As UW-Milwaukee embarks on several endeavors to boost its research university presence in Wisconsin, Chancellor Carlos Santiago announced his proposal to establish two more UWM campuses in the greater metropolitan area Friday.

The proposal came after Santiago’s Jan. 22 assertion that he does not think Wisconsin can afford not to have two research universities during a meeting with UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley.

“We are too many people, doing too much, in too little space,” Santiago told the Associated Press Friday of the university’s 28,000 students, who attend class on a campus that is 93 acres—302 students per acre.

In contrast, the Associated Press reported the UW-Madison campus is 933 acres with 41,000 students: 44 students per acre.

According to Santiago, one of the two additional campuses would be near or in the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center and the Milwaukee County Research Park, both of which are located off of Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa, Wis. The other would be near or in a hospital or clinic downtown.

The Wauwatosa campus may house an engineering school, while the downtown campus would harbor a public health school along with other medical programs like nursing and psychology, Santiago said.