Saturday, July 22, 2017

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Last week, I spoke at a sports analytics conference at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The town of Stevens Point (or simply "Point" as some locals call it) is part of the region served by Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA), along with other towns such as Wausau and Marshfield.


UWSP opened in 1894 and, according to my taxi driver, is probably best known academically for the study of natural resources. Here is the front of the College of Natural Resources, which along with the nearby buildings, features abundant trees and flowers.



This lovely picnic area...


...and some of the on-campus residence halls reinforce the "green" motif. Note also the solar panels for energy conservation, atop the building on the right.


Shown next is the Lee S. Dreyfus University Center (the student union). Dreyfus served stints both as Chancellor of UW-Stevens Point and as Governor of Wisconsin.


Coming soon to the roster of campus buildings is the new Chemistry-Biology building.


The last of the on-campus facilities I photographed is Berg Gym, home of women's basketball and other sports. UW-Stevens Point plays at the NCAA Division III level. The men's basketball program (which uses a different building) has a couple of claims to fame. One is coach Dick Bennett, who coached not only at Stevens Point, but also achieved great success at UW-Green Bay and UW-Madison. The other is Terry Porter, who played for the Pointers in the early 1980s and became one of the few college players below NCAA D-I to make the NBA. Porter also coached in the NBA and now coaches at Portland University.


Many universities are seeing a growth in the number of off-campus apartments for students, and Stevens Point appears to be no exception.