Outlook Magazine - Fall 2024

Greetings from Chancellor Frank

Infrastructure Project Previews

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The state-approved $139 million renovation of 50-year-old Heritage Hall , one of UW-Stout’s busiest classroom and lab buildings, is scheduled to begin in summer 2025.

uring the past few years (and past few issues of Outlook), UW-Stout has embraced a new era of opportunity: new infra structure projects; a new repre

Following spring graduation, we will com mence the “Year of Design” at UW-Stout—a yearlong, design-focused celebration. Events begin in May with the return to campus of UW-Stout’s Design Wisconsin, a showcase of innovation from business and industry partners, and the international Polytechnic Summit, and will conclude in summer 2026 with the Walldogs hand-painted mural event that will take place throughout Menomonie. Stay tuned for a full schedule of events. Additionally, thanks to your support and advo cacy, a new esports arena and the Heritage Hall renovation will take a big step forward this year. We are advocating for approval to move forward with plans for renovation of our Recreation Complex, for which we celebrated the largest gift in university history last year from Dallas and Edith Pankowski. And these projects will help to introduce the universi ty’s new Long-Range Campus Plan, which envisions a future state for our university that reflects the unmatched opportunities of our students and success of our graduates. Thank you for your continued support of UW-Stout. As reflected in Outlook and expe rienced everyday both on and off campus, UW-Stout students and alumni are having an impact, demonstrating time and time again that a strong polytechnic university is good for the Universities of Wisconsin, the state, and beyond. With Stout Pride,

sentation of our identity; a new strategic plan; new technology, programs, and approaches to educate students. Innovation in response to workforce and industry factors has guided this university since 1891 and is what distinguishes us as Blue Devils. It is what earned us recognition in 1974 as a “special mission university.” It is what earned UW-Stout the first Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for a four year institution of higher education in the U.S. And it is what the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents recognized when they amended Regent Policy 1-1 this August to include a polytechnic category and UW-Stout as its sole member. Many Blue Devils may be surprised that this most recent recognition by the Board of Regents did not come sooner, but our push for formal distinction among the UW schools is intentional. As you read in our last issue of Outlook, we are “Building for the Future,” and as you will see reinforced in this issue, this is “By Design.” UW-Stout alumni have used their ideas and education to improve design in the auto indus try, athletics, aviation, entertainment, fashion, interior design, packaging, rehabilitation ser vices, and the sciences. The articles you are about to read are impressive and a sample of what currently exists. They are also a pream ble for what is on the horizon.

The top facilities priority for UW-Stout in 2025 is receiving state approval for the Recreation Complex renovation and addition, adjacent to Johnson Fieldhouse. A $5 million gift, the largest in school history from Dallas ('60) and Edith Pankowski, provided a major boost for the $30.5 million project.

UW-Stout’s state champion esports team will play from a new, state-of-the-art arena in fall 2025 on the first floor of the library, thanks to a $1 million gift from the UW-Stout Foundation. The gift will fund remodeling, equipment and technology.

Katherine P. Frank

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University of Wisconsin-Stout