The College of Arts & Human Sciences is dedicated to supporting UW-Stout’s polytechnic mission through applied learning. Our programs are diverse, but we are united in our dedication to making the world a better place.
The projects and events on this page will give you an idea of the work our students and instructors are doing to create a better world. We invite you to explore the work we’re doing, join us for an event, and reach out to learn more about the ways we are Helping Humanity Flourish.
ART 101 and the Practice of Noticing Details
Rachel Bruya, Associate Professor
At its core, art and artmaking helps humanity flourish. It strengthens mental and emotional health by lowering cortisol and helping regulate mood. It offers a way to express joy, conflict, and complexity when words fail. Artmaking builds resilience to help build coping skills and fosters a sense of meaning, purpose, and hope. Associate Professor Rachel Bruya had all these benefits and more in mind when designing a papercut project for her 2-D design class in the fall semester of 2025.
Bruya explains that the class began the project by going on a campus walk together and gathering photographs, which would be the basis for the “view”. Their walk started in the open space area just in front of the Applied Arts building, and they had the amazing experience of witnessing a bald eagle soaring above them. Students saw inspiration in their surroundings, and it gave them time and space to notice details. One of the goals for the project was to give students the opportunity to translate the banal to something that gives more meaning to their day-to-day life as a student.
The class continued their walk across campus looking at both human made and natural environments and appreciating the world around them. The campus walk was a source of inspiration and camaraderie building amongst the class. It was inspiring to Bruya as their instructor that they could find connection with classmates through the campus walk, and it was uplifting seeing groups of students wandering off to “find” their views together.
The class then returned to the lab and began the process of translating the photographs to pure black and white designs, which were then transferred to color paper, and cut. The final paper cuts are presented laid on to a white paper backing.
The project trains the students to “see” both an overall balanced composition and the details they will need to capture for their final pieces. It helps them apply their knowledge of composition and explore positive and negative space, and it allows them to utilize their cutting skills in the process of translating an image to a single cut piece of paper.
We invite you to notice the details in the pieces below, keeping in mind that shadows and blurring sometimes occurs due to how the colored paper lays on to the white paper. We also invite you to consider the details in your own day-to-day experiences and to consider taking your own artmaking walk—or incorporating the act of noticing details into your own daily life.
Transforming Rural Healthcare
Nels Paulson and Jeffrey Sweat, Professors
Recovering from infection, managing chronic conditions, and healing from surgery may be more comfortable in the future. Hospital at Home programs like the ones UW-Stout professors Nels Paulson and Jeffrey Sweat study allow patients to receive medical care outside of a traditional hospital environment. Patients in these programs often recover more quickly, and providers get an invaluable look into the ways that a patient’s living situation may impact their health. Hospital at Home programs can also alleviate strain on hospitals, increase patient compliance with medications, and reduce the risk of exposure to infection.
Paulson and Sweat’s research explores barriers that patients and providers face in adopting health at home models.
Paulson and Sweat’s most recent research used zip code data to estimate potential Hospital at Home patients’ socioeconomic status and their ability to access the internet. Data about the ways those factors impacted health outcomes can help hospitals better understand which patients could benefit the most from Hospital at Home programs. Their research also revealed potential gaps in care, and hospitals can use it to make sure Hospital at Home programs are implemented intentionally and do not end up continuing or worsening existing inequalities.
In another study, Sweat and Paulson spent time researching Hospital at Home programs in urban, suburban, and rural communities. With increased closure of rural hospitals, Hospital at Home has the opportunity to transform care for the one in five Americans in rural areas. Their research noted the unique challenges that patients and providers faced in rural communities, where resources such as health care providers, rideshares and mobile medical units are less common. Researchers worked to provide guidance for healthcare systems offering Hospital at Home models to help ensure that the programs they build will be robust enough to overcome those challenges.
Additional research on reasons that patients decline Hospital at Home programs exposed the importance of increased clarity around program offerings and insurance policies related to home care. This research also exposed patient concerns about the ways that Hospital at Home would impact both their daily lives and their recovery, with women especially noting concerns about their ability to perform domestic tasks while recovering. Other patients expressed concerns about factors such as pets, the cleanliness of their home environments, and the disruption that visits from healthcare providers could cause for themselves and the others in their homes. The study encouraged additional research to expose other barriers to Hospital at Home adoption, but it provides a valuable insight to help hospitals better understand and mitigate patient concerns.
This research provides valuable insight into the ways Hospital at Home impacts providers and patients, and it helps reveal those outside of the program who could benefit from it.
Read Paulson and Sweat's published articles:
- Why U.S. Patients Declined Hospital-at-Home during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study
- Staff Successes and Challenges with Telecommunications-Facilitated Patient Care in Hybrid Hospital-at-Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- A Pathway for High-Value Home Hospital Care in the United States: Statutory, Reimbursement, and Cybersecurity Strategies in the Age of Hybrid Care
- “Individual- and Community-Level Predictors of Hospital-at-Home Outcomes”, published in Population Health Management