When Joanne Wilson arrived in Platteville to take a job as an assistant professor in general engineering in 1986, she could not have known that she was embarking upon a career journey which would last for 34 years and take her into some of the highest leadership roles the university had to offer. But surely at some point during this October’s Homecoming Parade, while riding down the middle of Main Street wearing the Grand Marshal’s orange satin sash, the penny must have dropped: her time at UW-Platteville has been a resounding success.
This coming spring, Dr. Wilson will retire from her role as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Characteristically, however, she will mark the occasion by holding the door open for a new group of women eager to make their way in STEM. The WiSTEM Scholarship and Leadership program, a new initiative at the university, will welcome its pilot cohort of students in the fall of 2020. In honor of Wilson, the first cohort will be named the D. Joanne Wilson Women in STEM Scholarship and Leadership Cohort.
“The idea came out of a conversation about getting more women engaged in STEM majors,” said Wilson. “Tammy Salmon-Stephens and Angela Udelhofen brought the idea to the three deans, Dr. Melissa Gormley (College of Liberal Arts and Education), Dr. Molly Gribb (College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science), and Dr. Wayne Weber (College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture). The deans committed to putting enough scholarship money together to support a cohort of students for a four-year pilot program, and they chose me as the named scholarship, which was a big honor.”
It's a big honor, but a fitting one. When Wilson first arrived at UW-Platteville over three decades ago, the STEM fields were heavily dominated by men. However, at UW-Platteville, she found an organization open to change. Over the years, the Women in EMS (WEMS) program at UW-Platteville has grown from a dream to a multifaceted and comprehensive set of student support services, including a Living and Learning Community, Mentor and Professional Mentor programs along with a dedicated Mentor Center, an active chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, an annual banquet, and outreach programs to local middle and high schools. The efforts have paid off: twenty three percent of the current students are enrolled in STEM majors on campus.
For her part, Wilson was developing into a campus leader. Promoted to full professor in 1996, she accepted a role as executive director of First Year Experience Program in 2007, and was named Interim dean of the College of EMS in 2010. Moving to a university-wide leadership role in 2011, she served (at different points) as interim assistant chancellor for Student Affairs, assistant vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, associate dean for the College of EMS, interim provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, and finally as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (her current role). Along the way, Wilson served on countless committees and task forces, building her familiarity with nearly every facet of the university’s operation, and gaining the deep and abiding respect of her colleagues. That respect has been commemorated with several awards, among them the Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award for UW System professors in 1994, the Professional Fraternity Association Faculty Award of Excellence in 1996, and UW-Platteville's Woman of the Year award in 2004. (Although the Grand Marshal position for the Homecoming parade is, to date, the only award to come with a sash.) Her newly named scholarship, however, may be the most personal honor of all.
“The scholarship is really all about the idea of promoting leadership amongst the students,” Wilson says. “The intent would certainly be to graduate young women who have leadership skills, skills which will lead them to success. I would hope that some of them would consider graduate school, or careers in higher education.”
To ensure that the students have all the help they need to excel, three professors have volunteered to personally mentor the first cohort of scholarship recipients: Dr. Chris Underwood, Associate Professor and Chair of Environmental Science and Geography; Dr. Jodi McDermott, Assistant Dean of the College of BILSA; and Dr. Christina Curras, Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
“Those three phenomenal faculty members are going to contribute to the students’ lives, and provide those mentoring relationships,” said Wilson. “And the joy of retirement means I can have the whole student cohort over for dinner once a month or so, if it’s not too big a group.”
As anyone familiar with Wilson could attest, her retirement won’t mean an end to her engagement with the university community that has been her home for so many years (though it will mean more time to devote to her astonishingly intricate quilts, which can be seen displayed in local fabric shops and at quilting shows all over the southwestern Wisconsin region).
“We’re investing in students individually and encouraging them to consider coming to UW-Platteville,” Wilson said.
If one of those students wanted to see a future that exemplified success in STEM, she wouldn’t have to look very far. Joanne Wilson will still be right here.