UW-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 UWP "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 technology knowledge base for the 21st century and beyond. We encourage you to visit our World Wide Web home page at http://www.uwplatt.edu/.

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. In those statements, UW-Platteville pledges itself to:

• 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;
  
  
• provide baccalaureate degree programs which meet primarily regional needs in the liberal arts, sciences, teacher education, business, and information management;
  
  
• provide baccalaureate degree programs and specialized programs in middle level education, engineering, technology management, agriculture, and criminal justice which have been identified as institutional areas of emphasis;
  
  
• provide graduate programs in areas clearly associated with its undergraduate emphasis in education, agriculture, technology management, and engineering;
  
  
• provide an extended degree program in business administration for nontraditional students throughout the state;
  
  
• provide cooperative graduate instructional and research programs in agriculture with other University of Wisconsin System institutions;

UW-Platteville is a modern, 820-acre campus with classrooms and laboratories furnished with state-of-the-art equipment and computers. The university operates seven VAX servers and nine Alpha servers in its core system in addition to several servers at the departmental and college level to handle electronic mail, Wide Area Network (WAN) and Internet access, student accounts, and administrative computing needs.

The recently expanded Williams Fieldhouse is equipped with a pool, 200-meter track, four basketball courts, six volleyball courts, four doubles and two singles tennis courts, four racquetball courts, and 12 badminton courts.

A 2,000 square foot strength facility includes free weights, universal machines, aerobic training bikes, and stairmasters. The fieldhouse is also home to Pioneer athletic competitions.

The Pioneer Prairie Farm, a 400-acre demonstration farm, serves as a resource for agriculture students and organizations. Diversified livestock and cropping enterprises provide hands-on experience for student use.

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 550-seat concert hall with excellent acoustics, a 340-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 Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival.

The new technologically integrated Student Center is under construction and will be finished by the year 2000. This state of the art structure will serve the student population with expanded food services, meeting rooms, study areas. The Student Center will be nestled between the Karrmann Library, the Williams Fieldhouse, Boebel Hall, and Ottensman Hall.

UWP also has facilities which can transmit or receive compressed video to or from anywhere in the world. One, a permanent distance education classroom in Ottensman Hall, is used primarily by the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science, and another is a portable system, used within Pioneer Tower by the College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture. The School of Education has a portable system in Doudna Hall.

The Greater Platteville area, with a population approximating 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 Chicago Bears Training Camp and the Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival. More information about these events can be found on UWP's home page http://www.uwplatt.edu/. You can find information about places to stay in Platteville on Platteville's home page or by calling the Chamber of Commerce at (608) 348-8888.

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 what is known today as Roundtree Apartments, formerly 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 1960's, 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 5,000, 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 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.