UWM to Offer Degrees at Waukesha County Technical College
Creation of new program follows closure of UWM’s branch campus in Waukesha.
UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha campus is seen here on Monday, March 11, 2024. Evan Casey/WPR
A new University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee center on the Waukesha County Technical College campus will offer students a more accessible, affordable path to a bachelor’s degree.
The announcement this week of the new center follows the closure of UWM’s branch campus in Waukesha. The university cited declining enrollment and limited funds in announcing the closure in early 2024. The campus is set to close June 30.
The new UWM University Center is on the technical college campus in Pewaukee. It will offer students with associate’s degrees a way to earn their bachelor’s degrees locally. In the fall, the collaboration will offer bachelor’s courses in social work, information science and technology, and business, both online and at WCTC campuses.
“We are able to bring those students in to help them finish their associate’s degrees,” said Rich Barnhouse, the president and CEO of Waukesha County Technical College. “Some of those students will go right into the workforce, and then others will finish … here at the University Center at WCTC.”
Centers like this, he added, are cost-effective and increase access to higher education.
“This is one of the next logical steps in higher education, and we hope that this serves as a model for the rest of the state,” Barnhouse said.
He said the center also hopes to help regional employers by offering highly sought degrees.
“Our employers have a real issue in getting the talent they need when they need it,” Barnhouse said.
He said the center will begin by offering a few bachelor’s degrees in the fall and then expand over time. They eventually hope to add coursework in engineering, artificial intelligence and health science.
“We’re trying to offer some local and hybrid programming to really meet students where they are and to help advance the number of residents in Wisconsin with baccalaureate degree completion,” said UWM University Center Director Suzanne Boyd.
She said she hopes to build more transfer pathways for Wisconsin students, citing research showing thousands of Wisconsinites leave college without completing a degree or certificate. UWM is planning to create more university centers at other sites, including Moraine Park Technical College, she added.
In the future, Barnhouse said the UWM center could offer Waukesha technical college students a pathway to master’s and doctoral degrees.
“Forever and ever, people have been asking, in Wisconsin and largely across the United States: When is higher education going to change to meet the needs of the community?” Barnhouse said. “We think that this is the start of that.”
After Waukesha campus closure, UW-Milwaukee will offer degrees at nearby technical college was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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