UW-Stout ROTC Commissions First Officers

The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout commissioned its first officers May 12, 2007 in which three students earned their commissions.

Ben Anderson, of Spencer, was commissioned as a Corps of Engineers officer in the Wisconsin Army National Guard. Lucas Sivertson, of Elk Mound, was commissioned as an aviation officer in the Wisconsin Army National Guard. Joseph Waggoner, of Menomonie, was commissioned as a Signal Corps Officer in the Wisconsin National Guard.

Anderson, Sivertson and Waggoner are the first graduates of the ROTC program, which began at UW-Stout in 2005 with 11 students. Fall 2007, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bolstad is anticipating more than 60 students in the program and UW-Stout is in the process of becoming a host battalion. It would be the first new program in the state in 40 years.

ROTC programs combine college electives in military science with leadership training. Students who complete the Army ROTC are commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants upon graduation.

For more information, contact LTC Scott Bolstad, Professor of Military Science, at
bolstads@uwstout.edu or (715) 232-5629.