University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago announced he has prostate cancer and will be off campus for four to six weeks.

E-mails are being sent to different campus reflectors so as not to overwhelm the servers, said Tom Luljak, UWM spokesman.

Santiago will have surgery on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

During Santiago’s absence, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Rita Cheng will act on Santiago’s behalf, Luljak said.

Cheng said the role of the provost is to “fill in for the chancellor.”

“I’ve done that in the past when he’s been on vacation,” she said. “It’s quite routine.”

Luljak said Santiago is “resolute” to keep in touch with the campus and campus activities while he is recovering at home after surgery.

“I expect that Carlos will be in very close communication, and I plan on having daily conversations with him,” Cheng said.

Santiago said in the e-mail that he will need to limit his campus appearances until he has fully recovered.

“I want you to know that I have full confidence in the ability of our administrative and governance leadership to vigorously move forward our many initiatives in the coming weeks,” Santiago said in his e-mail to the UWM community. “We will continue building our research infrastructure while ensuring that our students have access to the programs that will help them to be successful. With our comprehensive fund-raising campaign entering its last phase and new student housing projects underway, this is an exciting time at UWM. I look forward to returning to our campus soon to continue the important work in front of us.”

Santiago also urged UWM community members to get cancer check-ups.

“He’s very optimistic and positive,” Cheng said.

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