2008 Woodie Awards
Renovated UC opens its doors for first time since 2006
Sarah Millard
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: News
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The UC offers a variety of dining areas, a recreation center, an art gallery, a ballroom, student meeting rooms, a retail store and study spaces. The building also created 50,000 square-feet of space by enclosing the Wyman Mall and constructed into part of the building.
"It is going to be a delightful addition to the campus," Interim Chancellor Richard Telfer said. "Just to have a place to gather … it is really nice."
Major contributors gathered for a special viewing and ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday.
The majority of the funds for the project came from student fees, a total of $16.6 million throughout 2005-2009. Other donors provided the rest of the funds. The major contributors were James and Zoe Connor, Donna and John Surinak, Jim and Pat Freer, Robert and Yvonne Fiskum, and the Summers family.
James Connor, a former UW-Whitewater chancellor from 1974-1992, served on the building committee. While he was chancellor, he was well known for attending Homecoming football games wearing a 10-gallon hat. He said he has been involved from the beginning and thought the finished project was wonderful.
"I am not too surprised," James Connor said. "I toured during the construction phase and got dust on my boots."
His wife, Zoe Connor agreed with her husband's statements.
"It is lovely," she said.
Zoe Connor had a balcony on the north side of the building named after her. The balcony was going to be left out of the original plans because of a lack of funding, but the Connors paid for it since the balcony was a request from the students.
Former Whitewater Student Government President Dave Wilder spoke to the donors during the ceremony, highlighting the goals of the UC building project. He mentioned the various new areas of the building and included one other university-related item.
"Another goal was to incorporate as much purple as possible," Wilder said.
Former chancellor H. Gaylon Greenhill was also at the ceremony and said the building was an extremely important and wonderful addition to the campus.
"A lot of things can be accomplished now," he said.
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