Stout Timeline: The 2000s

Two bachelor's programs -- Graphic Communication Management and Technical Communications -- pilot the "laptop learning initiative."
UW-Stout offers the first formal Hmong language course in the UW System.
Only Pepsi products will be sold or distributed on campus, the result of a $1.5 million "pouring rights" contract.
Access Stout begins to offer online services, including course registration, to students.

Millennium celebrations take place throughout the world. "Y2K" passes without the serious, widespread computer failures and malfunctions that had been predicted.
Russian Submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, killing all 118 men aboard.
George W. Bush defeats democrat vice president Al Gore, but the final outcome is not known for more than a month because of disputed votes in Florida.

Millennium Hall, an $8.6 million information technology facility opens.
The $8.9 million Recreation Complex is completed, including the new 4,500 seat Don and Nona Williams Stadium.

Earthquake hits Gujarat, India, killing more than 20,000.
Russian space station Mir re-enters the atmosphere and falls into the Pacific Ocean.
An American spyplane collides with a Chinese fighter jet and is forced to make an emergency landing in China. Crew detained 10 days.
Around 3,000 killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and rural Pennsylvania. Anthrax attacks follow.
Enron files for Chapter 11 -- the largest bankruptcy in US history.

UW-Stout issues laptop computers to all incoming freshmen, the first state college in Wisconsin to do so.

Introduction of euro banknotes and coins in the European Union.
The Mars Odyssey finds signs of huge water ice deposits on the planet Mars.
Queen Elizabeth II marks 50 years on the throne.
Beltway snipers kill ten in shooting spree over 20 days in Washington D.C. area.

The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts on board.
The United States attacks Iraq, driving Saddam Hussein from power.
Last ever flight by Concorde.
The People's Republic of China launches the first manned Shenzhou spacecraft.

February 13 - Scientists in South Korea announce the cloning of 30 human embryos.
May 6 - The final episode of Friends airs on NBC, drawing an estimated 52 million viewers in North America.
May 29 - Dedication of the National World War II Memorial takes place in Washington, D.C.
Incumbent president George W. Bush defeats Senator John Kerry.
Undersea earthquake causes tsunami that wreaks havoc in the nations around the Indian Ocean, killing upwards of 150,000.