Dean's welcome

We are in the midst of another great academic year and our classrooms, laboratories, offices and buildings are filled with activity. Fall is here with magnificently colored leaves, crisper days and cooler nights – all signs of a change taking place – a good time for reflection and self-discovery. This is also a great time of year for students to think about all of the learning opportunities available outside the classroom; student organizations, faith and service activities, study abroad, undergraduate research, and internships. Our college’s internship office is a wonderful resource that provides students a wealth of information on internship opportunities.

Together, the college and the Graduate School have launched a new Behavior Analysis Program offering master’s and Ph.D. level specializations in the Department of Psychology. The program will be housed in a newly renovated building, the former site of Herzing University, that will contain clinical and research labs, student offices, and a classroom. The program will be led by Drs. Tiffany Kodak and Jeffrey Tiger, two nationally recognized and award-winning researchers and clinicians. This new program and space will offer students a convenient way to gain clinical experience required for licensure. This is another great example of how we bring together excellence in research, teaching and service.

A new significant partnership between Marquette University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Northwestern Mutual is the creation of the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute. This partnership is the latest step in Northwestern Mutual’s commitment to advance Milwaukee as a national hub for technology, research, and business talent. Our faculty are engaged and involved in data science programs offered to our students that provide the intellectual challenge and academic excellence expected from Marquette.

We constantly assess current programs to establish new educational pathways and learning opportunities for our students. This and the outstanding work of our faculty, students and staff make being dean in the most diverse college on campus so rewarding.

Thank you for your continued support.

News and Updates

Faculty get big grants

Our faculty were active in securing National Science Foundation grants to further research on campus. Dr. Rosemary Stuart, professor of biological sciences, received $900,000 to study cell biology research. Dr. Richard Holz, dean of the college and professor of chemistry, and Dr. Brian Bennett, professor and chair of physics, received $525,000 to continue research into enzymes that are a new type of “green” catalyst. Dr. Edwin Antony, assistant professor of biological sciences, received $251,424 to help purchase a Total Internal Reflection Microscope system needed to study the mechanism and dynamics of macromolecular protein complex assembly and movement of cellular surfaces. Dr. Satish Puri, assistant professor of mathematics, statistics and computer science, received $175,000 to investigate using high performance computing to speed up operations in Geographic Information Systems. Dr. Karen Andeen, assistant professor of physics, received $125,000 to study the process of cosmic ray creation, acceleration and propagation.

Cyber security program receives prestigious designation

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) have cited Marquette University’s Information Assurance and Cyber Defense Program for its outstanding educational opportunities. DHS and NSA designated the Information Assurance and Cyber Defense specialization of Marquette’s master’s in computing program as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education. Marquette is the only master’s degree program with this designation in Wisconsin. The designation gives Marquette students new scholarship opportunities and opens up restricted grant funding for faculty. The specialization at Marquette is designed to teach students about cyber security planning and management, and cyber issues and defenses for networks, databases and computing infrastructure.

New leadership in the college

We welcomed two new associate deans and a new director of development to the college this semester. Dr. Andrew Kunz, professor of physics, is the new Associate Dean for Admissions, Retention and Experiential Learning. Dr. Ed Blumenthal, professor of biological sciences, is the new Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs. Ms. Molly Eldridge is the new Director of Development for the college. Eldridge’s experience in University Advancement, most particularly in her role supporting student affairs, mission & ministry and the libraries for the past three years, is allowing her to transition seamlessly to the college. 

Milestone Anniversaries  

We celebrated milestone anniversaries this year. The Marquette Center for Peacemaking commemorated its 10-year anniversary, the Les Aspin Center for Government celebrated its 30-year anniversary and the Future Milwaukee leadership program had its 40-year anniversary. The Center for Peacemaking is the only academic center at a Catholic university that explicitly focuses on the power of nonviolence. The Aspin Center has coordinated more than 2,200 student internships at nearly 100 congressional offices and other governmental departments. The Future Milwaukee leadership program, which since 2005 has been housed at Marquette, has built a diverse group of ethically-based leaders in Milwaukee. To date, there are more than 1,600 Future Milwaukee graduates who serve as leaders in business, nonprofit, government and community organizations throughout the region. 

The college welcomes new professors

The college is making great inroads in diversifying its faculty. Thirteen new tenure-track hires joined the college for the Fall 2018 semester. Since 2014, the college has hired 58 tenure-track professors. A total of 50 percent were women and 25 percent were people of color. A listing of our new professors can be found here.

The Jesuit YouTube Star  

Rev. Ryan Duns, S.J., assistant professor of theology, became an accidental YouTube star when he started uploading Irish tin whistle music lessons for a class he taught at Fordham University. Today, his channel has had nearly 5.5 million views and he regularly hears from viewers around the world. This fall, he moved to Marquette and already regularly plays out in Irish pubs while publishing “The Marquette University Irish Tune of the Week.” A podcast featuring Rev. Duns and his music can be heard here.

ROTC International

A few of Marquette’s Army ROTC cadets transcended the typical college summer, choosing instead to take adventures of a lifetime. Through military exchange programs, they trained with foreign militaries, taught English and performed humanitarian work in Africa, Asia and South America. Stressing a culture of inclusion and diversity, Marquette’s Army ROTC has a long history of giving its cadets international experience through these unique and popular programs. “My entire life path changed because of this,” said cadet Maggie Plaza, who visited Oman. Read more about the cadets’ adventures here.

Remembering Dr. Rajendra Rathore

A symposium was held earlier this month in honor of the late Dr. Rajendra Rathore with attendees coming from as far as India and France. Rathore was a prolific researcher at Marquette publishing 15 papers during his final year on campus. Rathore, who died unexpectedly in February 2018, took the lead in applying for a $681,425 National Science Foundation grant to help Marquette acquire a super computing cluster that is many times more powerful than the university’s current system. Expected to be installed in 2019, the system is anticipated to be blazing fast and will aid researchers across the university.

A unique way to appreciate theatre

Students of the Hispanic Theatre & Performance course offered by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures saw the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s production of “In the Heights,” a play by Lin-Manuel Miranda of "Hamilton" fame. Dr. Jeffrey Coleman teaches the class and uses theatre to emphasize the Spanish perspective. Tony Chiroldes, who plays Kevin Rosario in the play, and Chad Bauman, the executive director of The Rep, attended Coleman’s class to take questions from students. “When you’re reading a play from the 1600s, you’re like ‘eh’ I see the relevance but not really,” Coleman says. “But to go see something where the playwright is still alive and you get to talk to the actors, you get to see the performance live, it gives you a different appreciation for the theatre rather than just reading the play in class.”

Distinguished lecturers visit the college

Dr. Ann Astell, professor of theology at Notre Dame, discussed Mary at the 11th annual Theotokos Lecture and Dr. Ned Blackhawk, a professor of history and American Studies at Yale, was the speaker during the Department of History’s annual Klement Lecture. In addition, the Center for the Advancement of the Humanities cosponsored several events on campus, including the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture with Dr. William Chester Jordan, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton. The center also partnered with Humanities Without Walls and the graduate school to hold a symposium on career diversity in September. Earlier this month, the center combined with the Center for Peacemaking to hold a daylong discussion on war crimes.

What are our alumni up to?

Are you (or someone you know) a former arts & sciences alumni who has an exciting story to tell? Is there an accomplishment you have achieved following your time at Marquette that you would like to share? We'd love to hear from you via email. Who knows, we may end up sharing the story in an upcoming newsletter or even in our next magazine!