Developing Partnerships in Central Wisconsin

Thomas F. George, William H. Meyer, Gregory M. Diemer, and Charles E. Clark
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point *

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) chancellor Lee Sherman Dreyfus spoke of his vision for a "ruroplex" in central Wisconsin.  Dreyfus’ idea was that the moderately-sized communities of central Wisconsin would be tied together economically and culturally through transportation, communication, and education networks.  The idea of the "ruroplex" was ahead of its time.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, UWSP developed its Collaborative Degree Program with UW-Marathon County and UW-Marshfield/Wood County.  At the end of the 1990s, business and education leaders in Portage County began discussing the notion of a "Communivercity" Park that would bring together business and education interests in partnerships leading to a stronger economic presence for central Wisconsin.  The idea of the ruroplex is rising again in central Wisconsin, although now university leaders and faculty members were referring to the Central Wisconsin Idea. 

Below we discuss the Central Wisconsin Idea and the concept of the Communivercity Park as examples of the types of partnerships that will enhance the economic and social strength of central Wisconsin.  This paper helps address many of the recommendations and concerns raised during the meetings of the Central Wisconsin Regional Task Force of the Wisconsin Economic Summit.  The Economic Summit comes at a time in Wisconsin’s history when we are in great need of innovation and forward thinking.  We believe that the Central Wisconsin Idea with its emphasis on lifelong learning and workforce development for non-traditional college students, and the Communivercity Park with its emphasis on education, training, and business nurturing provide models for how our region can develop into a major force in the economic and social strength of our state.

The Central Wisconsin Idea

While the Central Wisconsin Idea (CWI) is, in a sense, a resurrection of the Dreyfus ruroplex idea, its main focus is on partnerships that will serve the adult population of central Wisconsin with post-secondary education, largely through various broadcast media.  Adult students in central Wisconsin have significant geographic and time constraints that make attending a traditional campus difficult.  These potential students face rising employer expectations, which increase the need for education.  Survey data indicate that this is a population eager for distance education service.  Of 1,025 adults surveyed in central Wisconsin within the last two years, 79% were somewhat or very interested in pursuing a baccalaureate degree.  Of this 79%, 91% indicated that they were likely or very likely to enroll in a program should it be offered.  In addition, via numerous meetings in early 2000, UWSP has received enthusiastic support for CWI from area chambers of commerce, from UW Colleges in Marathon County and Marshfield, from technical colleges in Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids, as well as from school superintendents in Marshfield, Wausau, Wisconsin Rapids, Waupaca, and Stevens Point.

We seek to serve this population in central Wisconsin while continuing our current commitment to traditional, resident students.  Funding that we are requesting through the UW System 2001-2003 budget initiative will allow us to serve adult learners without detracting from our responsibility to serve traditionally-aged, resident students.   

There are two components to the CWI:  (A) a degree-granting component, called the Collaborative Degree Program (CDP); and (B) an outreach, non-degree-granting component, which will provide coursework for students in certificate programs as well as instruction and information for individuals wishing to enhance their job skills through continuing education.  We will support both components with the technology infrastructure that will be the backbone of the CWI.

Our pilot CDP is well established with degree programs in Business Administration and General Studies, which we offer in partnership with the UW Colleges in Marshfield and Wausau.  General Studies offers two options, Contemporary America and The Contemporary World at Work.  Since its beginning in the fall of 1998, 246 individuals have taken courses through CDP, though not all are pursuing a degree.  Students attend classes in their local community (Marshfield, Stevens Point, or Wausau), which are taught by UWSP and UW College faculty using distance education technology.  The average age of these students is 33, with an age range between 20 and 73.  Of these students, 73% are 25 or older; we have a gender breakdown of 57% female and 43% male.  

Our students find this program attractive for a number of reasons, among which are their placebound status, time constraints on their schedules, employer expectations, desire for more employability options, and desire for a job with increasing responsibilities.  In the 2 semesters this year, we offered 9 courses that enrolled 262 students.  Enrollment in both of the majors continues to expand.  So far, 5 participants in the program have graduated, with 3 more slated to graduate in December.  By offering these courses in the fashion we do, we have begun to meet the workforce development needs of central Wisconsin.  Employees at area businesses such as Sunrise Medical, Stora Enso, Waupaca Foundry, and Marshfield Clinic are taking advantage of this opportunity to complete a baccalaureate degree.  Central Wisconsin businesses endorse the CDP through their support of employee-students:   upwards of 50% of the current CDP students receive tuition reimbursement from the companies for which they work.   These companies are strong partners in the CDP, and include Sentry Insurance, Figi's, Greenheck Fan, and Wausau Financial Systems, to name just a few in addition to those companies listed above.

With the state’s support, we can make the CDP stronger and even more tied to the needs of central Wisconsin with an expansion of its array of offerings.  In addition to the majors named above, we will add our existing major in Computer Information Systems (CIS) and add a major in Technology and New Media Arts (TNMA), which is currently an on-campus minor with an emphasis on the visual arts using such technology as 3D graphics and the Internet.  We will also expand our geographic scope.  While maintaining our connection to the UW Colleges, we will establish arrangements in Wisconsin Rapids and Waupaca, using facilities in those towns, through which our faculty will teach courses in Business Administration, General Studies, CIS, TNMA, and general education (as necessary for degree completion).  Of course, we will also look for every opportunity to expand this program to other communities in the region as well.  The partnerships we establish in these communities will involve the 2-year UW Colleges and the Wisconsin technical colleges at every opportunity, allowing us in concert to serve the adult learner better.  These will be equal partnerships with each member playing distinct and essential roles.

Beyond the CDP, the Central Wisconsin Idea comprises certificate programs, continuing education programs, and outreach programs, all of which serve the goal of economic workforce development and of addressing the issue of "brain gain" versus "brain drain."  These credit and non-credit courses will fill the needs of business and K-12 schools in our central Wisconsin service area using the instructional technology as described above.  For these programs, we expect our service area to reach north to Rhinelander, south to Portage, east to Waupaca, and west to Marshfield as, in fact, it already does for teacher-education programs.

For example, in the area of health promotion and safety, we will provide courses that fill the gaps left by traditional degree programs.  That is, an individual may need and desire coursework on safety issues.  Courses under the CWI umbrella will fulfill that need.  Likewise, we will provide instruction and certificates in the use of computer technology in such areas as specific software packages, spreadsheets, and database management, to name a few.  Medical technology is another area where there is a persistent need to upgrade one's skills to keep pace with technological changes.  We will deliver courses to meet this need.  As a final example, we will be able to provide instruction on the rules and regulations regarding affirmative action policy, harassment, and rules applicable to the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, which are also needs expressed by the business community.

We will provide credit and non-credit outreach, based in the digital sciences, which will support the requirements of PI 34, which speak to the requirements for teacher education and licensure, and the needs of natural resource management.  In the area of public instruction, we will establish an initial teacher program for first-year teachers of all subjects and all grades in our service area with a digital-science approach to creating an electronic portfolio for each teacher, which would address requirements of state standards boards.  We will also create a certificate program for teachers in integrating technology in the classroom.  Finally, we will be able to offer graduate courses for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers in sciences affected by digital technology.  This will upgrade teachers' skills and knowledge of such technology, which will assist them in cultivating early interest among their students in the area of digital science.  It will also help ensure the highest level of preparation of our high school graduates as they prepare to enter the workforce, attend technical college, or attend a college or university.  We have already experienced success in partnering with communities in the area of teacher education.  There is the traditional partnership of placing student and intern teachers in school districts for a semester of classroom teaching experience.  Also, we have our Learning Communities program that provides graduate work for practicing teachers in their community.  We have delivered this program in Westfield and will offer it in Berlin.  In both locations, practicing teachers attend weekend classes and complete a master’s degree granted by UWSP.

Through non-credit outreach, we will instruct professionals in natural resource management.  Our College of Natural Resource's (CNR) Advanced Computer Laboratory is used for applying computer-based software to build databases and to support natural resource management decision making.  The delivery system now in use through the CDP can be applied to provide such instruction in software application via distance education.  Similarly, CNR's On-line Advanced Spatial Information Systems (OASIS) initiative, which extends its Advanced Computer Laboratory capability in technology-enhanced learning, will be deliverable over the CDP technology infrastructure.  OASIS is being designed to provide Internet-based delivery systems of useful information on natural resources and environmental management to College stakeholders.

By delivering digital-science coursework through the CWI, we will achieve two goals.  First, we will provide continuing education that will help residents in central Wisconsin to enhance their job skills, which will result in higher-paying jobs.  By providing this continuing education digitally at a number of sites at once, we will achieve greater efficiencies than if we were to offer courses only on campus or with a number of instructional staff at a number of sites.  Second, by upgrading the skills of men and women in central Wisconsin, we will help create a workforce that will in turn help attract businesses and industries that pay high wages.  The CWI, then, will help enhance the tax base of this region and our state as well as increasing the standard of living.  Higher-paying jobs will generate more tax revenue, as will the establishment of new businesses in the region. 

The CWI will allow UWSP to advance existing partnerships with numerous educational (K-12, technical colleges, and UW Colleges) and community (chambers of commerce and business associations) entities in our region of Wisconsin.  Central Wisconsin has the technology infrastructure and the population to support the type of economic growth CWI will promote.  North and south, east and west, we have main transportation arteries in the form of I-39, Highways 10 and 29, and the Central Wisconsin Railroad.  The Central Wisconsin Airport serves our area well with air transportation in and out of Mosinee.  Most important for us to fulfill our desire to continue to develop distance education is the fiber-optic pipeline running through our region on its way to Minneapolis/St. Paul and to Chicago.  As for population, we have thousands of timebound and placebound adults in the area in need of further education.  In some cases, these people are looking for specific courses leading to a certificate; in other cases, they are looking for a means to complete a baccalaureate degree without relocating or commuting long distances.  In any case, the CWI will be able to fulfill their needs.  And in every case, as these people seek these opportunities for lifelong learning, they are looking to the educational quality that is the hallmark of the University of Wisconsin System institutions.  Survey data gathered in preparation for the CDP have convinced us of this fact, while anecdotal testimonials have further strengthened this conviction.  For example, Christine Bembenek of Sunrise Medical notes that "if it were not for [the CDP], finishing my degree would not be possible."

UWSP has a positive history of working with the regional UW Colleges, technical colleges, public schools, and businesses.  We are in an ideal position to increase our partnerships with these entities and to provide the "seamless" system of education for which System leadership has called and which Governor Thompson advocated in his last state-of-the-State address.   

The Communivercity Park

As suggested above, the Communivercity Park project is an outgrowth of a partnership between UWSP and the Portage County Business Council located in Plover.  The mission of the Communivercity Park is to provide a high-quality environment for the development of a training center and a location for enterprises that will add value to the existing socio-economic base of central Wisconsin.  The goals of the Communivercity Park are in concert with the aims of the Wisconsin Economic Summit.

In the area of collaboration, we envision an education and training center established in collaboration with Mid-State Technical College, which will strengthen UWSP bonds with the technical college system while at the same time providing continuing education for working adults much the way the CWI will do in other locations.  This is a process that has been developing since 1997 when a task force was formed and charged with exploring possibilities for a research park.  The task force was composed of representatives from UWSP, Mid-State Technical College, the Portage County Business Council, and officials of the City of Stevens Point and of Portage County, as well as local business leaders and ultimately, in 1998, employed consultants Hammer, Siler, George, and Associates of Maryland to determine the plan’s feasibility.  In addition to the task force’s commissioning of Hammer et al., Tom George and Greg Diemer organized meetings with representatives of business/research parks from UW-Stout and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, as well as surveying the nature of such parks as the Bordini Center in the Fox Valley and the City of Milwaukee Research Park.  The Stout and Edwardsville campuses were chosen because of their similarity to UWSP, i.e., their enrollments are largely undergraduate students, and they have limited research budgets, while the Bordini Center and the Milwaukee Park focus on areas we wish to emphasize such as customized business and industry training, and computer-integrated manufacturing systems. 

By 1999, after conducting their study and visiting Portage County twice to interview potential stakeholders, the consultancy firm reported that Portage County has the ingredients needed to support a teaching, learning, and training space.   The business park where the Communivercity Park will be located is ideal for such an endeavor.  With land adjacent to Highway 39 and located in Stevens Point, this 420-acre development has access to freight rail transport and is a multi-use facility with the ability to meet most business needs.  The park is twenty minutes away from a commercial airport and three miles from the Stevens Point municipal airport, which has rental-aircraft and business-jet capacity.

Stevens Point and Portage County are well positioned to host a business and research park and absorb the development that we hope will accompany such ventures.  We have a number of major employers already, some of whom have been mentioned above.  The largest of these include Sentry Insurance with nearly 2,000 employees, McCain Foods and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, each of which employs well over 1,000 people each, and the Copps Corporation and Associated Bank who, combined, employ over 1000.  In addition to these large employers, not to mention numerous smaller employers, Portage County has an excellent educational infrastructure that guarantees a well-trained work force as well as that our area will be attractive to new employers who will promote education as a key reason for locating in central Wisconsin.

The Business Education and Training Center mentioned above, a facility of nearly 5,000 square feet to be adjacent to the present Portage County Business Council building, is well under way with ground breaking anticipated in the spring of 2001.  The Center will provide education, training and technical services to Portage County Business Park tenants and area businesses through on-site instruction and various distance-learning methods under a set of fees/service charges that will cover partner costs.  The facility will become a major factor in the economic vitality of the state, helping to retain existing business and attract new business to the area by providing the education and training to create and maintain quality jobs in Central and Northern Wisconsin.

In September of 1999, Mid-State Technical College, UWSP and Portage County funded and the Portage County Business Council Foundation coordinated a focus group of in-house corporate trainers from Wood and Portage counties.  The message from this meeting was clear: access to local training is an issue.  Local training saves time and money for area companies and provides employees the ability to receive training and yet still have a quality family life.  UWSP Extension completed a space analysis in January 2000.  The determination by UWSP Extension staff was that an additional educational and training space near UWSP was needed to fully service the business clientele.

The Business Council Foundation has been working with MSTC and UWSP to determine the general needs of each institution.  An addition to the Business Council building would provide a low-cost option.  It would eliminate duplication of amenities already existing at the Business Council site.  In addition, this training facility would assist in marketing the Business Park and workforce development efforts of Central and Northern Wisconsin.

Benefits of such an education and training center are many.  There will be a distance-learning classroom and a computer lab dedicated to customized business training for Central and Northern Wisconsin.  Also, regional businesses will have access the facility for in-house training programs or customized training with public and private trainers.  There will be increased opportunities for partnering among post- secondary institutions of Central and Northern Wisconsin as well as greater opportunities for delivery of national seminars to train professionals to serve the regional business community.

There is considerable interest on the part of UWSP faculty and local businesses.  UWSP faculty who responded to a survey indicated a variety of existing business relationships as well as interest in greater activity in the future.  There is substantial local business interest in developing relationships with UWSP, especially with regard to training, student employment, and business management.  The existing Portage County Business Park provides an excellent physical environment for technology-related companies.  Moreover, the Communivercity Park in affiliation with the Portage County Business Park will provide opportunities for venture capital investment as well as providing a high-technology center for promoting innovations in our new economy.

Local government, too, is very pro-business with measures in place that enhance our business environment.  For example, there are revolving loan funds available in the City of Stevens Point, the Village of Plover, and in the Village of Rosholt.  Also, the Portage County Business Council-Economic Development Foundation provides incentives to companies based on job creation, investment, and the wages and benefits of jobs created.  Finally, our area has a Business Retention Program that seeks to identify local companies wishing to build, buy equipment, or to acquire assistance in training their employees.  All of these elements will serve to attract start-up businesses that wish to locate in the Business Park and to be affiliated with the Communivercity Park.

However, we are only at the beginning stage of the development of the education and training center and the Communivercity Park.  There is a need for building space for companies that are still in the incubator stage or just beyond it, and are too small to build on their own.  In addition, the Business Park would benefit from a business service center that could help maximize the rate of technology-based business growth in our region.  Such a center would stimulate technology-producing and other technology-dependent businesses.  With the education and training center located at a strategic site, such as the Portage County Business Park, UWSP and Mid-State Technical College, will be able to reach a larger share of the potential need that exists locally and in the broader region around central Wisconsin.

Conclusion

This year’s Economic Summit is focusing on seven major issues that combine to be the focal point of Wisconsin’s future development.  These are: building quality jobs, educating the workforce, improving Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial climate, building venture capital capacity, enhancing key infrastructures, building a distinctive brand or image for Wisconsin, and enhancing the state’s regulatory climate.  While the CWI and the Communivercity Park do not address the issue of regulation, they will have a direct impact on the other six issues.

Venture capital will be attracted to our area as start-up companies identify the Communivercity Park as an appropriate location for their headquarters.  Concomitant with this identification process will be an improvement of our region’s entrepreneurial climate.  Our emphasis on technology through the CWI and through the education and training center will bring greater investment to our region while at the same time providing quality education for a workforce that is looking for technology-related training.  The number of quality jobs will grow as existing business expands and new businesses look to our region as a likely headquarters.  As our region develops into one that emphasizes technology, while not abandoning our agricultural roots, our state’s image will change from one that emphasizes only agriculture and manufacturing, to one that emphasizes quality living in a clean environment with midwestern values and work ethic.

The partnerships we are developing in central Wisconsin can be a model for the rest of the state and, indeed, for the nation.  Academia and the corporate world can be viable partners without either party sacrificing its identity and values.  UWSP will continue to provide rock-solid liberal education to traditionally-aged students and to older students.  Through the partnerships we are developing with other educational institutions and with business interests, we will strive to be the premiere source of liberal education as well as the provider of just-in-time specialized programs to meet workforce and employer requirements.  This partnership with our technical-college colleagues and with businesses will benefit economic development throughout central Wisconsin.

The counties in our service region are some of the poorest in the state.  For example, Portage County’s 1998 per capita income was only $22,452 as compared to the state average of $26,284.  It is our hope that as a result of implementing the CWI and establishing the Communivercity Park, we will see this per capita figure rise in central Wisconsin.  Finally, we believe that the existence of the CWI and the Communivercity Park will result in a higher level of entrepreneurial development, higher-skilled jobs and a higher standard of living than we already enjoy.