Wausau campus offers more degrees
UW-Stevens Point at Wausau offers an increasing number of professional and four-year bachelor’s degrees at the twoyear college campus, chancellor Tom Gibson told the Marathon County Board of Supervisors on Thursday. Gibson, selected as the UW-Stevens Point chancellor 14 months ago, told supervisors the three-campus college remains committed to provide the Wausau area with educational and cultural opportunities.
“We are stewards of place,” he said.
Two new programs, he said, were a physician assistant degree offered in collaboration with UW-Madison and an associate degree of science in engineering.
Gibson said UW-Stevens Point at Wausau offers two masters degree programs, one in business arts and the other in social work. He said the campus allows students to complete four bachelor degree programs. These are in the fields of business, social work, sociology and engineering.
Gibson said other programs were in development, including a bachelor’s degree program in manufacturing and engineering, early childhood education and accounting.
The chancellor said UWStevens Point at Wausau had aligned its courses with those taught at Northcentral Technical College (NTC), Wausau. He said a UW-Stevens Point at Wausau counselor was on staff at NTC.
Gibson said that while his college is adding programs it is also watching enrollment, which slipped from 531 students in 2020 to 520 students in 2021.
The chancellor said, however, he was “quite pleased” with this “slight dip” given the current strong labor market and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supervisor John Robinson, Wausau, said he supported the college’s outreach to the Wausau community but was concerned that only one percent of students were Asian or Hmong. He said Wausau’s Asian and Hmong students were “high achievers” and should be at the school.
Gibson said he hoped to learn more about perceptions of UW-Stevens Point at Wausau in a survey of area high school students. He said the college was exploring scholarship opportunities for Hmong and Asian students.
Supervisor Richard Gumz, town of Holton, asked about the status of the dormitories at the UW-Stevens Point at Wausau campus.
Gibson said the dormitories were in disrepair and currently not used. He said the college could pursue other opportunities should the dormitory maintenance issues be addressed.
County board chairman Kurt Gibbs, town of Cassel, said the county is aware of the problems with the dormitories as it puts together a West Side Master plan that will address college facilities, Marathon Park, the county highway department shop and other related topics.
Marathon County owns all of the UW-Stevens Point at Wausau facilities.
Supervisor Sara Guild, chairwoman of the Extension, Education and Economic Development Committee, said she appreciated the college housing a restaurant developed in the McDevco Business Incubator. “That’s a unique concept you don’t find anywhere else,” she said.
