The story behind Stout's Polytechnic name change

By Doug Mell

The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents should be commended for taking the final step to realize the vision of the late UW-Stout Chancellor Emeritus Charles W. Sorensen in remaking the Menomonie institution as Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University.

The Board of Regents in June renamed UW-Stout as UW-Stout Polytechnic; this completed a journey conceived and initiated by Sorensen some two decades before.  I had the privilege of working for this legendary chancellor from 2006 until his retirement in 2014.  I was at the Board of Regents meeting in 2007 when Sorensen persuaded the board to designate UW-Stout as Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, and I helped prepare the documents sent to the board.

Always looking years ahead, Sorensen knew that UW-Stout needed a way to re-brand itself in a region replete with quality public and private universities, and  a way to highlight the unique hands-on way UW-Stout teaches, which began with its founding in 1891 by James Huff Stout.

Sorensen wanted to showcase the applied learning philosophy the campus employs, in addition to how UW-Stout students are career-ready upon graduation, and the close ties the university maintains with business and industry.  These concepts of applied learning, career readiness and private partner collaboration became UW-Stout's “polytechnic tenets” that continue to be showcased today.

A major obstacle for Sorensen was the dearth of true polytechnic universities in our slice of the Midwest, while the coasts are replete with the likes of MIT and California Polytechnic.  He faced opposition on campus as well, with some humanities departments worried about a diminished status in the face of a polytechnic designation.  To abate those fears, Sorensen would remind people his doctorate was in the humanities: history.

Some regents were skeptical as well, with good reason since no university had even been given a special designation like Sorensen was seeking.  He really was in uncharted territory.

But the UW-Stout chancellor, who now has a building named after him on campus, was adamant.  He got the backing of the governance groups on campus, a necessary step in the process, and lined up considerable support from the university’s private sector partners, before going to the board in March 2007 for the designation.  I was in the room when it was approved, and we certainly celebrated that night.

The university then took further steps to fully integrate the polytechnic designation into the DNA of campus operations, including changing its mission statement to include the polytechnic term and tenets.  Sorensen often said that all decisions on campus should be seen through a “polytechnic lens.”

Working with a talented and dedicated administrative team, Sorensen in 2009 organized the first Polytechnic Summit in the country, bringing representatives of elite polytechnics to campus to collaborate and spread the word about their unique institutions.  (Another enduring Sorensen initiative: UW-Stout says planning is underway for the 2027 polytechnic summit.)

“UW-Stout decided to join the polytechnic family because we knew we had to change,” Sorensen said in his remarks to that 2009 summit.  “We felt we had lost our competitive advantage in the Upper Midwest, and we needed to brand ourselves differently to market ourselves aggressively and, most importantly, to build on our rich history and yet transform ourselves.”

That transformation Sorensen began is now complete, even though unfortunately he did not live to see it, passing away in 2018. But his dream of UW-Stout becoming a true polytechnic university now will endure as long as the university.

Mell served UW-Stout from 2006 until his retirement in 2021 as the Executive Director of Communications and External Relations and Special Assistant to the Chancellor.  While this column is based on his memories, he did consult the 2017 history of the first 125 years of UW-Stout, “An Idea Comes of Age: UW-Stout 1891-2016" by Jerome P. Poling, to confirm details.

Editor's note: While looking for the new logo (that adds Polytechnic) to accompany this story, I learned that the three tiers of the "S" in the logo that was introduced in 2023, represent the three core polytechnic tenets: applied learning, career focus, and collaboration with business and industry.