 UWSP University Relations and Communications, 2100 Main St., Room 116, Stevens Point WI 54481, 715-346-3046, fax: 715-346-2042, news@uwsp.edu |
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A History of UWSP,
1894 to the present
History of UWSP Chancellors
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Following fierce competition with surrounding communities and pledges from the city and county of land and $50,000 in cash, Stevens Point Normal opened its doors in 1894 to 300 students. Several programs were offered in teacher preparation to anyone who had completed at least an eighth grade education and was not less than 15 years old. Besides teacher preparation, "domestic science," later known as home economics, was a popular course led for nearly 40 years by Bessie May Allen. Fred Schmeeckle, hired in 1923, established courses in conservation education which eventually grew into today's College of Natural Resources with one of the largest undergraduate enrollments in the country. The curriculum continued to expand and in 1927 Stevens Point Normal became Central State Teachers College with the right to grant four-year teaching degrees. After World War II more and more students were seeking an education in liberal arts rather than teacher training. The state legislature responded in 1951 when the school became a Wisconsin State College authorized to grant liberal arts bachelor's degrees. Enrollment mushroomed from about 700 in the early '50s to a near record 9,300 in 1972. Consequently, construction was constant throughout the '60s and early '70s. Another name change occurred in 1964 when the college became Wisconsin State University, and the first graduate degrees were granted in 1966. Stevens Point experienced its share of campus unrest during the late '60s and early '70s as students protested everything from the draft and war in Vietnam to the raising of the beer-drinking age and cuts in faculty salaries. WWSP-90FM made "Trivia" a Central Wisconsin household word and Margery Aber brought the tradition of Suzuki summer music to Stevens Point as the '60s came to a close. The '70s brought a final name change as WSU-SP became the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point when the two state university systems merged. A 200-acre nature preserve took shape on the north edge of campus and the landscape changed again when Chancellor Lee Sherman Dreyfus arranged for Sentry Insurance to dig a lake on the reserve so they could use the dirt to landscape their new world headquarters located a short distance away. Dreyfus' colorful tenure as chancellor ended in 1979 when he took the oath of office as governor of Wisconsin on the front steps of Old Main. Computer technology exploded on campus in the mid-'80s when Chancellor Philip Marshall acquired several government and AT&T grants. Basketball coach Dick Bennett brought Terry Porter and national sports recognition to UWSP only to be followed by Mark Mazzoleni's powerhouse national championship hockey team. Providing a boost to athletics programs and continuing UWSP's emphasis on "wellness" begun in the '70s by Dr. Bill Hettler, the partially student-funded Health Enhancement Center became a reality in 1990. The '90s also brought the first distinguished professorships to the College of Natural Resources. As a result of enrollment management efforts, Chancellor Keith Sanders met the end of UWSP's first century by welcoming the school's best qualified freshman class ever. Programs like design for diversity, enrollment management, quality reinvestment, distance learning, and continued advances in technology are challenges that awaited UWSP as it began its second 100 years. UWSP's centennial is celebrated in the fall of 1994 with the publication of "The World Is Ours," a history of UWSP written by Letters and Science Dean Justus Paul, as well as the naming of Lake Joanis in Schmeekle Reserve and the unveiling of an Iris Fountain at the University Center. An amount of $740,000, the largest single unrestricted gift ever donated to the university, was bequeathed to UWSP by the late Marion Brazeau Fey, a 1925 graduate. In June, 1995, vice chancellor and provost Howard Thoyre becomes interim chancellor after Keith Sanders leaves the university to work for the UW System. A $4 million paper machine, donated to the Paper Science department, is restored and installed in a department laboratory. More students could be reached statewide after the university joined the Wisconsin Overlay Network for Distance Education Resources (WONDER), an audio/video system joining five state universities and four technical colleges. Christine Thomas, a resource management professor who created the national "Becoming an Outdoors-Woman" group, is named the Safari Club International Educator of the Year. Dr. Thomas George becomes UWSP's 12th chancellor in the fall of 1996, adopting "Leading Edge Teaching and Learning" as a guide for UWSP in the future. In March of 1997, a new $10.7 million addition to the CNR building is dedicated, providing an advanced computer lab, updated classrooms, greenhouses, offices and laboratories. That fall, UWSP welcomes its best-prepared freshman class to date, accepting potential freshman in the top 20 percent of their graduating class. The establishment of Winterim, a two-week class period between New Year's and the spring semester, allowed students another way to complete classes beginning in January 1998. Another opportunity for learning came with the creation of the Collaborative Degree Program, which offered a bachelor's degree in business administration through UWSP, UW Marshfield/Wood County and UW-Marathon County. Students, especially those who lived outside Stevens Point, could earn the degree through distance technology. A General Studies degree was added less than a year later. In March 1998, UWSP was reaccredited for the maximum 10-year period by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. In April, the University Child Learning and Care Center marked its 25th anniversary, and a bachelor of arts degree in health promotion was approved by the UW System Board of Regents. That August, UWSP was named fourth in Tier One of Midwestern Public Universities by U.S. News and World Report, and was named 77th among the 100 best state universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. Thanks to the efforts of U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, in October 1998 the CNR was chosen to receive $2.15 million from the federal government to improve laboratory and field technology instruction. A local couple, John and Patty Noel, donate funding for the course "Ethnic Diversity in Wisconsin." In early 1999, longtime administrator, student supporter and community ambassador Helen Godfrey announced her retirement after 33 years at UWSP. The University Center marked 40 years and violinist Margery Aber, founder of the American Suzuki Talent Education program at UWSP, celebrated her 85th birthday with a community recital. In April 1999, Nelson Hall was named to the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation's Ten Most Endangered Historic Properties list and former Seventh District Congressman and US Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird established UWSP's first million dollar endowment. UWSP and the Portage County Public Library signed an agreement in June 1999 to share online catalogs, the first venture of its kind in the UW System. In March 2000, the Center for the Small City at UWSP marked 20 years of study and service for small communities worldwide. A peace studies minor was added to the curriculum. In June 2000, International Programs marked 30 years of service and sent a record 427 students to 17 programs in 10 countries. The Central Wisconsin Environmental Station marked 25 years of serving more than a half million youth, UWSP students, adults and families with an open house in August 2000. The next month, US Senator Herb Kohl secured $1 million for the CNR Global Environmental Management Education Center (GEM) to launch the international component of its watersheds program. In 2001, UWSP alum and former US Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck would return to his alma mater to become a GEM pioneer professor and UW System Fellow of Global Conservation. In November 2000, UWSP is awarded $6 million for environmental education for teachers and professionals throughout the country, which included a $5 million federal grant, the largest in UWSP's history. The long lines of Checkpoint were eliminated in 2001 with the Web-based Net Check, allowing students to go online to conduct campus business. The state announced that an addition to the Fine Arts Center would receive $25 million in support. The additional $1 million needed for the project was pledged by John and Patty Noel, co-founders of Travel Guard International and the Noel Group. When the fall semester began in 2001, residence halls were so full that 70 students were housed in the Point Motel off campus then moved into the halls for the spring semester. The family of Oscar W. Neale, an early educator, donated $2 million to UWSP, the largest single gift ever received by the university at that time. After September 11, 2001, UWSP students, faculty and staff responded to the attacks on the United States with a series of vigils, forums and panel discussions. In May 2002, the Helen R. Godfrey University Child and Learning and Care Center was dedicated in honor of the retired assistant chancellor emerita and founder of the center. UWSP women's basketball captured the NCAA Division III national title under Coach Shirley Enger and athlete Kari Groshek received the NCAA Top VIII Award for the second straight year. Provost/Vice Chancellor Bill Meyer retired in July 2002 and was succeeded by Virginia Helm, former executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Ind. A new online student research journal was published, featuring artwork, compositions, research papers and performances. In July 2003, Chancellor Tom George announced he would become the chancellor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Provost Virginia Helm was named interim chancellor, becoming the first woman to lead UWSP in its 109-year history. In August, the new interim chancellor helped break ground for the new Fine Arts Center addition and construction began. That same month, UWSP alum Ray Mundt and his wife Ruth, of Philadelphia, Penn., and Land O' Lakes, Wis., pledge $2.5 million in a charitable remainder trust to establish a center for entrepreneurship and ethics in the Division of Business and Economics. A search and screen for a new chancellor began in the fall of 2003 and was completed when Linda Bunnell accepted the position from the UW System Board of Regents in April 2004. Bunnell began her term as UWSP's 13th chancellor on June 1. |
