The name has changed – several times—but the roots of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee go back to 1885 when Wisconsin established the Milwaukee Normal School, a two-year teachers college.
By the turn of the 20th century, the school had expanded to offer programs in the liberal arts and sciences as well as education. By the ’30s, the school, now called Milwaukee State Teachers College, was a national leader in innovative teacher education, with 1,500 students. A student from the 1916-17 academic year, Golda Meir, became prime minister of Israel from 1969-1974.
After World War II, the college was authorized to award four-year bachelor’s degrees and, in 1951, became Wisconsin State College. Five years later it combined with the Milwaukee Extension Center, which had been the local outreach program of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Together, the two institutions became the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with its focus on academic research, teaching and community service.
Some Important Dates
- 1885 – Milwaukee Normal School opens to train teachers in downtown Milwaukee at 18th & Wells
- 1892 – University of Wisconsin offers day and evening classes in Milwaukee
- 1909 – With the completion of a new Milwaukee Normal School building (today’s Mitchell Hall), the campus moves to its present location
- 1920 – The University of Wisconsin Extension Division, formed in 1907, takes over responsibility for UW instruction in Milwaukee
- 1927 – Normal school becomes Milwaukee State Teachers College with four-year degree
- 1928 – UW Extension opens Milwaukee Center downtown
- 1951 – Milwaukee State Teachers College becomes Wisconsin State College with liberal arts degrees
- 1956 – WSC & UW Milwaukee Extension merge to form UWM
- 1961 – The 8.6-acre Milwaukee-Downer Seminary site, including three buildings, is purchased
- 1963 – UWM offers first PhD degree, in mathematics
- 1965 – UWM purchases the 6.3-acre Milwaukee University School campus
- 1970 – Three residence towers, collectively called Sandburg Halls, open for student housing
- 1988 – UW System designates eight Centers of Excellence at UWM
- 1995 – Division of Outreach and Continuing Education Extension (now the School of Continuing Education) moves to new offices in the downtown Plankinton Building
- 2000 – UWM awards diploma to 125,000th graduate; UWM named among top 102 public doctoral research universities in nation
- 2001 – Governor announces honors academy at UWM
- 2002 – Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts opens. The fourth tower was added to Sandburg Residence Halls.
- 2005 – Men’s basketball team advances to Sweet 16 in NCAA Tournament.
- 2006 – $100 million Campaign for UWM announced. Pavilion athletics complex and Kenilworth Square mixed-use student housing facility open. Men’s and women’s basketball teams both advance to NCAA Tournament.
- 2008 – Campaign for UWM is completed more than a year early with $125 million pledged to the university.
- 2010 – The School of Freshwater Sciences and Zilber School of Public Health become the first new academic schools established at UWM since the 1960s. UWM acquires the former Columbia Hospital campus: 11 acres; seven buildings with more than 800,000 square feet of space; and about 900 parking spaces.
- 2015 – UWM earns the prestigious Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement (and maintains the status in 2020).
- 2016 – UWM is named a top-tier Research 1 (R1) doctoral university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education for the first time (and is renewed in 2019, 2022 and 2025). UWM is one of only two R1 institutions in Wisconsin.
- 2019 – UWM successfully completes a comprehensive fundraising campaign, Made in Milwaukee, Shaping the World: The Campaign for UWM. The $251 million raised is 25% higher than the university’s $200 million goal, which was announced publicly in 2017. More than 21,000 donors made over 70,000 gifts supporting scholarships, research and major initiatives, including the Connected Systems Institute and the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute.
- 2024 – UWM is selected as the home for the nation’s first manufacturing AI Co-Innovation Lab, as part of a Microsoft’s $3.3 billion investment in southeast Wisconsin.
Since its founding, UWM has expanded its programs so that today its eight schools and colleges offer 106 undergraduate programs, 64 master’s and 38 doctoral degrees.