The University of Wisconsin-Platteville and the Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SWWRPC) have been selected as co-applicants to receive a highly competitive grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration that will bring nearly $1.1 million of new investment to the region. 

The EDA’s Build to Scale Program’s Venture Challenge awards grants to organizations that support new business ventures that are scalable and further job creation. The grant will launch the Innovation Driving Entrepreneurship Accelerator, or IDEA Hub, of Southwest Wisconsin, with the goal of creating high tech jobs for the future and increasing economic vibrancy in Southwest Wisconsin communities.

Dr. Carolyn Keller joined UW-Platteville in 2018 as the director of Academic Assessment. While she still oversees the area of Academic Assessment, Keller is now interim assistant provost. Her background is in the field of sociology – a discipline that she still teaches every chance she can.

“Teaching remains my first and primary passion,” said Keller. “Introductory Sociology – the sociological imagination, helping students make sense of the social world around them is really wonderful work.”

Keller earned her bachelor’s degree in international relations and social relations from Michigan State University, and a master’s degree in Slavic and East European studies, a master’s degree in sociology and a doctorate degree in sociology, all from The Ohio State University.

The message to never give up is one that University of Wisconsin-Platteville alumnus Greg Loek ’80 and his wife Kathy Rice share through their endowed Loek-Rice-Titus Family Engineering, Mathematics, and Science Scholarship. The renewable four-year scholarship is targeted to UW-Platteville students from Minnesota who have declared a major in the College of EMS. Both Loek and Rice, who have spent their careers as engineers, want to give students an opportunity to further their education.

“We want people who never thought they could do it, to trudge through and not give up,” said Loek. “Good things can happen with just pursuing.”

Loek earned an industrial engineering degree and credits UW-Platteville in preparing him for his nearly 40-year career in manufacturing engineering. Prior to retirement, Loek held management positions in both engineering and operations. He notes the scholarship is to show his appreciation to the university.

Creativity is nothing new to faculty in the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Department of Performing and Visual Arts. But, the COVID-19 pandemic put their creativity to a new test this summer, as they planned for how to safely instruct students in theatre, music and art — areas that normally involve hands-on learning.

“We all have a unique challenge in a field that includes not just the traditional academic coursework, but also has practical work that requires lab time and students coming in to do things that presents a challenge when you can’t be near each other,” said Dr. Ann Farrelly, professor of theatre. 

The easier part of the challenge, Farrelly said, was moving the physical space that her theatre students used to learn and rehearse.

University of Wisconsin-Platteville School of Business Associate Professor George Krueger is giving his students and local entrepreneurs an insight on how to enhance marketing strategies for small businesses through his podcast titled, “The UWP Professor George’s Podcast.” Krueger combines his academic research along with his experience in developing marketing campaigns for both small businesses and Fortune 100 companies to deliver different themed episodes.

“I take these perspectives I have gained over the years and put them into podcasts and various ways of communicating out into the market,” Krueger said. “I try to provide content to an audience underserved and important for our economy in Southwest Wisconsin.”

Dr. Dong Isbister, University of Wisconsin-Platteville associate professor of women and gender studies, recently published an anthology she co-edited titled “Chinese Women Writers on the Environment: A Multi-ethnic Anthology of Fiction and Nonfiction.” (McFarland, 2020)

The anthology includes 22 stories, prose and poems about women’s experiences in China that were collected and translated over the past five years by Isbister and her co-editors, Xiumei Pu and Stephen D. Rachman. The stories portray themes of strength, sadness, defiance and resilience and urban and village life in China, from the cultural revolution to the present.

The Grant County Health Department is offering a free community COVID-19 drive-through and walk-through testing site on both Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 16-17 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville campus.  Those wishing to be tested should enter at Greenwood Avenue and Circle Drive. This was originally scheduled for just Wednesday but was expanded to two days to accommodate all those who wish to be tested.

Tests will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Appointments are not necessary. Pre-registration, though not required, is encouraged and available online at register.covidconnect.wi.gov.

For all COVID-19 updates at UW-Platteville, including the COVID-19 cases dashboard, visit www.uwplatt.edu/news/update-coronavirus.

The growing interconnectedness of smart devices – known as the “internet of things” – is changing the way the manufacturing industry operates and the products it produces, and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville is continuing to lead the charge of ensuring that the next generation workforce is prepared for these changes.

At the start of 2019, UW-Platteville jointly hosted an Internet of Things (IoT) Curriculum Workshop to kick off the initiative to develop a series of IoT modules that can enhance existing curricula in engineering and related courses. The work was funded by a grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and the University of Wisconsin System.

Dr. Anne-Marie Lerner, assistant department chair and associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and Karen Brenner Drees, academic advisor and coach, are both being recognized by the Wisconsin Academic Advising Association for excellence in advising.

The Wisconsin Academic Advising Awards recognize individuals – from any higher education institution in Wisconsin – who work with students in an academic advising capacity and demonstrate outstanding dedication to the profession of academic advising.

Lerner is receiving the 2020 WACADA Faculty Advisor Excellence Award.

When the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s School of Education was presented with the opportunity to re-envision its core framework, Dr. Jennifer Collins, director, said they started with a question: “whom are the people and where are the places we serve?” The answer, she said, was overwhelmingly rural communities. Building on the strong legacy of being the first teacher preparation institute in the state, the School of Education began looking toward the future with a focus on place-based education and building a teaching workforce responsive to the needs of their local, rural communities. School of Education faculty recently took another step towards this, engaging in a place-based education training with Teton Science Schools.

When Hannah Exner, a senior mechanical engineering major at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, accepted a summer internship offer last September, she expected to spend the summer of 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, working for Thermo King – a Trane Technologies brand. But when the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold last spring, Exner, who is from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, began to worry about the possibility of her internship being canceled, as she saw happening to others. Thanks to longstanding relationships with UW-Platteville, many industry partners like Trane Technologies, made it a priority to honor these internship commitments, finding creative solutions to provide meaningful experiences.

As the University of Wisconsin-Platteville welcomes students back to campus this week, faculty and staff are rethinking concepts of traditional learning space and bringing classrooms outside. Earlier this week, a group of 30 student volunteers built and installed 50 wooden benches, over a two-day period, to create a series of outdoor class spaces in time for the first day of the semester.

The project was led by Amy Seeboth-Wilson, UW-Platteville sustainability coordinator.

Gretchen Bockenhauer grew up in the field of construction, learning from her family’s business. But it was her experience as a student at UW-Platteville that cemented her interest in the field. “My senior year, I applied to be the project manager of construction of the Forensic Investigation Crime Scene House on campus and was selected,” said Bockenhauer. “Through this position, I realized construction management is what I wanted to have a career in.” Now, as lecturer and co-program coordinator for UW-Platteville’s Building Construction Management program, she enjoys sharing her experience with students and helping them find their own passion in the construction management field.

What do you enjoy about teaching at your alma mater?

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville's reputation as a leader in distance education has been cemented again, as Online School Report recognizes the criminal justice program as one of the Best Online Master's Degrees in Criminal Justice in the country.



The Master's Degree in Criminal Justice program is uniquely designed to provide foundational knowledge in criminal justice systems, operations, and law for career mobility in the criminal justice field. Students also gain skills in organizational management, problem-solving, communications, and research. The master's program has three distinct emphases, designed to gain advanced knowledge and open the door to new opportunities: Criminal Justice Theory, Criminal Justice Management, Victim and Offender Services.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Continuing Education Institute has announced three certificate programs related to one of the fastest-growing industries in the nation: cannabis. The certificates are offered in partnership with Green Flower, a national leader in cannabis education.

Beginning in November, students will be able to begin earning the following certificates:

As hundreds of Pioneers participated in Welcome Weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, one area business is helping to keep students safe as they embark on the fall semester. Lands’ End, headquartered in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, partnered with the university to donate more than 1,000 face coverings to help protect against COVID-19. The blue facemasks feature the UW-Platteville and Lands’ End logos.

Students received the masks as they checked into their residence hall. This has been a project Corporate Relations Development Officer John Fick and Lands’ End worked on throughout the summer. Fick emphasizes the importance of the collaboration between the company and the university.

“It’s really neat to finally see this play out,” he said. “It takes everyone. It takes the community, businesses, students, faculty and staff. Everyone has to be a part of this. It was neat to find a corporation to have the means to help out.”

As the fall semester at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville gets underway, the College of Liberal Arts and Education is offering a number of opportunities outside of the classroom for students, and the wider community, to engage in discussions about race and inequality, as well as the contribution of African American voices to the liberal arts and education fields, through two concurrent forum series.

Race and the Criminal Justice System begins on Wednesday, Sept. 9. This is a four-part forum series that will create a space for the UW-Platteville community to learn about historical, structural and systemic issues related to race and the criminal justice system. Contributors will include scholars, experts and field practitioners, each offering deep insights into the issue and providing suggestions about what society and individuals can do to effect change.

A team of five University of Wisconsin-Platteville construction management students took first place in the area of safety and second place overall, among 26 teams, at the recent 2020 National Associated Builders and Contractors’ annual Construction Management Competition.

The UW-Platteville students included David Regan, a senior building construction management major from Hickory Hills, Illinois; Bailey McGuire, a junior building construction management and construction safety management major from Darlington, Wisconsin; Joe Crubaugh, a junior building construction management and business administration major from Monroe, Wisconsin; Sawyer Schaefer, a senior building construction management major from Greenfield, Wisconsin; and Cole Oberle, a senior building construction management major from Lena, Illinois.

After growing up in south Florida and spending summers at her grandparents' North Carolina farm, Dr. Sharon Klavins, professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, was drawn to the natural world.

“I spent a lot of time outside exploring,” said Klavins. “I was the kid who would bring home a half-pint milk carton full of frogs from the school playground. I would sit in the backyard with a tack hammer and crack open rocks for hours to look for fossils. I have always been interested in the natural world.”

Klavins’ passion led her to the field of paleobotany, where her specialty is plant structure and evolution. She began her career teaching high school. Klavins then earned her doctorate degree in plant biology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. She started at UW-Platteville in 2005.

Remembered as an “individual more concerned with making a difference than making a fortune,” Teresa Kirkeeng-Kincaid ‘80 was a leader in the engineering field, respected as much for her care and compassion as for her expertise and drive. It is this legacy that her family hopes to see carry on through others with the Teresa Kirkeeng-Kincaid Memorial Scholarship for Women in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Teresa earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UW-Platteville and her master’s degree in water resource management from UW-Madison. She joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a civil engineer with the Rock Island District in 1981, where she worked for 26 years in roles that included the assistant chief of the Planning, Program and Project Management Division. Teresa passed away in 2007.

Teresa and her husband, John Kincaid ‘80, met as students at UW-Platteville.

Nancy Ware was one of the most visible citizens in Platteville, whether at sporting competitions, at the swimming pool or taking her dog out for a walk. It was only fitting that in her will, she ensured her impact would live on in the city for years to come.

Ware, who passed away Nov. 26, 2019 at age 61, set up six different scholarships to help UW-Platteville students in need.

“She used to tell me, ‘we need education, education and education,’” close friend Jill Ingersoll said. “I didn’t understand until she brought out these scholarships and showed me what she was doing. All I could say was, ‘Girl you are amazing!’”

A Platteville native, Ware worked at Lands’ End for more than 30 years. Because education was so important to her, she earned her degree as a non-traditional student from UW-Platteville in 1993, majoring in business administration.

Karen Brenner Drees, an academic advisor and coach, is the recipient of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s 2020 Outstanding Professional Advising Award. The award is presented annually to academic staff whose primary responsibility is advising. 

“I’m going into my seventh year as a professional in higher education, but my interest began while I was working on campus as a college student myself,” said Drees. “Staff members made a difference in my life, and I hope to do the same for the students I work with. I enjoy being a part of the larger UW-Platteville campus community where we can build relationships and work together to find new ways to support our students.”

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville announces a new partnership with the California Curriculum Alignment Project (CAP). The partnership recognizes that UW-Platteville’s curriculum meets the high standards of the CAP, allowing California’s early childhood educators to take advantage of UW-Platteville’s innovative and engaging online courses.

The California Early Childhood Curriculum Alignment Project supports transfer and curriculum consistency in the foundational preparation of early childhood education students. Regionally accredited community colleges, CSUs, and private universities can participate in the alignment process and be recognized statewide as partners in creating streamlined pathways to degree completion.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science shop supervisors are producing self-supporting plexiglass barriers to help protect the campus community against COVID-19. The shop supervisors are teaming up with the Facilities Management department in creating the two-foot by two-foot countertop items with an etched university logo and a slot to pass papers through.

According to College of EMS Lab and Shop Director Paul Dorsey, their first order consists of 70 barriers with each one taking about 10 minutes to make.

“We have enough material for 70,” Dorsey said. “We are in the process of finishing up that order. At last count facilities had work orders for 15 or 20 so far, but faculty hasn’t come back to campus yet so we are expecting it to go up quite a bit. We are working ahead.”

As the recipient of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s 2019-20 Innovations in Technology for Teaching and Learning Award, Dr. Vettrivel Gnaneswaran, assistant professor of industrial engineering, will use the award funds to implement new learning glass technology on campus. Sponsored by UW-Platteville’s Teaching and Technology Center, the award provides faculty and teaching academic staff with funds to purchase technology with the potential to improve teaching and learning.

The learning glass technology, also known as a lightboard, enables instructors to record the writing that would typically occur on a whiteboard during a lecture, while maintaining face-to-face contact with students who watch the video.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville is the recipient of two federal Student Support Services grants, totaling more than $3.4 million over the next five years. The grants are critical for UW-Platteville’s TRIO Student Support Services to carry out its mission of supporting and retaining underserved populations.

“One of UW-Platteville’s strategic goals is to increase the accessibility and affordability of a UW-Platteville education,” said Laura Franklin, executive director of diversity and inclusion. “Our TRIO programs work very hard to ensure that first generation and income eligible college students have equal access to an affordable education and are well positioned to become successful college graduates.”

Victoria Livingston, executive director of Enrollment and Student Success, has been selected to receive the University of Wisconsin-Platteville 2020 Academic Staff Award for Excellence. This award is presented to an instructional or non-instructional academic staff member with a minimum of 12 consecutive months of employment at UW-Platteville who has provided essential services to the university while demonstrating excellence of performance, personal interaction, initiative and creativity.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science is bringing real-world engineering projects to students, faculty and the public, through the fall 2020 EMS Engineering Seminar Series. Free and open to the public, the series will highlight four engineering projects and insight from top experts in the field.

Area high school teachers from across Wisconsin met virtually with engineering professors from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science for the STEMStart Summer Institute. The two-day event took place on Aug. 3-4. STEMStart is an early college credit program for engineering. UW-Platteville offers two courses for high school students: General Engineering 1030, Introduction to Engineering Projects for one credit and General Engineering 1320, Engineering Graphics for two-credits.

Dear Friends,

We’re excited to communicate some of the many happenings in relation to the Dairy Innovation Hub at UW-Platteville. It has been less than a year since funding approval and allocation and much has been accomplished. Although this is a UW-Platteville perspective, from the beginning, a key component of Hub activities and success has been collaboration including extensive collaboration across the three Hub UW-System universities (UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls and UW-Madison) along with industry stakeholders. The glue that has helped ensure collaboration and communication are the faculty director Dr. Heather White and program manager Maria Woldt. Their engagement and work have been exemplary. To learn more about Hub activities as a whole, please refer to the updates in this newsletter.

Joseph Creanza, a junior soil and crop science major at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, scored first place at the recent 2020 Student Research and Innovation Showcase for his project, “Plant Essential Oils as Natural and Safe Pesticides for the Control of Soybean White Mold Disease.” The event featured 15 students from across the UW System and was sponsored by WiSys, an independent, nonprofit organization that advances scientific research throughout the UW System by assisting with grants, patents and licensing processes. Creanza will receive a cash prize of $750.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville is partnering with Rent College Pads, an off-campus marketplace and search engine for students navigating their housing options. The UW-Platteville Off-Campus Marketplace helps students with rental resources, including connecting with landlords, off-campus pricing, finding roommates and subleasing options.

“We are looking forward to all of the benefits to students that the partnership with Rent College Pads will provide,” said Lisa Kratz, director of the Markee Pioneer Student Center. “The many new features offered through the platform will help students take their off-campus search process to the next level, while providing tools that will enhance relationships with our landlord partners.”

Tom Antczak is in his 29th year as head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville women’s and men’s cross-country programs, making him the longest tenured coach in the athletic department. In the past 20 years, Antczak has seen the men’s program have great success, qualifying for the NCAA III national meet eight times, having three individual champions and a program best fourth-place team finish in 2010.  The three men’s individual titles are the most individual titles for any Division III program in the nation the past 17 years. 

Reaffirming the institution’s long-term commitment to sustainability, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville recently earned a silver rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education. 

"According to Princeton Review, 64% of students now consider environmental impacts when deciding what college to attend,” said Amy Seeboth-Wilson, sustainability coordinator at UW-Platteville. “Our STARS rating not only reaffirms that UW-Platteville is committed to a healthy environment, but also lets students know that by choosing UW-Platteville, they are helping to make the world a better place for future generations."

Dr. Douglas Selent, assistant professor of computer science and software engineering, joined the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 2018. He also serves as the software engineering program coordinator. His interests include bringing active learning into his classroom through different activities and gamification.

Throughout his career, Selent has created several applications including a machine-learning algorithm to derive student incorrect processes from the problem inputs and their answer, and an online learning platform called PeerASSIST, which was used by 60 teachers and 600 students. “It benefits students where they are hopefully receiving better content,” he said. “The system was designed to automatically self-improve to be getting better tutoring content to students.”

This summer he is working with a small team of UW-Platteville students, focusing on the topic of counterfactual inference.

Dr. Brandon Fetterly started college at the UW-Marinette, eventually graduating from St. Norbert College and earning his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. He joined the faculty in the Chemistry department at UW-Richland in 2005, served as associate dean from 2012-15, and then as a regional associate dean for Academic Affairs in the UW Colleges starting in 2018. With the integration of UW-Richland into the UW-Platteville, he was named interim dean of the UW-Platteville Richland branch campus.

As dean, he leads the operation of the Richland campus, from academics and student affairs, budget and administration, and management of facilities and other operations; to external relations with alumni, the campus’ Foundation, local government, and other stakeholders. 

Could you talk about the history of the Richland campus, which goes back more than 50 years?

Dr. Anne-Marie Lerner, University of Wisconsin-Platteville assistant department chair and professor of mechanical engineering, calls advising her students one of the most gratifying parts of working in higher education. Lerner is being honored with the 2020 Outstanding Faculty/Instructional Academic Staff Academic Advisor Award.

“Advising allows me to have a personal one-on-one relationship with my students,” said Lerner, who is also a certified academic coach. “We can explore who are you as a person, how do you want to fit into the fabric of life or in your community, and be the best you and the contributing you to society.”

When freshmen arrive at UW-Platteville every year, many of them notice the names attached to their financial aid statements. These loyal alumni of UW-Platteville have shown their commitment to the future of the school by funding scholarships for students much like themselves, just starting out on their careers. One of these generous Pioneers is James Bade, a Wisconsin native whose long career with Shell took him far from his hometown, state, and even country. Even after Bade’s death, his work continues to benefit students today. This is his story.

Josephine Gurira, reference services librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Karrmann Library, is being honored with the university’s 2020 Outstanding Woman of Color Award. The award recognizes female faculty, staff and students of color at UW-Platteville, as well as women of color in the Platteville community.

Born in the African country of Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, Gurira has been in the library profession for nearly 50 years. She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University and later earned her Master of Education in social studies from Penn State University, and eventually a Master of Arts in library science from the University of Minnesota.

Big data and artificial intelligence are increasingly ubiquitous in society today. From social networks and ecommerce websites to streaming video, apps and other emerging technologies, it is estimated that more than 2.5 million terabytes of data is generated worldwide every day, according to Dr. Arghya Das, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Analyzing this data, Das said, can help answer fundamental questions of basic science, social science, humanities, life style and more. However, laptops, desktops and small servers lack the computational power to process the data. Thanks to a recent collaboration with IBM and OpenPOWER Foundation, spearheaded by Das, UW-Platteville is now home to a high-performance computing server.

Ryan Pralle and Joseph Sanford have been hired as faculty members by the UW-Platteville School of Agriculture, representing the first tenure-track faculty positions funded by the Dairy Innovation Hub. Both positions are 70% research and outreach and 30% teaching.

The Dairy Innovation Hub, which the state of Wisconsin is supporting with $7.8 million per year, harnesses research and development at UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-River Falls campuses to keep Wisconsin’s $45.6 billion dairy community at the global forefront in producing nutritious dairy products in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable manner.

Pralle and Sanford will start in August.

In March, Dr. Andrey Ivanov, assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, packed his bags tightly to catch a flight to Moscow for a research trip to Russia’s top historical archives and libraries. His trip included a seminar presentation at the German Historical Institute in Moscow on March 17, 2020.

In a litany of circumstances, familiar to many students and faculty this spring, Ivanov’s travel was cancelled. Russia’s libraries and archives closed, the higher education institutions shut their doors, while the Russian capital was put under a very strict quarantine.

With no rapid return to normalcy expected, the staff of Moscow’s German Historical Institute, in record time, moved their seminar venue schedule entirely online. They invited Ivanov to present at an online colloquium, via Zoom, on July 9. 

Dr. Tera Montgomery, professor of dairy and animal science at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, was selected for the 2020 Carol Sue Butts Woman of the Year Award. Named for the provost emeritus and former interim chancellor who served at UW-Platteville from 1998 until 2010, the award recognizes female employees and students who make a difference in the lives of women. 

“I am very honored to have received this award,” said Montgomery. “When I look at past recipients and I think of all of the other hard-working women on campus, I am humbled to be the one chosen this year. It definitely makes me want to continue my work and consider more ways that I can engage in a meaningful way with students and other faculty and staff.”

“This is probably the most meaningful award I could receive. I value teaching above and beyond any role I play at the university,” said Dr. Kameko Halfmann, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Halfmann is this year’s recipient of the Early Career Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence.

“I pursued certification in college teaching because I knew I wanted to work at a teaching-focused institution. I feel extremely honored to be recognized for my teaching. It also motivates me to continue to develop my teaching toolkit,” she said.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Foundation is celebrating a new milestone, as it recently announced record fundraising for the 2020 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. UW-Platteville alumni, friends and corporate partners donated more than $4 million for the first time ever, exceeding the previous year’s total by $1 million.

Amy Udelhofen, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville academic department associate for Performing and Visual Arts  is receiving the 2020 University Staff Award for Excellence.

“I’m very grateful,” said Udelhofen. “I was very surprised. I didn’t know faculty and staff had submitted my name as a nomination for this award. It’s humbling. There are a lot of people who could be very deserving of this award. I’m very grateful that the faculty, staff and department chair are very appreciative of all the work I do and recognizing what I’m doing here.”

Dr. Aric Ranen McLanahan, University of Wisconsin-Platteville assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, describes the moment as humbling when he found out he was selected for the Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence. The purpose of the award is to recognize a tenure-track faculty member who has made distinguished contributions to the mission of UW-Platteville as an outstanding teacher.

McLanahan strives to empower his students through the development of new teaching innovations. In his lab course he divides his students into consulting teams. Instead of lab handouts, students receive letters from a pseudo-company called Compressor Overflow Inc. According to McLanahan, the company then “hires” the consulting teams to explore problems on the equipment, find solutions and make recommendations. The students are then required to report to the company’s chief operations officer with their results.

Jeff Gard just finished his 11th season as head basketball coach of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Being in athletics was always Jeff’s dream and goal as a young man growing up in Cobb, Wisconsin. He was surrounded by coaches who helped mentor and guide him along the way, and coaching was his opportunity to stay in athletics. Jeff’s dad, Glen, was his first coach as a young boy, then he had a front row seat watching his older brother Greg ascend from a junior high basketball coach to Big Ten Coach of the year for the Wisconsin Badgers.  

"At a young age I always knew I wanted to pursue a career in athletics," Jeff said. "Once I saw my 40 time and vertical, I knew being a professional athlete was out of the question. Having our dad coach us growing up and having outstanding high school coaches in football, basketball and baseball, I was able to see firsthand how much of a positive impact a coach could make on the student-athlete's life."

Building on its tradition of offering active, hands-on and problem-based learning, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science recently affirmed its place as a leader in engineering education with its acceptance as a partner in the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN).

KEEN is a nationwide network of more than 45 engineering institutions, all of which have committed to instilling the entrepreneurial mindset in 100% of their undergraduate engineering students. By championing the entrepreneurial mindset, UW-Platteville engineering students will be better equipped to solve today’s grand challenges and build a better world for tomorrow. UW-Platteville’s participation in KEEN also supports professional development of faculty and staff by providing additional opportunities for collaboration and sharing with the other partner institutions.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneer Farm took home the top honor of grand champion for its four-year-old cow Wiscit Defiant Maya at the Wisconsin District 3 Show in Lancaster, Wisconsin, on June 19. Registered dairy producers from Grant, Lafayette, Iowa, Richland and Crawford counties participated in the competition, which featured 187 cows.

“It was really exciting. It gives a lot of credit to us here at Pioneer Farm to be able to raise her from a calf all the way up to a milking cow,” said Cory Weigel, Pioneer Farm dairy enterprise and crop production manager. “She had been to the show three times. As a two-year-old she placed fourth. As a three-year-old she placed second and was reserved intermediate champion. This year she won her class as a four-year-old. She won senior champion and then grand champion of the entire show.”