UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago spoke at a Milwaukee Common Council meeting on March 24, speaking on the short-term projects the university is undertaking and putting forth his vision for the long-term relationship between the school and the city.

The Chancellor addressed the capital investment UWM is receiving. “We have been the fortunate recipients of a significant capital investment in UWM, the largest in its history,” said Santiago. “$240 million investment over six years, and we are very appreciative of that.”

Santiago added that he’d like to see UWM expand with downtown facilities and projects outside the East Side campus.

“I don’t believe this community can afford to have UWM simply hunker down on the East Side,” he said. He then put forth his own views on the matter. He touched on four strategic areas that UWM is developing.

“They are water, health care, biomedical engineering and advanced automation,” said Santiago. “And if we can help those four areas of our economy we can help turn around this economy. We can help the economy of the city of Milwaukee come effortlessly into the 21st century.”

Santiago addressed the need to improve the Great Lakes Water Research Institute and to turn Milwaukee into one of the premier research areas in the nation and the world.

“Water is a huge asset for this region. We have 120 water companies, five of the 11 top global companies, including the largest, Veolia,” said Santiago. “I think putting the banner in the sand and saying Milwaukee is the water hub of the nation and potentially the world is important for the future of this region.”

Santiago further addressed the areas of health care and biomedical engineering, noting his desire for UWM academia to work side by side with the city’s Department of Health Researchers at Aurora Sinai downtown.

“There are a lot of different entities that we think we will gravitate toward that site to make that a health care mecca for the city and also a family services center for the city,” he said.

He also expressed his desire to add engineering to a Medical College of Wisconsin partnership with UWM, noting that the clinical practice done at the Medical College is something UWM researchers desperately need while the engineering is something at this time that the Medical College lacks.

Santiago ended his speech imploring the Common Council to take decisive action.

“This council will determine much of what we will do. It will determine if we stay on the East Side of Milwaukee and hunker down,” he said. “It will determine if we branch out into the city and play what I believe is the rightful role of this institution in the city of Milwaukee and beyond.”