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Rick Wilke, a University of Wisconsin System Distinguished Professor of Environmental Education, and director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Environmental Education Training Program (EETAP), has retired from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point after 32 years of service in the College of Natural Resources (CNR).
Wilke, who received undergraduate and graduate degrees from UWSP in 1973 and 1975, received three of UWSP’s major faculty awards: Excellence in Service, Teaching, and Scholarship. He also received the CNR Outstanding Faculty Award.
Wilke began his career in the College of Natural Resources in 1975 at the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station (CWES), where he was charged with converting the former Camp Chickagami into a residential environmental education center for UWSP. Confronted with 128 building code violations, no winterized facilities, and a budget of only $10,000, Wilke assembled a variety of grants, donations and partnerships, and within a year opened CWES as a year-round environmental education program.
“I take great pride in playing a part in developing CWES into a leading center for environmental education,” said Wilke. “We found ways to generate funds, raw materials, and new partnerships – such as the ‘Adopt a Log’ program, harvesting pine trees on site for building the cabins, developing revenue from workshops, and thus providing facilities for K-12 school teachers and their students. It was an exciting start to my career.” The work paid off quickly when in 1978 CWES was designated a National Environmental Study Area by the National Park Service, based on the excellence of its programs and curriculum.
During the late 1970s and 1980s Wilke worked with now retired professor Michael Gross and current Schmeeckle Reserve Director Ron Zimmerman to develop the environmental education and interpretation undergraduate and graduate programs in the CNR and taught many of the environmental education courses. These programs became nationally recognized and grew to be the largest of their kind in the nation. Wilke himself has been adviser to 48 graduate students who received their master’s degrees from UWSP.
In 1985, Wilke was promoted to full professor and became CNR’s associate dean, serving in that capacity for 15 years under deans Dan Trainer, Alan Haney and Victor Phillips. Throughout his career he has brought over $25 million in grants to support UWSP’s environmental education programs. Thanks to Wilke, UWSP has received grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Departments of Education and Labor, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and numerous foundations and corporations.
Wilke shared his grant-writing expertise with his students as well, creating a graduate course on the subject. Over two thirds of the students taking his class have had their proposals funded, including a $212,000 proposal by former advisee Nancy Cripe.
In 1996 Wilke was awarded one of the UW System’s 20 Distinguished Professorships, and was reappointed in 2001 and 2006. In recent years he has directed the U.S. EPA’s EETAP project, coordinating the efforts of 11 national partners who provide environmental education training to tens of thousands of educators every year.
Among his many accomplishments in environmental education, Wilke was co-founder of the National Environmental Education Advancement Project, past president of the North American Association for Environmental Education, and chair of the statewide coalition that successfully championed required environmental education training for those seeking a license to teach in Wisconsin. He has authored over 100 articles and five books on environmental education and has received numerous awards for his work on behalf of environmental education, including the Distinguished Service Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Jeske Award from the North American Association for Environmental Education for “Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Environmental Education.”
In retirement, Wilke plans to spend more time hunting, fishing, traveling and training his yellow Labradors for field trials and national championship competition. He also plans to continue serving the environmental education field and the CNR, perhaps even reaching the number 50 in master’s degree advisees before he “really” retires. He and his wife, Sarah, reside in Amherst Junction.
