Mathematics professor Donald Solomon has seen four full decades pass at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, during which he has witnessed degree programs form and the campus expand.

From campus riots during the Vietnam War era to the historic first moon-landing to the addition of the schools of Architecture and Urban Planning, Business, and Nursing, Solomon saw UWM unfold from an infant institution to the growing and changing university it is today.

Solomon earned his doctorate in mathematics from Detroit’s Wayne State University in 1966. In September of that year he entered the UWM community, working mainly in the field of pure mathematics and doing research. When asked why he chose UWM to begin his career, Solomon explains that his master’s thesis adviser had attended UWM and recommended it to him.

One aspect of the campus which Solomon especially appreciates is that the UW System operates by means of a faculty shared governance law. Solomon says that this characteristic is unique among colleges, and that it allows professors to make important decisions concerning the governing and business of the university.

“Matters of the curriculum are defined by the faculty, period,” Solomon states. He has been involved in university governance since 1970.

With the campus growing both in programs offered and students attending, Solomon finds the issue of space a significant challenge for UWM in the near future. He states that it is difficult for the campus to expand either upward or outward.

“That’s why we have to look for satellite locations,” he says. “There’s just no room.”

Solomon today holds the position of associate professor and is working on research in the area of applied mathematics. Some of his research is benefiting the transportation industry, and he says that some of his students intern with airlines to put their classroom education into practice. While there are far fewer slate blackboards like the ones Solomon once taught from on campus today, the lessons this professor seeks to impart to his students remain timeless. Solomon encourages students to “stand on their own two feet” where their education is concerned. According to Solomon, it is the students who are responsible for what they learn, so they need to find something that interests and inspires them, and work hard to hold on to it.

Verbatim Questions and Answers:

What has been the most significant change you have witnessed to the campus in your years of service?

The library was Mellencamp Hall, and the Union was the size of Mellencamp Hall. The Physics Building was brand-new. There was no School of Business building, and there were no Architecture or Nursing buildings. We [the Mathematics department] were on the eighth floor of Bolton Hall.

You have been here at UWM through four full decades. Was there a particular decade that was your favorite?

My favorite time was the days when the grant money was available to do research. You could get it in the pure areas of mathematics, so obviously the first 10 years I was here were the best.

I also liked that period because we were developing programs. Mathematics had the first graduate degree on the campus. When I got here they had already gotten the PhD through. Some of my students were some of the earliest PhD graduates at UWM.

We were still the child of Madison at the time. We began to emerge on our own.

What is your favorite aspect of teaching?

Seeing people get it. Basically knowing that suddenly I’ve gotten through, and they’re connected with the subject and are into it. When I’m in the classroom I can tell when I’m talking to a vacuum and when suddenly people are entering into it.

What has been your favorite project in your years of research?

I wrote one of the early memoirs of the American Mathematical Society – No. 85. I worked on it for three-and-a-half years.

The number of papers by mathematicians is few because they don’t publish intermediate results.

I got into undergrad teaching 15 years after starting at UWM. I coordinate Math 105 as well as the Calculus sequence.

What advice would you give to students considering teaching in the higher education field?

You’re going to have to have a PhD ultimately.

You have to like the subject. Don’t do this because you can make a living at it. If you’re not into it, the students will know.

Think about your homework; don’t just make it rote. Memorization doesn’t work ultimately; you need more than that.

For a three-credit course, you have to spend that six hours a week on homework that the regents say you should spend. You have to be able to do it in pieces.

> Comments