Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - Coordinating vital University of Wisconsin-Platteville fundraising, alumni and communications support activities, Dennis Cooley, Platteville, has been named director of University Relations and the UWP Foundation.

Cooley had previously served in the same role on an interim basis. He will continue to oversee University Relations operations, including the offices of publications, public relations, photography, licensing, mail and duplicating; UWP Alumni Services; and the UWP Foundation, the university's crucial non-profit arm. "Dennis took over the reigns on an interim basis at a very critical time for our university, and he's performed extremely well. Now that the state is no longer funding higher education at the level they had in the past, it's crucial we have someone who's energetic and has the qualities to work with our alumni and friends in helping the university as we move forward. We feel that Dennis is the person who has demonstrated he can do this," said Steve Zielke, UWP Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services.

In 1998, Cooley joined the UW-Platteville staff as director of publications. As the university centralized many similar departments, he began heading public relations and photography operations in 2000. Over that time, Cooley has seen many changes within the departments. "We went from a totally paper-based office in 1998 to where it's almost all electronic today. This has improved quality, reduced cost and allowed us to be very efficient," he said. "The quality of the publications, writing, websites and photography has really improved, so you can't help but get a sense of pride. That is a tribute to our staff and how hard they work. I'm especially impressed by the quality of our student workers, who seem to raise the bar on performance with each passing year."

In 2001, Cooley began overseeing the offices of mail and duplicating services and licensing. He took over as the interim director of the UWP Foundation in 2003, and since then has seen substantial growth in fundraising efforts. The foundation posted record numbers both in number of gifts received from alumni and friends and total dollars raised during the 2004-05 academic year.

Cooley is glad to see active, energetic alumni on the UWP Foundation Board, which has increased from 15 members in 2003 to its current slate of 27, and is excited about the foundation's new planned gift committee. The biggest development for the UWP Foundation, however, is the initiation of an ambitious fundraising effort that seeks to raise funds in support of infrastructure improvements and student-centered activities over the next 11 years. "We have to succeed with the Platteville 1866 and the Platteville 2016 Funds in order for our endowments to continue to grow. That's almost $40 million we have to raise by our sesquicentennial (in 2016)," he said. "Because of the generosity of our alumni, I truly believe we can make it."

Planning for future growth, more than $150 million in infrastructure improvements are anticipated on the UWP campus in the next 10 years. On future building projects, like the university's new $27 million engineering building, a percentage of funds must be raised through private sources, Cooley said. In the case of the engineering building, more than $7 million of private funding must be raised.

Many alumni already contribute gifts through the foundation's annual giving program, which has seen phenomenal increases the last two years. "I'm amazed by the growth of our phonathon and our annual giving program," Cooley said. "Gina Udelhofen (coordinator of annual giving) ... has lifted that from a $200,000-250,000-a-year operation to where it is now with cash gifts of more than $500,000 this past academic year. With decreased state funding, we need every penny she and her student staff can generate." In fact, student employees are vital to many of the University Relations activities. Students take photographs, write press releases and design brochures and magazines through the publications and public relations offices, and make fundraising phone calls to alumni through the annual phonathon campaign. Although Cooley oversees a staff of about 16 full-time employees, as many as 40 student workers are employed by these departments during the academic year.

Another area Cooley will continue to oversee is Alumni Services. A new software program has been implemented there to aid alumni relations, and Kim Schmelz recently took over as the new alumni coordinator. Cooley said UWP alumni are having a great time at university events and enjoy making connections with current students, staff, administrators and other alumni. "It's great to meet alums and talk about their work ethic and how many of them had to work their way through school. It's great to be able to say that today's UWP students, compared to their peers, also have a very strong work ethic and a commitment to do a job well. I see it everyday," Cooley said.

With a strong contingent of active alumni and a dedicated staff, the future looks bright at University Relations. "It's exciting to be here ... because the campus is transforming right before our eyes," Cooley said. "It's really a privilege to be a part of that." Cooley lives in Platteville with his wife Stephanie and their three children.

Contact: Dennis Cooley, director, UWP University Relations and the UWP Foundation, 608-342-1309, cooleyde@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: Dan Lehnherr, UWP Public Relations, 608-342-1194, lehnherd@uwplatt.edu