Board of Regents 2023

We look forward to hosting the July 6-7, 2023, UW System Board of Regents meeting on the UW-La Crosse campus.

portrait of Chancellor Joe Gow

One of the key ways we’ve grown since the Board of Regents last visited UWL five years ago is expanding the university's engagement with our community. Many of the classroom experiences happening at UWL today are planned and coordinated in collaboration with La Crosse area businesses and organizations. This results in great workforce preparation for our students and strong support for local individuals and organizations looking for expertise in areas from business management to scientific research. We are proud to have received the 2022 AASCU Excellence & Innovation Award for Civic Learning and Community Engagement in the early years of our efforts.

Many of our community business partners see the campus as an invaluable way to recruit a quality Wisconsin workforce. A new survey of UWL alumni found that five and ten years after graduation more than three quarters of our graduates are still working in Wisconsin. Partners such as Kwik Trip, Dairyland Power Cooperative, and Mayo Clinic Health System, have also been incredibly strong advocates for our STEM programs by supporting one of the university’s biggest priorities — the completion of The Prairie Springs Science Center Completion and Cowley Hall Demolition Project. This project will remove an outdated and deteriorating 1960s-era science facility and replace it with a world-class one that will help train the future STEM workforce in Wisconsin.

At UWL we value the growth of mind and body. We are also growing in the performance of our athletic programs. As of March 2023, UWL is home to the nation's premiere NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field program. Both our women’s and men’s indoor track and field teams won the NCAA Division III championship meets — making it the first time in NCAA history that a single school has won both of these national titles.

The new fieldhouse, which opened in Jan. 2023, will allow UWL to keep pace with the continued growth in the athletic, recreational and education programs.

Lastly, at a time when many campuses across the country are experiencing declines in enrollment, UWL is defying the odds. For the past two years UWL has had a record-setting first-year student enrollment. UWL had 2,308 first-year students enrolled in fall 2022, the largest incoming class in our school history. And enrollment again looks strong for this coming fall.

We know UWL is a great place to make an investment in not only people, programs and buildings, but also the future innovation and talent we need in this state. We look forward to showing you more this July.

Best wishes,
Chancellor Joe Gow