Campus Connection

Mid-1990s saw campus building, renovations, planning

Those on campus in the mid-1990s experienced much more than the premiere of the NBC series “Friends” or chanting, “Run, Forrest, run” after seeing the soon-to-be blockbuster film “Forrest Gump.” In the decade’s popular denim and animal prints, they saw a newly reformed Murphy Library, the opening of the campus alumni center, a detailed plan for the university’s future and more.

Here’s a look at what was happening on campus in 1994-95, 30 years ago.

New, remodeled and renamed buildings

After a nearly two-decade hiatus of building on campus, the ’90s saw an influx of changes in the physical structure of campus.

Construction began in ’94 at the corner of East Avenue and La Crosse Street among remnants of residential houses where the old Goosetown neighborhood once thrived. Fundraising for the $2.4 million privately funded alumni center peaked with a $350,000 donation from long-time university supporters Russ and Gail, ’55, Cleary. The gift from the G. Heileman Brewery leaders ensured the building campaign would be successful and put the eventual name on the facility, the Cleary Alumni & Friends Center. The dedication and grand opening for the building was held during Homecoming in October 1995.

Meanwhile, a $7.6 million addition to Murphy Library helped prepare the university’s step into the next millennium, with remodeling and new construction completed in May 1995. The updated facility — with more study rooms, a curriculum lab, special instruction classrooms and computer labs, distance technology areas and more — was dedicated in fall ’95 as the Murphy Library Resource Center.

It was a FAB-ulous celebration in October 1994 when the campus Fine Arts Building transformed into the Center for the Arts. “FAB 20 — Celebrate the Arts” featured world-renowned piano duettists and retired UWL faculty Dallas Weekley and Nance Arganbright, area favorite jazz pianist Bob Hirsch, ’66, alum-inspired artwork and more. The 10-day celebration ended with the renaming and rededication of the 20-year-old building. In 2022 the structure was renamed the Truman T. Lowe Center for the Arts, honoring the nationally renowned sculptor and educator who graduated in 1969.

Campus was ‘Moving Forward’

“The plan is our lighthouse in a tumultuous sea of change,” Chancellor Judith Kuipers said when unveiling the university’s strategic plan in late 1993. By early the next year, “Forward Together” was influencing decisions to help UWL grow to more than 10,000 students (enrollment was 8,659 in fall ’93) and become more community-oriented. One early effort was a morning exchange when 86 faculty, including Kuipers, headed into Holmen Middle School classrooms to teach. After Kuipers explained how her “doctor” title differed from a medical doctor, her class of 21 inquisitive sixth graders reported on what they had done the previous weekend. One shared he had watched the Green Bay Packers game. “It wasn’t worth it because they lost to the Chicago Bears,” he said.

National championships; honoring a UWL standout

With 77 national championships to date, UWL has become synonymous with excellence for many local collegiate sports fans. But in 1994, the campus received NCAA News kudos after earning top titles in football, track & field and gymnastics in the ’80s and early ’90s. Three coaches — Football Coach Roger Harring, Men’s Track & Field Coach Mark Guthrie and Gymnastics Coach Barb Gibson — led teams to nearly half of the 26 national championships earned by that time. All three won more national titles later in the decade and into the 2000s.

The women’s cross-country invitational, held at Maple Grove Country Club outside West Salem, took its name after a stellar runner and national champion in 1994 — The Tori Neubauer Invitational. Tori Neubauer Muesing, ’84, was the most successful female runner in UWL history, winning six NCAA III titles in cross-country and track & field from 1980 to 1984. She captured the national crown in cross-country in 1982 and 1983, one of only four women in NCAA III history to win multiple titles. 

The Neubauer Invitation joined the campus’ other harriers classic, the Jim Drews Invitational, which was established in 1981. The event honors Drews, who ran cross-country and track & field from 1970 to 1974. Drews won four conference individual cross-country titles (1970-73) and was a three-time cross country NAIA All-American, placing sixth at the national meet in 1971, ninth in 1972 and 13th in 1973.

Other 1994-95 notables

• A new sign at 16^th and State streets welcomed visitors to campus. The sign mirrored a larger entry sign at La Crosse Street and East Avenue constructed a year earlier. The shape of the sign mimicked Graff Main Hall tower, with brick resembling its masonry. The two signs would inspire future features in campus building construction.
• Students no longer had to worry about class registration hang-ups. Instead of registering at campus computer terminals, they could simply ring up their schedules on a new touch-tone registration system.
• After the fall of the Berlin Wall, UWL became important in developing countries halfway around the world. Business managers and educators from four East Central European countries visited to learn about free economies through a College of Business Administration program.
• UWL hosted the 1995 NCAA III men’s and women’s cross-country national championships at Maple Grove Country Club near West Salem. The women had won their first cross-country national title in 1983, while the men would run to their first national crown in 1996 (winning others in 2001, 2005 and 2024.)
• Student-athletes from UWL’s 17 athletic teams joined others from the community to construct the Kids Coulee in Myrick Park. The project utilized 5.7 miles of lumber if stacked end-to-end and would hold up until 2022, when the popular playground was restored — again with UWL efforts.
• Eagles fans could sign up for the latest in campus sports via “EagleFax.” For $14.95, fans could get a two-page document faxed to them every Monday during the fall sports season — offering them the most up-to-date stats in UWL Athletics before online offerings.