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+1 715-425-3911
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| 410 S 3rd St, River Falls, WI, 54022 | |
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Specialties
Located on 226 acres of rolling land just 30 miles from downtown St. Paul, UWRF is a leader in exemplary teaching, undergraduate research, and sustainability.
History
Established in 1874.
The University of Wisconsin-River Falls was founded in 1874 as the fourth State Normal School in Wisconsin and the first in the northwestern part of the state. Its first building was dedicated on Sept. 2, 1875.
When the original Normal School building was destroyed by fire in 1897, other communities sought to have the school moved. But the citizens of River Falls were determined to retain it, and the building now known as South Hall was completed in 1898. After the fire, only a half day of classes was missed, for the community offered churches, lodge rooms and other buildings as meeting places.
In 1951, with the addition of liberal arts courses, the school was designated Wisconsin State College at River Falls. When graduate courses were added in 1964 the name became Wisconsin State University-River Falls. The present name came with the merger of the state universities and the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 1971.
Meet the Manager
Dean V.
Manager
Dean Van Galen is the 18th Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
A Wisconsin native and a 1982 alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Van Galen earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry at Kansas State University and conducted post-doctoral research at the University of California at Berkeley.
Van Galen began his academic career in 1987 as a chemistry professor at Truman State University in Missouri. As a faculty member, he developed an environmental science study abroad course in Norway and was named the university’s 1988 – 1989 Educator of the Year and the State of Missouri’s CASE Professor of the Year for 1991. He later served as vice president for university advancement at Truman and was an American Council on Education Fellow in 1994 – 1995.
Prior to his selection as chancellor, Van Galen served as vice president for university advancement at the University of West Florida (Pensacola) for six years.
