On SUPAR Fridays, students travel to the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee to take part in a program designed especially for them, meeting the students, faculty, and staff at UWM, and learning about architecture, design, cities, and how they can make a difference in their communities.
Examples of SUPAR Fridays include:
Working with Professor Bill Huxhold, learning about the geography of the city and working hands-on with electronic mapping tools.
Working with UWM educator and artist Dennis Manley, learning about the process of design and judging designs for chairs created by UWM architecture students.
Working with Professor Nancy Frank, learning about the history of Milwaukee. At the American Geographical Society collection at the UWM library, students had an opportunity to see right in front of them maps of the world that were over 400 years old and maps of Wisconsin and Milwaukee that were created when European settlers first started moving to this area. More modern maps showed aerial photographs of the original construction of the Marquette Interchange. Students learned about the history of freeway planning and the destructive effects that it had on several neighborhoods in Milwaukee.
Working again with Professor Frank, learning about social justice. Students participated in an interactive “game” called Life Choices, Life Chances. After experiencing the game, students discussed the effect of race, ethnicity, class, and other social categories on people’s life chances and life choices. Students offered their ideas for working to eliminate structures of domination that result in some people holding privileged positions in society.
Working with educator and community development professional, Welford Sanders, learning about neighborhood revitalization along Milwaukee’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive. Students will here from local neighborhood organizers and businesses about the strategies for making investments in neighborhoods to create strong communities for the people who live and work there.
Working with Professor Frank, learning about the water pollution and restoration of the Kinnickinnic River in SUPAR’s own back yard. Working with the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, students will be touring the river and learning about what happens to the river when it rains, and changes that might improve the river. Students will conduct a river cleanup and document what they find in the river.
If you have an idea for a SUPAR Friday related to Architecture, Urban Planning, the construction trades, community development, or career exploration, contact Nancy Frank, frankn@uwm.edu.
1712 S 32nd St. | Milwaukee, WI 53215 | 414.902.7566 |