UW-Parkside to reprise lecture series on Smart Cities, and kick off specialized Smart Cities graduate program

Published: August 7, 2019

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SOMERS – In the fall 2019 semester, UW- Parkside will reprise its weekly lecture series on smart cities.

Foxconn’s move into southeastern Wisconsin has introduced us to Smart factories; factories that rely on cloud computing, the internet of things, and big data to optimize production. Smart factories engender smart cities. A smart city uses information and communication technologies to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare. Earlier this year, the City of Racine was a recipient of the Smart Cities Readiness Challenge Award; one of five cities that demonstrated vision, collaboration, and innovation in their plan for urban development, efficiency, and equity. 

The Smart cities series, open to the community, offers various perspectives on smart cities, ranging from technological investigations such as the digitization of the electric grid and the internet of things, to social and ethical implications of connectivity such as loss of privacy, security concerns, and environmental challenges. The series will kick off on September 11, with a discussion of “What’s So Smart About Cities?” led by Christopher Hudspeth, Director of the Center for Professional Studies and Associate Professor of Philosophy.

Christopher Hudspeth, instructor of the course Introduction to Smart Cities which includes the lecture series comments, “I’m thrilled about the second season of the Smart Cities Brown Bags. I’m fascinated to hear from our new speakers and to catch up with some of the folks from last year. There are a lot of really interesting things happening locally and I look forward to how we can connect with the community.”

Also in fall 2019, UW-Parkside kicks off an online graduate certificate in Smart Cities Policy and Civic Partnerships. Students will earn a graduate certificate emphasizing smart city policy making, the first of its kind in the United States. With smart cities more than doubling from 2018 to 2025, and smart city spending increasing to over 34 billion in 2020, effective city managers will need to manage the decision making and policy requirements of urban innovation. For more information on the smart cities policy certificate, go to https://www.uwp.edu/learn/programs/smartcitygradcert.cfm

The lecture series will be Wednesdays at noon beginning on September 11th and continuing every Wednesday until November 28th. It is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.uwp.edu/smartcities

Also, you can hear Dr. Hudspeth talk about the online graduate certificate program on Parkside Today with host John Mielke on our website: https://www.uwp.edu/explore/news/parksidetoday/parkside-today-chris-hudspeth.cfm. That episode originally aired on Tuesday, July 23, on WIPZ 101.5 FM.

Smart Cities on Parkside Today

Graduate Program Information

Lecture Series Information

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Contact Info:

John Mielke
Executive Director, Marketing & Communications
mielkej@uwp.edu
262-595-3226

Peggy James
Dean, College of Social Sciences and Professional Studies
james@uwp.edu
262-595-2993

Chris Hudspeth
hudspeth@uwp.edu
262-595-3236

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