Rasmussen to Retire From UWSP After Almost Three Decades
Facilities planning director retires from UW-Stevens Point |
For the Metro Wire
After 27 years and more than $500 million in projects, Carl Rasmussen, UW-Stevens Point’s director of facilities planning, will retire Dec. 22.
Since joining UW-Stevens Point in 1990, Rasmussen has been involved with numerous projects that shaped the campus footprint and skyline. Total building square footage increased by more than one-third to 2.75 million square feet during his time on campus. Campus grew by 25 percent to 406 acres during that time, and Rasmussen was involved with all the transactions, primarily land donations for College of Natural Resources purposes.
Among notable projects in which Rasmussen was involved: the 1990 Multi-Activity Center (MAC) indoor track and pool in the Health Enhancement Center; 1997 Trainer Natural Resources building addition; 1997 pilot paper machine assembly in the Paper Science lab; 2003-2006 Noel Fine Arts Center renovation and addition; 2007 Dreyfus University Center renovation and addition; the Suites@201 residence hall and Waste Education Center, both in 2011; and $75 million Chemistry Biology Building in final stages of completion.
Rasmussen worked with numerous UW-Stevens Point staff and faculty, with Stevens Point city leaders on campus planning and projects, with state and UW System leaders and contractors. He kept them informed and sought their input, said Greg Diemer, retired vice chancellor for business affairs who hired Rasmussen and worked closely with him.
“Carl is an excellent communicator,” Diemer said. “He had great working relationships internally and externally, and much of his work was cited as an example for others.
His projects ranged from basic utilities and infrastructure, to major building additions and renovations. Outdoor projects included space for recreation, intramural and varsity athletics, quiet time, sculptural art, land purchases, vehicle and pedestrian circulation and, Rasmussen noted, “everyone’s favorite, parking.”
He created a list of projects for a lecture on the planning profession in 2002, to demonstrate the broad range of projects in which campus planners are involved. “As years progressed, I just kept updating it,” he said.
He recorded the costs for the projects in the year they occurred. Last summer, curious about what these projects would be worth in today’s dollars, Rasmussen plugged the amounts into an inflation calculator. “Including projects in advanced planning stages, the total exceeded $508 million,” he said.
Rasmussen said his most satisfying projects were the Noel Fine Arts renovation, the pilot paper machine assembly, Military Science addition and the Chemistry Biology Building underway.
“The Military Science addition was particularly memorable because former College of Professional Studies Dean Joan North and I worked almost 20 years together to get it funded.” It is now part of the Health Enhancement Center.
Prior to joining UW-Stevens Point, Rasmussen worked for 15 years with the Oneida Indian Tribe west of Green Bay first as a community development planner and later as director of tribal planning. Among his planning efforts were several community facilities, a museum, first tribal bingo hall in Wisconsin and the Radisson Inn hotel.
Rasmussen’s retirement plans include personal projects and travel. He and his wife, Lynn, plan to continue living in Stevens Point.