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Orange & Blue Updates
After several years of planning, UW-Platteville’s collaborative Master of Physician Assistant Studies program is officially open to applicants, with the first cohort scheduled to begin in summer 2023. The UW-Madison wisPACT@UW-Platteville program will allow UW-Platteville students to earn a degree through UW-Madison’s nationally-recognized Master of Physician Assistant Studies program, while remaining on the UW-Platteville campus to complete the coursework.
Plans for the program date back to the inaugural Health Care Summit UW-Platteville hosted in 2017, where educators, health care administrators, and regional practitioners joined to discuss shortages of health care providers in underserved rural areas.
The Master of Physician Assistant Studies is a two-year program with one year of classroom learning and one of clinical rotations. All of the classes will be held in-person on the Platteville campus or live-streamed from Madison. With a focus on training the future rural health care workforce, clinical rotations will be predominantly in the hospitals and clinics in Southwest Wisconsin.
*The University of Wisconsin-Madison has applied for approval from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant to establish a distant campus in Platteville. The campus anticipates matriculating its first class in May 2023, pending approval at the September 2022 ARC-PA meeting.
GOING GREEN
Sesquicentennial Hall, UW-Platteville’s newest engineering building, is the university’s first building to seek certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s internationally-recognized Leadership in Energy and Environmental Development rating system, known as LEED. To achieve LEED certification, a building project earns points based on meeting prerequisites in the areas of carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health, and indoor environmental quality.
According to Dr. Philip Parker, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, a number of Sesquicentennial Hall’s sustainability features double as teaching tools, such as a visible storm water system wrapping around the building and a solar array on the rooftop. One of the most recognizable sustainability features is the accessible green roof.
While many of the prerequisites for LEED certification aren’t outwardly visible—from water and energy use to the selection of building materials and more—an augmented reality tour of Sesquicentennial Hall will allow students and visitors to learn more about these features. With an app, visitors can use their phone to move around the building and see a digital overlay with more information about particular features.
“Students have to understand how everything they design impacts people and the environment at some level,” said Parker. “To have a building where they will be surrounded by that all the time will help educate future engineers on the importance of their decisions.”
Alumnus, Vice President at General Motors shares advice
UW-Platteville alumnus and Vice President of Electric Vehicle Excellence at General Motors Tim Herrick recently visited campus and shared advice with students from his 38 years with General Motors, many of which were spent in leadership roles. Herrick’s presentations centered around leadership and his journey from UW-Platteville to General Motors. He said he attributes much of his success to characteristics he developed at UW-Platteville, including grit and perseverance. But, above all else, he emphasized the importance of being a leader and mentor. Herrick helped launch the Leader Foundry which supports students in the Metro Detroit schools with mentorship and scholarships. Herrick graduated from UW-Platteville in 1983 with a degree in industrial technology.
STUDENTS WIN BIG IN COMPETITIONS
Student teams have been representing UW-Platteville in competitions across the country, taking home top honors and putting Platteville on the map. Here are just a few highlights from last spring.
Cast in Steel Team
UW-Platteville’s Cast in Steel Team won the grand prize at the Steel Founders’ Society of America CastExpo 2022 Cast in Steel Competition. The contest challenged university students to use modern casting tools to creatively design and produce a functioning version of a Celtic leaf sword. The team competed against 34 other teams, including big names like Texas A&M University, Ohio State University, and Penn State University.
Robotics Club’s VEX U Team
The Robotics Club’s VEX U Team won the Vex U College and University Competition at the VEX Robotics World Championship in May. For the competition, teams construct two robots, using custom parts and components. College teams compete in head-to-head matches, which start with an autonomous routine, where robots run off of pre-programmed instruction, followed by a driver-controlled period. The UW-Platteville team went undefeated, 7-0 in the elimination matches to be crowned world champions.
Collegiate Soils Team
UW-Platteville’s Collegiate Soils Team took home third place in the 60th Soil Science Society of America National Collegiate Soils Contest. Student Isaac Nollen also placed third in the individual contest, earning him a spot on the four-member team representing the United States at the International Soils Competition in Scotland over the summer.
