The UW System Doctoral Cluster Mission Statement calls on UWM to “serve the needs of women, minority, disadvantaged, disabled and nontraditional students and seek racial and ethnic diversification of the student body and the professional faculty and staff.” The UWM Select Mission also emphasizes diversity: “To further academic and professional opportunities at all levels for women, minority, part-time, and financially or educationally disadvantaged students.”

Eight of the schools and colleges at UWM have mission statements that address diversity in some fashion.

• The mission of the College of Letters and Science includes the charge “to encourage multicultural understanding by promoting diversity in the student body, faculty, and staff, and in the curriculum.”
• The Peck School of the Arts is “committed to recruiting faculty, staff, and students who reflect the richness and diversity of art-making in a variety of cultures.”
• In the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, the primary goal is “to enhance the quality of life for all with special attention to the poor and oppressed, including people of different ethnic and racial groups, sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities, and genders.” 
• At the School of Education, the mission involves teaching, research, and service that “is responsive to the needs of the community and reflects a visible commitment to diversity, equity, and excellence.”
• The School of Information Studies “strives to make significant contributions toward extending and enhancing the quality of information services and the promotion of information and technological literacy to a diverse society.” 
• The College of Nursing “prepares diverse students to be science-based, compassionate nurse-leaders for all settings and levels of practice.”
• The mission of the College of Engineering and Applied Science calls upon the College to further “academic and professional opportunities for all students including women, minority, part-time, and financially disadvantaged students.”
• The School of Business Administration delivers its high quality education “to a diverse group of graduate and undergraduate students and practicing executives and professionals.”