University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Alumni Special Edition | Summer 2020

Magazine of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

ALUMNI

Special Edition Summer 2020, Vol. 22, No. 1

A MESSAGE FROM CHANCELLOR MONE The COVID-19 pandemic has upset our lives in numerous ways – loved ones and livelihoods lost, economic challenges, caring for families, social distancing, online delivery of classes for all ages, and more. At UWM, the impacts on our students and employees have been dramatic and disruptive but have also illuminated resiliency, ingenuity and much humanity.

As our spring semester ended, we knew that our summer campus operations would be minimal and that our summer courses would be delivered online. We postponed the May 17 commencement ceremonies and are working closely with public health authorities on the safest and best ways to resume operations. It is our goal to have campus courses, research and residential operations back in person as soon as realistically feasible, and we will do so in a safe, socially distant manner when the time is right.

As alumni, your strong commitment to our mission and in support of our guiding values of care and compassion is profoundly appreciated. I am grateful for your involvement to transform students into successful alumni, support their academic success, and conduct research and community engagement in ways that improve lives and help fight the battle against COVID-19.

The heart and success of our university depend on people. Nothing tells the story of our people and courageousness during unprecedented times better than the stories you will read in this special edition of UWM Alumni magazine.

Normally, we send a much larger edition of UWM Alumni in the fall, but we wanted to share these stories as soon as possible. You’ll learn how the UWM community responded to spring semester disruptions, and how faculty members, students, alumni and friends are aiding the community’s COVID-19 response through research and outreach.

Please spread the story of UWM to your friends, colleagues and family members. Thank you for helping us to inspire and strengthen one another. We are Panthers.

We are resilient. And, we are needed as our communities emerge from this pandemic.

Best regards,

Mark A. Mone Chancellor

UWM NEWS A PERIOD OF EXTRAORDINARY CHANGE The announcement from Chancellor Mark Mone came on March 10: UWM was extending spring break from one week to two and moving spring classes online, at least temporarily, as public health worries about COVID-19 mounted. A UWM Foundation employee still awaited the results of a COVID-19 test, which would come back negative.

UWM had been solidifying its contingency plans since midJanuary. As the growing threat of COVID-19 came into focus, UWM’s Infectious Disease Preparedness Team convened. “The health of our students, faculty and staff is a top priority at UWM,” wrote Julie Bonner, campus health officer and executive director of the Norris Health Center, in a campus message on Jan. 25.

Four days earlier, Washington state had confirmed the first COVID-19 case in the United States.

As UWM’s spring semester unfolded, so too did several extraordinary developments that came at breakneck speed. These were communicated and questions were answered through email, social media and a new website, uwm.edu/coronavirus.

By March 17, most UWM employees were working from home as campus access was strictly limited to essential employees.

In the weeks that followed, online instruction was extended for the rest of the semester and in-person spring commencement ceremonies were postponed.

UWM COVID-19 TIMELINE

MARCH 13

JANUARY 25

Campus health officer Julie Bonner says UWM is monitoring the outbreak of COVID-19.

UWM’s Infectious Disease Preparedness Team had begun meeting in mid-January.

“I think we came very quickly to the realization of the magnitude of this crisis,” Provost Johannes Britz said during one of several virtual town halls hosted by campus leadership. “We were able to make a number of key decisions very quickly.”

Faculty and staff worked tirelessly during the extended spring break period to move more than 6,000 courses online while canceling only 37 classes. Thousands of students quickly moved out of their residence halls, and staff made accommodations for those who had nowhere else to go. Students adapted to full-time remote learning while juggling finances and family responsibilities at home.

The process was not always smooth. With many students struggling with job losses, alumni and members of the campus community donated money, computers and food to help those in need. Extra academic help was made available to students. And as UWM implemented furlough plans and took other measures to address budget shortfalls, faculty and staff did their best to address their students’ concerns.

“I heard not one complaint, not one bit of resistance, as we all went home to our less-than-optimal workspaces and did our best for our students,” says Sara Benesh, associate professor and chair of political science. “It’s a testament to what I always knew about UWM faculty, but maybe isn’t always appreciated: We genuinely care for our students.” – Genaro C. Armas

MARCH 10

Public health concerns mount nationwide.

UWM extends spring break by a week and temporarily moves classes online.

Health officials announce the first two confirmed COVID-19 cases in Milwaukee County.

MAY 12

MARCH 18

UWM moves classes online for the rest of the semester and limits access to campus buildings to essential employees.

Chancellor Mark Mone says UWM is looking at several options for the fall semester, including a mix of in-person and online classes.

WHAT STANDS OUT ABOUT THE SPRING SEMESTER?

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Joseph LeMire, chief, UWM Police, and co-incident commander of EOC

Arcetta Knautz, director, University Housing

Clark Evans, associate professor and chair, atmospheric science

Rachel Baum, senior lecturer, foreign languages and literature

“My spring has been long, fast and incredibly busy, built around planning for the safety of students, staff and faculty. Although we are all quite busy, we know it’s for the best interest of all of our community.”

“The housing move-out was a multifaceted juggling act with many layers and involving incredible collaboration among university teams.”

“The good in our humanity; commiserating with students that we feel their anxiety and isolation; finding joy and building community in new virtual ways; and generosity through giving.”

“A colleague working 15-hour days helping instructors move courses online. Another colleague working from her car because it was the only quiet she could find with kids at home.”

UWM ALUMNI SPECIAL EDITION

SUMMER 2020

UWM OUTREACH HELPING GET MEDICAL-GRADE MASKS TO HEALTH CARE WORKERS

Bree Wagner, a UWM police officer, was part of a campuswide effort to collect and donate thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment. Coordinated by the UWM Police Department and University Safety and Assurances, UWM secured 31,300 gloves, 125 pieces of eye protection, 20 gowns, nine hazmat suits and nearly 900 masks, 345 of which were N95 respirators. The supplies were donated to the Milwaukee County Unified Emergency Operations Center in April for distribution to hospitals and first responders in the Milwaukee area.

When Kyle Jansson and Lindsey Roddy learned that health care workers faced personal protective equipment shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, they joined MaskForce. It’s a Milwaukee coalition involving business, academia and health care that aims to mass-produce medical-grade filtration masks.

Jansson, director of the Prototyping Center at UWM’s Innovation Campus, and Roddy, a UWM doctoral student in nursing, felt a sense of déjà vu as they worked on the initiative. Just two years prior, they began a medical device startup, RoddyMedical LLC, and they were preparing to launch their first product – a tool that organizes medical tubing.

“There is a lot of experience that we were able to bring to the table,” Roddy says.

MaskForce was launched in early March

by Waukesha-based Husco International Inc., and more than 25 organizations collaborated to design, test and massproduce the lifesaving masks. In only 60 hours, Jansson and his colleagues created a functional prototype that served as MaskForce’s starting point. Lindsey Roddy

and husband John Roddy, a physician and fellow at the Medical College of Wisconsin, tested filtration material early in the process.

“That collaboration was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” Jansson says of that first week. “There were hundreds of people working long, hard hours because we all knew someone who needed those masks.”

As Husco turned its attention to manufacturing the prototype mask parts, Lindsey Roddy and Jansson started working in parallel on their own mask project to further improve the design. The result, the RoddyMedical TogetherMask, is biocompatible with skin, conforms to differently shaped faces and filters 99.99% of bacteria and viruses.

The mask also can be disassembled and cleaned using multiple methods, and it’s clear, “so you can see a face and a smile,” Lindsey Roddy says. The TogetherMask is already being used by Milwaukee-area medical professionals, and it has become a new product offered by RoddyMedical.

– Laura L. Otto

THE IMPORTANCE OF ADDRESSING MENTAL HEALTH, SOCIAL ISOLATION AND LONELINESS The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the mental well-being of Americans, and public health guidelines to self-isolate can have particular ramifications among older adults. UWM faculty members W. Hobart Davies, Shawn Cahill and Colleen Galambos have some basic advice for people regarding mental health and isolation.

A nationwide Gallup poll released in April found that 60% of Americans experienced “significant” stress, up from 46% last year – an unprecedented increase in a statistic that generally shows little change.

Therapy can help with challenges like restructuring routines or relationship rules, says Davies, professor and chair of the psychology department. “Or it can

just provide an outlet from the emotional intensity of the crisis,” he says.

Federal guidelines for mental health services were loosened to offer more flexibility for counseling via telehealth.

Recent studies have found that psychotherapy by telehealth methods can be just as effective as in-person sessions, says Cahill, an associate professor of psychology. “Don’t be embarrassed to seek help for yourself,” Cahill says, “and be supportive of others who are contemplating entering counseling.”

Social isolation and loneliness in older adults are a concern even during normal times, and Galambos has been part of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee

studying ways to better address the issue.

Galambos, the Helen Bader Endowed Chair of Applied Gerontology, urges older adults to stay in touch with others through phone calls, texting and telemeetings with family and friends. Taking walks in the neighborhood or volunteering are other ways to remain engaged and connected.

It’s also important to practice selfcare by eating healthy, exercising and limiting news consumption, which tends to increase anxiety and feelings of helplessness.

“Give yourself permission to laugh and enjoy yourself,” Galambos says. “Watch a sitcom or comedy show, read a good book, bake or cook something in the kitchen.”

– Genaro C. Armas

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UWM STUDENTS UWM STUDENTS HAD A ROLLER COASTER SEMESTER The Spring 2020 semester began normally enough in January, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed almost everything students had taken for granted, especially their coursework and living situations. By the end of March, UWM’s classes had gone fully online and thousands of students had moved out of residence halls.

And for graduating students, the commencement ceremonies they’d worked so hard toward had to be postponed.

“The first couple weeks, I had to figure out where I’d live. I had to pack up my life,” says Allie Habeck, an Honors College junior majoring in creative writing and minoring in journalism, advertising and media studies. She wrote about the shift to online classes and other experiences for Milwaukee Magazine, where she interned.

Habeck moved back to her family home in Wausau, Wisconsin, a big adjustment after being on her own at college.

“When I was home over winter break, I remembered looking around my room and wondering how I ever did high school in that room,” she says. “Three months later, I’m back in that room doing college.”

Making the shift to learning online has been challenging for many students.

Verity Dickens, a senior in the College of Health Sciences, also works as a medical technician at Aurora Sinai’s lab. She came to UWM because she really wanted the on-campus experience.

“I am already on the computer all day for work,” Dickens says, “and I felt

not used to online learning and have never had to take an online class,” says Imari Woods, a master’s student in the School of Information Studies who tutors undergraduates. The biggest challenges, Woods says, involved quickly incorporating new tools into their learning process, such as chat boxes and video apps like Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

Some students liked the flexibility of arranging classwork around family, jobs and other commitments, and many thrived online. Jill Budny, who teaches in the Honors College and is its assistant director, shared how one student had struggled to express her thoughts during in-person classes. “Now that we’re online,” Budny says, “it’s been interesting to see she has found her voice during discussions. Her questions are nuanced and insightful, and she’s incredibly kind to her classmates, giving them positive feedback on their posts.”

In the end, it was a semester full of adjustments. Habeck says Allie Habeck she went from being frazzled to finding a groove, and Dickens that online classes would be too much found her way toward optimism. “I’ve computer time for my tastes.” appreciated the understanding and Just because students grew up with resilience of the instructors,” Dickens says. computers as part of their lives doesn’t “Somehow I am still making it through. mean that they’re ready to take classes I think it really is going to be OK.” on them. “Many of the students are – Kathy Quirk

HOW UWM STUDENTS ARE HELPING RESPOND TO THE PANDEMIC

Lubar School of Business student Nathan Feest used a 3D printer to make “Montana” masks for local nonprofit Pathfinders, which distributed them to youth in need.

Countless UWM students have assisted in the community’s response to COVID-19.

Here is just a sampling of how some of them have helped.

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Occupational studies student Alissa Ramczyk served as an online tutor for students at Oliver Wendell Homes Elementary School in Milwaukee. Dozens of UWM students held similar roles, connecting with families of K-12

students through the online tutoring project facilitated by UWM’s Center for CommunityBased Learning, Leadership, and Research.

Zilber School of Public Health master’s student Dr. Julianna Doniere has been on the front lines of COVID-19 treatment as an emergency room physician with Ascension.

Zilber master’s student Mai-Sher Jessica Yang transitioned from doing food safety inspections for the Milwaukee Health Department to running a temporary isolation site at a local motel for people with no other place to self-isolate.

MANY WAYS OF SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN NEED Many UWM students lost jobs and wages while transitioning to online learning during the Spring 2020 semester. UWM, alumni and members of the community provided – and continue to provide – support for these students in a number of ways.

FOOD: The UWM Food Center & Pantry, which normally sees 120 students per month, provided bags of food to 843 students in the first five weeks after the campus shutdown. The bags contained roughly one week’s worth of food and were distributed following contactless protocols.

EMERGENCY FUNDS: The Dean of Students office has received more than 900 requests from students for emergency financial help.

These students have lost jobs due to COVID-19, leaving them in need of money for rent, food and toiletries, utilities, academic expenses and vehicle repairs. As of May 21, donors had made nearly 700 gifts totaling more than $240,000 to UWM’s student emergency funds.

More than 8,000 students have applied for aid through the CARES Act (see accompanying infographic).

COMPUTERS: Dell Technologies lent UWM 100 refurbished Dell i7 devices for our students to use during the spring and summer.

Additionally, the UWM Libraries lent computers to students, and students could buy low-cost used computers from some campus units, including UWM Surplus and the School of Architecture & Urban Planning.

CHANCELLOR’S STUDENT SUCCESS FUND: On May 1, Chancellor Mark Mone and his wife, Dr. Sara Swanson, gave a lead gift of $50,000 to establish the Chancellor’s Student Success Fund.

In addition to emergency aid, this fund will provide scholarships and other financial assistance to help students complete their degrees.

The lead gift launched a $1 million fundraising campaign to support this effort.

To contribute to the Chancellor’s Student Success Fund or any of the efforts listed here, visit uwm.edu/give. – Kari Pink

School of Information Studies graduate students Alexander Breen, Brendan Lenzner (left) and Imari Woods tutored UWM IS and technology undergrads taking online courses.

College of Nursing student Molly Brenner serves in the Army Reserves. In mid-April, her medical unit was deployed to New York City, where she worked with COVID-19 patients in a step-down intensive care unit.

CARES ACT RELIEF Under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, UWM was allotted $16.9 million for pandemic relief. Half of that will go to students in emergency aid grants. The other half can be used to cover costs associated with the pandemic. Here is how UWM intends to use the funding.

UWM TOTAL ALLOTMENT: $16.9 MILLION STUDENT GRANTS: $8.45 MILLION HOUSING REFUNDS: $4,100,879 DINING REFUNDS: $3,175,020 COVID-19 LEAVE PAYMENTS TO STUDENT EMPLOYEES: $630,000 ADDITIONAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE FOR REMOTE LEARNING: $446,686 PARKING REFUNDS FOR STUDENTS: $110,248

Lisa Gniot is working on a nursing

Kayla Bonack, a Zilber master’s student,

master’s degree and is an emergency room registered nurse at a metro Milwaukee hospital, where she ran an emergency department tent used to screen people for COVID-19.

works with the North Shore Health Department and is responsible for a daily briefing and a monthly community newsletter.

Nursing student

School of Education student Raven Schmitt works with her mother to make masks for health care workers.

College of Health Sciences student Verity Dickens is also a medical technician at Aurora Sinai’s laboratory, where patients’ COVID-19 tests are processed.

UWM ALUMNI SPECIAL EDITION

Ariana Gonzalez

worked during the spring as a nursing assistant on a hospital’s COVID-19 floor.

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UWM RESEARCH SEEKING ANTI-VIRAL DRUGS TO KNOCK BACK THE PANDEMIC In January 2020, as the first COVID-19 case landed in the United States, UWM chemistry professor David Frick and his students started investigating the virus behind it. They were studying the group of proteins in the virus that allows it to multiply inside a cell.

Now Frick, who has devoted most of his research to creating anti-viral drugs, has joined thousands of researchers who are exploring drug compounds with the potential to stop the pandemic. Several compounds that Frick developed six or seven years ago to test on other viruses are showing promise.

He began by comparing the replication proteins in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to those in the virus that caused the less-severe SARS outbreak in 2003. He and his lab colleagues identified the protein that was most distinct from its earlier cousin, and the protein most similar.

Frick then started testing hundreds of druglike compounds – some of which he

developed – to see if any interfere with the proteins they isolated.

The protein most similar is called a helicase. Many viruses need helicases to read instructions encoded in genes. Frick has often applied his expertise to develop “helicase blockers,” compounds that can stop a virus from accessing its cellular “command center.” For this research, he is relying on help from Wilfred Tysoe, distinguished professor of chemistry, and Nicholas Silvaggi, associate professor of chemistry. Tysoe’s lab members are using computer models to simulate how compounds interact with the COVID-19 proteins on the molecular level. Silvaggi’s lab is mapping the proteins’ atomic structure using X-rays.

“This work began years ago when we were testing our compounds on the hepatitis C virus,” Frick says. “Whether any existing drugs will work, however, really just depends on how they fit the structure of the COVID-19 proteins.”

– Laura L. Otto

AN ONLINE SYMPTOM TRACKER One of the challenges in dealing with COVID-19 has been the availability of laboratory tests to confirm whether someone has it. Under-detection of the illness leaves health officials without data needed to slow its spread, says Amy Kalkbrenner, an epidemiologist at the Zilber School of Public Health.

To address this, the associate professor developed a confidential online survey for people feeling sick to report their symptoms. The website wecountcovid19.com launched in early spring, and it’s free and open to anyone in the United States.

The site collects symptom information

by ZIP code and day. When enough results accrue, the site will include maps of reports by ZIP code.

“Symptom data can be thought of as an early warning system,” Kalkbrenner 6

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says. “If enough people are reporting, the symptom data should show an uptick quite a few days ahead of lab testing data.”

The survey will help public health and local government officials get a better idea of the scope of the virus’ impact by location, even though some of those responding might have a different respiratory illness. Known patterns of seasonal flu and allergies assist in painting an overall picture.

“While it’s not possible to know for sure that any given individual has coronavirus just because they report symptoms, it is possible to make pretty good guesses,” Kalkbrenner says.

“Our ability to better understand COVID-19 relies on this survey reaching as many people as possible.”

– Laura L. Otto

SUMMER 2020

STUDYING MILWAUKEE’S COVID-19 RACIAL DIVIDE A UWM Center for Economic Development study shows a clear association between racial segregation and the early spread of COVID-19 in Milwaukee County.

Joel Rast, the center’s director, and his team analyzed statistics from the Milwaukee County Health Department and the U.S. Census Bureau. They found that COVID-19 incidence and deaths were concentrated in neighborhoods where most residents are African American.

Although 13% of the county’s population lives in census tracts that are at least 75% African American, those tracts accounted for 26% of confirmed COVID-19 cases as of April 8. And despite making up 27% of Milwaukee County’s population, African Americans accounted for 69% of COVID-19-related deaths through April 8.

Rast says the report may be one of the first academic studies in the country analyzing racial disparities during the pandemic. Among its recommendations: ensuring effective outreach to disadvantaged communities about how to slow the virus’ spread.

Mustafa Hussein, an assistant professor in UWM’s Zilber School of Public Health, says the health department’s COVID-19 statistics through May 9 continued to show a significant disparity.

“For most minority and low-income families, staying at home in quarantine and seeking care if infected are unattainable privileges,” Hussein says.

“The disparities are the result of deeply seated, historical discrimination that is baked into our systems, from labor markets to housing, education, health care and criminal justice.”

Minorities also shoulder a greater chronic disease burden than whites, making them far more likely to be diagnosed late and die from the disease.

– Laura L. Otto

ALUM SNAPSHOTS THE VIEW OF AN ER NURSE IN NEW YORK CITY Martha Phillips, a 2006 nursing graduate, worked in West Africa during the Ebola crisis, and in the spring she cared for COVID-19 patients as a crisis response emergency room registered nurse in a large New York City hospital. She left her home and nursing job in Washington state for the assignment because she felt it’s where she was most needed, and discussed her experiences in the following Q&A.

How does the COVID-19 crisis affect your everyday duties?

I’m in PPE (personal protective equipment) for my entire 12-hour shift.

I have an N95 (mask), goggles, hair covering, face shield, gown, gloves and booties on from start to stop. I do take the mask and shield off for my lunch break. We are still making the assumption that the majority of our patients have contracted COVID-19, or at least have been exposed.

We take different precautions in how we separate them, treat them, protect ourselves and where in the hospital they are admitted.

What stands out about how people have responded?

In our darkest times, people will move beyond themselves to help and to serve.

And I’m talking about people outside of the health care sphere. People who started creating PPE in their small businesses, 3D-printing face shields, donating food, sewing masks and head coverings, offering shelter and laundry and love and support.

Have you experienced something uplifting/inspiring that you would like to share with UWM alumni?

I am always inspired by people who rush to help those in need. I am inspired by all the nurses who hopped on planes and flew to New York. And I’m inspired by all the nurses who are arranging their lives so that when the next wave hits, the next surge arrives, they can be ready to deploy again. Our enemies are fear, ignorance and illness, and nurses are uniquely prepared to combat all three. I am so proud of my profession. – Jennifer Bauer Roche

FROM UWM INTERN TO HEALTH COMMISSIONER Jeanette Kowalik was a UWM senior majoring in health care administration when she got an internship at the Milwaukee Health Department. The 2002 graduate didn’t know it at the time, but she was laying the foundation for a future job – as commissioner of that very same Milwaukee Health Department.

“I always give credit to UWM and the power of internships,” Kowalik says.

“You’re seeing the story play out.”

The internship became a temporary job there and then a full-time one, all of which led to a more complete understanding of the department’s inner workings and the dynamics of its service to Milwaukee. She went on to roles in other cities and health departments, earned a UWM doctorate in health sciences in 2012, and became Milwaukee’s health commissioner in September 2018.

All of that experience and operations, coordinating education has been crucial in actions with other helping lead Milwaukee’s branches of leadership, efforts through the greatest and almost always public health crisis in a doing so virtually. century.

She estimates Kowalik has been health department involved in just about every employees have been aspect of Milwaukee’s working as many as 19 COVID-19 response, hours a day, and sees from education and setting no easy solutions or quick Jeanette Kowalik guidelines to addressing public conclusions to the pandemic. health inequities and marshalling limited “It’s going to be a long road,” Kowalik resources, such as protective equipment says, so she urges people to prepare and testing capabilities. She has wrestled accordingly. “COVID-19 is impacting all of with fundamental questions: “How do you us. We should look and see what each one appeal to people who don’t care about of us can do to improve the state of affairs science,” Kowalik says, “and think that in our city or wherever you are. And make COVID-19 is not real?” sure you’re taking care of your mind, body Beyond that, she’s providing key and spirit. You need to prioritize that.” guidance on the city’s broader emergency – Howie Magner UWM ALUMNI SPECIAL EDITION

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Special Edition

UWM Alumni is published for alumni and friends of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. ISSN: 1550-9583. Not printed at taxpayer expense.

Send correspondence and address changes to: UWM Alumni Association, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413. Phone: 4 14-229-4290, email: alumni@uwm.edu.

KIDS CAN JOIN ONLINE FUTURE PANTHER ACADEMY Looking for fun and educational ways to keep your children engaged at home?

The UWM Alumni Association’s Future Panther Academy provides free, online and interactive live programming for children of all ages.

Stars Have Stories features astronomer Jean Creighton, director of UWM’s Manfred Olson Planetarium, exploring the

skies in each 10-minute episode. Viewers can submit questions for Creighton to answer during the presentation, and the series also provides activities that can be tried at home. Two new Stars Have Stories sessions are scheduled for June 12 and June 26.

Another Future Panther Academy session featured WTMJ-TV meteorologist

and UWM alum Brian Niznansky, who took viewers on a tour of TMJ4’s Storm Chaser mobile weather lab.

Advanced registration is required to view Future Panther Academy events live, but all recordings are available for on-demand viewing. Visit alumni.uwm.edu/ futurepantheracademy to watch past events or register for upcoming sessions.

PANTHER PROWL SCHEDULED FOR OCT. 11 Join the UWM Alumni Association for its 16th annual Panther Prowl, a familyand canine-friendly 5K run and walk scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 11, at 10 a.m.

Proceeds benefit the Chancellor’s Student Success Fund, which provides direct support to UWM students in need.

“We are hopeful that everyone will be able to join us in person this year for a great Panther Prowl,” says Amy Tate, interim executive director of the UWM Alumni Association. “But if we can’t, we’re going to do everything possible to make sure we

can still continue the longstanding tradition while also supporting UWM students.”

If COVID-19 concerns prevent the event from being held on campus, the event will transition to a virtual do-it-yourself Prowl.

Details will be communicated, if necessary.

A new virtual registration option also will be available for those who want to support the Prowl from afar.

All Prowl participants will receive the popular black and gold striped Panther scarves worn by volunteers at the 2019 event. Prowl registration opens in July. For the latest updates on race details, registration and sponsorship opportunities, please visit alumni.uwm.edu/pantherprowl.

Stay up to date with the Alumni Association: alumni.uwm.edu 8

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