On the lower floor of UW-Green Bay’s Instructional Services building, students engage with hands-on learning in the recently renovated Technology, Engineering, Arts and Media (TEAM) Laboratories. The space, with its floor-to-ceiling glass walls, brings to mind the clear technology craze of the early 2000s. Like the iMac G3 or the Gameboy Color, the point is to show off the inner workings, the cool stuff that happens inside.

“There used to be dank, dark storage areas, and they completely gutted it and got rid of all the junk that was in there. Now we’ve got four dedicated electrical engineering labs,” said Dr. Patricia Terry, chair of the Resch School of Engineering. Terry said the labs have given students in the Electrical Engineering Technology program the hands-on experience they need. There are dedicated electrical engineering, electronic circuits, electrical machine and senior design and physics labs for students to practice applied skills. But, the lab equipment wasn’t cheap. The labs, much like the rest of the Resch School of Engineering, came together with donor support.

Building upon the success of the Brown County STEM Innovation Building campaign, which launched the Resch School of Engineering and more with over $11.6 million in philanthropic support, the Electrical Engineering program and TEAM labs were made possible with donor funding.

Many of the organizations that gave gifts to the Electrical Engineering program were also the impetus for its founding. Terry said Northeast Wisconsin’s engineering industry needs fueled the development of the School. Companies like Circle Packaging Machinery Inc, The Village Companies, PPC Foundation Inc., Salm Partners LLC, Fluid Systems, AK Pizza Crust and more helped fund equipment and spaces for Engineering students. Many companies, such as Fincantieri, Georgia Pacific, and Paper Converting Machine Corporation have given additional opportunities to students through scholarships, internships and hiring students after graduation.

Several industry leaders also serve on the Resch School of Engineering’s Advisory Board, which gives the School input on how best to prepare students for the job market they will graduate into.

With donor and industry support, the Resch School of Engineering has grown to a program with over 500 students enrolled across several disciplines. That includes over 50 electrical engineers and more than 60 Engineering Technology majors. The faculty has likewise grown, from two engineering faculty when the program launched to 17 engineering faculty and 7 computer science faculty—with more anticipated as the School gears up to launch a Software Engineering major in 2025. The Electrical Engineering major has also begun the ABET accreditation process, which Terry anticipates will be complete in 2025 and which will be retroactive to the program’s start in 2021.

Donor-funded learning spaces, like the TEAM labs, are giving students the applied learning opportunities they need to fulfill the region’s demands for qualified engineers. As engineering needs in Northeast Wisconsin change, the Resch School of Engineering will continue to rise to the challenge.