Leavitt: UWO is committed to keeping its access campuses open

Advance-Titan+File+Photo+%E2%80%94+Chancellor+Andrew+Leavitt+has+committed+to+keeping+UWOs+Fox+Cities+and+Fond+du+Lac+campuses+open+after+UW-Platteville+announced+it+would+be+closing+its+Richland+Center+access+campus.

Advance-Titan File Photo — Chancellor Andrew Leavitt has committed to keeping UWO’s Fox Cities and Fond du Lac campuses open after UW-Platteville announced it would be closing its Richland Center access campus.

Advance-Titan staff

UW-Platteville will end program offerings at its two-year access campus in Richland Center after enrollment fell to 60 students. But UW Oshkosh Chancellor Andrew Leavitt said UWO remains committed to keeping its Fox Cities and Fond du Lac campuses open.

In 2018, the state’s two-year access campuses joined nearby four-year institutions as part of the UW Colleges restructuring.

In an email Tuesday, Leavitt wrote: “I want you to know that UW Oshkosh remains committed to the access missions and the continued operation of UWO Fox Cities and UWO Fond du Lac. We do this in collaboration with valued partners and public stewards in Fond du Lac, Outagamie and Winnebago counties. There are no plans or directions to alter course at UWO’s access campuses.”

While all three Oshkosh campuses have experienced declines in student enrollment, Leavitt said UWO is maintaining a “laser focus on improving student recruitment and retention.”

He wrote: “We have assembled a selfless, determined corps of Student Success Navigators. We have reinvigorated our marketing and messaging, emphasizing the life-changing experience and life-long value a UWO college education provides. Enrollment in our new, online offerings under the UWO+ banner shows strength. And we are working hard to explore new and creative ways that UWO access campuses can better serve their home communities and region.”

That ranges from deploying new program and credential offerings to hosting conversations that make the access campuses vibrant centers for entrepreneurialism and startup activity, he said.