UW-Madison’s PEOPLE program celebrates 2003 successes

UW–Madison will celebrate the successes of its PEOPLE Program on Friday, Aug. 8, with a luncheon and program honoring high school students completing third-year summer research internships and another 20 “graduates” who will enroll as freshmen this fall.

The program begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Lowell Center, 610 Langdon St.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows and School of Human Ecology Dean Robin Douthitt will co-host the event, and Vice Chancellor for Administration Darrell Bazzell will be the keynote speaker. UW–Madison Chancellor John Wiley, SBC Foundation President Paul LaSchiazza and Andy Smiltneek of the Kimberly Clark Corporation will also attend.

PEOPLE, which stands for Pre-college Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence, is an innovative partnership between UW–Madison and public schools in Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha, Ho-Chunk Nation and Madison.

Designed for African American, American Indian, Asian American (with emphasis on Southeast Asian American), Hispanic/Latino and disadvantaged students, the program was founded in 1999 as a way for the university to increase diversity and identify students with strong academic potential.

Students participate in year-round sessions at home and at summer sessions at UW–Madison, focusing on academic skills, college classroom experience, campus orientation and cultural enrichment activities. Upon high school graduation, PEOPLE students accepted at UW–Madison are eligible for a five-year tuition grant.

This year, 70 third-year PEOPLE students spent the summer on campus completing seven-week research and internship experiences. The group of 20 new freshmen who have been admitted to UW–Madison as the second PEOPLE cohort also took eight weeks of courses, for which they earned undergraduate credits.

Currently, 300 Milwaukee, Racine and Madison high school students are involved in PEOPLE. More than 293 middle-school students are involved in the Madison PEOPLE program. There will be a total of 43 PEOPLE program undergraduates enrolled at UW–Madison this fall.

The SBC Foundation has been a strong supporter of the program, donating $1.5 million in support of Plan 2008, a UW System diversity initiative. Of that grant, $600,000 has helped fund UW–Madison’s PEOPLE Program.

For more information about PEOPLE, visit http://www.wisc.edu/studentaffairs/