Dean’s Message

Dear Friends,

Forty years ago the first students arrived on campus for their first day of classes. Willard Henken, campus dean from 1968 to 1987, recalls that they arrived amid the sounds of construction. A solid foundation was being built for those first students and the generations of students who have followed.

In fact, there have been thousands of area students over the past four decades who got their Best Start right here at the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac. We reflect on our rich campus history on pages 8-10 of this report and look forward to the next 40 years and beyond.

You’ll read about the many accomplishments of our dedicated faculty, staff and students in these pages. Service-learning has become an important part of the UW-Fond du Lac student experience along with performing arts, visual arts programming and the opportunity to participate in multicultural activities. All of these highlight our strength in delivering a high quality liberal arts and sciences experience for students.

Our enrollment during the past year continues to be strong at 755 students - a 50% growth in the past decade. We continue to lead our peers in the retention of students from freshman to sophomore years; an important indicator of our success in serving students. UW-Fond du Lac is increasingly the first choice of high school students ranked in the top quartile of their graduating class. More than half our incoming freshmen are ranked in the top two quartiles from a dozen high schools in our region.

The UW-Fond du Lac Foundation and Alumni Association are important partners in the exceptional educational experience we are committed to providing. If you are a UW-Fond du Lac alumnus, we invite you to reconnect to the campus through the alumni association and consider attending one of the alumni activities planned each year, a few of which are highlighted on page 11.

We thank our many donors for the generous gifts given to the UW-Fond du Lac Foundation. These gifts make a difference in our ability to serve our students and the campus as a whole. When Becky (Jones) Mueller received a scholarship many years ago, little did she know how the people she would meet at UW-Fond du Lac and donors Charmaine and Harold LaShay would impact her life. Pages 12 -15 provide a glimpse at how the Foundation benefits the campus.

UW-Fond du Lac continues to build on the foundation of excellence established in 1968. Together, with our campus and community partners, we are investing in an educational institution that is committed to personalized and technology-rich instruction, in an environment of cultural enrichment and global awareness. We are dedicated to our mission of providing a high quality and affordable University of Wisconsin educational and cultural experience for our students and our community.

As we celebrate 40 years of academic excellence as the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac, we
thank you for your continued support and participation in our growth.


Sincerely,


Dr. Daniel J. Blankenship
Dean and CEO

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