The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) is a public urban research university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of the two doctoral degree-granting public universities and the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena houses athletic teams as well as events such as concerts and commencement ceremonies. UWM shares many of its cultural resources with other campuses in the University of Wisconsin System through its membership in that system. The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee traces its roots to two separate schools: Milwaukee State Normal School and Milwaukee Institute of Technology, both founded during the mid-19th century.
In 1885, these two institutions were merged by an act of the Wisconsin Legislature to form one institution within the University of Wisconsin System: The Milwaukee Normal School became a teachers college while the institute retained its status as a polytechnic institute specializing in engineering and industrial sciences. In 1956, another merger created today’s comprehensive university when a third school,Wisconsin State College–Milwaukee joined them.
The resultingUniversity consisted initiallyof three distinct physical campuses scattered across different parts of metropolitan Milwaukee: down town (near Lake Michigan), on Capitol Drive / Waukesha (in suburban Waukesha County),and on Silver Spring Drive(in suburban Ozaukee County). However, over time all three campuses have grown to be contiguous with one another so that today they are considered one large campus just northwestof downtown Milwaukee near Miller Parkand Interstate 94.
The most recent expansion occurred in 1991 when it absorbed nearby Peck School Of The Arts which moved from downtown to join UWM at its main campus location; this made UWM one among only a handful nationwide offering undergraduate degrees both in fine arts and liberal arts/sciences as well as professional programs suchas business administrationand engineeringall at one large comprehensive university.[citation needed]
UWM offers 186 undergraduate majors leading to either bachelor’s or associate degrees; it has 82 graduate programs – including 31 doctoral degree programs – awarding masters’, specialist’s, engineer’s or doctorates. As noted earlier, it is also home to Peck School Of The Arts which confers Bachelor Of Fine Arts And Bachelor Of Music degrees making for a total of 268 different degree possibilities overall. In addition to traditional classroom instruction methods, some academic programs offer field experience opportunities such as cooperative education placements (“co-ops”) and internships. There are also distance learning options available via teleconferencing technologies for students who cannot physically attend classes on campus due largelyto work schedulesor family commitments.