Jan. 25, 2023

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MILWAUKEE — Marquette University President Michael R. Lovell celebrated the university’s momentum during 2022, while also sharing some new initiatives for the year ahead in his ninth annual Presidential Address on Wednesday.

“2022 was a year of great strides for Marquette University," President Lovell said. "We have so much momentum going forward. We are in such a position to be successful.”

Address highlights

• President Lovell was joined by University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone and Brenna Holly, senior director of corporate philanthropy at the Johnson Controls Foundation, to announce the winners of the 2022 President’s and Chancellor’s Challenge. The President’s and Chancellor’s Challenge is a partnership with UWM and Johnson Controls focused on the urgent issue of poverty, its root causes and its subsequent effects on members of the community.
• Peter Feigin, president of the Milwaukee Bucks, was on hand for the announcement of the Marquette and Bucks Fellowship Program, which provides students from diverse backgrounds with unique learning experiences and exposure to careers in sports and entertainment with the Bucks during each NBA season.
• ’77 — a Golden Ale was announced as the first beer to be produced by a new student venture, Blue & Gold Brewing LLC. This private label Marquette-affiliated beer producer comes out of the Student-Run Business Program in the College of Business Administration and is a unique partnership with Marquette alumni brewing leaders.

President’s and Chancellor’s Challenge

The 2022 President’s and Chancellor’s Challenge focused on the urgent issue of poverty, its root causes and its subsequent effects on members of the community. Interdisciplinary research teams were composed of faculty and staff from Marquette and UWM, as well as community organizations. Awardees included:

• Changing the Story: The Story Fellow Program — A cross-campus team based in the humanities that aims to create a sustainable, yearlong, asset-based program to engage students to facilitate storying in partnership with community groups affected by poverty across Milwaukee.
• Expanding access to tele-mental health services for young adults living in poverty in Milwaukee through listening and learning from our community — This pilot project is addressing mental health and access to health care for the most socially vulnerable populations in Milwaukee within the larger context of the social determinants of health and the socioecological mental health and well-being model.
• Healing Adversity and Trauma through Conversation and Hope (HATCH) — HATCH is a Milwaukee-based initiative that integrates three models of social support or mental health care into W2 (Wisconsin Works) and prison reentry services.

Marquette and Bucks Fellowship Program

At the address, the Bucks made their first “draft choice” for the new Marquette and Bucks Fellowship Program, Marquette student Christian Golden. He will begin with the Bucks organization this month and the fellowship runs through the end of the NBA season. The fellowship is open to students from Marquette’s Urban Scholars program, which offers full tuition, four-year scholarships annually to high achieving scholars from financially disadvantaged backgrounds from high schools in the Milwaukee area.

Experiential learning for students through Blue & Gold Brewing

In an eagerly anticipated announcement that has been brewing on social media, President Lovell unveiled a new student venture, Blue & Gold Brewing LLC. This private label Marquette-affiliated beer producer comes out of Blue and Gold Ventures, the student-run business program in the College of Business Administration and is a unique partnership with Marquette alumni brewing leaders.

Additional progress highlighted in the Presidential Address:

• The progress and continued efforts of Marquette to improve diversity, equity and inclusion on campus was highlighted as the university now has the most diverse student body in its history. The first-year class included 30% students of color, of which 6% were African American and 15% were Hispanic. Percentages of Black and Hispanic students have doubled since 2014. The freshman class also consisted of 23% first-generation students. The Urban Scholars program has continued to have success as the university brought in 46 new scholars last fall and retained 43 of the 44 scholars from last year. President Lovell also pointed specifically to significant advances the university has made toward better acknowledging and honoring the long history of Native peoples and nations that lived on and stewarded the land and water where the university now resides.
• Marquette had a banner year for faculty research in 2022. Following the third consecutive year of record federally supported research and development expenditures at Marquette, several faculty members were recognized for receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, and Fulbright Scholar awards.
• Looking forward, President Lovell pointed to the campus master plan, highlighting the recently opened Dr. E. J. and Margaret O’Brien Hall and a number of forthcoming building projects outlined in the campus master plan, including the reimagined Wellness + Recreation facility, a new home for the College of Nursing at David A. Straz Jr. Hall, the Lemonis Center for Student Success, and the Iron District, the planned, privately developed sports and entertainment district abutting campus’ eastern border. Additionally, a committee was formed last year to begin programmatic planning for a BioDiscovery District in the heart of campus.
• President Lovell lauded the work of the University Advancement team, as the university continues to make significant progress on the Time to Rise fundraising campaign. Marquette remains ahead of its $750 million campaign goal and has raised more than $647 million, which represents 86.3% of the target. Noteworthy campaign milestones include:
  • Nearly 61,000 unique donors, of which 29,250 are first-time donors (48% of the total)
  • $265 million of funds raised have been for scholarships and $152 million have been for capital projects
  • $127 million raised for faculty excellence, which includes funding for 10 endowed chairs and 40 faculty-focused funds to support research, graduate assistants, and new academic program development
• Addressing the issue of safety and security on campus, President Lovell praised the work of the President’s Task Force on Community Safety, led by Marquette University Police Chief Edith Hudson. In June, the Task Force completed their work and made 12 recommendations to increase safety in the Marquette community. Thanks to the Safety Implementation Team, eight items have been implemented and four are on a timeline for implementation. President Lovell highlighted the newly launched EagleExpress, and app-based, on-campus ride share service. “Even though we must continue to improve safety,” President Lovell said, “the work of the task force has led to a 46% decrease in robberies and 26% decrease in motor vehicle thefts on campus.”

About Marquette University

Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit university located near the heart of downtown Milwaukee that offers a comprehensive range of majors in 11 nationally and internationally recognized colleges and schools. Through the formation of hearts and minds, Marquette prepares our 11,100 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional students to lead, excel and serve as agents of positive change. And, we deliver results. Ranked in the top 20% of national universities, Marquette is recognized for its undergraduate teaching, innovation and career preparation as the sixth-best university in the country for job placement. Our focus on student success and immersive, personalized learning experiences encourages students to think critically and engage with the world around them. When students graduate with a Marquette degree, they are truly prepared and called to Be The Difference.

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About Kevin Conway

Kevin is the associate director for university communication in the Office of University Relations. Contact Kevin at (414) 288-4745 or kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.