UW-Stout alumna Mary Ross Denison has donated $1 million to the university to build a replacement for the Child and Family Study Center on campus. The center is an on-campus child care lab where UW-Stout students studying early childhood education and other fields can work directly with youngsters.

The donation from Ross Denison – who received both a bachelor’s in early childhood education (1970) and a master’s in adult education (1974) from UW-Stout – will go toward the estimated $5.5 million cost of a new Child and Family Study Center. According to UW-Stout, the current house-like center, 811 6th St. E., Menomonie, is aging and has limited space. “What better thing is there than education?” Ross Denison said. “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.”