Marquette College
Women admitted
Long lines after WWII
St Joan of Arc Chapel
Les Aspin
Fr. Wild inaugurated
Raynor Library
Al McGuire Center
- 1881 — Marquette College opens on August 28
- 1887 — Marquette's first five graduates earn bachelor of arts degrees.
- 1907 — Affiliation with a private medical college leads to reincorporation as Marquette University. Construction starts on Marquette's current campus.
- 1907 — Marquette moves to Johnston Hall at North 12th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue, the building that now houses the J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication.
- 1908 — The College of Engineering opens, and Marquette purchases two law schools.
- 1909 — President James McCabe, S.J., decides to admit women undergraduates in time for the summer session, making Marquette the first Catholic university in the world to do so.
- 1910 — The colleges of Business Administration and Journalism open.
- 1913 — The university merges the Milwaukee Medical College and Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons and establishes the schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy.
- 1918 — The Army Student Training Corps, an early form of ROTC developed as a result of World War I, is offered to students.
- 1920s — The university's student body rapidly grows, and new facilities include buildings for the School of Dentistry and Law School, a science building (now Marquette Hall), a gymnasium, and a football stadium.
- 1930s — The Great Depression forces financial belt-tightening at the university, including closing of the radio station.
- 1940s-50s — Rapid expansion of the student body after World War II leads to campus growth, including facilities for the College of Business Administration, Memorial Library and student union. Gen. Douglas McArthur receives an honorary degree in April 1951.
- 1960s — A detailed plan for expansion of graduate programs while the campus is consolidated between North 11th and North 16th streets through urban renewal efforts is unveiled.
- 1966 — The Chapel on Long Island, which began to be dismantled in June 1963 and took nine months to complete, arrives on campus. It traveled from Chasse, France, to Long Island, then to Marquette. The chapel was dedicated to St. Joan of Arc on May 26.
- 1967 — The School of Medicine separates from Marquette to become the Medical College of Wisconsin.
- 1969 — A reorganization of the Board of Trustees brings in a lay majority to direct the university.
- 1960s-70s — Campus continues to grow with new chemistry, foreign languages and literatures, and physics buildings. Plans for graduate programs are implemented.
- 1993-94 — The $50 million Campus Circle Project leads to energetic investment in the local community. Marquette is chosen as a leading U.S. university for community service by students.
- 1994-95 — Marquette’s Washington, D.C.-based political science study program is renamed the Marquette University Les Aspin Center for Government to honor the late Wisconsin congressman and Marquette professor.
- 1995-96 — The College of Professional Studies and executive master of business administration program in the College of Business Administration are formed.
- 1996-97 — Rev. Robert A. Wild, S.J., is inaugurated as Marquette’s 22nd president. The College of Health Sciences opens in fall 1996.
- 1998-99 — Marquette admits a freshman class of 1,732, the largest two-year increase in freshman enrollment in its history. The Milwaukee Common Council approves Marquette’s $8 million Campus Identity and Beautification Project to create a cohesive campus and revitalize Wisconsin Avenue, the main artery of the university and corridor to downtown Milwaukee.
- 1999-2000 — This year’s freshman class has the highest test score averages and highest average high school class rank in university history.
- 2000-01 — Construction begins on the 126,813-square-foot John P. Raynor, S.J., Library and 120,000-square-foot School of Dentistry building.
- 2001-02 — The new School of Dentistry building is the nation’s newest and most technologically advanced dental school. The university institutes a master’s degree program in bioinformatics and re-establishes a major in physics.
- 2002-03 — Campus gets two new buildings: the John P. Raynor, S.J., Library and Al McGuire Center athletics facility. Marquette institutes a comprehensive core of common studies that promotes the values central to the Jesuit educational experience. The School of Education develops the first online master’s degree program in Wisconsin. The College of Nursing unveils a doctoral program to form teacher-scholars who can advance health care through teaching, research and health care leadership. The university’s first endowed deanship is established in the College of Engineering. The men’s basketball team reaches the Final Four of the NCAA Division I tournament.
- 2004-05 — Marquette hosts the Democratic presidential debate on Feb. 15. Lech Walesa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, visits campus as part of Mission Week and receives an honorary degree.
- 2005-06 — President Robert A. Wild, S.J., announces the culmination of the most successful capital campaign in university history. The Magis Campaign raises $357 million, $107 million more than its goal. Marquette is chosen by the Opus Foundation to administer its $1 million humanitarian prize, awarded to Rev. Trevor Miranda, S.J., for his work in India empowering the poor through literacy. During Mission Week, the campus hosts Paul Rusesabagina, the man depicted in Hotel Rwanda.
- 2006-07 — Celebration of Marquette's 125-year anniversary — Faith and Learning in Action — takes place throughout the year. The Graduate School of Management is established. Preliminary drawings for a new Law School building to be constructed at the corner of 11th and Clybourn streets are completed. The building will be named Eckstein Hall after Ray, Law '49, and Kay, Sp '49, Eckstein, who donated $51 million, which at the time was the single-largest gift made by individuals to a Wisconsin college or university and one of the two largest gifts to a law school in the United States. The College of Engineering also discusses plans for a new building.
- 2007-08 — Ground is broken for the new Law School building and a student and administrative services building on the corner of 12th Street and Wisconsin Avenue. That building will centralize the offices of the Bursar, Registrar and Student Financial Aid and be named to honor Joseph Zilber, Bus Ad '39, Law '41, and his wife, Vera. James H. Keyes, Bus Ad '62, endows the deanship in the College of Business Administration.
- 2008-09 — Marquette receives a record number of new student applications, almost 18,000 for fall 2009, up 17 percent from the previous year, and once again ranks among U.S. News and World Report's top 100 national universities. Plans continue for the College of Engineering's new home, Engineering Hall, to be constructed at the corner of 16th Street and Wisconsin Avenue.
- 2009-10 — The university kicks off its Centennial Celebration of Women at Marquette to commemorate the bold decision of Rev. James McCabe, S.J., in 1909 to admit undergraduate women alongside men. Marquette is the first Catholic university in the world to do so. The yearlong celebration includes dozens of high-profile speakers and events on campus and off, including the conferral of Marquette's highest honor — the Père Marquette Award — on the Little Rock Nine, a group of young African-Americans (mostly women) who in 1957 played a significant role in the desegregation of Little Rock (Ark.) Central High School. Zilber Hall, home to student services on campus, opens. Ground is broken for the 115,000-square-foot Engineering Hall. The university announces a new partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to provide three full-tuition scholarships to the organization’s national Youth of the Year award winners. Former Marquette student and NBA basketball star Dwyane Wade endorses the partnership, the first in the nation for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
- 2010-11 — Eckstein Hall is dedicated Sept. 8, 2010, and students, faculty, alumni, friends of the university, community members and three distinguished speakers — United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan — gather to celebrate. The J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication celebrates its 100th anniversary, and the College of Nursing celebrates its 75th anniversary.
- 2011-12 — Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., takes office as Marquette’s 23nd president.
Quick Facts About Marquette
| Identity: | Catholic, Jesuit, private |
| Established: | 1881 |
| Location: | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Undergraduate: | 8,113 |
| Postgraduate: | 3,693 |
| Campus: | Urban, approximately 90 acres |
| Athletics: | 16 NCAA Division I teams (Big East) |
| Colors: | Blue and gold |
