Milton Coleman

Member, The Chancellor’s Society

Winning a scholarship to attend UWM was a key turning point that provided a “step up in life” for Milton Coleman (’68 BFA), deputy managing editor of The Washington Post.

Named a Distinguished Alumnus in 1998, Coleman returned to UWM in June to deliver a luncheon address during the UW System Board of Regents annual meeting on campus.

The University of Wisconsin System must continue to provide similar opportunities for students in the future, stressed Coleman, a Milwaukee native who grew up in public housing and attended Milwaukee Public Schools.

Coleman said his family’s financial situation did not allow an opportunity to save for college.

“I don’t know what I would have done without that scholarship – which if I remember correctly was $128 a semester,” said Coleman, the first in his family to attend college. “When all was said and done, that was my ticket to ride. It was like a handshake to me. It said to me, ‘I’m a scholar.’”

Coleman said his college experience – and that of others – has proven that the UW System is “a place where everybody can be somebody.”

Coleman said he owes a great deal to his time at UWM and to his editors at the Milwaukee Courier, an African American newspaper, where he got his start in journalism.

“I’m certain I never would have gotten to the Post if it wasn’t for what I learned from [Courier editors],” he said. “The same is true about what I learned here at UWM.”

Coleman said that many people told him “not everyone could be deputy managing editor of The Washington Post. But Milton Coleman is the deputy managing editor of The Washington Post – and I came out of here,” he said.

Now, Coleman said, he is active in raising and awarding scholarships for students in the Washington, D.C., area. He has been involved with scholarship programs connected with the Post and through his church, which was founded by slaves who knew education was essential for freedom.

“We see education as a liberator and an equalizer,” Coleman said. “I would hate to see people stop taking chances, because people took chances on me. It would be foolhardy to abandon commitments and not to make future commitments.”

At the end of his address, Coleman announced that he was joining The Chancellor’s Society – the top tier for UWM charitable giving. His financial contribution would include a double-matching commitment from the Post,
he said.

“I believe my alma mater can really make a difference in this city, this state and in this world, in the same way that scholarship – that ticket to ride – made a difference for me,"
he said.

—Kate Kail, University of Wisconsin System

For information on The Chancellor’s Society, contact Stephanie Ackerman at 414-229-3018 or Eric Anderson at 414-229-3016.