MENASHA, Wis. (WFRV) – If the halls and classrooms at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh-Fox Cities could talk, they would have thousands of stories to tell.
Unfortunately, they can’t so UWO-Fox Cities history professor Steve Sheehan does the talking for them. He held a presentation on the history of the campus on Thursday night. It was to pay tribute to a university that has meant so much to so many over the years.
“We are here to have a celebration of life,” said Sheehan. “It’s not a funeral for the campus, it’s a celebration of its life.”
The UWO-Fox Cities campus will close down at the end of June. Although most of the community assets will stay on campus and remain open, there will no longer be classes there.
“This notion of the Wisconsin idea and it goes back over a century,” said Sheehan when asked about the biggest message he wants people to take away from the presentation. “And it’s the idea that the boundaries of the university should reach the boundaries of the state. The university should reach out to people where they’re at and try to make their lives better.”
Several dozen people packed into one of the lecture halls on campus to take in the presentation and share memories they have of their time at UWO-Fox Cities.
“The universal theme of everyone who worked in this building is that there is a dedication to students and learning like no other,” said Tina Koch, who is the former associate director of student affairs for the university. “I think the biggest thing is we did really good work guys.”
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Although the campus will close soon, people who attended the presentation said the memories will live on forever.
“Many of our students over the years have stayed local, and that’s just a tremendous amount of value added to the community,” said Sheehan.
UWO-Fox Cities has some of its memorabilia from over the decades displayed in room 1130. The public can come check it out.
