I am particularly pleased to welcome home UWM's Emeritus Chancellors, Werner Baum, Leon Schur, Frank Horton, Norma Rees, and John Schroeder, whose stewardship so preserved this university and the place of the Chancellor that indeed there was a position here for me to fill.

Like many of you, I have wondered more than once about the wisdom of holding today's event so many months after my initial arrival on campus. I know now what I couldn't have known then.

Through an unrelenting and self-imposed itinerary, I have come to know countless faculty, staff and students and the many friends -- alumni, neighbors and community leaders -- who form the mosaic of this exciting campus.

I have been inspired and informed, advised and admonished, educated and engaged by your profound hospitality and well wishes for a successful tenure at this remarkable institution. I, and my family, are indebted to you for making these first eight months so affirming of our decision to come here.

When the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was established 40 years ago, its founders believed that if Milwaukee were to become a great city it would need a great urban public university. In their minds, this was to be "Milwaukee's university."

Thanks in large part to the excellence of our faculty spanning nearly half a century, the commitment of our staff and the competence of our students, Milwaukee's university has grown in stature and distinction.

Today UWM ranks among a most distinguished cohort of Carnegie-designated Research II institutions nationally. It has an array of highly ranked professional schools and colleges and an amalgam of disciplines in the letters and sciences that have allowed our faculty's achievements to soar in the years since our founding.

During the past eight months, I have learned my way around town, attending numerous civic, professional and social events, ethnic festivals and the Circus Parade. I have been a faculty coach for women's basketball (they think I should keep my day job!), cheered on the Brewers and generally become acquainted with this great Milwaukee community.

As a consequence, I see more than ever the contributions this institution has and will continue to make to this metropolitan region, within the UW System and to the nation.

Still, as is the case with any new appointment, I was regularly asked during my early days at UWM: "Chancellor, tell us your vision for UWM and the 21st Century." My response stands in large part on the shoulders of Wisconsin tradition.

>From my earliest visits to Milwaukee, I heard reference to the Wisconsin Idea: "The boundaries of our University are the boundaries of the State."

Looking back on the past eight months, I don't think any of the many individuals I have relied on for advice and counsel could tell you exactly when our thoughts crystallized.

I know this for certain: what I have to say today is not the product of a speech written to reflect the vision of myself as a steward of this great university, but rather the voice of literally hundreds of campus and community citizens who together have worked tirelessly over the past weeks and months to deliver this message.

While I will take full responsibility for my critical leadership role as the Sixth Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in helping to make our statement a reality, today I am only the spokesperson for those many individuals who developed it.

The process began last September when I stood before the faculty, staff and students and representatives of our immediate neighborhoods and metropolitan Milwaukee, and issued a challenge ... a challenge to imagine.

Imagine our future, I asked the committee of 100 people from our campus and community. Imagine a community, as Mayor Norquist has observed, that is "fertile with talent, ideas and opportunities ... our country's best hope for change."

Thus The Milwaukee Idea -- a vision of how the boundaries of UWM can more fully become the boundaries of metropolitan Milwaukee -- became for us the stimulus for a discussion of our future.

I think we began to envision what President Gee observed, "a new kind of university -- an institution that is intimately connected to its community but also responsive to the many demands made on it nationally and internationally."

I believe in our collective vision we see UWM's evolution to an urban, student-centered research university, whose goal is nothing less than to become one of America's premier urban universities, recognized for excellence and dedicated to the principle that the themes of educating students, excelling in research, and serving our urban community are echoed throughout this University's activities, sometimes complementing each other to great advantage, and sometimes vying for attention and support within the context of a dynamic, continuing debate about the university's future.

Of course, we are not the only institution talking about what it means to be an urban university in the 21st century. We are part of a much larger, national conversation that has been under way for the past decade.

As many of you heard during the past two days at our UWM Conference on University Engagement, we join a select set of institutions nationally who are redesigning their teaching, research and service. The question we face today is not whether we will become a more engaged university -- we count ourselves in that company already. The question today is, will we join that discussion, or will we lead it?

I hope it is clear to you from the presence today of more than 1,000 members of the broader university family, that UWM is answering the "leadership call." We believe the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is one of Milwaukee's greatest assets. As such we have a responsibility to set ambitious, if not audacious, goals for ourselves -- and with the community -- to change forever the quality of our life together.

Today UWM will more fully join the urban renaissance that is Milwaukee. For us, the Wisconsin Idea gives us a firm foundation; The Milwaukee Idea gives us wings.

At the heart of the idea was the intent to merge process and purpose ... to get the right people at the table, talking about and planning for the right ideas.

We set a very public goal, in large part to keep our shoulder to the wheel. We asked our Committee of 100 (which quickly grew to over 200 faculty, staff, students, and community representatives), to work for just 100 days to devise a plan ... a map that would form the guideposts and milestones against which we could measure the distance we would travel in our "journey to engagement." While the days nearly doubled to 200, we did take off weekends and holidays!

The process of plenary sessions and affinity groups allowed us to frame "Big Ideas" -- Ideas too ambitious to be the property of a single campus entity, like one department or one school, -- Ideas that must be fundamentally designed and implemented with and for community partners... no partners, no ideas! ... and, Ideas that would enhance our campus culture and the way we reflect and celebrate our diversity.

Thus the Milwaukee Idea Committee has developed 10 bold Ideas -- everything from an annual Knowledge Fest to creating a one-stop shopping center for new technology. We're calling them "First Ideas," because they are the first of what we know will be more to come in the early decades of the new century.

These First Ideas are fundamentally new ways in which UWM will join hands with the people of metropolitan Milwaukee. Like threads through a cloth, these Milwaukee Ideas will be woven into the fabric of the university and into the way in which we do our work, adding color and luster to our strong tradition of teaching excellence, research and scholarship, service and engagement.

Like the proposition from contemporary change theory, "Ready, Fire, Aim!" we will learn from our actions, and then take better aim as we go along, rather than be caught in the downward spiral of "Aim, Aim, Aim!"

A centerpiece of the Milwaukee Idea is what we are all about: student learning. Our Idea calls for the creation of an alternative general studies curriculum. Ours will be distinctive in every regard: it will bridge the foundational disciplines of sociology, psychology, the sciences, literature and philosophy with the lived experience of being in and of the community.

Through service learning and access to team teaching, both from campus and community faculty, diverse student cohorts will experience their introductory liberal studies through a community-based lens and through a portfolio of community arts experiences that will redefine what it means to study in Milwaukee. We affectionately call this new experience "Cultures and Communities!"

We are also forming a new curriculum in global studies. In a world of increasing international interactions, southeastern Wisconsin is in many ways in the "eye of the storm." Our responsibility is to broaden our horizons. We will do so, thanks to the proposed support from our Governor and the confidence vested in UWM by System to be the lead institution in the UW's international initiative.

The opportunities are tremendous: We will expand student study abroad and faculty exchanges, consult with business and industry in the global marketplace, better coordinate access to the hundreds of languages taught daily across the UW System, initiate extension of selected programs abroad, from our sister state in Hesse, Germany, to the northern boundaries of India, and, through the creation of an international business park, stimulate the necessary interaction between Wisconsin's global employers and our production of a global workforce.

The linchpin to our curricular success depends in large part on our capacity to form real and sustaining educational partnerships, not only with our corporate community, but also most assuredly with our elementary and secondary colleagues and with the rich array of post-secondary institutions that thrive in Metropolitan Milwaukee.

In this community of colleges, we are only as good as the students we attract, and all of us want to better serve Milwaukee's youth.

While UWM's urban, public mission commits us fundamentally to diversity, we are not as diverse as we should be or can be.

As you may know, the UW Board of Regents has committed to Plan 2008: a plan for diversity. As part of that initiative, UWM will soon forward our proposal for increased diversity in the next decade. We're calling it the "Milwaukee Commitment."

Herein we will commit our faculty and staff and the students we attract to effect a real community of equity, diversity and cultural competence. But we can only do so by committing ourselves early -- and for the long haul -- in the success of children and youth who live and learn in Milwaukee.

Thus the bedrock for our proposed educational partnerships is enabling children and youth to succeed educationally, socially and civically. To do that, they have to get an education. That, my friends, is what we do here.

The reach of our partnerships to date has been nothing short of incredible. A survey of our educational linkages recently uncovered 144 different partnership initiatives involving every one of our schools and colleges -- partner activities with the Milwaukee Public Schools that in many instances link us with community groups that serve the same constituencies.

The Milwaukee Idea also commits us to issues of economic growth and development. I can imagine a storefront in the heart of Milwaukee, where entrepreneurs will be able to come for help in starting a new business, where architecture students create new models of retail parks, where companies can seek on-site and job-embedded training for employees.

Just think what we can give to a small business on Martin Luther King Drive -- and imagine what that small business can teach our students about what it takes to succeed in the real world.

We are also committed to training for non-profit and small-business leaders, even as they link us to the concerns of today's marketplace. Just last week, as a result of our community talks about the Milwaukee Idea, a group of local foundations came to UWM to begin talking about our proposed leadership training program for non-profit organizations, part of our Consortium for Economic Opportunity idea.

While "tech transfer" is a term often bandied around, it's something hard to envision. But not if you're invited to lunch with a local manufacturer who replaced the bud vase on our table with a large metal cylinder liner used in the automotive manufacturing business. He knew what I didn't: one of our UWM faculty members was currently working on a new synthetic lining that would, in the words of my host, revolutionize the way his company did business. Now that's "tech transfer!"

And we'll find new ways to tell Milwaukee about what we're doing. We imagine an annual Knowledge Fest -- "brats and brains," we're calling it -- that will showcase the laboratories and design studios of this campus and open our doors to the community.

Along with education and economic development, The Milwaukee Idea has deep roots in the environment. Only one-third-of-one-percent of all available water is fresh water, and it's increasingly at risk. Today, experts estimate one-fifth of the world's population has no access to safe drinking water, a figure that's expected to more than double in the next 25 years.

In short, the time is right for a world-class program for global fresh water research at UWM.

Locally, water is just one of the resources that can impact our urban health. Air pollution and contaminated land represent urban health concerns such as rising rates of childhood asthma and lead poisoning.

Today, in Milwaukee, one in five children is at risk for cognitive problems due to lead poisoning! It's an environmental problem, a health problem, a housing problem, and a social problem. It needs our collaborative solutions.

Through our "Campus Design Solutions" we can take a holistic look at the defining environmental, artistic, spatial and aesthetic properties of the places we call home, from our campus to the municipalities that define metropolitan Milwaukee, the campuses across the UW System, and the cities and towns peppered across the state.

This focus on the environment links directly, as well, to the concept of "Healthy Choices," our collaborative inquiry into issues of substance and substance use. Here too we have been extended a welcoming hand from Milwaukee's health department, where our partnerships for a healthy community can thrive and make a difference.

Education. Economy. Environment.

It's a time for boldness. It's time for The Milwaukee Idea!

Being a firm believer in the adage that "ideas without action are meaningless," the next step in this process is the action part of the equation. And that will take the commitment of all of us ... campus and community.

For all your very considerable hard work and creativity, I want to ask the members of The Milwaukee Idea Committee of 200 to stand and remain standing as I acknowledge, on behalf of everyone, our very considerable indebtedness to you for leading the way. Ladies and gentlemen, the Committee of 200!

As he wanted it, standing as but one member of a larger effort, Professor Steve Percy serves as the Director of The Milwaukee Idea. He and his staff worked miracles, and everyone here knows that. So thank you, Steve.

So... what's next? In a word: ACTION.

Today I announce the commissioning of the second phase of the Milwaukee Idea, namely a set of Action Teams formed around each of our 10 First Ideas.

The Action Teams will identify community partners, create strategies, prepare budgets and develop an action timeline for the next two to three years. Our challenge is not for change, but for impact.

I am pleased to announce that our Action Team leadership is already in place. We are now in the process of recruiting Team members. Anyone from our campus and community can volunteer for a place on these 10-member Teams. Simply complete the form in the Milwaukee Idea Report, which you will receive today before you leave the Union reception, or, of course, use our web site to apply.

Each Action Team will also be assisted by an Advisory Council -- a larger group of interested participants who will provide additional support and counsel to the process.

And, to assure that we have a strong community voice, the Milwaukee Idea Network has been formed. This Network is unlike any I know of in any urban center nationally. The idea here is that we would create a "virtual" advisory group -- kind of an electronic gathering of significant civic leaders across metropolitan Milwaukee.

They know this community and they will help keep us on track. They can provide a type of "civic audit" of our implementation plans through regular online communications.

I am also extremely pleased to announce today the formation of a Council of Corporate Sponsors who will meet with me periodically to offer advice and consultation on the future of UWM and help build a broad base of support for the Milwaukee Idea.

I understand completely what you expect of me. You want me to "find" the resources to turn our dreams into realities.

Already, I have identified resources at the university level to seed the work of the Action Teams. This is important work and it must be embraced with the same commitment as our on-going responsibilities.

I know that in the months to come, I will be working with the academic deans and the various governance committees to discuss a long-range financial plan that will allow us to place the resources behind this ambitious agenda, in such a way that our on-going enterprise thrives while we pursue new opportunities.

We can also extend our agenda by partnering with local and national foundations, as well as municipal, state and federal agencies.

I believe these funding opportunities are immense, provided we place before them provocative and important ideas.

You would expect, as well, that I as your Chancellor would assert the importance of this agenda in the company of our System President and our Regents. I think that's happening as we speak!

But many of you know that President Lyall joined our January Plenary Session and has already made her commitment to the Milwaukee Idea public. And we have that on video, Katharine!

You would expect me as your Chancellor to bring The Milwaukee Idea to the attention of a broad array of public policy makers, many of whom are with us today.

Governor Thompson and members of the Legislature, my prediction is that the Milwaukee Idea will become a household word long before the dawning of the next biennium. I believe the Governor's presence here today is testimony to his commitment to UWM and Metropolitan Milwaukee.

I believe you also expect me as your Chancellor to form a strong partnership with the private sector. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is blessed with a cadre of almost 100,000 living alumni, more than half of whom reside in southeastern Wisconsin. They are our student's parents, our business leaders, our teachers, our community leaders and, I believe, our advocates.

Each time I look at this UWM Medallion which the Alumni Association has so graciously given to our university, I will be reminded that it is my job -- as well as yours -- to bring our alumni ever closer to the fold. And with them, make new friends for the university.

Our goal is to give them a university that continues to enhance the equity of the UWM degree, the vitality of our teaching and research, and the enduring commitment to our community. In exchange, UWM's friends will become our greatest allies and supporters.

The picture I have painted today is that of an institution and a community on the threshold of a shared future.

We have the plan. Now, we need to get to work!

A few months ago, I spoke at one of our many student gatherings at Spaights Plaza, a remarkable commons area you will pass through this evening on your walk to the UWM Union.

One of our fine UWM students approached me on that beautiful fall afternoon, introduced himself, said how glad he was to have the opportunity to meet me in person, and how pleased he was with everything I was doing ... and then he paused ... and added "So far!"

I understand. And I accept the challenge.

Thank you!