Latest news with #MarkMone
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Statistics don't support UW-Milwaukee shuttering materials engineering program
Everything is made from something. The materials we use are so important that entire eras of human history are named for them: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. The knowledge of how to make, process, and use these materials is fundamental to any form of society. A society that fails to pass this knowledge on to new generations will not survive or prosper. That's why it was disappointing to hear outgoing UWM Chancellor Mark Mone double down on the proposed closure of UWM's award-winning Materials Engineering program. This program provides students with life-changing opportunities for high-paying careers in an in-demand field. It's also critical for our region's manufacturing industry and national defense. Mone pointed to the relatively small size of the Materials Engineering program. He would be hard-pressed to find a school of engineering anywhere in the country in which materials engineering is not the smallest department in terms of number of students. Materials engineering programs typically have dozens of students, not hundreds. To put this into perspective, however, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts an average of just 10 job openings per year for neurologists in Wisconsin. Hopefully, no one would suggest that UW-Madison should stop training neurology residents, since most of us recognize that medical specialists are essential to the kind of society we want to have. Materials engineers are no less essential, but since we work behind the scenes, many people are unaware of the critical role we play. In fact, our work goes into every single manufactured item you see around you, from nuts and bolts to airplanes, and everything in between. Letters: Lack of state support, Republicans are to blame for UWM's budget constraints Chancellor Mone suggested redirecting resources towards UWM's Computer Science program. However, unemployment among computer science graduates is currently 6.1% — nearly 1.5 times the overall national average. While computer science is undoubtedly an important field, increasing the present oversupply of computer science graduates will not benefit students or Wisconsin's economy. Materials engineering graduates, in contrast, have an unemployment rate of just 1.85%, and Wisconsin manufacturers are struggling to fill materials engineering positions as the current generation retires. This critical shortage is why the Department of Defense created the METAL (Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship & Learning) program, an initiative focused on rebuilding the materials engineering workforce. Given Wisconsin's position as the number one state for metal casting employment, the Defense Department has identified Milwaukee as a target location for a new $1.5 million METAL hub. Opinion: We asked readers about wake boats on Wisconsin lakes. Here's what you said. Funding from this initiative could be a tremendous catalyst to strengthen and grow UWM's Materials Engineering program. This would be a rare win-win-win-win situation: for UWM, for students, for industry, and for national defense. In order to qualify for this funding, however, UWM needs to continue to have a Materials Engineering program. UWM's incoming chancellor, Thomas Gibson, successfully worked with industry in his previous role to ensure UW-Stevens Point's offerings were aligned with workforce needs. Let's hope he brings that perspective to his new role at UWM. Outgoing Chancellor Mone has handed him an awesome opportunity to show that he is a different kind of leader who will take UWM in a new direction. By saving the UWM Materials Engineering program, the new chancellor has a chance to create a tremendous success story that will benefit our region for generations to come. Dave Palmer is a metallurgical engineer at Twin Disc in Racine. He earned his masters degree in Materials Engineering from UWM in 2014, and is currently working on a PhD in Materials Engineering at UWM. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UWM materials engineering program must be saved from closure | Opinion
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration terminates more UW-Madison student visas
More international students studying at Wisconsin colleges and universities have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration, scrambling their plans to study and work in the U.S. A terminated visa generally means the student must immediately leave the U.S. There typically is no grace period. The University of Wisconsin-Madison identified at least 13 cases Monday. A university spokesperson said there were at least 26 terminations as of Wednesday afternoon, which included 15 current students and 11 recent alumni on their student visas but working. UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone said in a message to faculty and staff there were 10 students or alumni who had their visas terminated as of Wednesday morning. Mone said there was no reason to believe the 10 canceled visas at UWM had anything to do with protest activity; some other students nationally have been targeted for their participation in pro-Palestinian protests last year. Some student visas were revoked for no apparent reason or for minor violations, such as speeding tickets, that previously would not warrant such a serious consequence, according to lawsuits filed by students in other states. The Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, which represents more than 570 public and private colleges and universities across the country, said recent revocations appeared to lack cause and raised concerns about fairness and due process. "The government's actions and rhetoric create an atmosphere of fear, threaten academic freedom, chill free expression, and jeopardize the well-being of noncitizen members of our campus communities," the organization said in a statement. The 10 UWM cases may be part of the 14 non-Madison cases the UW System previously identified but did not break down by institution. UW System spokesperson Mark Pitsch said Thursday he had no updated number to share and did not immediately clarify whether the UWM cases were included in the 14 across the UW System. The State Department has offered little insight into how and why specific students were selected for visa termination. "We don't go into the rationale for what happens with individual visas," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said at a Tuesday press conference. "What we can tell you is that the department revokes visas every day in order to secure our borders and to keep our community safe, and we'll continue to do so." (This story may be updated.) Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@ or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump administration terminates more UW-Madison student visas
