About the Company
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville is one of 13 publicly supported comprehensive universities in the University of Wisconsin System. Founded in 1866, UW-Platteville (UWP) is the oldest public institution in the State of Wisconsin, and is considered one of the safest campuses in the nation. We are proud of our students' contribution to the safety record, their pursuit of academic excellence and the leadership they continually demonstrate throughout the state, region and nation. As our nickname implies, our UW-Platteville "Pioneers" have created the very foundation for which we are known. Our leadership in the Colleges of Business, Industry, Life Science, and Agriculture; Engineering, Mathematics, and Science; and Liberal Arts and Education helps students build on the foundation of strong values, commitment to excellence, leadership for a stronger world and a knowledge of technology which prepares them for life in the 21st century.
We encourage you to visit our World Wide Web home page at http://www.uwplatt.edu/.
Our Mission
The fundamental mission of UW-Platteville and the entire UW System is to serve the people of Wisconsin. This basic goal is expressed in detail in the mission statement adopted in 1988 and revised in 2002. In those statements, UW-Platteville pledges itself to:
1. Enable each student to become broader in perspective, more literate, intellectually more astute, ethically more sensitive and to participate wisely in society as a competent professional and knowledgeable citizen.
2. Provide baccalaureate degree programs which meet primarily regional needs in arts and sciences, teacher education, business and information technology.
3. Provide baccalaureate degree programs and specialized programs in middle school education, engineering, technology management, agriculture and criminal justice which have been identified as institutional areas of emphasis.
4. Provide graduate programs in areas clearly associated with its undergraduate emphases in education, agriculture, technology management, engineering and criminal justice.
5. Provide undergraduate distance learning programs in business administration and graduate online programs in project management, criminal justice and engineering.
6. Provide agricultural systems research programs utilizing the Pioneer Farm in partnership with businesses, universities and agencies.
7. Expect scholarly activity, including applied research, scholarship and creative endeavor, that supports its programs at the baccalaureate degree level, its selected graduate programs and its special mission.
8. Seek to serve the needs of all students and in particular the needs of women, minority, disadvantaged and nontraditional students. Furthermore, the University seeks diversification of the student body, faculty and staff.
9. Serve as an educational, cultural and economic development resource to southwestern Wisconsin.
These statements, along with the UW System and University Cluster mission statements, provide a guide to UW-Platteville in what it attempts and does not attempt to accomplish as an institution of higher education.
Faculty and Academic Staff
The first priorities of UW-Platteville's faculty are teaching and advising. Students benefit from direct contact with faculty; all classes are taught by faculty and academic staff members. The student to instructor ratio is approximately 16 to 1. Of a faculty of 336, approximately 90 percent hold doctorates or terminal degrees. A complete listing of our faculty and academic staff can be found in the back of this catalog.
Students
Students attending UW-Platteville are from all parts of Wisconsin, from surrounding states and from other countries. Approximate undergraduate enrollment for Fall of 2007 was approximately 7,000 students, nearly half of whom live on campus, 99 percent of whom are undergraduate, and just over 90 percent of whom are Wisconsin residents. Students actively participate in the governance process at UW-Platteville, and participate in the more than 170 student organizations. All students also receive a computer account with full electronic mail capability and free unlimited World Wide Web access. They may access this account in any lab, by dialing in with a modem or through a residence hall ResNet connection.
Safety and Health Policy
The University of Wisconsin System is committed to maintaining adequate facilities for a safe and healthy learning environment. The university works with faculty and staff so that they are equipped to educate their students on practices and procedures that ensure compliance with safety laws and regulations in their institutional areas.
Certain courses and research projects require that students work with hazardous materials while engaging in academic studies. Instructors of these courses and research projects must inform and train students on procedures that will maintain the students' personal health and safety and provide them with information on the hazards of specific chemicals that will be used during their course of study. Furthermore, instructors must enforce and follow safety policies. Prior to use of hazardous materials and equipment, students shall review the procedures and information, and discuss any associated concerns with the instructor.
Facilities
UW-Platteville is a modern, 820-acre campus with classrooms and laboratories furnished with state-of-the-art equipment and computers. The university operates over 60 Linux, VAX, Alpha, Windows and Netware servers in its core system to handle electronic mail, Wide Area Network (WAN) and Internet access, student and academic accounts, and administrative computing needs.
The recently expanded Williams Fieldhouse is equipped with a 200-meter track, four basketball courts, six volleyball courts, four doubles and two singles tennis courts, four racquetball courts and 12 badminton courts. A 4,300 square foot strength facility includes free weights, universal machines, aerobic training bikes and stair masters. The Fieldhouse is also home to Pioneer athletic competitions.
Pioneer Farm is a 430-acre systems research and education farm. New facilities include the Agriculture Technology Center, the Living and Learning Center, the Swine Center and the Dairy Center. Additionally, a new greenhouse lab/classroom facility was recently added to the campus. Pioneer Farm is located six miles southwest of campus and features dairy, swine and beef herds. There UWP offers students a variety of learning and work opportunities. As a key component of the Wisconsin Agricultural Stewardship Initiative, Pioneer Farm is engaged in measuring the real environment and economic impacts of different farming practices and in providing opportunities for youth, students, farmers and other citizens to learn about these impacts.
Students manage and operate the television and radio stations on campus, providing programming for on-campus students and local communities. The facilities are among the finest in the state.
The Center for the Arts includes a 565-seat concert hall with excellent acoustics, a 210-flexible seat theater, rehearsal halls, faculty studios and numerous practice rooms. The center is also home of the award-winning Student Activities Board Performing Arts Series and the Heartland Festival.
The new technologically integrated Pioneer Student Center was opened in April 2002. This state of the art structure provides the student population with expanded food services, meeting rooms and study areas. The Pioneer Student Center is nestled between the Karrmann Library, the Williams Fieldhouse, Boebel Hall and Ottensman Hall.
UW-Platteville also has facilities which can transmit or receive full motion or compressed video to or from anywhere in the world. One facility, a permanent distance education classroom in Ottensman Hall, is used primarily by the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, and another is used within Pioneer Tower by the College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture. A third facility is at the Pioneer Farm.
The Platteville Community
The Greater Platteville area, with a population of approximately 25,000 people, is located in scenic southwestern Wisconsin. Platteville and its supporting communities are located 70 miles southwest of Madison, 150 miles west of Milwaukee and 25 miles northeast of Dubuque, Iowa.
The city and the university join together to offer local residents events and activities such as the Heartland Festival, Homecoming, The Annual Pow Wow and the lighting of the "M." More information about these events can be found on UW-Platteville's home page (http://www.uwplatt.edu/). Information about places to stay in Platteville can be found on Platteville's home page (http://www.platteville.com) or by calling the Chamber of Commerce at (608) 348-8888.
History
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville has a long, rich history. It was founded in 1866 as the first state teacher-preparation institution in Wisconsin, then called the Platteville Normal School, and held classes in the former Rountree Hall, located at the corner of Main and Elm Streets. Rountree Hall was actually built 13 years earlier in 1853 to accommodate the rapidly increasing enrollment of the Platteville Academy, founded in 1839 (even before Wisconsin's statehood) by the city's Presbyterian Church.
The university also has roots in the Wisconsin Mining Trade School, established in 1907 to train specialized technicians to work in the mining operations surrounding Platteville. When the Normal School vacated Rountree Hall for its new quarters in Main Hall, the mining school moved in. Classes of civil and mining engineering subjects were added to the school's curriculum, and its name was changed to the Wisconsin Mining School.
One of the university's oldest traditions originated in the year 1936 when the mining school students began work on the "Big M" by placing rocks in a pattern on the southwest slope of the mound located a few miles east of the city. Completed the following year, the "M" measures 214 x 241 feet and consists of some 400 tons of whitewashed stone. The lighting of the "M" is now a tradition at UW-Platteville. The ceremony is held in the fall during homecoming weekend and in the spring after the engineering students' annual "Miner's Ball."
The mining school became the Wisconsin Institute of Technology in 1939 and later merged with the Platteville State Teachers College in 1959 to become the Wisconsin State College and Institute of Technology.
During the 1960s, the college experienced a period of rapid growth resulting in the construction of several new halls. In 1966, its name was changed again to the Wisconsin State University-Platteville. The university and all other public institutions of higher education in Wisconsin merged in 1971 to form the University of Wisconsin System, governed by a single Board of Regents. As a result of the merger, the university experienced its most recent name change to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
From its small beginning in 1839, the university has grown tremendously. Current enrollment is approximately 7,000, making UW-Platteville large enough to provide diversity, yet small enough to assure its students that they are more than just numbers on a computer printout.
The University Seal and School Colors
The university seal displays two symbols rooted in the school's beginning. The bell reminds us of the Platteville Normal School where it woke the students each morning, calling them to daily assembly, sounded study hours and signaled the day's end. The Normal School bell can still be heard on campus today. The "M" originates from the Wisconsin Mining School and symbolizes the engineering programs and their roots in the mining industry of the Platteville area.
The school colors represent the two academic disciplines which were the foundation of our university: orange symbolizes engineering, and blue symbolizes education.
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