ANNUAL REPORT

UWM ManfredOlson Planetarium

2019UWM.EDU/PLANETARIUM

Col lege of Letters & Sc ience

Since 2007 the Manfred Olson

Planetarium has been sharing

the wonders of the cosmos with

the community. From public

shows to private groups, such as

scout and school groups,

hundreds of thousands of people

have discovered how fascinating

the astronomical world can be.

“The k ids and adu lts thoroughly

en joyed the i r exper ience and were

in awe of everyth ing they learned .”

“Thanks to Jean , V ictor ia and

the team for making our beaut i fu l

n ight sky come a l ive for our k ids !”

“ I th ink you a l l do a marve lous job

with your shows and educat iona l

act iv i t ies . ”  

WORDS FROM

OUR V IS I TORS

65,200K-12 students in

attendance

36collaborations with

university departments &organzations

4,180total shows

91staff members from19 different majors

148,000total attendees

2019

OVER THE LAST 13 YEARS...

14,725 total

attendees

62free public

shows

4,100+K-12 student

attendees

335total shows

“My time working at the Planetarium was one of the most personally

and professionally rewarding experiences of my life so far.  The skills I

learned at the Planetarium have been critical to success in my career

and I have been fortunate to build long-term relationships with those

that I worked with. In particular, working at the Planetarium taught

me how to manage multiple different projects which has helped me

differentiate myself professionally.”

Impact ing others through

INVOLVEMENT

“The planetarium club has been a great

leadership experience as we expand our

student organization and hold more diverse

events. The club provides involvement and

volunteer opportunities for any UWM student

and I’ve had a great time watching it grow.”

"The Department of Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies is 

grateful for the amazing real-world internship opportunities Manfred

Olson Planetarium offers to our students every semester. As internship

coordinator, I am told by students how beneficial this experience is to

them. They appreciate this dynamic work environment where they

produce public relations and marketing materials for the events held at

the Planetarium. It is one of the most valuable on-campus internship

opportunities available to students at UWM."

- Elise Murphy - Planetarium Club President

- Derek Palecek - Former Undergraduate Student

- Joette Rockow - JAMS Professor

SHARING THE

COSMOS WITH

THE COMMUNITY

S T A R S , S T O R I E S , &

R H Y T H M S O F A F R I C A

Africa Alive Drum and Dance performed dances from

Senegal and Guinea between planetarium shows that

looked at the night sky from different African latitudes.

U N D E R T H E

M E S O A M E R I C A N S K Y

More than 130 people experienced Mesoamerica's

cultural connection with the sky and heard live music

from Browns Crew.

S T A R S & S ' M O R E S

More than 600 people attended the Planetarium Club’s annual fall welcome event Stars and S’mores.

Celebrat ing space explorat ion

APOLLO 50 ANNIVERSARY2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission that landed humans on the Moon. We

celebrated with lunar events all year long that reached over 1,000 people.

Dr . Joseph Aldstadt

Marcy Bidney

Dr . Janis Eels

Dr . Rani Elhajjar

Lynn Garrison

Dr . Thomas Haigh

Dr . Lindsay McHenry

Dr . Nathan P . Salowitz

Dr . Roshanna Sylvester

Over 500 visitors celebrated with us at our Lunar Party on the anniversary of

the lunar landing, July 20, 2019. People of all ages enjoyed ice cream, selfies

with a replica astronaut, and stargazing shows and guest lectures.

Dr. Jean Creighton’s article in The Conversation about 5 of the

most influential technologies that we use here on Earth as a

result of the Moon landing reached over 1 million readers

worldwide, including coverage from Canada to China, and was

translated into Spanish.

9 guest speakers from UW-Milwaukee and beyondUWM Chemistry

UWM Golda Meir Library

UWM Health Sciences

UWM Engineering & Applied Science

NASA

UWM History

UWM Geology

UWM Engineering & Applied Science

Colorado University Boulder

Media , Communication , and Information

Planetarium Director Jean

Creighton and UWM Visiting

Assistant Professor Danielle

DeVasto published a paper in

the Planetarian called

“Illuminating our Audiences:

Exploring What Engages and

Confuses Them.” The paper

explored how people

engaged with a program about

auroras and stargazing, finding

that audiences valued

explanations of complex

phenomena.

2019 RESEARCH

Dr. Creighton worked with two

longtime campus collaborators

and two other planetarium

directors to apply for a National

Science Foundation grant aimed

at expanding our Indigenous

programming and setting a

model for other cultural

collaborations.

Lunar party

$1,500

$1,900

REPORT2019 DONATION SPENDING

$200

$8,040TOTAL DONAT IONS :

Student Scholarships

Arabian Nights speakers

*$700 was spent from Foundation account

Make checks payable to UWM Foundation ---

Manfred Olson Planetarium Fund (2712.00)

Mail to UWM Physics/Planetarium  

P.O. Box 413 

Milwaukee, WI 53201  

FUTUREA GLIMPSE INTO THE

The Manfred Olson Planetarium is a non-profit organization that relies on help from our

generous donors. We need your help to reach our goal of $8,000 to provide another

memorable year at the planetarium.

Your donations will go towards...

We hope you'll consider donating to our fundraising drive for 2020.

Donations can be made online (https://bit.ly/36K8Acz) or by check.

PLANNING FOR 100 YEARS OF

PLANETARIUMS IN 2023

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

STIPENDS FOR COLLABORATIONS WITH

UNDERREPRESENTED AUDIENCES

$1,000

$2,000

$1,000

RAINY DAY FUND TOWARD A NEW

PLANETARIUM PROJECTOR

$4,000