Program seeks more Milwaukee students of color

The university is stepping up recruitment of students of color in the state’s largest city – with assistance from their school district and potential future employers.

A new university initiative – the Pre-College Enrollment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence, or PEOPLE – will enroll 100 Milwaukee ninth-graders beginning this summer. Through classes held in Milwaukee and time spent on the UW–Madison campus, the program will acquaint the students with and prepare them for admission to Wisconsin’s flagship university.

PEOPLE is recruiting African-American, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino and low-income students. Those who complete the program and enroll at UW–Madison will receive full scholarships, if successful fund-raising objectives are met. UW–Madison is partnering with Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee business community to create the program.

“The PEOPLE program is a comprehensive and creative partnership to increase the number of students prepared to go to college and be successful,” says Chancellor David Ward. “We must work hard together to help provide opportunity to young people in Milwaukee, and we are committed for the long haul.”

Program costs are $200,000 for the first year – half of which Milwaukee businesses are being asked to contribute. The university and the state will pick up the other half.

By 2002, PEOPLE will provide pre-college training for 400 Milwaukee high school students of color and scholarships for up to 450 undergraduates each year. The pre-college program alone will cost $2.2 million.

Students who complete the program and go on to graduate from UW–Madison will be prepared to fill management and technical positions with Milwaukee businesses, enter graduate school or assume leadership positions with Milwaukee social, economic and community organizations.

Milwaukee was the logical location to start the program, Ward says, because of its sizable minority population and UW–Madison’s modest success in enrolling its students of color. Eventually, Ward hopes to replicate the program in other Wisconsin cities.

The PEOPLE program follows a long line of UW–Madison diversity efforts. The Madison Plan in 1988 included programs aimed at improving student access and graduation. The Madison Commitment in 1993 updated the Madison Plan by emphasizing broader application and accountability in campus diversity programs.

In 1995, the university adopted nine priorities for the future, one of which was “maximizing human resources.” This priority is designed to strengthen the campus through greater inclusion of viewpoints, backgrounds and gender and ethnic differences.

On Thursday, April 15, the university will finalize its next 10-year diversity blueprint as part of Plan 2008, the UW System Board of Regents’ initiative to increase the number of students, faculty and staff of color on all UW System campuses.