close to Lake Michigan, and is home to the only graduate school of freshwater science in the U.S., and Wisconsin's only school of architecture. The University consists of 14 schools and colleges, offering 191 degree programs, including 94 bachelor's, 64 master's and 33 doctorate degrees.
The university is categorized as an R1: Doctoral Universities â€" Highest research activity in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. In 2015, the university had research expenditure of $62 million.
The university's athletic teams are called the Panthers. A total of 15 Panther athletic teams compete in NCAA Division I. Panthers have won the James J. McCafferty Trophy as the Horizon League's all-sports champions seven times since 2000. They have earned 133 Horizon League titles and made 40 NCAA tournament appearances as of 2016.
History
Early history
In 1885, the Wisconsin State Normal School opened for classes at 18th and Wells in downtown Milwaukee. Over the next 42 years, the Milwaukee state normal school saw seven different presidents, the addition of music and liberal arts programs and rapid growth from an initial enrollment of 76. In 1919, the School moved from downtown to the current location near the lakefront when a new building, now Mitchell Hall, was completed. In 1927, the Milwaukee normal school changed its name to Wisconsin State Teachers College-Milwaukee in an effort by the State Normal School Regents to refocus on the instruction of teachers. The college became one of the nation's top teacher's training colleges in the 1940s. In 1951, the Legislature empowered all state colleges to offer liberal arts programs. The Milwaukee State Teachers College subsequently became Wisconsin State Collegeâ€"Milwaukee, but was still casually referred to as "Milwaukee State," as it had been throughout its previous incarnations; also retaining the green and white school colors and Green Gulls mascot.
University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee
University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee was founded with the belief that Milwaukee needed a great public university to become a great city. In 1955, the Wisconsin state legislature passed a bill to create a large public university that offered graduate programs in Wisconsin's largest city. In 1956, Wisconsin State College-Milwaukee merged with the University of Wisconsinâ€"Extension's Milwaukee division (a graduate branch of the University of Wisconsinâ€"Madison) to form the University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee. The new university consisted of the WSC campus near the lakefront and the University of Wisconsin extension building in downtown Milwaukee. The first commencement of the new University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee was held on June 16, 1957. On June 13, 1958, Socialist mayor Frank P. Zeidler was the first person to receive an honorary doctorate from the university.
In 1964, the campus of the neighboring private women's institution, Milwaukee-Downer College, was purchased by the state to expand the UWM campus; Milwaukee-Downer College had previously merged with Lawrence College to form the present Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. The university had already purchased the former campuses and buildings of the former Milwaukee-Downer Seminary and Milwaukee University School along Hartford Avenue.
From 1956 to 1971, UWâ€"Milwaukee, UWâ€"Madison, and the latter's affiliated 10 freshman-sophomore centers and statewide extensions (University of Wisconsinâ€"Extension) were part of the original University of Wisconsin System. In 1971, the state legislature merged this entity with the Wisconsin State Universities to form a united University of Wisconsin System under a single board of regents. In 1988, the UW System designated eight Centers of Excellence at UWM. In 1994, UWM was designated a Research II University (now a Doctoral/Research University-Extensive) by the Carnegie Foundation.
UWM has expanded to 12 schools and colleges and now offers 84 undergraduate programs and 48 graduate programs, including 22 doctoral degree programs, with a university-wide focus on academic research, teaching and community service. In 2005, UWâ€"Milwaukee surpassed UWâ€"Madison in the number of Wisconsin resident students and became the university with the largest enrollment of Wisconsin residents.
In 2006, UWâ€"Milwaukee was ranked as the ninth best "Saviors of Our Cities" by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), because of its strong positive contribution of careful strategic planning and thoughtful use of resources that have dramatically strengthened the economy and quality of life of Milwaukee, and was voted by the public as one of the top ten "Gems of Milwaukee" .
In 2008 and 2009, the school saw the establishments of the School of Public Health and the School of Freshwater Sciences. In 2010, UWâ€"Milwaukee purchased its neighboring Columbia St. Mary's Hospital complex. In the early 2011, UW-Milwaukee closed the land purchase for its Innovation Park in Wauwatosa.
Academics
The university consists of 14 colleges and schools, and 70 academic centers, institutes and laboratory facilities. It offers a total of 191 degree programs, including 94 bachelor's, 64 master's and 33 doctorate degrees. The School of Freshwater Sciences is the only graduate school of freshwater science in the U.S. and the third in the world. The School of Architecture and Urban Planning, the College of Nursing and the College of Health Sciences are the largest in Wisconsin.
The University is categorized as an RU/H Research University (high research activity) in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Per US News & World Report 2011, the University is ranked 121st nationally by America's Best High School guidance counselors as offering the best undergraduate education to their students
Rankings
Based on the statistical analysis by H.J. Newton, Professor of Statistics at Texas A&M University in 1997 on the National Research Council report issued in 1995, the University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee was ranked 72nd among public universities in the U.S. in the NRC Rankings. It was also ranked among the top 100 universities in the U.S. by Vanguard College Ranking, 216th by Washington Monthly and one of the best Midwest colleges by Princeton Review. The University ranks 179th in the US by research expenditure in 2009.
The university ranks 98th in the world in the Professional Ranking of World Universities conducted by the École des Mines de Paris in 2011 and one of the top 500 world universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The SCImago Institutions Rankings rated UW-Milwaukee 759th among 3,042 universities and research institutions worldwide in term of research output, international collaboration, normalized impact and publication rate in 2011. The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities ranked UW-Milwaukee 200th worldwide and 96th in North America.
The School of Information Studies ranks 15th nationally in the US News & World Report ranking with its Archives and Preservation program ranking 9th. The U.S. News & World Report also ranks the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare 52nd nationally and consistently ranks the College of Nursing in the top 10%. The School of Education rank 67th nationally in U.S. News & World Report rankings.
The College of Engineering and Applied Science ranks 126th nationally by U.S. News & World Report, with its industry engineering ranked 65th, material engineering 70th, civil engineering 97th, mechanical engineering 88th, electronic engineering 105th, and computer science program ranked 110th in their respective categories. The National Research Council (NRC) ranked the school 73rd nationally, with Industrial Engineering 34th, Materials science 60th, Civil Engineering 69th, Mechanical Engineering 87th, and Electronic Engineering 96th. The hydrogeology program within the Department of Geosciences was ranked among the top 100 programs in North America by the National Ground Water Association.
The part-time MBA program at the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business has been ranked 18th (in the Midwest) and 75th (nationally) by Bloomberg Businessweek 2011-2012 ranking survey. The Management Information Systems (MIS) program at the Lubar School is ranked 19th in the U.S. and 24th in the world by a study published in Communications for the Association for Information Systems. Also, the Organizations and Strategic Management program is ranked 32nd worldwide by a joint study conducted by Texas A&M University and the University of Florida. In 2006 and 2008, the Lubar School was ranked among the top 100 business schools around the world in terms of research productivity.
Peck School of the Arts was ranked 62nd nationally by U.S. News and World Report in 2012. The school's film program is ranked world top 20 by The Hollywood Reporter.
Libraries
Golda Meir Library is the university's main library. The 379,000 square foot library has more than 5.2 million cataloged items, many of which are available electronically through electronic reserve, web-based online catalog, searchable databases and indexes. The building was first constructed in 1967 and then expanded with the addition of the East Wing in 1974 and conference center in 1982. In 2007, Golda Meir Library Renovation Project had been launched, which contributed to create the Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons, completed in 2009. This place, located on the first floor of West Wing, provides students learning spaces to study and work together. It was named for Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, who graduated in 1917 from the Milwaukee State Normal School, a predecessor of University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee. The Golda Meir Library is also home to the American Geographical Society Library (AGSL), which "consists of well over one million items, and includes maps, atlases, books, journals, pamphlets, photographs, slides, Landsat images, and digital spatial data," according to the UWM Libraries website.
Honors College
The Honors College is an academic division that emphasizes personalized education to a selected group of students. It is open to students in all majors and disciplines who meet and maintain the Honors College admission requirements. Students in the Honors College have a designated writing tutor, special advisors, private study space in the library and opportunities to engage in undergraduate research.
As of 2008 there were about 500 students enrolled in the Honors College, and about 60 students graduated with the Honors degree each year.
Research
The university is categorized as an RU/H Research University (highest research activity) in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. In the year 2015, the university had a total research expenditure of 68 million US Dollars and ranked 179th among US research universities by total research expenditure in 2010.
UWM Research Foundation
The UWM Research Foundation supports and commercializes the university's research and innovations. It provides intellectual property management, technology transfer, corporate sponsored research and strategic corporate partnership services to UWM researchers and industry corporations.
Research Growth Initiative
Research Growth Initiative (RGI) is a program designed to expand UWM’s research enterprise through investment in projects with anticipated return on investment through extramural funding. The application process is competitive and rigorous. Proposals are evaluated by external reviewers with national reputations and ranked according to their quality, rewards and risk.
Campus
The 104-acre (42 ha) UWM campus is located in a residential area on Milwaukee’s upper East Side. The campus is five blocks from the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and is less than a ten-minute drive from downtown Milwaukee. The Milwaukee County Transit System provides the campus with access to public bus transportation in Milwaukee. The campus is divided into central, north, west, and northwest quads. In addition to the campus proper, UWM incorporates a large number of other sites throughout the Milwaukee metropolitan area.
Central Quad
The north end of the Central Quad is the UWM Golda Meir Library, a major library of the country. The library consists of three parts: the West Wing, East Wing and the conference center on the top. The West Wing and the East Wing were completed in 1967 and 1974 separately. The two structures are joined by passageways in the basement and on the second and third floors. The northern extensions of the East and West Wings and a fourth floor conference center facility were completed in 1987. In 1979, the Library was named for Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, who attended Milwaukee State Normal School, a UWM predecessor institution.
The south end of the Central Quad is anchored by the UWM Student Union, the center of student and campus life for UWM. At 350,000 square feet (33,000Â m2), the Student Union is one of the largest student centers in the nation, and its 26,000+ visitors a day during the spring and fall academic terms makes the Union one of the busiest buildings in Wisconsin on a daily basis. Golda Meir Library on the north and the Student Union on the south are connected by the Ernest Spaights Plaza, the central commons for UWM and the roof level of the 480 vehicle Union parking structure. Overtowering the Ernest Spaights Plaza to the west is Bolton Hall which houses the Departments of Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, Economics, Urban Studies, and Geography, as well as many student support centers including the Student Success Center & the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR).
West of Bolton Hall is Lubar Hall, home of Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business. This four-story facility consists of 150,000 square feet (14,000Â m2) of classroom, computer labs and office space and can accommodate 2,000 students in its instructional facilities at one time. Originally constructed in 1995 as the Business Administration Building, it was renamed in 2006, Lubar Hall in honor of Sheldon B. Lubar, a prominent Milwaukee businessman, civic leader and philanthropist. Lubar is founder and chairman of Lubar & Company, Inc., a private investment firm. His commitment to UWM and higher education spans more than three decades including service as a past president of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents. Lubar's distinguished career of public service also includes his work as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration. The building's original automated light and temperature controls featured a system called The Lighting Showcase by the Wisconsin Electric Power Company. It was designed to provide maximum energy efficiency for the most highly utilized academic building on the UWM campus. In addition to providing nearly 200 offices, there are three lecture halls, with a total of 785 seats; seven arc-shaped classrooms; 10 U-shaped classrooms; an Executive MBA classroom; three computer labs; and two levels of underground parking.
On the east side of the Ernest Spaights Plaza are the Art building, Music building, and the Theatre building which are all indirectly connected through a series of basement hallways, and on the second floor. These buildings make up what is part of the Peck School of the Arts. Main buildings on the east side of the central quad include Mitchell Hall, sometimes known as "Old Main," which was the home of the original Milwaukee State Teachers College; Garland and Pearse Halls (which formerly housed Milwaukee-Downer Seminary); Curtin Hall; etc.
North Quad
The north side of the North Quad contains the Downer Woods, a wooded area and conservation center. On the west side of North Quad are the Sandburg Residence Halls, a complex comprising four high-rise dormitories. Sandburg Residence Hall houses about 2,700 students.
In the central part of North Quad, there are the school's indoor sports facilities the Klotsche Center and its new addition the Pavilion. Next to the indoor sports facilities is Chapman Hall and the 11-story Enderis Hall, which houses the College of Health Sciences, School of Education, and the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare.
The east side of the North Quad is a group of old red buildings, including Holton Hall, Merrill Hall, Johnston Hall, Sabin Hall, etc. These old buildings were acquired by the University in the Milwaukee-Downer College campus purchase. The Milwaukee-Downer "Quad" (Holton, Johnston, Merrill and Greene Halls) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
West Quad
The West Quad is the location for the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Nursing, the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the natural science departments. The College of Engineering and Applied Science is housed in the EMS building. The Physics Building is to the south, and the Chemistry Building and Lapham Hall (housing the Biology and Geosciences Departments, as well as the Thomas A. Greene Memorial Museum) are to the east. Cunningham Hall on the northwest side houses the College of Nursing.
The award winning Architecture and Urban Planning Building on the east side of the West Quad was completed in 1993. With more than 143,000 square feet (13,300Â m2), it is one of the largest school of architecture buildings built in the U.S. in the last 40 years. The exterior of the L-shaped building has brick walls accented by metal panels and large windows. Full glass walls facing onto the central courtyard afford a view of that area from almost every room in the building. Inside, the air ducts, light fixtures and structural system have been left exposed, providing a unique architectural teaching environment. The building includes student design studios, classrooms, a lecture hall, exhibition areas, computer labs, offices, a media and photography center, and research centers.
Surrounded by the buildings in the West Quad is Engelmann Field, home to the Milwaukee Panthers men's and women's soccer teams. Built in 1973, the 2,000-capacity stadium is tucked between buildings in the middle of the West Quad, making it a unique stadium among American sports venues. Engelmann Field is home to the longest-running in-season tournament in NCAA Division I men's soccer, the Panther Invitational. UWM has hosted the event annually since the program's inception in 1973, save for the 1990 season. The tournament entered its 38th year in 2012.
Northwest Quad
The former Columbia-St.Mary's hospital was acquired in 2010. It contains a seven-building complex, with over 820,000 square feet (76,000Â m2) and a parking structure, expanding the campus by 20 percent. Currently, the building houses the School of Information Studies, UWM's child care center, and numerous departments' offices. The uses of the remaining portions of the complex are yet to be determined.
Athletics
UWM has had three mascots and nicknames: Green Gulls (1927â€"1956), Cardinals (1956â€"1964) and Panthers (1964â€"present).
A total of 15 Panthers athletic teams compete at the NCAA level for Milwaukee in the ten-member Horizon League, which it joined for the 1994 season. Prior to moving to the Division I level for all NCAA sports in the 1990â€"91 season, the Panthers competed in Division I, Division II, Division III and the NAIA.
Men's Basketball
Under the tutelage of Bruce Pearl, the Panthers won their first ever Horizon League Tournament in 2003, leading to their first appearance in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. They would return to the tournament in 2005 where they gained national attention when they defeated Boston College for a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. The Panthers pulled off one more upset in the 2006 NCAA Tournament over Oklahoma under new head coach Rob Jeter.
Football
Milwaukee disbanded its football program after the 1974 season, its 75th at the varsity level. Though it was considered a small program throughout its existence, it produced six players who went on to play in the National Football League including Houston Oilers All-Pro safety Mike Reinfeldt. Other notable Milwaukee football alums include Bill Carollo, the Panthers' starting quarterback from 1970â€"1973; and University of Illinois head coach Robert Zuppke.
In 2011, then-Athletic Director Rick Costello hired a consulting firm to look into the feasibility of reinstating football at the university.
Since 2003, Milwaukee has had a successful club football program. From 2003â€"2010, they competed against the club football team from Marquette University in an annual tilt known as the Brew City Classic. The Panthers held on to the Golden Keg (the games' trophy) for the duration of the series until Marquette disbanded its program in 2011. In 2012, they finished the season ranked #7 nationally by the Intercollegiate Club Football Federation.
Other sports
The men's baseball and women's volleyball teams have enjoyed national success in recent years, with the baseball team posting six 30-win seasons in the last nine years and advancing to three NCAA Tournaments since 1999, including a win over #1 ranked Rice University in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament. The volleyball team has qualified for six of the last nine NCAA Tournaments and has compiled an all-time record of 867â€"477â€"7 through the end of the 2006 season.
The club bowling team has also seen success since its creation in 2000, winning the Wisconsin Collegiate Bowling Conference in 2011 and 2013 and finished 2011 as the 27th ranked team in the nation
The men's club lacrosse team, founded in 2010, won the Great Lakes Lacrosse League Championship title in 2011 and 2015.
The school has a club water polo team.
Student life
Housing
There are five university-managed student housing facilities: Cambridge Commons, Kenilworth Square Apartments, Purin Hall, RiverView Residence Hall, and Sandburg Halls.
Sandburg Halls is the largest student residence hall on campus. It is a four-tower complex with a capacity of 2,700 students, arranged in three- and four-room suites. The North, South, and West towers were built in 1970, with the East tower opening in 2000. All East tower suites have full-size kitchens and a dining area. Sandburg Hall went through a renovation in the summer of 2008 with the installation of an environmentally friendly roof. Following a design by associate professor Jim Walsey, this change was intended to prevent overflows and backups into neighboring homes. Facilities inside the building include a cafeteria, fitness center, convenience store, coffee shop, computer lab and a second-run movie theater for residents. Sandburg Halls also has space for recreational activities, including grass space, a patio, tennis courts, basketball courts, and sand volleyball.
Purin Hall is on the corner of Downer and Kenwood. It is a small building housing approximately 50 students in apartment-style suites.
Kenilworth Square is slightly south of the main campus and has a capacity of about 330 upper-class, graduate, and older students in one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments in a converted Ford factory that also houses part of the Peck School of the Arts.
RiverView Residence Hall, opened to first year students in 2008, is located several blocks west of Kenilworth Square and has a capacity of 470 students. There are a 24-hour University Housing shuttle, MCTS, and BOSS (Be On the Safe Side, the university shuttle service) running between the residence hall and the main campus. First year students can also attend some classes within the residence hall.
Cambridge Commons is the newest residence hall project, which opened in 2010 and houses 700 residents. Approximately 140 spaces are available for returning residents in apartment-style suites to include living rooms and kitchens. The remaining spaces are two-room suites with a shared bathroom and refrigerator. The lobby features a fireplace lounge, music practice rooms equipped with recording technology, and a computer lab. Cambridge is a LEED Gold certified building, with two green roofs, solar panels, and a green courtyard that reduces rain runoff using a 20,000 gallon holding tank.
All of housing with the exception of Kenilworth Square students are serviced by the Student Housing Administrative Council (SHAC) which is Milwaukee's version of a RHA and is student run.
In addition to these university-managed residence halls, students also occupy apartments and rental houses in the surrounding neighborhood. The Neighborhood Housing Office is available to help students seeking off-campus housing.
Media
As of 2013 there is no longer a print version of a campus newspaper. The UWM Post is an online newspaper independently run by the students. Journalism students also run Frontpage Milwaukee, another online newspaper.
Journalism & Mass Communication students run PantherVision, a weekly, award-winning news program distributed via the Higher Education Cable Consortium to approximately 300,000 households in southeastern Wisconsin.
The College of Letters and Science runs WUWM, a Milwaukee public radio station serving southeastern Wisconsin with news, public affairs and entertainment programming.
UWM also is home to the award-winning Broadcast Club, a club that gives students insight to the broadcast field.
PantherU.com is a non-affiliated sports news media website that covers Milwaukee Panthers athletics in specific.
Student organizations
There are over 300 student organizations on campus. The governing body is the Student Association of UWM, which under Wisconsin's "shared governance" system (statute 36.09(5)) interacts with the University administration and the student body to insure students rights and interests. Other student organizations in the university vary greatly in nature, ranging from political (College Democrats, College Republicans), academic, cultural, to sports clubs. UWM is home to a number of Greek organizations, including; Lambda Theta Phi, Alpha Kappa Psi, Beta Gamma Sigma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Psi, Kappa Tau, Phi Sigma Sigma Rho, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Delta Psi Chi Swordsmen, Sigma Chi, Phi Sigma Kappa, Triangle, Omega Delta Phi, Iota Phi Theta and Kappa Sigma
Pantherfest
At the beginning of each academic year, the university stages a "Pantherfest" at the Marcus Amphitheater area on the south end of Milwaukee’s lakefront Summerfest Grounds. It is the largest and culminating event of the university's two-week Fall Welcome festivities; celebrating the start of the academic year with various campus events and activities. Started in 2007, the event is paid for by fees taken from UWM Students. A closed concert, tickets are available for sale only to alumni, faculty, and staff. Past performers have included Lupe Fiasco, Dashboard Confessional, Kid Cudi, O.A.R., and Common. Pantherfest includes a street festival hosted on campus featuring free food and activities for the student body.
Panther Prowl
The Panther Prowl is an annual running race sponsored by the UWM Alumni Association. Participants stride across the UWM campus and Upper Lake Park to raise funds for students scholarship and support alumni programming.
Performing arts venues
Four venues provide performance space for UWM's Peck School of the Arts including music, dance, theater and film. Musical performances are held in the Bader Concert Hall located in the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts or the Recital Hall adjacent to the Arts Center courtyard. Theatrical performances are held in the Mainstage Theater or Studio Theater located in the Theater Building next to Spaight Plaza. Dance performances are held in Mitchell Hall Dance Studio located on the second floor. The department of film recently opened a new venue to showcase new student films in Kenilworth Square.
In popular culture
Several main characters in the television show Happy Days (set in Milwaukee) were students at this university in later seasons of the show. UWM banners also hung inside the characters' regular hang-out, "Arnold's Drive-In." To match the time period of the show, Happy Days used the red-and-white colors and the Cardinals mascot, which was in use by UWM during this period.
In The Real World: New Orleans (2010), the twenty-fourth season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, Ryan Knight pursued a degree in marketing at University of Wisconsinâ€"Milwaukee.
Safety
In addition to an on-campus University Police Department staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with 43 full-time sworn police officers and 22 U-Park security officers, UWM provides a safety escort service called SAFE (Safety Awareness For Everyone), a shuttle van service called BOSS (Be On the Safe Side), and an emergency alert notification system. BOSS operates from 6 pm to until 2am Sunday thru Thursday and until 4am on the weekends during the spring and fall semesters. Summer hours are 7pmâ€"12am, 7 days a week. Their van service will even drop people off right at their front door if they live in their area of service. This service is funded through students segregated fees.
LGBT+ friendly
In 2014, the Campus Pride organization's LGBT-Friendly Campus Pride Index ratings listed UWM as "one of the top 50 LGBT+-friendly colleges and universities" in the United States. It was the only college or university in Wisconsin to make that list. The list is based on self-assessing responses to the Campus Pride Index benchmarking survey about LGBT-friendly policies, programs and practices.
Notable alumni & faculty
See also
References
External links
- Official website
- UWâ€"Milwaukee Athletics website