Alumni Association History
The Oshkosh Normal School opened in 1871 with George Albee, the former superintendent of schools at Racine, as president. By the time Rufus Halsey took over the reins as president in 1899, it was already getting difficult to keep in touch with the school's graduates. So Halsey extracted a promise from graduates that twice yearly they would write to him about the conditions affecting their classroom responsibilities. In hundreds of letters, the graduates responded from 1905-1907, detailing conditions faced by the public school teacher of that period.
The Alumni Association began during Halsey's term as president. The first recorded minutes of a meeting with temporary officers dates from June 20, 1901. An important item of business was the consideration of an "appropriate pin" for members. The president of the Alumni Association was Edward Dempsey, class of 1901, an attorney and a resident of Oshkosh who in 1914 was appointed to the state Board of Regents.
The Alumni Association soon became a source of strength to the school, Edward Noyes wrote in his book, "Here to Serve: The First Hundred Years of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh." In 1905, the Association supported a project for an addition to the main building to house a new auditorium, a better gymnasium, and improved working quarters for manual training. Not one to discount the influence of graduates, Halsey thought they might aid the realization of that goal from the legislature.
By 1907, the Association reached beyond the campus with chapters in both Chicago and Indianapolis. The branches often invited Oshkosh faculty to visit them, and the parent group arranged for meetings of the membership every year and reunion of the classes every five years.
In 1907, it also made three decisions affecting Association governance - it instructed the officers to maintain contacts among the rank and file by forwarding "appropriate literature"; it determined that no one could be president who had not been a member for at least five years; and it created an executive committee composed of the officers and three members. The executive committee, in actuality, was the first alumni board, Noyes wrote. Altogether, the Alumni Association of the Oshkosh Normal School had made effective organizational headway by 1907 when Halsey was killed in a shooting accident.
The Association continued to grow under President John Keith. In 1909, the Association adopted a constitution providing for the creation of alumni branches "organized by any group of five or more graduates." In 1910, the Association's decision to start issuing an alumni bulletin helped the group accumulate more precise information about the whereabouts and the occupations of graduates. As a consequence, the alumni became a truly effective tool for enhancing not only the reputation of the institution but also the attractiveness of the teaching profession, Noyes wrote.
The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1921, holding a three-day jubilee. The campus had its first campus Homecoming celebration, designating one day as State Day and featuring alumni activities and speeches by prominent educators. The 40 classes represented held reunions and luncheons, singing old schools songs and driving in a motorcade decorated with the school colors.
Under President Forrest Polk, the college gained title to the former residence of W.E. Pollock, once president of Oshkosh B'Gosh Overalls. Built in 1920, the home was for sale in the early 1940s at a reported price of $7,800. To help the school obtain the property, Pollock offered a gift of $5,000. The Pollock gift, a grant of $2,500 from the Student Activity and Alumni Funds, and another of $750 from an anonymous donor made the purchase possible in September 1947. The house first served as a dormitory for women students until 1967 when it became the headquarters of the newly established School of Nursing.
From 1945 to 1960, the Alumni Association faced the problem of creating and maintaining an accurate membership roster. The association had printed alumni bulletins through the 1930s, but the death of Emily Webster in 1933 had left it without a membership file since Webster had depended upon memory to keep things straight. To take up the slack, the Association authorized the compilation of a mailing list covering the years from 1936 to 1940.
A second problem that the Alumni Association had to solve was its uncertain financial situation. As Polk judged things in 1948, the cost of $1 for a life membership meant that the organization's treasury never amounted to much, and "with an income of less than $100 a year, nothing could be accomplished."
Yet the Alumni Association did begin to get a better grip on its affairs. During the war years, the Association had held no annual meetings, but in 1946, its officers began to consider the feasibility of having a booth at the yearly convention of the Wisconsin Education Association as well as establishing a project room in Swart Hall. In 1947, at the suggestion of Dr. Emma Jaeck, class of 1897, the Association started inviting 50-year graduates to the annual commencement ceremonies.
George Haszel was president of the Alumni Association board in the late 1940s. He says Warner Geiger, whose wife Helen took over the Association's reins, recruited him to join the Alumni Board as soon as he graduated. The years before World War II ended had been quiet for the Association; people were too busy with the war effort to put much effort into the Association's growth.
A teacher in the Oshkosh Public Schools until he retired in 1981, Haszel recalls going to the state teachers convention in Milwaukee in the late '40s or early '50s and noticing some of the other colleges had reunions for their alumni. So he paid the $20 fee to reserve a room for the following year, and advertised the reunion in the teachers bulletin. Thus, Oshkosh began a new tradition.
"The reunion grew, and it was so nice to see all the alumni there," Haszel says. "Memories always center around friends, and I have many good memories of friends who came each year to the convention."
As for financial matters, the Association raised its life membership fee to $10 in 1948 and established a sustaining fee of $1; affiliation was open to anyone who had attended classes for one year.
In 1953, under the guidance of executive director Helen Geiger, the Association began to mail newsletters to its members, to send congratulatory letters to new graduates, and to hold a dinner for seniors, Noyes wrote. The alumni records were also moved to the New York Avenue home of the Geigers. Their home served as the Association office until 1959 when it moved to Reeve Memorial Union, where staff shared a room with Student Government.
"Helen Geiger always said she didn't go to this school; she married it," says Jean Nelson who took over as executive director of the Association after Mrs. Geiger retired in 1968. "She came here as a faculty wife and got to know a lot of the students since it was a small school. It wasn't until the late 1960s that the enrollment surged."
Students would come to Mrs. Geiger and ask for her help in arranging events, including alumni events, Mrs. Nelson says. "She gradually amassed a card file on alumni and stored it in their basement."
Earl Hutchinson, who retired as principal of the Campus School in Swart Hall, was a close friend of Helen and Warner Geiger, and often helped his friends - whether it be gardening or organizing an alumni dinner.
"I never thought of it as doing something for the Alumni Association, but rather doing things for friends," Hutchinson says.
"Helen was very gregarious and good at promoting the Alumni Association. Warner and I were totally supportive because we knew the students. But she was entirely the promoter of it. She had the energy to do all the work."
And it was work. Especially compiling a list of graduates.
"She'd scrounge around to any files she could get hold of, trying to gather a list of alumni," Hutchinson says. "If she found one person and talked to them, she'd ask for names of other graduates, and her list grew like that."
Mrs. Geiger wasn't a state employee until the 1960s, and often she and her husband paid for the expenses of running the Association --- whether it be for groceries for a gathering or stamps for a mailing, Hutchinson says.
During the Roger Guiles administration, the Alumni Association took an important role toward enhancing the campus mission. To start things, Mrs. Geiger led a drive to issue alumni data cards to each incoming student in 1960 so the Association could more effectively keep tabs on the student body. By 1965, more than 8,000 addresses had been compiled.
1963 was important in the history of the Alumni Association, Noyes wrote, since the Association took an active part in the organization of the University Foundation and it helped the Foundation with its work. In recognition of alumni who had distinguished themselves in their careers, the Association also decided to establish an Alumni Award to be presented at spring commencements. The first award went to John Gronouski in 1964. Gronouski, who attended the Oshkosh State Teachers College during the late 1930s, had served as postmaster general in the cabinet of President John F. Kennedy.
In addition to granting awards, the Alumni Association performed other tasks. It initiated the observation of an Annual Alumni Day in May 1966, and in the same year, established area chapters at seven cities in Wisconsin. The Association sponsored annual class reunions, and at commencement, paid special tribute to the 50-year class. It also presented a Golden Anniversary Citation to the outstanding member of the class.
As its responsibilities grew, the Association soon outgrew its office space. So the group moved to a brick house behind Reeve Union, long since razed. It was there that the Alumni Association operated a printing business to infuse much needed money into its operations.
But when the chance came to move the Association to the Pollock House, Alumni Director Jean Nelson jumped at the opportunity.
"We had a board meeting in the house to decide whether we should move there," she says. "The building was totally empty and in need of a lot of work. We sat on the floor and brought lamps from home; it was a big decision to make."
But after a short pause, the board agreed to accept the responsibility. "They all realized that this was a golden opportunity and that we had to go for it," Nelson says.
Thus in 1971the Pollock House was assigned to the Alumni Association. They decorated it on a shoestring budget, buying rugs, accessories and furniture as inexpensively as they could.
Moving to the Pollock House really was an important part of the Association's growth," Nelson says. "It provided a physical focal point, right in the middle of campus."
And with a physical focal point, the Association continued to grow. With the cooperation of the Division of Extended Services, the Association introduced University Day for Women in 1969. To inform graduates of events occurring on their campus, the Association also contributed to the University's quarterly report and published alumni newsletters. All the while, it kept the Alumni House open to visitors.
Nelson says she is proud of how she and her late husband Philip helped the Association grow and expand its services and programs. She couldn't have had a better job, she says.
"I really am proud of our alumni and how they impact and reflect on our institution today," she says. "As an Association, I enjoyed reaching out and letting alumni know that their alma mater was still interested in them.
"In the last quarter of a century, the Association has seen enormous growth in activities, services and involvement," Nelson says. "It's brought us to the turn of the century with a forward-looking organization."
Ron Schreier BSE '68 MSE '70, past president of the Association, says he's seen a lot of changes in the 38 years he's been involved.
"I've seen lots of chancellors, lots of physical changes on the campus, and different ideas about how to recruit students or how to limit class sizes," he says. "But one thing has stayed the same. The Alumni Association has made sure alumni know they are still a valued part of this University."