In April 2021, Community Engagement Coordinator Lisa Klein successfully earned a micro-credential in Community Partnerships through Campus Compact’s Community Engagement Professional Credentialing Program.

In July 2021, the UWL Community Idea Exchange (formerly known as the Project Opportunities Board) was updated with a new name, new projects, and systematic approach to maintaining and updating the database.

From August 2021 - February 2022, the Community Engagement Coordinator helped organize the university’s response efforts to help support the needs of the Afghan people living at Fort McCoy. You can find complete details on the university’s efforts on the UWL support for Afghan guests webpage. 

In September 2021, the Community Engaged Learning (CEL) program was announced to the College of Science and Health, the College of Art, Social Sciences and Humanities, and the College of Business Administration. In the first five months of the program, 19 course sections received the CEL designation.

In January 2022, the Community Engagement Council in collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning hosted a Community Engaged Learning (CEL) program workshop with an overview of the program, including a review of the CEL proposal.

In March 2022, three new Community Engaged Fellowships were introduced to campus. The $12,000 fellowships are awarded to students who are chosen for one-year experiences with two local non-profit organizations. The fellowships are intended to provide community-engaged experiential learning opportunities for students. 

Barbara Stewart, Vice Chancellor of Diversity & Inclusion, received the 2022 UW System Board of Regents Diversity Award from UW System Board of Regents. The honor is given to a change agent who has significantly promoted equity in educational outcomes for historically underrepresented student populations.

In June of 2021, the Research & Resource Center for Campus Climate announced a name change to The Center for Transformative Justice. The new name better captures its mission of supporting students and advancing social justice. The change was spurred by the events of the prior year, when social justice dominated the national news cycle and many institutions, including universities, reassessed and renewed their commitment to driving change.

Social Justice Week, a free event bridging gaps within the campus community through dialogues, experiential activities and initiatives that promote equity, justice, and inclusion was held in April of 2022 after its absence in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theme this year was Spaces, Places, and People: The Urgency of Intersectional Environmentalism, Unified Communities, and Mutual Networks.

In February 2022, New Directions for Institutional Research published Building capacities on campus for equity-focused data: The equity liaison program at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse by Graciela Engen and Natalie Solverson. The article outlines how the Equity Liaison Initiative at UWL engages individuals from offices on campus with equity-focused data to affect change in their individual departments.

Results of the spring 2021 student Campus Climate Survey were shared with the campus. The survey tool that was used was the Diverse Learning Environments (DLE) survey from the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This tool was used by all UW campuses and the survey was coordinated by UW System.

The University implemented a 1% one-time COVID-19 merit pay award for employees in Fiscal Year 2022 to recognize the exemplary efforts and extra work of faculty and staff in supporting the University and its students during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The cost of the merit award was $667,883.

The Title and Total Compensation process concluded in November 2022, providing affected employees with new titles. The next phase of the process will explore recommending a new policy for employee career progression to promote a more substantial employee retention effort for all UW System institutions.  

In preparing UWL for the post pandemic work environment, the university has developed a more robust Work From Home policy which focuses on enhancing recruitment and retention efforts as well as providing some employees whose positions are suitable for working from home, more flexibility to work remotely. In addition, the university is continuing to evaluate more flexible work options for all employees.  

Navigate has on-boarded additional campus partners including the Office of Multicultural Student Services, International Education & Engagement, Residence Life, Athletics, and the Murphy Learning Center. This has allowed us to expand our network of support to students. Additionally, students can now view all alerts entered by their instructors and have access to view appointment summary reports for advising appointments within the Navigate app.

The General Education Working Group continues to work towards GE revision. The working group put forward a proposal for the creation of a General Education Coordinator position, which was approved by the Provost along with Faculty Senate. A faculty appointment is anticipated by May 1, 2022. The working group is also reviewing solicited feedback from programs and department chairs on proposed categories and distribution of courses.

The General Education Assessment Committee (GEAC) is piloting the Critical Thinking VALUE rubric in two cohorts of courses (Spring 2022, Fall 2022). The process is housed in Canvas and has lead to creation of training space and improvements to review assessment plans. Ideas are being gathered for larger scale implementation Fall 2023.

Despite a global pandemic, UWL continues to work towards a comprehensive internationalization plan.  Among other things, International Education & Engagement (IEE) in collaboration with the Provost Office and CATL are preparing for a globally focused UWL Conference on Teaching and Learning for summer 2022 to assist faculty with identifying ideas and resources for adding global perspectives into course curriculum. Small grants continue to be provided to faculty to develop collaborative online international learning projects for courses taught during the 2022-23 academic year.

UWL developed a new strategic plan for graduate education in December 2021. It has three pillars: 1) Recruit and support a diverse pool of exceptional individuals as graduate students at UWL; 2) Invest in our people by supporting the faculty and staff involved in graduate education; 3) Promote the success and strategic growth of graduate education. In spring 2022 Graduate Council will identify priority action steps within each pillar and move forward on them.