The next Reminiscence Speaker Series event at University of Wisconsin-Stout will feature Dave Williams, retired vice chancellor and executive director of Stout University Foundation.
He will speak about his years at UW-Stout from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, at University Archives and Area Research Center, room 504, on the fifth floor of the University Library.
The event is free and open to the public. Participants may bring a lunch. A beverage and snack will be provided.
Williams, of Menomonie, was one of the founders of the speaking series in the late 1980s as the university approached its centennial in 1991.
He retired in 2011 after working twice at the university. He began working at UW-Stout in the spring of 1981 as director of Development and Alumni Services and executive director of the Foundation. Previously, he worked at Ripon College in Ripon as director of the Annual Fund and director of Corporate and Foundation Relations.
During his first tenure at UW-Stout, Williams introduced the university’s first capital campaign, began phonathons, initiated the first scholarship reception and worked to raise the endowments of the Foundation from $2 million to $10 million.
Williams was a strong supporter of the Reminiscence Speaker Series, finding Foundation funds to underwrite its costs when it began in 1987.
He left UW-Stout in 1990 to rejoin Ripon College as its vice president for Development, serving Ripon for 12 years as vice president and one year as interim president. He then moved to Minnesota State University, Mankato as vice president for University Advancement. During his four years there he was named a Fulbright Scholar to Germany, where he shared his advancement knowledge with new colleagues at German universities.
Rejoining UW-Stout in 2007, Williams led Stout University Foundation through the Great Recession, added significant endowment gifts and retired in 2011.
Williams remains in the Menomonie area, where volunteers for various local organizations, such as Stepping Stones, Menomonie Optimist Club, City of Menomonie Plan Commission, and Friends of Potter’s Field, among other groups.
The Reminiscence Speaker Series has helped document the school’s culture and history through the personal accounts of alumni and former faculty and staff.
The series resumed in fall 2018 after lapsing for several years. It is sponsored by University Archives and University Communications, with support from the Foundation and the Alumni Association.
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Photos
Dave Williams
Dave Williams, right, is congratulated at his retirement reception in 2011 by Charles W. Sorensen, then chancellor of UW-Stout.
