Fastenal Named University’s Employer of the Year
Graduates hired in recent years are from a variety of majors, including engineering, applied mathematics and computer science, interior design, supply chain management, business administration, and professional communication and emerging media.
Ramirez, of Chippewa Falls, has a master’s degree in school counseling from UW-Stout and previously worked as a school counselor at Menomonie High School. His duties included helping high school students with career planning.
Now, he’s helping students take the next step, starting their careers, and building on a company-university relationship that goes back more than 25 years.
“We know Stout has great students,” Ramirez said, citing the university’s in-demand students with a 98.4% employment rate for recent graduates. “We’re looking for great people who fit our company and our culture.”
Fastenal is a Fortune 500 company. It also is ranked No. 148 on Forbes’ list of best employers and No. 472 in Forbes’ ranking of top public companies.
Ramirez attended the award presentation at UW-Stout with six other Fastenal representatives, including Mike Rausch, director of recruiting; Tony Eger, district manager; Justin Oleson, Menomonie Fastenal general manager; Chris Rivard, engineering manager; Shannon Hintz, Lean Solutions manager; and Bruce Brinkmann, regional sales specialist.
The campus visit included touring engineering labs in Jarvis and Fryklund halls, discussing the business administration program with Professor Mark Fenton and meeting with Chancellor Katherine Frank.
Rausch said Fastenal is “looking for future leaders” when it hires college graduates, with the opportunity to grow into their careers or switch careers within the company. The company has a promote-from-within philosophy, he said.
Along with Barts, Frank and Fenton, UW-Stout officials taking part were Provost Glendalí Rodriguez; assistant professors of engineering Vince Wheeler and Anne Schmitz; instrument instructor Paul Craig; and Michelle Dingwall, senior development officer for Stout University Foundation.
Career Services began the Employer of the Year award in 2021. The first recipient was Menards.
“These are companies that set the bar high, that set the standard,” Barts said of the award winners.
Student success is the leading goal of UW-Stout’s FOCUS2030 strategic plan.
In 2021, CollegeValuesOnline ranked UW-Stout No. 26 in the U.S. for its ties to business and industry and how those ties benefit students.
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