Nine decades of excellence – Ariens Company still thriving today
Appleton International Airport expansion on schedule for 2025 NFL Draft
August 18, 2025
LA CROSSE – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) is already celebrating the forthcoming completion of the dual-phase Prairie Springs Science Center project after its remaining funding was secured with the passage of the most recent Wisconsin State Biennial Budget.
Chancellor James Beeby said the first half of the Prairie Springs Science Center was approved in 2015 and “was, at that point, split into two projects.”
“The first part of the building was completed in 2018,” he said. “Since then, we’ve been really pushing hard to get the second part finished, and now we’ve received the funding. We are very thankful to the State Legislature and the governor for doing that.”
Local employers, Beeby said, also offered great support for the completion of the Prairie Springs Science Center.
“So many groups, so many businesses supported us, advocated for us, talked on our behalf [and] did lots of promotional work to really push this building, because it’s really more than a building,” he said.
Per an announcement on the university’s website, dozens of businesses, nonprofits and other organizations across various industries – such as Kwik Trip, Mayo Clinic Health System, J.F. Brennan Company, Dairyland Power Cooperative, La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce, 7 Rivers Alliance and many others – supported the project for the positive workforce development implications it’s expected to have.
“It’s a real community partnership, because it’s about workforce development and serving the needs of the state,” Beeby said.
Investing in the future
Being one of 13 universities within the Universities of Wisconsin system, Beeby said, presents challenges when trying to get a project to the top of the funding pile.
“The Universities of Wisconsin ranks capital projects, and until this year, we were not ranked No. 1,” he said.
With more than a dozen campuses to maintain, Beeby said he can imagine how difficult it must be to prioritize certain projects over others.
“[Across] 13 universities, there are a lot of different buildings that need attention [and that] need building, and there’s only so much money every year to do that,” he said
Each year between when the project was divided into two phases and when its funding was approved, Beeby said it “ranked highly,” but was never granted the top spot until this year.
“I think [the Regents’ ranking] helped, and I really appreciate the Universities of Wisconsin supporting us – putting us as No. 1 – and the region supporting us in that endeavor as well,” he said.
Prior to the biennial budget’s approval, Beeby said he and many others associated with UWL – whether that be area employers, alumni, faculty, staff or even current students – supported and advocated for the project to the appropriate powers.
“Every year the [state] budget is different, and this year we had a budget situation where there was that surplus so the state could spend that money on some capital projects,” he said. “I was advocating tirelessly in the [state] capital and telling others about why this building is important, because it’s not just a building, it’s an investment in the future of the state.”
‘State-of-the-art’ workforce development
Currently, Beeby said UWL’s soon-to-be-former science building – Cowley Hall, built in the “mid-60s” – sits where the second phase of the Prairie Springs Science Center is to be built.
“When that building comes down, we will then construct the second part of the building, and then [the first and second phase buildings] will be joined,” he said. “It’s going to be a huge difference to our campus.”
Students, staff and faculty alike, Beeby said, are growing increasingly excited for its forthcoming groundbreaking – which, he added, is expected in March 2026 after Cowley Hall comes down in February.
“I’ve heard from so many students who are just ecstatic about this,” he said. “They’re now going to be in a much better place. So, they are so excited about that, [and] the faculty [and staff] are excited [because] the current building suffers from leaks and lots of challenges, [so] they are really happy.”
In addition to the building being “brighter” and “nicer,” Beeby said its “30 different STEM classrooms” are thoughtfully designed and “set up more for the teaching of today.”
“Students [will] have access to the modern pedagogical approaches to teaching,” he said. “There are a lot more group-work settings in the classroom, [and] students are not sitting in rows. It’ll be much easier to move around to work on projects together in these different classrooms, laboratories and other places.”
Furthermore, Beeby said, in those classrooms and laboratory settings, students will learn on and operate the same equipment 21st-century employees and employers are utilizing in their daily processes.
“They’ll have the up-to-date equipment they need to do those [kinds of] projects,” he said. “It’ll be a win-win for everybody in terms of the pedagogy. In terms of how students learn, it’ll be a lot better.”
Beeby said the new facility will mainly be dedicated to the university’s STEM disciplines – “things like chemistry, physics, biology, health and mathematics.”
“There’ll be lots of different sorts of classes in there, and it’s going to be wonderful because it’s going to be state of the art, of course,” he said.
UWL’s website reports that nearly half of the university’s student population (currently “10,000-plus”) are pursuing STEM degrees – 87% of which Beeby said will end up staying in the area after graduation.
“It’s really those high-impact areas, those in-demand areas for graduates – the next generation of scientists, care workers and others – that are really critical to the future of the state,” he said.
On top of securing funding for the university’s new facility, Beeby said UWL also “just added new degrees.”
“Physics, engineering, data science, food science degrees and those [programs’] students will be in that building [as well],” he said.
Beeby said the university’s commitment to the Prairie Springs Science Center – expected to be complete “by the end of 2028” in time for the “the spring of 2029” semester – and its recent addition of new, STEM-related programs only reaffirms UWL’s status as a crucial, regional workforce development partner.
“We are the No. 1-ranked public university with a population of 25,000 students or fewer [in Wisconsin],” he said. “We are very highly ranked in our academics, so students want to come here. Then, they want to stay in Wisconsin when they graduate and become members of society, give back to society and become taxpayers, workers and leaders in our community.”
To learn more about UWL’s Prairie Springs Science Center project, visit uwlax.edu.
