College Beginnings

Creating a College Campus

Preparing for a New Century

Cadwallader Washburn

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1987

• After a national search, James A. Ebben is the first layperson selected to serve as president of Edgewood College. Because of a high staff turnover rate, his arrival is coincidentally accompanied by new appointments in many other administrative positions as well. The new team begins making and implementing plans to increase recruitment and fundraising.
   
• Fall enrollment shows its first turnaround since 1980 as 341 full-time and 507 part-time students attend classes.
   
• The Edgewood Eagles athletic teams move back into intercollegiate competition as Steve Larson, athletic director since 1986, begins to rebuild the sports program.
   
• The College library begins a process of linking itself to databases, catalogs and resources of other library systems, most especially the University of Wisconsin.
   
• The Stevie Award is created for Sister Marie Stephen Reges in commemoration of her qualities “exemplifying the mission of Edgewood College.” The annual award is subsequently given to faculty and staff members who deserve similar recognition.
   
• The stock market plummets in a drop worse than the one which occurred in 1929. Worldwide efforts to stabilize the economy ward off a repeat of the Great Depression.

1988

• Renovation of the gymnasium is completed with the addition of a 30-foot lobby and office area at the front, removal of a second balcony and bowling lanes, installation of bleachers, and upgrade of the facilities to accommodate a regulation size basketball court. A renaming ceremony christens the building the Todd Wehr Edgedome, in honor of a major donor to the project.
   
• Charlotte Meyer of the English Department travels as a Fulbright lecturer to teach in Croatia.

1989

• The first Mazzuchelli Medallion for exemplifying the qualities of Father Samuel — scholarship, spritiuality, concern for issues of peace and justice, and service to the community — is awarded; Margaret O’Connell Fauerbach receives the post-humous award for her husband, Walter Fauerbach.
   
• Father Edward Malloy, President of the University of Notre Dame, gives an address on Catholic Higher Education for Founder’s Day Celebration.
   
• Sr. Winifred Morgan of the English Department travels as a Fulbright lecturer to teach in Salamanca and Valladolid, Spain.
   
• After 28 years of imposing presence, the Berlin Wall is demolished; in true capitalist style, chunks of it go on sale.

1990

• Attallah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, speaks before a full house at the Edgedome during Black History Month.
   
• James Ebben, Donna Shalala, and Beverly Simone offer a panel discussion on the challenges facing higher education for Founder’s Celebration. 
   
• “Groundbreaking” ceremonies are held in April for the Oscar Rennebohm Library. In the background, construction crews are already pouring the foundation since excavation had actually begun in March after science professor John Yrios and other volunteers had cut the trees and cleared the site.
   
• Edgewood’s affiliation with Delta Epsilon Sigma, a national honor society, is renewed with the induction of five students into the Gamma Pi Chapter.
   
• Initial approaches to campus planning are broached, redeveloped, and redeveloped again over the succeeding years as the three institutions sharing the Edgewood campus work more closely together to find solutions which satisfy internal and external pressures.
   
• After remodeling the language laboratory and installing a new satellite dish, the facility is dedicated to honor Sr. Catherine Moran, a former Spanish teacher at the College, the High School, and the Campus School.
   
• The Edgewood Eagles join the Lake Michigan Conference.
   
• Edgewood College enters the marketing decade with the release of its first recruitment video, prepared by an alumnus, Steve Goodrick.
   
• Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein sends troops to invade Kuwait setting off the Gulf War.

1991

• The Oscar Rennebohm Library opens in January for student use and a formal dedication is held in May.
   
• The lower level of Regina Hall is renovated to accommodate the new Nicolet computer laboratories and music classrooms.
   
• The Education Department hosts a statewide conference at which Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, gives the keynote address.
   
• The English Department sponsors a 4-day Wisconsin Writers Conference featuring nineteen authors, poets, and critics who read and discuss the work of local writers.
   
• Helen Hayes receives an honorary degree at a special ceremony in September. She returns to Edgewood to accept the degree in memory of her friend, Sr. Marie Aileen Klein, who had been her teacher at Sacred Heart Academy in Washington, DC.
   
• The James R. Underkofler Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, established by Wisconsin Power & Light (later Alliant Energy) is awarded to Barbara Beetem of the English Department. The annual award becomes one of the most prestigious recognitions offered to exemplary faculty selected by their peers, alumni, trustees and students. 
   
• Total enrollment for the 1991-92 school year tops 1500, maintaining a turn-around growth trend that had begun in 1987-88. For the first time since 1983, full-time undergraduates outnumber part-time undergraduates.
   
• In January, air strikes begin over Iraq and UN land troops quickly dispel the invading Iraqi troops from Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm.
   
• Following an attempted overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin enters the international stage and the Soviet Union begins the process of breaking into its independent republics.
   
• Tim Berners-Lee posts the computer code for the World Wide Web.

1992 

• Congressional candidates Ada Deer, David Clarenbach, and incumbent Scott Klug, debate issues in pre-election appearances.
   
• A riot breaks out in Los Angeles after four white police officers are acquitted of beating Rodney King. In response to the shocking street scenes and in an attempt to calm flaring tempers, King speaks to the press, asking, “Can’t we all just get along?”

1993

• Edgewood College’s Mock Trial team goes to the national competition and finishes 13th, capturing titles as Best New School in their achievement level and as Runner-up Best New School in the nation overall.
   
• The Athletic Hall of Fame is initiated with the induction of Barry Bilkey, Susan Saager-Caldwell, Keith French, Steve Larson, Mark Lowry, and June Zander.
   
• After going to the national NAIA tournament in 1992, the men’s basketball team is ranked nationally for the first time, making it as high as 17th in the list, and finishing the season at 23rd and as Lake Michigan Conference champions for the sixth consecutive season.
   
• The Edgewood Chamber Symphony makes its debut performance under the direction of Morrie Brand.
   
• The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation and the Sonderegger family announce a combined gift of $3 million to lead funding of a science center to be shared by Edgewood College, High School, and Campus School.

1994

• To accommodate the rapidly growing enrollment of full-time undergraduate students, new on-campus housing is constructed. Sister Marie Stephen Reges Hall—“Stevie Hall”— is the first new residence hall to be built since Weber Hall in 1965, and features suites of two bedrooms with an interconnecting bathroom.
   
• Most of the basement of the library is converted into offices for the Business, Nursing and Communication Arts Departments.
   
• The Edgewood Eagles step up to another level of competitiveness as they make the move into the NCAA-Division III.
   
• Edgewood College launches its own Web site and faculty begin to incorporate World Wide Web materials into their courses.

1996

• Edgewood submits its initial 10-year master plan for future campus development to the City of Madison. In the face of neighborhood opposition, the plan is rejected. An Edgewood Neighborhood Working Group is formed with representatives from the three schools and from each of the adjoining neighborhood associations.
   
• Edgewood receives unconditional North Central Association approval for the development of programs at the master’s level.

1997
After a year of negotiations, the Edgewood master plan is approved—with some issues unresolved— and a conditional use permit is issued for construction of a new science center, a parking ramp, a new main entrance to campus with a drop-off and parking for the Campus School, and reconstructed athletic fields and parking for the High School. On June 6, groundbreaking for the huge campus transformation project is held. Construction of the ramp and science center would continue for the next year and a half.

1998
The North Central Association gives Edgewood another 10-year approval.

1999

• In January, students begin attending classes in the Sonderegger Science Center. The building is dedicated on May 15, with the principal speaker being Sally Ride, physics professor, former astronaut and the first US woman in space.
   
• The Teagle Foundation gives a 3-year grant to “reform math and science education for future teachers.” Education, natural science, mathematics and computer science faculty work collaboratively with each other and K-12 teachers and education students on the project.
   
• The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education adds its endorsement of the college’s nursing program to that of the National League of Nursing.
   
• The Activities Center is leveled in July and ground is broken for yet another new building on campus which will house classrooms and offices for the humanities departments as well as new student recreation and dining areas, administrative offices and an auditorium.
   
• Steven Davis of the Social Science Department travels as a Fulbright lecturer to teach at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic.

2000

• After a call for proposals, selection by a committee, and the commissioning of an artist, a kinetic sculpture entitled “Helix” is placed in front of the Sonderegger Science Center. At the dedication on April 29, Carl G. Mayer, a former member of the President’s Council and the first lay chairperson of the Board of Trustees, is honored.
   
• Nobel Laureate in literature, Derek Walcott, is the guest speaker at the dedication of the Predolin Humanities Center on September 29. The new building’s function and the location of its foyer, directly at the end of the new drive leading into campus, makes the building both “the heart and the front door of our college” says Jim Ebben in his speech at the event.

2001

• A five-year $500,000 grant from the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation establishes the International Outreach Center “to promote cultural and educational exchanges between the Edgewood schools and private and public institutions of Southeast and East Asia, particularly but not restricted to Thailand and South Korea.”
   
• More than 30 student organizations offer opportunities for co-curricular activities.
   
• The nation is transfixed in horror, watching events unfold on television screens as cameras capture the attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon, and further news is given of a plane that crashes in Pennsylvania after its hijacked passengers try to foil terrorists

2002

• The Education Department launches a Doctor of Education program, with its first cohort of students accepted for admission in the spring semester.
   
• Following continuing decline in Weekend Degree program enrollment, a new effort at attracting adult students is undertaken as an accelerated degree program leading to a Bachelor of Business Administration degree is offered. Pilot classes had been offered for several years, with successful enrollment figures encouraging full development of the program.
   
• The Edgewood College Business Association establishes a new faculty recognition award and names it in honor of its first recipient, Elaine Estervig Beaubien.