The UW Colleges

The University of Wisconsin System encompasses all state-funded, public university education in the state of Wisconsin.  The UW System comprises 27 institutions:  

• 2 doctoral institutions (UW--Madison and UW--Milwaukee)

• 11 comprehensive institutions (UW--Stevens Point, UW--Oshkosh, UW--Eau Claire, and 8 others)

• 13 freshman-sophomore campuses (UW Colleges)

• UW--Extension  (statewide)

The 13 two-year campuses form a single institution, which is known as the University of Wisconsin Colleges.   These 13 colleges are transfer institutions preparing freshman and sophomore university students for transfer to any college or university that grants bachelor's degrees in the liberal arts and professional fields.  The 13 UW Colleges campuses are:

• UW--Baraboo/Sauk County (in Baraboo)

• UW--Barron County (in Rice Lake)

• UW--Fond du Lac

• UW--Fox Valley (in Menasha/Appleton area)

• UW--Manitowoc

• UW--Marathon County (in Wausau)

• UW--Marinette

• UW--Marshfield/Wood County (in Marshfield)

• UW--Richland (in Richland Center)

• UW--Rock County (in Janesville)

• UW--Sheboygan

• UW--Washington County (in West Bend)

• UW--Waukesha

Central offices of the UW Colleges are located in Madison.  Each of the 13 campuses is headed by a dean and the entire institution is headed by a chancellor with the assistance of the provost and other officers and staff.

The UW Colleges is a unique partnership between the State of Wisconsin and county or city governments around the state.  The purpose is to extend the benefits of a public university education to as many communities as practical.  City and/or county governments provide the physical facilities for the campuses while the state provides the budget to run the educational program.  That is, the local government provides the buildings and grounds while the state provides the equipment, furniture, faculty and staff, and other necessary resources.  Small amounts of additional funding may come from local campus foundations.

Academic departments, such as the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, are UW Colleges-wide such that faculty, curriculum and programs throughout the 13 campuses are academically unified.  Because the members of the department are spread around the state on 13 campuses, they usually only meet face-to-face two or three times a year, but frequent use of e-mail and a department newsletter help to maintain a high degree of collaboration and collegiality.

The UW System differs from public higher education in most states in that the vocational-technical schools are completely separate from the two-year UW Colleges.  In many states these two functions--vocational-technical training and lower division liberal arts education--are merged into a community college system.  In Wisconsin, the two types of education are mostly separate and the UW Colleges is strictly a liberal arts/pre-professional institution without a vocational-technical component.