Ground set to break on new UW-O building

The groundbreaking ceremony for UW-Oshkosh's first new academic building in 38 years will take place on Oct. 16.

According to Capital Campaign Director Susan Neitzel, Gov. Jim Doyle, along with several major donors, will attend the ceremony.


"We have not had a new building on campus since 1971, and studies from seven years ago indicated that we are indeed short of classroom space and in general on campus," Neitzel said. "It takes this long to go through the process to get approval to actually construct a new building."


The new building will be 191,000 square feet and four stories high with 27 classrooms, two lecture halls, 23 labs, and plenty of meeting and study rooms.

The state-of-the-art classrooms will have two projectors and document cameras that will be able to display just about anything.

"We're planning that hopefully any video source that gets invented will be able to be connected into this system," Nick Dzoracek, director of the Instructional Resource Center, said.


Not only will the building be home to the College of Business and five other departments from the College of Letters and Science, but the design is catered to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold program, which adds to Oshkosh's environmentally friendly campus.


"This will be the highest certified green building of its size in the state of Wisconsin," Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells said. "You can greatly reduce the cost of running a building if you can design it in a way where you don't use a lot of energy."


According to Wells, the building will include a courtyard in the center to create lots of natural light, which in turn will dramatically reduce the need to light and heat the building. A planted lawn on the roof, known as a "green roof," will create insulation on the roof and the building will be surrounded by solar panels. Ninety percent of the building will also be constructed from recycled materials.


"The state gave us a challenge in saving energy from normal operating costs," Neitzel said. "We are anticipating that it could save us $180,000 every year."


The construction of the building will boost the region's economy by directly and indirectly creating 9,000 jobs, including two dozen new faculty members, and will create much more space to fit the rising enrollment rates, according to Wells.


"In five years, we stuck a large university, so to speak, of 1,500 students on our campus, and if anyone thinks there is no argument for the need for this new building then they need to think again," Wells said.


The building is projected to cost $48 million with an additional grant of approximately $6 million from the state for the deconstruction of the Facilities Management building and the police and security building on the corner of High and Rockwell avenues, according to Neitzel.


"The funding all comes from a capital fund and bonds that run from out of the state, so for once no tuition or fees will go into the construction," Wells said. "The longer-term maintenance needs are funded in partnership by the state and student tuition, but no fees will be taken from student's tuition for the actual construction of the new academic building."

According to Wells, $5 million has been collected from donations, and $4 million of that will go straight to construction. Taxpayers also contribute to the fund.

Major donors include a number of citizens from all over the area and many corporations from across the state. A full list is located on the University Web site.


"I made a donation because I felt a new academic building was something the University desperately needed," Joseph Blohm, director of parking at Oshkosh and donor, said. "Now that Reeve Union has been renovated and great new facilities such as the Student Recreation and Wellness Center and the High Avenue parking ramp have been built, I felt a new academic building was the next logical step. Once the new academic building and the new residence hall are finished, our facilities will be as good as or better than any of our peer institutions."

The Menasha Corporation was another contributing donor to the fund. President of the Menasha Corporation Foundation, Ralph Evans, said, "Menasha Corporation is proud to help ensure that UW-Oshkosh students will have access to a high-quality facility that will provide the types of learning opportunities our leaders of tomorrow require.  A contemporary high-tech learning environment will help provide companies like ours with graduates who are well-educated and skilled men and women who can help us succeed in a global environment."


Second year student Stefani Metzinger seemed excited to hear about the new building.

"A new academic building will be good for the community because it will create jobs when jobs are hard to find these days," Metzinger said. "The new technology used in the classrooms will create a more interesting atmosphere to take classes in, and a new building is long overdue."


Students will also be able to get their bagel fix in between classes at Einstein Bros. Bagels, which will be located on the first floor of the new building, just inside the north entrance off High Avenue.

Dee Kerhberg, assistant director of operations at the Reeve Memorial Union, said that students will be able to use their meal exchanges and will be hired to work there just like at the Mi Tazas on campus.