University of Wisconsin-La Crosse - Campus

Campus

The 119-acre (48 ha) campus is located in a residential section of La Crosse. The extensive landscape of grassy fields, trees, flowers, and other vegetation gives the campus a distinct park-like feel. The university has limited vehicle traffic on campus. In 2006, UW–La Crosse received a "Grand Award" at the 2006 Green Star Awards competition for its campus landscaping from the Professional Grounds Management Society.

To the east of campus are the La Crosse bluffs, of which the most prominent is Grandad Bluff (mentioned in Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. Downtown La Crosse and the Mississippi River are about a half mile west of campus.

Hoeschler Tower (1996), located in the heart of UW–L, is the focal point of campus and a popular destination and meeting place for students. It is also the site for many university and student events, such as concerts, fundraisers, the clocktower dance, memorial services, and the traditional hanging of the lantern.

Sidewalk chalk is used as a means of communication among students throughout the warmer months. It is used to advertise future events, share personal ideas, and promote political agendas, among other things.

Students can live in one of the university's residence halls. The newest residence hall, Eagle Hall, opened Fall 2011 and houses 500 students and the new center for residence life. A new, on-campus apartment style residence hall was completed in 2006. Two 1950s-era residence halls, Trowbridge Hall and Baird Hall, were demolished in spring 2009 to make way for a new academic building, Centennial Hall, which was completed in the fall of 2011 and is the largest academic building on campus. Further construction plans include constructing a new student building to replace an aging Cartwright Center, a new science building to replace an aging Cowley Hall, and a parking structure to replace gravel parking lots on the north side of campus.

Plans for campus developments over the next five years call for a new academic building with associated campus landscape improvements and a new stadium and outdoor athletics complex.