UW-Stout

University of Wisconsin–Stout

Type	State university
Established	1891
Endowment	$47,372,817 (2014)
Chancellor	Robert M. Meyer
Administrative staff	475
Students	9,619 (Fall 2016)
Undergraduates	8,388 (Fall 2015)
Postgraduates	1,147 (Fall 2015)
Location	Menomonie, Wisconsin, U.S.
Campus	Large Town 124 acres (50 ha)
Colors	Blue and White
Athletics	NCAA Division III Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference National Collegiate Gymnastics Association
Nickname	Blue Devils
Website	www.uwstout.edu

The University of Wisconsin–Stout (UW–Stout or Stout) is a four-year college located in Menomonie, Wisconsin, United States. A member of the University of Wisconsin System, it enrolls more than 9,600 students. The school was founded in 1891 and named in honor of its founder, lumber magnate James Huff Stout.

On March 9, 2007, Stout was designated "Wisconsin's Polytechnic University" by the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents. It is one of two special mission universities in the University of Wisconsin System: it provides focused programs "related to professional careers in industry, technology, home economics, applied art, and the helping professions." UW–Stout offers 50 undergraduate majors, 26 graduate majors, including 2 advanced graduate majors and a doctorate.

In 1891, James Huff Stout, a Wisconsin State Senator and Menomonie resident, founded a manual training school, the first of several educational enterprises he launched in Menomonie. The Manual Training movement was an educational philosophy that influenced modern vocational education. In the United States, this philosophy was established in the 1870s and used to train engineers, later working its way into public education. Manual training promoted a classical liberal education, but emphasizing practical application such as practical judgment, perception and visual accuracy, and manual dexterity over theory. It was not meant to be used to teach specific trades, but rather to enhance the traditional educational model. Students learned drafting, mechanics, woodworking, metal working, in addition to science, mathematics, language, literature, and history. After the American Civil War, leaders of industry and politics were turning to public education to augment existing apprenticeship programs by incorporating Manual Training philosophy into their curricula.

In addition to the Stout Manual Training School, James Huff Stout established kindergarten classes (1894), a Kindergarten Training School (1899), a School of Physical Culture (1901), training schools for manual training teachers and domestic science teachers (1903), and a Homemaker's School (1907). In 1908, to simplify and clarify administration, Stout merged the various institutions owned by him into the Stout Institute, which was sold to the state of Wisconsin after Stout's death in 1911. The school was governed by its own board of regents until 1955, when it became part of the Wisconsin State Colleges system as Stout State College. The state colleges were all upgraded to university status in 1965, and accordingly Stout State College became Stout State University. In 1971, after the merger of the former University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State Universities, the school became part of the University of Wisconsin System and has been named University of Wisconsin–Stout since then. In March 2007, UW-Stout was designated "Wisconsin's Polytechnic University" by the UW System Board of Regents.