Jessica Trampf HIST 386.

001 18 October 2013 Annotated Podcast Draft: Building a Legacy 0:00 Introduction: Jessica: Good day everyone, I am Jessica Trampf, a Public History Student at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. In celebration of the universitys centennial in just a few years in 2016, I am here to share with you a segment of the past of the universitys life using oral histories that have been conducted through the efforts of the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Centennial Oral History Project by other public history students like me. As you walk on the beautiful University of Wisconsin Eau Claire campus today through the residence halls, across the bridge, or even up the hill, I hope that you wonder about the history of the beloved college. I am sure that you are familiar with the names of the buildings on campus: Schofield Hall, Schneider Hall, and Haas Fine Arts Center, just to name a few. But, have you ever thought about the dedicated faculty and staff whom these buildings are named after? What were they like in everyday life? What were their passions and their personalities like? This brings me to what this segment is all about: exploring the remarkable people who not only built the legacy of Eau Claire through the twentieth century but also whose names continue to stand today as a legacy of their time here including Schofield, Davies, Haas, Schneider, and Zorn. Schofield: Jessica: The oldest building on campus today was built in 1916 and was once called Old Main. For many years, this was the only building on campus when the school was the Eau Claire State Normal School and soon after the Eau Claire State Teachers College. 1 In 1960, the building was dedicated to the first president of the school, Harvey Schofield, and is known today as Schofield Hall. According to Bob Glouth, a professor emeritus at University Wisconsin Eau Claire, in a recent presentation in the Chancellors Centennial History Series, Schofield was a strict, authoritative and disciplinarian man who, you can say, spent his entire life in school. Although he was an avid athlete in high school and college, his attitude of paternalism towards his students reinforced ways to guide them to be moral citizens.2 A 1929 alum from the Eau Claire Normal School, Phillis Beebe, was, in her own words, a shirt tail relation of Schofield. Despite his authoritarian nature and not knowing him very well, she remembers him as someone who cared about his students:

Harvey Schofield Hall, 1916, When Did Our Professors Become Buildings? UW Eau Claire McIntyre Library Special Collections, assessed October 17, 2013, http://www.uwec.edu/Library/archives/exhibits/buildings/schofield.htm. 2 Bob Grouth, Harvey Schofield: From Tramp Athlete to College President (lecture for the Chancellors Centennial History Series, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire W.R. Davies Center, Eau Claire, WI, October 16, 2013).

Phillis: I knew him before I went there. I wasnt real familiar with him because as a family we didnt have anything to do with him. He was a very large man, a good looking man. Very pleasant and seemed to be interested in the students 3 Davies: Jessica: After Schofields death in 1940, William R. Davies became the second president of the school. Subsequently, in 1960 the student center, the recently nonexistent Old Davies, was dedicated in his name. In 2011 and 2012, the old Davies was demolished leaving room for the new sustainable W.R. Davies Student Center. 4 According to those who mentioned him in their oral history interviews, Davies was a kind and caring person, liked by many of the students. An alum from the class of 1959, Don Gilbertson, remembers Davies as he knew him: Don: I think he was a very effective person. I think he was not as visible as some of the administrators. He wouldnt be as visible, for example, as the dean, but he got the job done, and I think he was well liked.5 Jessica: Jean Ann Walker, class of 1950 also remembers Davies and his family: Jean Ann: He was a fine man. Uh, I knew him only as the rest of the students knew him. However, I, I was in his home because I knew his wife, his first wife pasted away and his second wife I had had for a music teacher in junior high school. And, um, W.R. Davies had a daughter that I knew real well, and she was in college too, but she was little older than I. So I did, he was a family man, a very nice man.6 Haas: Jessica: Davies remained president until his death in 1959, and shortly after a well-known and liked history teacher, Leonard Haas, became the third president of the then Wisconsin State College at Eau Claire. Until his retirement in 1985 and possibly even thereafter, Haas and his wife Dorellen were very involved in the students lives and other campus activities. Both of them provide the namesake for the Haas Fine Arts center across the walking bridge, dedicated to them in 1970.7 According to many of the oral history interviews, they were avid attendees of anything fine arts. Their daughter, Karen Alexander, remembers her parents during her fathers presidency. First, she remarks about their efforts to create a close staff with faculty and staff dinners:

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Phillis Beebe, interview by Chris Henriksen, Eau Claire, WI, September 26, 2013, 6:41 7:04. W.R. Davies Center, 1959, 1964, 1976, When Did Our Professors Become Buildings? UW Eau Claire McIntyre Library Special Collections, assessed October 17, 2013,. http://www.uwec.edu/Library/archives/exhibits/buildings/davies.htm. 5 Don Gilbertson, interview by Chris Henriksen, Eau Claire, WI, September 24, 2013, 10:24 10:46. 6 Jean Ann Walker, interview by author, Eau Claire, WI, September 17, 2013, 17:13 17:54. 7 Leonard and Dorellen Haas Fine Arts Center, 1970 When Did Our Professors Become Buildings? UW Eau Claire McIntyre Library Special Collections, assessed October 17, 2013, http://www.uwec.edu/Library/archives/exhibits/buildings/haas.htm.

Karen: While the time I was a student here, my father was the chancellor8. When he became chancellor in 1959, he and my mom decided that they needed to have all faculty members and their spouses come to their house for dinners. So we had, um for about nine or ten weeks, two dinners a weekend. My mom made breaded pork chops for one and Swiss steaks for the other because we were eating leftovers until the next week when we had more breaded pork chops and Swiss steaks (laughs).9 Jessica: Karen also remembers her parents extreme involvement in going to fine arts productions as well as other campus events: Karen: My parents never missed a recital or a concert or a play, I dont think ever-thats what the stories are on campus. I could never keep up with them (laughs). But they felt that was important for them to do. And until, until, um it became too hard on my fathers heart, they went to all of the ball games too.10 Schneider: Jessica: Across the bridge and on the other side of the campus, another building stands to commemorate a professor. Dedicated to and named after Dr. John S. Schneider a professor of history and sociology from 1930 to 1961 the building Schneider Social Sciences Hall, adopted his namesake in 1968. 11 According to many of the alumni interviewed in the oral history project that mentioned Schneider, he was an intelligent, kind, and caring man, always watching out for his students. One such alum, Carol Endl, remembers Dr. Schneider as her favorite professor when she was in college from 1947 to 1951. Demonstrating his care for his students, she shared a short story of an incident she had been a part of. Carol: This would never happen I think today. But one day after class, I took all the classes I could from he because he was so good in sociology and um history. He said, Carol I wanna see you after class. I thought, Why does he wanna see me? So I stayed and he said, Carol do you know so-and-so? I cant remember, I said, Yes, and he said, Whats, whats wrong? Whats happening he doesnt seem to be doing what he should be doing. I said, I think his mother is critically ill. He said, Oh, good I know then, He said, Instead Ill just raise his grade up one instead of giving a real low grade, Ill give him a. Now, that wouldnt happen today. It wouldnt.12 He was just, there wasnt a person Ive ever heard say or rue any comment that negative about, ah, Dr. Schneider.13

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Karen Alexander, interview by Nick Chenoweth, Eau Claire, WI, October 24, 2012, 30:17 30:19. Alexander, 30:35 31:03. 10 Alexander, 32:48 33:09. 11 John Schneider Social Science Hall, 1967 When Did Our Professors Become Buildings? UW Eau Claire McIntyre Library Special Collections, assessed October 17, 2013, http://www.uwec.edu/Library/archives/exhibits/buildings/schneider.htm. 12 Carol Endl, interview by Kristina Boucher, Eau Claire, WI, September 20, 2013, 15:53 16:35. 13 Endl, 16:38 16:47.

Jessica: Karen Alexander, Leonard and Dorellen Haas daughter also found nice things to say about Dr. Schneider. His dream was to hear Martin Luther King Jr. speak,14 and Karen describes how his efforts to bring him to Eau Claire were a success, but that a sad turn of events will forever be engrained in her mind. Karen: Martin Luther King Jr. was here and that was a very memorable night for many, um reasons. But the man whom Schofield, um not Schofield, um Schneider Hall is named for had really worked to bring Martin Luther King Jr. here and he died of a heart attack in the hallway in the-right after the speech. And so forever, that has been connected in my mind. There are a lot of individuals that have had an impact on this university a lot. 15 Zorn: Jessica: Indeed, Dr. Schneider had a grand impact on this university and is still remembered today as a great history professor. Another faculty member that had an impact on the university is Bill Zorn, who held the titles of Dean of Men, Director of Athletics and Head Basketball Coach within the years of 1928 to 1968. Zorn Arena was dedicated to him in 1951 and is the place where most men and womens basketball games are held today. For Laurie Gapko, class of 1969, Bill was the first faculty member that he had met, and describes his passions in full detail:16 Laurie: So, he was the first person I had met.17 Bill Zorn I had known since the time I was a freshman until he died. He was a real intersting guy in a lot of ways besides being a basketball coach. He was also one of the advisors to Alpha Phi Omega which was a fraternity on campus which I belong to. Bill was also like a lot of other people which is why this interview may take a long time. Bill Zorn was the basketball coach; he was the winningest ball coaches ever. Bill Zorn went to all the forum events, all the art series events; I think he was at every play that they ever put on, on campus. Probably from the time he got here. He went to music department events. He would miss these things when he had basketball. Basketball was really important to Bill, but he knew that there was more to life than just playing basketball. So, he had all these outside interests. 18 Conclusion: Jessica: It seems to me that many of the administrators and professors that the buildings of UW Eau Claire are named after, were extremely involved in campus life during their terms. Schofield, Davies, the Haas, Schneider, Zorn as well as the other faculty and staff whos names are still known on campus today, continue to influence that campus today. With the University Centential Celebration soon on its

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John Schneider Social Science Hall, 1967 When Did Our Professors Become Buildings? UW Eau Claire McIntyre Library Special Collections, assessed October 17, 2013, http://www.uwec.edu/Library/archives/exhibits/buildings/schneider.htm. 15 Alexander, 13:34 14:09. 16 W.L. Zorn Arena, 1952 When Did Our Professors Become Buildings? UW Eau Claire McIntyre Library Special Collections, assessed October 17, 2013, http://www.uwec.edu/Library/archives/exhibits/buildings/zorn.htm. 17 Laurie Gapko, interview by Josh Gordon, Eau Claire, WI, October 25, 2012, 8:04 8:06. 18 Gapko, 8:19 9:11.

way, it is beneficial to remember these particular people who constructed the foundation of the university that continues to strive for excellence and build a living legacy.

Why I made the choices that I made in this Script: This subject of the infamous staff of UWECs past whom the buildings on campus are named after has always been of curiosity to me. It is because of this that I chose this topic, and I know that many others who may listen to my broadcast statement will find it very interesting to hear about the well-known people of the past whos legacies continue to be present on campus. Unfortunately, I have come across a few bumps in the road while making this script. This includes the fact that I cannot include segments about all of the people who the buildings are named after in just ten minutes, so I had to cut it down to only five of them. I figured that I wanted to focus on the main lower campus buildings because everyone who is going to or is a recent alumni of Eau Claire have or have had activities within these buildings every day, so learning about their namesakes will be more interesting to a wider audience. The second bump, however, is that the earliest faculty which the buildings are named after, including Schofield, did not have many oral histories that mention them. I knew that I should include Schofield, however, so I attended a portion of the Chancellors History Seminar Series to learn more about him, and including some of the things I that I learned in my podcast to supplement the quote from Phillis Beebes oral history (the only one to mention Schofield). Also, unfortunately, for most of the staff/faculty that I researched for this project, the oral history interviews only had short segments, especially, in this case, for Schofield and W.R. Davies, which makes me have to provide more of the background information in the interview. However, I think that my use of the oral histories will have their desired effects because they are firsthand remembrances of the legacy of Eau Claire, and speak for themselves. I do include the date of when each building was dedicated to the staff member and try to provide an overarching consensus that I saw throughout the oral history interviews that mentioned them.