The University of Wisconsin-Platteville celebrated more than 600 students as they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas and hoods at the 207th commencement held on Saturday, Dec. 11. The three ceremonies took place inside Williams Fieldhouse.
Chancellor Dennis J. Shields encouraged the graduates to remain lifelong learners. He emphasized the importance of how a true education should enable a person to listen without judgement.
“The ability to step outside of oneself and view an issue or topic from someone else’s perspective is incredibly useful and practical in our lives,” said Shields. “It’s what some refer to as being capable of empathy.”
Shields also addressed how the pandemic, in some ways, has prepared the graduating class in how to deal with future challenges.
“Remember to consider what lessons you have learned from these experiences and how you might apply them to your lives,” he said. “Remember that your response to a given set of circumstances is something that you can control, even when the situation, itself, might be something over which you have very little control. What’s most important is not avoiding failure, but to get back up, dust yourself off, and carry on despite those failures.”
In closing, Shields told the class of 2021, “Do not limit your ambitions – dream big, set high goals, and remember that when you work together, anything is possible.”
The College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture recognized 182 candidates. The College of Liberal Arts and Education featured 131 candidates, including 24 associate degree candidates from the branch campuses, UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County and UW-Platteville Richland. The graduate programs had 79 candidates. The commencement ceremonies concluded with the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science with 214 candidates.
Since 1866, UW-Platteville has provided affordable and accessible education to students of Southwest Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and other parts of the country and world. Nearly 60,000 students have earned UW-Platteville diplomas.
UW-Platteville will finish its fall semester with finals Dec.15-21. Winterim will run from Jan. 3-20. Classes begin for the spring semester on Jan. 24.
Videos are archived at https://www.uwplatt.edu/commencement. View more photos from all three ceremonies on the official UW-Platteville Facebook page.