The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as "Talent Magnet"

Universities are amazingly effective talent attractors, and their effect is truly magnetic. - Richard Florida, "The Rise of the Creative Class"

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) has the ability to attract students, professors and researchers from around the world and these people represent a potential pool of talent to be grown within Milwaukee. A recent article titled Closing the income gap with education points out a severe lack of talent in Milwaukee County by showing that approximately only 1 in 5 residents have college degrees and further points out that the number of degrees per capita is correlated to per capita income level. Now the number of degrees per capita is just one measurement of talent but many studies have verified this correlation and so it appears attracting new students to Milwaukee is a priority. Additionally the report Attracting the Young, College-Educated to Cities put out by CEOs for Cities, points out that "college-educated young people are most likely to consider living in places similar to where they are now" so these students are more likely to stay within Milwaukee post graduation and increase the overall talent level. This ability to attract and retain talent is a significant opportunity the City of Milwaukee needs to capitalize upon.

To capitalize on this opportunity to the fullest indicates that a larger student enrollment for UWM should be another piece of the economic plan for Milwaukee because more students equal more talent. To achieve this goal many hurdles need to be overcome such as, how that many residents on the Eastside see UWM as a nuisance, the reality that the school is located in a dense neighborhood, and that it still has the stigma of being a commuter college. Some positive events are already occurring along these lines such as Joseph Zilber's $10 million donation to UWM to fund a new school of public health within the city. But to overcome these hurdles, significantly increase enrollment, as well as encourage students to stay in Milwaukee post graduation a number of steps need to be taken.

The Plan:

1. Change Perception - While UWM is no longer a "commuter college" it is still refereed to as such in the media and residents therefore an effort needs to be made to change this perception within the Milwaukee community. One way to change this perception is to change the schools name to the University of Milwaukee or Wisconsin State University to separate itself from the other UW-X schools and give it a new identity.

2. Increase Exposure - An expanded athletic program in either football or hockey could lead to more national recognition as well as increased alumni donations. Football would overtime allow for UWM to reach a much larger audience whereas hockey would further establish it within the Midwest. Both of these would help introduce the school to new potential students and in the long run help raise enrollment.

3. Housing - UWM currently has 2,700 beds on campus and receives 12,000 requests for housing each year which forces many students to live off campus or worse yet many students end up turning down UWM and going elsewhere. Local politicians should be encouraged to allow UWM to purchase and convert the former Columbia St. Mary's Hospital and convert the building into new student dormitories. Additionally the city should support new dormitories to be developed within the Eastside and Riverwest as space within the campus is already tight but the demand for housing will only grow as the school grows.

4. International Recruiting - One method that could be used to increase enrollment is to increase the reach for talent by recruiting students worldwide potentially using a plan similiar to what I laid out in the Athens of the Midwest article.

5. Expanding Campus - Encourage UWM to add its proposed additional two campuses within the
city be it in the Park East land or potentially land on the Eastside because spreading the campus throughout the suburbs introduces new hurdles for the school to overcome. For example expanding into the suburbs will make attending UWM more difficult and it will erode its identity. Expansion within the City of Milwaukee will only strengthen it ties to the community and allow more students to attend UWM.

6. Retention. - Programs such as Philadelphia's One Big Campus should be implemented in Milwaukee to increase the retention rate of students after graduation. The importance of retaining the students after graduation is to turn around the "brain drain", increase the overall population of the city, and increase the supply of highly educated citizens.

Athens of the Midwest

For Milwaukee to truly re-emerge as a global city, it is time to learn a lesson from our past and embrace immigration. I understand this maybe a very controversial idea but this country and specifically this city was built by immigrants. Companies like Miller Brewing, Falk, Palermo and El Rey to name just a couple were founded by immigrants or their children. At a national level people like Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, Colin Powell, Carl Sandburg and Peter Jennings were children of immigrants and Henry Kissinger, Levi Strauss, Liz Claiborne, Madeline Albright, Albert Einstein, and Andrew Carnegie were in fact immigrants themselves. Clearly by looking at this list it's easy to see how immigrants have added to our culture, to our technology and to our GDP.

Recent research by Michael E. Porter of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, a Harvard Business School, indicated that inner-city populations that consist of at least a third immigrants see job growth expanding. Whereas inner-cities with less than a third of their population being immigrants are seeing negative job growth. Further recently research from Duke University indicates that 25% of tech companies started in Silicon Valley were started by immigrants and that number is rising year by year. Additionally other studies have repeatedly shown that immigrants create new business at a rate higher than regular citizens. All of this makes sense because for someone to leave their home country, start a new life, and work their way through our messy legal system they already are risk takers. So given that immigration can lead to new businesses and therefore new jobs and opportunities Milwaukee needs a plan to encourage immigration.

The Plan:
1. Start Early - The Dells, Great America and Door County all utilize organizations such as InterExchange which bring college age workers from abroad to work in the US. This gives them an early experience to life here in the US but it is often far from our city centers. Therefore Milwaukee should tie together our ethnic festivals with international workers to one add authenticity to the festivals themselves but more importantly to expose college age people from around the world to Milwaukee.

2. Housing - While these workers are employed at our ethnic festivals they should be housed on campus at UWM. This will allow them to get a good taste of campus life, urban living and what Milwaukee has to offer.

3. Education - During their stay at UWM these potential students should be recruited by UWM . Further UWM should facilitate their visa process to make it as easy as possible for them to enroll and continue their life in Milwaukee.

4. Sales Pitch - Special events should be thrown in conjunction with UWM, the city, and the festivals to connect current and potential immigrants to the school and most importantly to the city.

5. Employment - Milwaukee companies should be trained on the H1-B process and the advantages of diversity. Further these companies should be integrated into the UWM recruiting process and offer internships to these and other students.

6. Legislation - The City of Milwaukee should actively lobby the federal government to allow for increased H1-B recipients.

By implementing this plan the city can work to increase population, diversity and job growth all at a small cost.

Article(s)
Immigrants behind 25 percent of start ups
In business, immigrants add economic sparkle