A $27 million renovation of the education building at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Clow Academic Complex is complete and providing the latest in teaching and learning.
Linda Haling
A ribbon-cutting and rededication of the Clow building at 845 Algoma Blvd., is planned Thursday, Sept. 28, with University leaders, students, faculty and staff joined by regional and state dignitaries as well as UW System President Jay Rothman.
Renovation of the portion of Clow that houses the College of Education and Human Services began in spring 2022. The remodeled area—more than 48,000-square-feet referred to informally as “Clow North,” created space and facilities to educate the 21st century teacher.
Linda Haling, dean of the College of Education and Human Services, said members of the college are “excited and grateful” to start the academic year in a newly renovated building with classrooms, offices and student spaces that feature state-of-the-art designs, equipment and furniture.
“The Clow Academic Complex is such a welcoming environment that emphasizes the value the University places on providing high-quality teaching and learning spaces,” she said.
The upgrades feature simulation labs modeled after elementary school classrooms.
Improvements include a room dedicated to literacy so teacher candidates can observe, through one-way glass, a live one-on-one session with an experienced classroom teacher and a young reader.
Modern spaces will enhance professional practice in the renovated Clow.
In another update, the counseling and human services department’s new practicum laboratory is modeled after a clinic and enhances instruction through real-time live supervision. Students can view their recorded sessions and assess their skills directly in the video.
The project impacted areas from the basement to the sixth floor and includes new lecture halls and classrooms with new flooring, walls and windows, as well as a new roof. There are electrical, mechanical and technical upgrades throughout the building.
“This latest renovation to a now completely modernized Clow brings into clearer focus the unified, futuristic academic complex UWO always planned and worked hard to realize,” said Chancellor Andrew Leavitt. “We are grateful to our University’s legislators, the State Building Commission, C.D. Smith Construction and the project’s many contractors, UW System capital planning staff members and the UW System Board of Regents. They have not only provided UWO students, faculty and staff a modern, outstanding educational asset, they have created a state-of-the-art talent generator to benefit school districts, healthcare partners and other organizations for decades to come.”
Chancellor Andrew Leavitt
Modernization of the education wing was long anticipated after it was initially part of a 2011 budget request that called for renovation to both the College of Nursing and the College of Education and Human Services areas. The nursing project was completed in 2016, but the second half of the project was delayed at the state level for more than five years.
The latest Clow project was linked to redevelopment of nearly 10,000 square feet within Swart Hall, creating a Dean’s Suite, faculty offices, a math tutoring lab, general access classroom and a forensics lab.
Construction was capped with a repaved commuter parking lot and faculty lot adjacent to Clow. The construction over the past 16 months follows an $8.3 million city of Oshkosh project in 2022 to reconstruct Algoma Boulevard in front of the building.
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