What’s New at UWRF – Chancellor Dr. Maria Gallo
Chancellor Gallo first described the university’s response to the tragic deaths by suicide of three students within one month this semester. The county and the Emergency Operations Committee have been working with the students on campus. There has also been assistance and resources from other UW campuses. To allow students additional time for recovery and healing, the Thanksgiving break was extended. Most students go home for Thanksgiving, but 150 students stayed on campus. The University is looking into establishing local homes for students to stay during longer breaks.
This fall semester the University had more students than last year. The Covid pandemic reduced overall enrollment, but now enrollment has increased thanks to strong recruiting of this year’s freshman class.
The University has three new deans: Dr. Michael Orth for the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences; Dr. Wesley Kisting for the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Muhammad Chisty for the College of Education, Business, and Allied Health. Our club welcomed Wes and Muhammad to Tuesday's meeting, which Dr. Orth was unable to attend.
As with most of higher education, the University has more women enrolled than men; sixty-five percent of current students are women. One factor behind adding new programs and sports, including e-sports, is the goal of attracting more men. New academic programs are a Doctoral in Montessori Education, Master’s in business Analytics (online) and in Strength and Conditioning, a Bachelors in International Foods Operations Management, in Environmental Engineering and Biomedical and in Health Sciences, and an Associates in Applied Arts and Sciences. The programs in development are: a Bachelors in Fermentation Sciences and a Bachelors in Sustainable/Urban Agriculture; a Master’s in Social Work; a Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing; a Certificate or Doctoral Program in Superintendent Licensure; a Bachelors/Masters in Health Administration, and in Sports Administration.
There will also be new sports options. In varsity e-sports there will be 9 different e-sport games. They had hoped to get 25 to 30 students by currently they have 38 students enlisted. The student athletes are from Wisconsin, Minnesota,, Virginia, North Carolina, Idaho, South Korea, and Malaysia. Also the fall of 2023 UWRF has started a marching band. UWRF will have Baseball and Men’s Soccer starting 2024-25.
The University will have the first in the nation Humane Handling Institute using the principles taught by Temple Grandin. The Institute will be a model for the rest of the nation. They will offer a high school meat science curriculum.
The University will offer a Farm and Industry short 16 week course from October 30, 2023 to March 15, 2024. Students will live on campus and earn credits that can be used at the UWRF or at other campuses.
The University is in the process of building the new Science and Technology Innovation Center and they have just opened the Wuethrich Family / Grassland Dairy Center of Excellence.
The Fall of 2024 the UWRF will celebrate 150 years.
About Maria Gallo: Chancellor Dr. Maria Gallo began as the 20th chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2021. Gallo is a Fulbright Scholar and a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America. Before joining UWRF, she served as president of Delaware Valley University. Before that Gallo was dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii (UH) at Mānoa as well as director of research and director of cooperative extension. Prior to UH, Dr. Gallo was professor and chair of the Agronomy Department at the University of Florida.
Dr. Gallo is a plant molecular biologist and an author on more than 80 research articles and numerous book chapters. She was recently featured in the book, “Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business” by Dr. Andi Simon. A native New Yorker, Dr. Gallo earned her B.S. in agronomy from Cornell University, and both her M.S. in crop science and Ph.D. in genetics from North Carolina State University. She currently serves as the chair of the Women's Network Executive Council of the American Council on Education based in DC.