When Dennis Shields arrived on the UW-Platteville campus as the new chancellor last year, he immediately recognized a need for more student housing. But he knew that if he went through the normal channels to build a dorm ? which involves a gauntlet of state and university approvals ? the project could be delayed for several years. So instead, he looked for alternatives, eventually settling on a partnership with the UW-Platteville Foundation that put the project in private hands. Partnering with a private organization is a method University of Wisconsin System chancellors may look to more as a way to build campus housing quickly without having to tiptoe through the state approval process, which can take a year or more.
Office of Strategic Communication