UWM Chancellor Mark Mone conducts a news conference in the Student Union after his selection was announced Monday. Credit: Michael Sears

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Mark Mone won't have much time to savor his promotion Monday from interim chancellor to permanent chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Mone (pronounced MO-knee), a member of the Lubar School of Business faculty for the past 25 years, is leading an urban university with significant financial challenges and a dual mission of access and research, which some say are at odds with each other.

One bit of news on the money side: Students two years ago approved increasing fees they pay to help build a new student union, but Mone hinted during a news conference Monday that the project may be on hold because of UW systemwide belt-tightening that includes closer scrutiny of student segregated fee increases. Mone said he is looking for a "net neutral" way to still get the union built.

Mone also is in the midst of a major conversation about the future of the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena downtown, which he described as "our home" since the 1970s, when the basketball team first played there. The arena with a large panther logo is part of UWM's branding efforts to raise its community profile, Mone said, and commencement also has been held there since 1985.

The arena is part of one potential site being considered by the Milwaukee Bucks for the NBA team to build a new arena. Should the Bucks pick that site, Mone said, he's comfortable that UWM "will be taken care of."

"The best test of leadership is tough times," Mone said a few hours after the UW System Board of Regents chose him from among three Midwestern chancellor finalists. Mone was interim chancellor throughout the eight-month national search that produced 38 applicants for the permanent job.

Mone's promotion comes nine months after Chancellor Michael Lovell stunned the campus by announcing he was moving across town to become the first lay president of Marquette University. Lovell also was an interim chancellor before he got the job permanently, and served as the university's top administrator for about four years.

Mone was a member of Lovell's cabinet for two years before becoming interim chancellor. He served as Lovell's designee for strategic planning and the Best Place to Work initiative to address, among other things, lagging morale among faculty and staff.

Lovell said in a statement after Monday's announcement that Mone was "a great choice" as UWM's next chancellor.

"I look forward to further strengthening the many partnerships between our universities and other area organizations to the benefit of the city, state and beyond," Lovell said.

Mone, 55, will be UWM's ninth chancellor.

He will see his pay increase from a $304,000 interim chancellor salary to $340,000 as permanent chancellor. He was earning $230,000 before he became interim chancellor in April.

A first-generation college student who grew up in central Washington state, Mone trained in French cuisine and worked as a chef and a food and beverage director at a number of hotels before he returned to college in 1985 to pursue his doctorate and a career in academia.

Mone said his vision for UWM is: "Moving Forward Together Boldly." He said he plans to build on the strengths of his predecessors.

UWM's dual mission of research and access is unique, Mone said. "There's no other school quite like this, not just in the UW, but the region."

Mone elaborated in an interview after the news conference on how the dual mission can be balanced.

"There's tension with access," he said, alluding to the need to provide remedial math for many students. But Mone said he embraces "the bigger and broader view" that the two can work together because most urban institutions engage students in research.

"The urban environment is your laboratory," he said.

About 80% of UWM's 158,000 alumni live in Wisconsin. They will soon be tapped along with others in the community in an ambitious fundraising campaign that's still in the quiet phase, which means a dollar goal has not been publicly announced.

Mone said he will focus on several goals as chancellor: increasing student success by improving retention rates, graduation rates and student life; increasing research capabilities and impact in both basic and applied sciences; stepping up engagement of alumni and the community including business partners and K-12 schools; and continued efforts to improve campus culture and climate in areas of diversity and inclusion.

UWM also needs to "tell our story in a compelling way," Mone said. "If people understand the impact we have, the quality we have, it's more likely people will get behind and support us."

Mone's academic experience and expertise in building relationships with businesses, governments and communities is "a great fit with the university's commitment to quality, access, and economic development," Regents President Michael Falbo said.

Mone also has "a keen understanding of the role our UW institutions play as developers of the high-impact talent necessary to move Wisconsin forward," UW System President Ray Cross said.

Mone, a professor of management, served for more than 15 years as the Lubar School of Business associate dean for executive education and business engagement..

His responsibilities included external relations for the Lubar school; establishing partnerships with business, medical, legal, government and not-for-profit organizations. Mone also was responsible for UWM's executive MBA program — the longest-running program of its kind in Wisconsin.

He has a doctorate in management (organizational behavior and organizational theory) from Washington State University, a master's degree in business from Idaho State University and a bachelor's degree in organizational management from Central Washington University.

Mone and his wife, Sara, have two children. His son Eric is a student at UWM and will graduate in the spring.

The other finalists for the chancellor's job were Gail Hackett, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and a professor of counseling and educational psychology at University of Missouri-Kansas City, and William M. "Mike" Sherman, senior vice president, provost/chief operating officer and a professor of sport science and wellness education at University of Akron.

All three candidates made public presentations on the UWM campus within the past month as part of the interview process. Two additional finalists, from Tennessee and West Virginia, withdrew their names from consideration when they became finalists.