UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee have joined forces to provide graduate students a unique opportunity to take classes at the other university, while staying enrolled at and graduating from their own school.
Graduate students in the doctoral program of art history in Madison and those majoring in architecture in Milwaukee can participate in the collaboration.
According to university officials, UW-Madison does not currently have a specific architecture school and will therefore allow art history majors to attend architecture-based classes at UW-Milwaukee. In exchange, UW-Milwaukee will send students to utilize art history classes offered in the Ph.D. program at UW-Madison. Students have the option of attending opposite campuses once or more a week or attending an entire semester at the other campus.
Elaine Klein, assistant dean for UW-Madison's College of Letters & Science expressed her enthusiasm for the unique partnership.
This is something that no other university in the country has,"" Klein said. ""We have [a] new strength because of this partnership in architectural history.""
Arijit Sen, UW-Milwaukee assistant professor in the Department of Architecture, said he was impressed by the support relayed by UW-Madison.
""Without such a huge amount of support from Madison's upper level of administration we wouldn't have gotten here so quickly,"" Sen said.
Klein said the campuses are still working out a few of the collaboration's logistics.
""There are small things like making sure that classes have the right number of credits to go between the transcripts,"" Klein said. ""We are in the process of making sure that the faculty that are going to be teaching in Milwaukee are given access to grading records of UW-Madison students.""
Sen said transportation is currently an issue for students attending once-a-week classes between the campuses.
""Transportation is the only hitch we are working on,"" he said. ""Scheduling is not a problem, but driving back and forth is a bit of a problem.""
Students and faculty are excited to have a unique opportunity to share resources.
""What makes this program unique is this model that give each campus independence,"" Sen said. ""All we are doing is sharing resources of classes, professors and other resources - we're not actually sharing a program.""
