As a professor of agribusiness at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and a UW-Extension farm management specialist, Dr. Kevin Bernhardt helps make an impact on both the current and future generations of the local agriculture industry.
Written By: Laurie Hamer | Published On:
| Featured in: Education
During the COVID-19 crisis, more than 70 UW-Platteville education majors took on the challenge of providing more than 100 homebound K-12 students in 11 school districts in Southwest Wisconsin with online tutoring support to ensure they continued gaining knowledge in a wide variety of subject areas.
Written By: Ruth Wendlandt | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
University of Wisconsin-Platteville Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Scott Melin joined UW-Platteville in 2017 and encourages his students to take away these important concepts: a lifelong learning approach, growth mindset and professional skills.
Written By: UW-Platteville Continuing Education staff | Published On:
| Featured in: Continuing, Press Release
The UW-Platteville Continuing Education Institute is re-inventing its summer youth series, rolling out 11 virtual camps in place of its traditional face-to-face offerings.
Thanks to a recent donation from industry partner Kraemer Brothers, LLC, the UW-Platteville building construction programs now have a piece of new equipment to offer students additional hands-on experience. The commercial construction firm in Plain, Wisconsin, recently donated a 753 Bobcat skid steer.
The already-reduced application fee to attend UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County or UW-Platteville Richland will be completely waived from June 5-15, making it even easier for students to explore UW-Platteville’s two branch campuses as they start or continue toward their education goals, according to Assistant Provost for Branch Campus Operations Dr. Michael Compton.
Written By: Laurie Hamer | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
The UW-Platteville Department of Social Sciences recently recognized Elliott Manuel, a soon-to-be senior political science major at UW-Platteville, with the Outstanding Social Sciences Paper Award. The award included a $200 stipend.
Krista Eiseman has been interested in the field of animal science from a young age. While attending UW-Platteville, she developed a particular interest in meat science. After earning her master's degree from North Dakota State University, where she studied meat science and muscle biology, she returned to UW-Platteville as an assistant professor of animal science in 2017.
Written By: Paul Erickson | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
Rachel Herman, the UW-Platteville administrative director of Student Health Services, is a board-certified pediatric nurse practitioner who counts public health infectious disease among her expertise. She has been instrumental in not only offering leadership to the UW-Platteville Emergency Operations Center team but also to the UW System, as her pandemic planning was used as a blueprint for the 170,000 students across the state.
UW-Platteville alumnus Jason Roth, who earned a Bachelor of Arts in women, gender, and sexuality studies this May, recently received the UW System Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium undergraduate research award for a workshop he developed, “Who Gets to Represent Whom? Authentic Membership, Organic Voices, and Allyship.”
For more than 40 years, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville has been an institutional leader in distance education. In 1978, UW-Platteville started a print-based program and then in 1999 the institution became the first public university in Wisconsin to offer degrees online. This experience in leadership helped make a smooth transition when the university and the branch campuses went into alternative delivery mode in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Written By: Laurie Hamer | Published On:
| Featured in: Psychology, Research
Dana Mueller, a senior psychology major at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, recently won the university’s WiSys Quick Pitch @ Home competition.
Joshua Boots, assistant vice chancellor of development and alumni engagement, announced today that the UW-Platteville Foundation has received a $15,000 matching gift donation from an anonymous couple. This gift will match donations made to UW-Platteville’s $100,000 initiative in support of the Pioneers Helping Pioneers fund.
Written By: Ruth Wendlandt | Published On:
| Featured in: STEM, Research
To help combat the shortage of personal protective equipment during this COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Jodi Prosise, chair of the UW-Platteville Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and a team of undergraduate researchers are designing a system to turn recycled plastic into respiratory face masks.
Scott Steder, a lecturer of art at UW-Platteville since fall 2017, teaches courses in sculpture, drawing, professional practices and all levels of ceramics. He was first drawn to the field of art in high school, when he took a ceramics class, and he never looked back.
Recent graduate Caleb Dykema is taking the experiences in innovation he found at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and inspiring others to achieve the same through his new podcast, Just the Bulb.
Academic support services are a key part of the educational experience at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and providers of these services – on all three campuses – are ensuring that doesn’t change with the move to alternative delivery.
Written By: Laurie Hamer | Published On:
| Featured in: Psychology
Just a few months ago, Emma Dums, a junior psychology major, was doing homework, studying for tests, conducting research and participating in hands-on courses face to face. She never dreamed that, within a short period of time, her life would change dramatically due to the global pandemic COVID-19. However, Dums expresses gratitude for her professors, who have designed new ways of delivering their courses, and provided additional support to ensure that she and her classmates continue to receive an outstanding education.
Written By: Megan Hinderman | Published On:
| Featured in: Education
As Michelle Gould entered her final semester as an elementary education student this spring, she was presented with a new challenge when schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was forced to cut short her time teaching second grade, instead assisting with some of their video-conferencing sessions. While not what she expected, Gould and other educators have worked hard to learn from the situation.
Julie Durst, a lecturer in UW-Platteville's Department of Industrial Studies, is playing a significant role in Grant County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Called on for her expertise and nearly two decades of experience in the area of safety and risk management, Durst is serving as public information officer for the Southwest Wisconsin county during this crisis.
Written By: Ruth Wendlandt | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
The Women’s Rugby Club at UW-Platteville was coming off a terrific fall season. Ranked eighth in the country, they were looking forward to the spring season, but everything changed once COVID-19 hit. Instead of feeling defeated with their season being cancelled, Mackenzie Darkow, president of the rugby team, and her teammates decided to spread virtual messages of hope.
Written By: Laurie Hamer | Published On:
| Featured in: Alumni, Psychology
During the COVID-19 crisis, University of Wisconsin-Platteville alumni who provide critical services and resources to those in need have risen to the challenge by adapting and innovating new ways of staying connected with their clients in ways that meet safer-at-home guidelines. To do so, they often draw upon their education and experiences at UW-Platteville.
Written By: Alison Parkins | Published On:
| Featured in: STEM
Adaptability is perhaps one of the most important skills an engineer must have, and students in the Senior Design Program at UW-Platteville this spring have had a chance to put this skill to the test. The Senior Design Program pairs student groups with an industry partner to solve real problems or create new products. When the COVID-19 pandemic required students to transition to remote learning, they had to make some quick adjustments. On May 20, students will virtually present their final projects to the public during the Senior Design Open House.
As organizations large and small struggle to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects on UW-Platteville and its surrounding communities are far-reaching. Yet, even as their own lives are disrupted, university students and staff have contributed to the greater good by sharing their skills and resources whenever possible and new opportunities for research and community-building have started to arise.
Written By: Alison Parkins | Published On:
| Featured in: STEM
A group of UW-Platteville students and one alumnus have found a creative way to team up, while staying at home, to contribute to the fight against COVID-19. They formed a UW-Platteville team to contribute to the Folding@home project – a distributed computing project that relies on people around the world to volunteer their personal computer resources to run simulations of protein dynamics to help scientists find cures for diseases.
Written By: Ruth Wendlandt | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
Craig Beytien is the Corporate Relations Executive Director at UW-Platteville. He develops and advances collaborations between industry and the university. Prior to joining UW-Platteville last fall he spent more than 20 years in higher education publishing, content development and educational technology.
Written By: Ruth Wendlandt | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
According to two recently released rankings, UW-Platteville is being recognized as one of the best values in higher education, both in Wisconsin and across the nation.
Written By: Ruth Wendlandt | Published On:
| Featured in: Biology
The public is receiving a first-hand virtual look at how UW-Platteville students are taking care of the different animals living in the Biology Department’s Animal House – from a Brazilian short-tailed opossum, to a Caribbean hermit crab. The educational videos and materials are being posted to the Animal House Facebook page in hopes of providing outreach to the public and teaching them more about the animals and why they are important.
Written By: Laurie Hamer | Published On:
| Featured in: Law & Justice
During the COVID-19 crisis, UW-Platteville faculty and staff have risen to the challenge by adapting and designing novel ways of realigning course delivery to ensure students continue to receive an outstanding, rigorous education, including hands-on learning experiences. This includes Dan Román, lecturer of forensic investigation, who modified his spring Crime Scene Diagramming course.
After hearing about the growing shortage of personal protective equipment for health care workers, UW-Platteville senior Sam Smith decided he needed to help those battling the COVID-19 crisis. Smith, a computer science major from Kaukauna, Wisconsin, started producing ear guards with his 3D printer. He can create five guards every two hours.
Over a decade ago, Jesse Ruegsegger found himself at the lowest point of his life, but a journey of recovery ended with him receiving not only the strength to forgive himself, but also academia’s highest honor.
Thanks to partnerships forged between industry and UW-Platteville's Construction Management and Construction Safety Management programs, custodial staff at UW-Platteville have been able to use advanced equipment to ensure their safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry partner Miron Construction Co. Inc., in Neenah, Wisconsin, recently provided the university with a Powered Air Purifying Respirator, or PAPR.
Joshua Boots joined UW-Platteville as the assistant vice chancellor for Development and Alumni Engagement last November. He works with alumni and friends of UW-Platteville to connect them with the university and find ways they can make a difference.
Written By: Megan Hinderman | Published On:
| Featured in: Agriculture & Dairy
In early March, UW-Plattteville soil and crop science major Adam Mairs had been looking forward to spring break and working as the farm manager at Kennay Farms in Rochelle, Illinois. But when the COVID-19 pandemic forced students off campus and into alternative learning methods, Mairs had to shift his plans, fast. His employer opened a distillery about eight months ago, and seeing a need in their community, the staff converted the distillery to producing hand sanitizer.
Written By: Paul Erickson | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
To better serve its student population, UW-Platteville has set a $100,000 donation goal to support Pioneers Helping Pioneers, an emergency funding program through the UW-Platteville Foundation. The emergency grants assist students in basic needs such as food, rent, medicine, technology, childcare and other unexpected problems.
With the recent UW System Board of Regents approval of a Bachelor of Science in construction management at UW-Platteville, more students will have the opportunity to experience the university’s one-of-a-kind construction labs, including the newly launched Road and Infrastructure Construction Lab.
During the COVID-19 crisis, UW-Platteville faculty, staff and students continue to look for ways to show their appreciation and support for local businesses, organizations and community members. On Wednesday, April 22, UW-Platteville’s Department of Health and Human Performance will show its support by hosting the “Corona Cruise” event in Platteville from 5-7 p.m. The goal of the event, which is free and open to all, is to give back to the businesses and community of Platteville and positively impact the community’s social and emotional health.
Dr. Alyssa Holan, assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, has taught Spanish language courses and Peninsular literature and culture courses at the university since fall 2018.
Dr. James Hamilton, professor of chemistry at UW-Platteville, is working with the state of Wisconsin to produce tens of thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer to help protect communities from COVID-19.
Written By: Alison Parkins | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
Lauren Kita, a senior at UW-Platteville, found a way to help her hometown community, while incorporating her industrial engineering coursework, when she helped create and oversee a volunteer shopping service to assist the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Scott Ringgenberg, coordinator of the Department of Health and Human Performance at UW-Platteville, offers 10 tips on how to stay active and improve overall health during this unprecedented and uncertain time.
Written By: Laurie Hamer | Published On:
| Featured in: Education
Jessica Brogley, teacher of educational technology in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, was recently elected to the Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association board of directors as the director of higher education.
Written By: Ruth Wendlandt | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
As Wisconsinites attempt to flatten the curve under Gov. Evers’ Safer at Home order, many may be wondering what to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner. University of Wisconsin-Platteville Dining Services Registered Dietitian Stephanie Young shares some advice as she encourages students, faculty, staff and community members to use this time to become creative in the kitchen.
Written By: Alison Parkins | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
Admission advisors at UW-Platteville are the face of the university to prospective students and their families – sometimes hundreds in a week. So, when on-campus visits were suspended less than a month ago, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, admission advisors were tasked to quickly find a way to share the UW-Platteville experience, virtually. Rising to the challenge, the recruitment team worked together to overhaul the campus visit in less than three weeks and conducted their first virtual visits last week.
Written By: Paul Erickson | Published On:
| Featured in: Campus & Community
The UW-Platteville facilities staff is undergoing extensive training to proactively prepare for any possible COVID-19 infections. Mark Miner, an assistant professor in Industrial Studies who is the program coordinator for two university safety programs, is lending his assistance to about 50 staff members.
Written By: Ruth Wendlandt | Published On:
| Featured in: STEM
“We are all sacrificing much for the COVID-19 crisis. I didn't want my students to sacrifice anything more than they had to,” said Dr. A. L. Ranen McLanahan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UW-Platteville. To help transition his thermal systems lab courses into a new alternative delivery, he created four interactive lab-simulating applications for his students to download, calling the series, “Little Dude in Consulting World.” The apps allow students to control a 2D avatar who explores a 2D lab world from inside the classroom.