The 2000s
2000
- 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.
2001
- 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.
2002
- 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.
2003
- 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.
2004
- 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.
