$1 million Rockwell Gift Announced
Rockwell Automation is giving a $1 million gift to UWM to support and develop a strategic alliance specifically designed to ensure the competitiveness of the advanced automation industry throughout the region. Rockwell Chairman and CEO Keith D. Nosbusch made the announcement Jan. 18.

The partnership funded by the gift will focus on three key areas of advanced automation – materials, sensors and devices, and software and informatics. These also complement the needs of other industry clusters in Southeastern Wisconsin, such as biomedical imaging, printing and medical informatics, said Chancellor Carlos E. Santiago.

“We welcome and appreciate Rockwell Automation’s investment in UWM’s innovative research in the area of advanced automation,” said Santiago. “This partnership gives a significant boost to expanding the university’s research enterprise, one of the two overarching goals of the Campaign for UWM.”

Besides conducting research, the objectives of the partnership include developing a skilled local work force, creating a research infrastructure and fostering interdisciplinary teams that will integrate technology, business and the sciences.

Especially important will be collaborative research and teaching between UWM’s College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business, where Nosbusch earned a master’s degree in business administration in 1978.

Funding will also help UWM’s Research Foundation create a catalyst grant program in the field of automation. Catalyst grants provide internal support for UWM research from a pool of designated private money. These will be awarded after a competitive review process by external experts and are intended to seed research that will eventually become self-sustaining.

UWM Receives $500,000 Sloan Grant for ‘Blending Life & Learning’
UWM will receive a three-year, $500,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to help fund its new “Blending Life & Learning” initiative.

“Blending Life & Learning” focuses on the creation of “blended,” or hybrid, programs that combine face-to-face classroom instruction with online, Web-based education. The initiative aims to increase access to UWM’s academic programs, reaching new markets of students in Southeastern Wisconsin, reducing the time it takes to earn a degree and increasing student retention.

Because significant portions of course learning activities will be moved online and the amount of time spent in the classroom and commuting to campus will be reduced, the programs should be especially attractive to busy adult learners trying to balance work and family commitments with their educational pursuits.

The following programs will be developed in conjunction with the grant:

• Freshman and sophomore foundation courses
• Foundation courses in Film
• Nine bachelor’s degree programs in the College of Letters & Science (this major initiative will be fully funded by UWM)
• Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Teacher Education
• Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice
• Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration
• Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy
• Master’s degree in Computer Science
• Foster Parent and Youth Workers Certificate