Marquette University history

Two years of additional work at the “academic” level (what in the later course of things would become Marquette University High School) finally set the stage for the fall of 1883 when the first regular college classes were taught at Marquette College.

The first five graduates of Marquette College received their Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1887.

1907, Opening of Johnston Hall, the first building dedicated exclusively to Marquette’s college students: Physically and academically, this structure set the collegiate program apart from the much larger high school program.

In 1908, Marquette opened an engineering college and purchased two law schools, which would ultimately become the foundation of its current law program.

Initially an all-male institution, Marquette University became the first coed Catholic university in the world, when it admitted its first female students in 1909.

Marquette acquired the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1913, leading to the formation of the Marquette University School of Medicine.

Founded in 1916, the Marquette University Press, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, publishes scholarly works in philosophy, theology, history, and other selected humanities.

In 1918, the university unexpectedly acquired a large tract of land between Fifteen and Sixteenth streets, from Wisconsin (then called Grand) Avenue to Clybourn.

The campus sprawls across 53 acres; there are 16 buildings named after Jesuit priests and brothers, such as Marquette Hall (after Father Jacques Marquette, the namesake of Marquette University), which was built in 1922.

Marquette is credited with offering the first degree program specializing in hospital administration in the United States, and graduated the first two students in 1927.

In response, a new building for the business students arose at the corner of Thirteenth and Michigan in 1950, followed by two of the most important additions in the history of the university: a student union to serve the entire Marquette community as well as the university’s first library building.

Brooks Memorial Union opened in the spring of 1953.

In the spring of 1954, a little over a year before the kick-off of Marquette’s 75th Anniversary, school president Father Edward O’Donnell announced a detailed self-analysis of Marquette’s current state in order to make clear plans for the impending future.

Despite the promising growth of the university, financial constraints led to the School of Medicine separating from Marquette in 1967 to become the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Then in January of 1969, President John P. Raynor, S.J., announced a complete overhaul of membership on the Board of Trustees, from three Jesuits to eight Jesuits and twenty-one laymen.

In 1977, the university celebrated the victory of their men's basketball team over the University of North Carolina to win the NCAA Championship title.

The Haggerty Museum of Art, featuring works of the masters and contemporary art, was opened in 1984.

Late in 1986, the High School purchased the property adjacent to the school from the estate of Glen Humphrey for use as the Humphrey Athletic Field.

The Gordon Henke Center and the Emmett J. and Martha Doerr Library opened in 1994.

In 1996, Robert A. Wild was installed as the university's 22nd president and shortly thereafter began a fundraising campaign that culminated in a major campus beautification effort and the construction of several major buildings, including a new space for the School of Dentistry.

In 2000, all the classrooms on the fourth floor and two science rooms on the third floor were renovated with four new classrooms being created in the former third floor chapel.

On December 18, 2006, President Wild announced that the couple donated $25 million to the College of Engineering.

Less than five months later, on May 4, 2007, Marquette announced a $51 million gift from Raymond and Kathryn Eckstein that would directly benefit the Marquette University School of Law.

In April 2010, Marquette University offered a position as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to Jodi O'Brien, an openly lesbian professor at another Jesuit university, Seattle University.

During the Fall 2013 semester, former Marquette president Robert A. Wild returned to Marquette University as interim president following the resignation of his successor and 22nd president of Marquette, Scott Pilarz.

Doctor Michael R. Lovell, the former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, took over as president on July 1, 2014, following Wild's interim term.