University of Wisconsin-Platteville

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University of Wisconsin–Platteville
Image:Uwp logo.gif
Motto: What College Should Be!
Established: 1866
Type: State university
Endowment: $2,867,394[1]
Chancellor: David Markee, Ph. D
Staff: 336
Students: 6,493[2]
Undergraduates: 5,815[2]
Postgraduates: 678[2]
Location: Platteville, WI, USA
Campus: Small Town
820 acres (3.32 km²)
Nickname: Pioneers
Colors: Orange & Blue            
Website: www.uwplatt.edu

University of Wisconsin-Platteville (also known as UW-Platteville) is a public university located in Platteville, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers both bachelor and master degrees.

Contents

[edit] Campus

UWP's campus is rare in that there are no city streets that cut through the campus. During the 1960s, all city streets and parking lots within the campus were torn up and replaced with wide sidewalks and manicured lawns. Not only did this improve the aesthetic sense of the campus, but single-handedly eliminated all pedestrian accidents of students getting hit by vehicles while running from one classroom building to another.[citation needed]

UWP has ten residence halls[3]. An additional residence hall was opened fall of 2006. The hall - being referred to as "Southwest Hall" due to its location off a street called Southwest Road - will house 380 students in 95 four-person fully furnished suites. The campus and community is embracing this new addition and hopes it will assist in accommodating the planned increased enrollment of 2,000 UWP students. [4].

[edit] UW-Platteville Distance Education

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville is a pioneer in the field of nontraditional education, with more than 25 years experience offering an accredited degree at a distance. In 1978, the University introduced print-based courses to enable Wisconsin residents living in isolated areas to earn their undergraduate degree in business administration without having to travel to a university campus. In 1996, the residency requirement was amended and the distance program was extended to working adults living throughout the United States. In 1999, online graduate programs in criminal justice, engineering and project management were introduced, allowing students throughout the world to earn an accredited degree at a distance from UWP. In 2006, an undergraduate degree in criminal justice was added to the distance learning program. In addition to accredited degree programs, UWP has also developed online leadership and management courses in association with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and onsite project management courses in association with a respected project management consulting company. [5][vague]

[edit] Students and faculty

In 2004, UWP received approval from the UW system to increase its enrollment from 5,500 to 7,500 students. UWP has started a program called the Tri-State Initiative - aimed at attracting prospective students from Illinois and Iowa as part of the enrollment increase.[1] The current roster count stands at 5,841 undergraduates and 59 graduate students. UWP is staffed by 336 faculty (as of 2004). Academic Catalog

[edit] Organization

The university - part of the University of Wisconsin System - and each school in the system has an administrative staff headed by a Chancellor. Its colleges are headed by deans and departments are headed by chairperson who report to the Deans.

The university consists of three colleges which offer bachelor's and master's degrees:

  • The College of Business, Industry, Life Sciences and Agriculture - offering programs in modern business and industrial applications, biology and agricultural sciences.
  • The College of Liberal Arts and Education - with programs in humanities, social sciences (such as psychology), fine arts and the school of education
  • The College of Engineering, Mathmematics and Science - consisting of electrical, mechanical, industrial, civil/environmental, and software engineering as well as chemistry, engineering physics, and mathematics.

In the summer of 2006, construction will begin on the Ullsvik Center to renovate it and replace the older portion with a multi-story building addition. The new building is expected to house the administrative offices, academic facilities, the visitor center and other support departments. It will also retain its banquet and catering facilities - including the Robert I Velzy Commons and the Nohr Art Gallery. The building is expected to be ready by the fall of 2008. The building will be renamed as Ullsvik Hall. [2]

[edit] Student Union

In 2002, a new student union was built in the center of the campus named the Pioneer Student Center. The old student union, the Ullsvik Center, was located in the corner of the campus closest to downtown and the former campus of the mining college. The new location makes the student union now the heart of the campus. The union also serves as a technology and activity hub with a large computer lab (the Bear's Den), an involvement center and several on-campus activities organized by the Campus Programming and Relations. The union houses one of two dining complexes - the Pioneer Crossing, which includes subdivisions such as "Signature Line", and "Pioneer Haus" which mostly serves pizza. The center also includes an upstairs deli and coffee shop. The other location for food on campus is the Glenview Commons - located at the heart of the residence hall section of campus.

UWP Pioneer Athletics Logo
UWP Pioneer Athletics Logo

[edit] Sports and clubs

See also: Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium

UWP has several national and local greek organizations.

Fraternities

Sororities

Sports UWP is a member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 14 sports including football and basketball. The teams are nicknamed the Pioneers. Campus life centers on the Pioneer name and it represents much more than just the sports teams. The student newspaper - the Exponent is published weekly by a student staff. UWP currently has over 150 clubs and organizations[citation needed].

[edit] Traditions

Main article: Platte Mound M
The "M" on Platte Mound.
The "M" on Platte Mound.

As for unique celebrations by UWP students, the biggest one is the twice-annual lighting of the Platte Mound M. The "M" resides on Platte Mound, a nearby large hill, east of the city of Platteville.[6] The "M" is the largest "M" in the world and is actually visible from space. It was created in 1936 by the mining students with the "M" standing for mining. Today, due to the fact that mining engineering is no longer offered in the curriculum at UWP, the "M" is now maintained by some UWP faculty members and a group called Theta Tau. Once a year, the "M" is whitewashed (not painted) to make it stand out. This used to be an all-engineering-students event, with the "M" being whitewashed from many buckets passed from student-to-student, followed by a cookout on the back patio of the engineering building. During the university's annual homecoming in the fall and after the "Miner's Ball" (also called "M-Ball") or after graduation in the spring, the "M" is lit. This is done with cans with a small amount of kerosene and a wick. The lit "M" can be seen for miles and is a popular event for local photographers. Also, once a year, another group, Sigma Phi Epsilon, lights the "M" with the cans set-up in a heart-shaped; called the "Burning Heart".

[edit] Culture

Like most college towns the city has a large number of taverns, mainly on Second Street. Speculation was that people leave the area because the campus seemed empty on the weekends, but this is far from true. Only about a third of the campus lives in the residence halls, most students stay around during the weekends. Taverns regularly have standing room only nights. The music scene, funded by the taverns is rather alive producing several bands a year. One band, All Envy Aside (formerly Envy), made national fame by winning the MTV Best Band on Campus contest.[7] The active nightlife and "strip of bars" format of Platteville's Second Street have given the town it's unofficial nickname "P-Vegas".[citation needed]

[edit] History

Originally, the City of Platteville had two colleges. One a teaching college (Normal School) and the other a mining college (Wisconsin Mining School). The teaching college was founded in 1866 as the first teaching college in the State of Wisconsin (formerly the Platteville Academy founded in 1839 to train aspiring teachers). In 1907, the mining college came about due to a lead and zinc mining boom in the area. Since the mining college was made up of only male students and the teaching college made up of mainly female students, their close proximity to each other also created a much sought after social environment for the students. In 1959, the two colleges merged and in 1966 to form the Wisconsin Institute of Technology, they joined the University of Wisconsin System. In 1971, it officially changed its name to University of Wisconsin-Platteville.[citation needed]

Starting in the late 1960s, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville expanded its academic program and founded other colleges within itself. The biggest new college being a business college. The old mining college was transformed into an engineering college encompassing mining, electrical, mechanical, and eventually electronic engineering. In the late 1980s, the mining engineering degree was gradually phased out due to falling enrollment. By this time, however, it had been overshadowed by the other engineering degrees. UWP's engineering program has an international reputation for producing solid engineers and attracts students from around the world.[citation needed]

[edit] The night the students rioted

Like all college campuses across the United States, UWP experienced its share of student protests over the Vietnam War. One night these protests took a violent turn. The students marched from UWP campus down Main Street and smashed windows of retail businesses along their way. The students marched to the bottom of Main Street, started a bonfire in the intersection there, and turned over a fire truck that responded to put out the bonfire. However, before the riot got too far out of hand, Dr. William Russel Jensen, chair of UWP's psychology department and a very popular professor, waded into the mob, got up on the turned-over fire truck and talked to the students. The students peacefully disbanded.[citation needed]

[edit] Present status

Although UWP still has a teaching program, its enrollment has leveled off over the decades. It produces teachers mainly for southwestern Wisconsin.[citation needed]

Meanwhile, Engineering, Agriculture and Criminal Justice are the "mission programs" and the fastest growing programs at UWP have been those in the business college, software engineering and chemistry/criminalistics. As of 2004 the majority of students graduate from both the business college and engineering college, with the numbers of graduates of each being roughly equal.[citation needed]

In the 1980s, UWP made an effort to bring businesses to the Platteville area to take advantage of University resources. Rockwell Automation started this trend in the 1980s when it recruited two engineering professors at UWP, a husband-and-wife team, to start up an engineering firm. Rockwell provided them financing to get off the ground and gave them major contracts to get them going. The resulting business was Insight Industries, which later changed to Avista Inc. (now a division of Esterline, Inc.). However, until UWP expands its business college to offer MBAs, this development isn't expected to take off in any significant or rapid way.[citation needed]

[edit] Notable people

The following have attended or held positions at University of Wisconsin-Platteville:

[edit] Athletics

[edit] Alumni

[edit] See also

  • HiC - C++ Development Environment for introductory Computer Science classes - developed by UW-Platteville.
  • WSUP-FM - Student Radio Station. (90.5 MHz)

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ America's Best Colleges 2007 - University of Wisconsin - Platteville. US News and Road Report. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
  2. ^ a b c University of Wisconsin-platteville - College. Institute of Education Sciences. National Center for Education Statistics (2005). Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
  3. ^ Student Housing. University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
  4. ^ New residence Hall. University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
  5. ^ University of Wisconsin-Platteville Distance Education and Online Degrees. University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
  6. ^ Platteville Chamber of Commerce Attractions. 42°45′48″N, 90°24′24″W
  7. ^ http://www.uwplatt.edu/news/2005/04/uwp-band-finalist-in-mtv-best-music-on.html
v • d • e
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Gustavus Adolphus‡ • Hamline‡ • Lawrence† • UW–Eau Claire • UW–La Crosse • UW–Oshkosh • UW–Platteville • UW–River Falls • UW–Stevens Point • UW–Stout • UW–Superior • UW–Whitewater (Warhawks) • Winona State‡
† wrestling-only member • ‡gymnastics-only member
v • d • e
University of Wisconsin System