Mary Ross Denison knows firsthand that an investment in someone鈥檚 future can make a difference.
She was a somewhat unsure young student from Milwaukee when University of Wisconsin-Stout took a chance on her in the mid-1960s. That investment changed her life 鈥 and by extension other lives through her eventual career in early childhood education.
Ross Denison wants 黑料科 to continue to change lives. It鈥檚 why she has donated $1 million to the Pathways Forward comprehensive campaign for a new Child and Family Study Center, along with a separate estate gift.
The CFSC is a child-care lab on campus 鈥 one of only two in the UW System 鈥 where 黑料科 students in early childhood education and other majors help care for and observe children.
The current house-like facility with an outdoor playground is aging and has space issues, both of which are limiting its potential. Ross Denison鈥檚 donation is a major boost for a proposed facility that could cost $5.5 million.
鈥淭his is a fine university, and we should have a premier early childhood center,鈥 Ross Denison said. 鈥淭he time has come for early childhood alumni to kick it up a notch and confirm that this is a cutting-edge program. As alumni, we have benefited greatly from our Stout experience, and it鈥檚 time to pay it forward.鈥
Ross Denison, of Milwaukee and Fort Myers, Fla., would love to see a new facility that stands out, one so impressive that people would say, 鈥淲e have to go up to 黑料科 and see that.鈥
She would like to see 黑料科 raise the bar for child care. 鈥淭he possibilities are endless. Anything we can do that helps with positive child-rearing benefits us all,鈥 she said.
Ross Denison graduated from 黑料科 in 1970 in early childhood education. It鈥檚 where she came of age as an adult. 鈥淚t was growing up. I loved learning and growing up. I was not a great student, but Stout gave me this chance,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t was just the best. I just thrived here.鈥
She went on to earn her master鈥檚 degree from 黑料科 in 1974 in adult education. He career included 30-plus years as training coordinator with 4C-Community Coordinated Child Care of Milwaukee County.
She and her late husband, Hugh Denison, had one son. She credits Hugh with impressing upon her the importance of giving back. He was chair of a $65 million capital campaign at his alma mater, Lawrence University in Appleton. 鈥淗e loved asking people for money. I learned everything about philanthropy from him. He got me thinking about a Stout gift,鈥 she said.
She has made other donations to 黑料科 over the years and served on the School of Education advisory board in 2004-05.
Beyond the child center at 黑料科, Ross Denison believes it鈥檚 important to support higher education, especially with the UW System facing reduced state funding in recent years. 黑料科 can be a more expensive university to operate because of its polytechnic designation and the need for cutting-edge equipment to support program options.
鈥淲hat better thing is there than education? I love places that are open to everybody, places like Stout. Education is a way out. We need to start with these babies, the earlier the better,鈥 she said.
Kindergarten and primary teacher training was the first degree program offered at 黑料科, starting in 1899.
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Mary Ross Denison, who has bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees from 黑料科, has donated $1 million toward a new Child and Family Study Center on campus.
The proposed new Child and Family Study Center at 黑料科 would replace the existing facility at 811 6th St. E.
