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There, officials are trying to make the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee into more of a research university. It is important work, and if successful, it will foster economic development throughout south-east Wisconsin, with ripple effects throughout the state.
It’s worth thinking about the role of the university in creating tomorrow’s workforce and stimulating the local economy, especially since relations between the UW System and Republicans in the Legislature are frequently strained.
Too often, the issue centers on some staffing controversy, or left-wing campus speaker — or tuition hikes instituted because of cuts in state taxpayer support for the university.
But it helps to take the focus off the dispute between legislators and system administrators in Madison, and look out in the field to see what the individual campuses are doing.
In Milwaukee, for example, UWM has raised $122 million in a capital campaign, and also has a pledge from philanthropist Michael Cudahy for an undisclosed donation.
The university wants to use the money to buy 83 acres in Wauwatosa, several miles from its east side main campus, to create a new engineering and research park. The new facility would be located near the Medical College of Wisconsin. A collaboration between the two institutions could create new economic opportunities for the area and the state.
That’s part of what universities do. Madison and Dane County are wealthier and more prosperous because of the location of the University of Wisconsin and its growing research capability.
Seventy miles east of Madison, Wisconsin’s largest city and greatest population center, has been struggling with the loss of manufacturing jobs, increased poverty and a real need for job training and economic development.
Efforts to increase the role of UWM as an economic engine do not just represent a local story for Milwaukee. They have ramifications for the entire state.
We hope the Legislature is paying attention — and is willing to be part of the solution.
