• Construction of new buildings on campus is part of the overall Campus Master Plan to improve the university.
• The Campus Master Plan guides expansion and looks 25 to 50 years into the future.
• Similar plans are utilized at colleges across the country.

On Aug. 15, 1880, a crowd of people gathered to witness the laying of a cornerstone for Marquette College at what is now the corner of 10th and State Streets.

This event, recorded on the first page of “Milwaukee’s Jesuit University: Marquette, 1881-1981,” a book by Thomas Jablonsky, professor of history at Marquette University, is only the beginning of the school’s story.

More than 128 years later, the college has grown into a university with more than 11,000 students on a 90-acre campus.

The campus continues to expand, with multiple construction projects underway and more on the docket.

The new buildings — Zilber Hall, Eckstein Hall and the Discovery Learning Complex — are part of the mission to make Marquette a top Catholic university, said Toby Peters, associate senior vice president.

“Everything we do is with the intention of pushing Marquette into the top three or four Catholic universities in the country,” Peters said. “Everything necessary for that to occur is part of the decisions we make.”

The new buildings are part of the overall Campus Master Plan to improve the university, said Arthur Scheuber, vice president of administration.

The first plan was developed in the 1960s. Scheuber called it a “living, breathing document,” constantly updated with ideas to develop campus. The plan forms a vision for the university, looking 25 to 50 years into the future, Scheuber said.

The plan has helped develop Marquette so that it truly feels like a campus, Scheuber said. For example, the 1997 Campus Master Plan called for planting trees in places like the Wisconsin

Avenue median. It also proposed the stone pillars that act as portals to campus, like those at Wisconsin Avenue and 16th Street, and the archway near the Alumni Memorial Union at Wisconsin Avenue and 15th Street.

The 1997 plan further suggested building a new residence hall at 12th and Wells Streets, near the then Abbottsford Apartments. Instead, the university opted to purchase the apartments and convert them into what became a dorm — Abbottsford Hall.

The updated Campus Master Plan in 2006 called for construction of what is to become Eckstein Hall, the new Law School building, and Zilber Hall, the new student services building. Construction on those buildings is currently underway.

The plan also called for construction of a new College of Engineering building. Next summer, the university is scheduled to begin building the facility — to be named the Discovery Learning Complex. Approximately $60 million has been raised for the $100 million building, said Michael Switzenbaum, executive associate dean and professor in the college.

“These are buildings we expect to be here for decades, maybe 50 to 60 years or more,” Peters said. “They will become very much a part of our identity.”

O’Hara Hall will be torn down after Zilber Hall opens and the occupants of O’Hara Hall move out, said Tom Ganey, university architect. The space will become a surface parking lot.

Meanwhile, the university is converting the former Marquette Apartments, 1628 W. Wisconsin Ave., into a residence hall that should be open in time for next academic year.

The development of a campus master plan is not limited to Marquette. Indeed, similar plans have been implemented at schools ranging from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the University of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame’s current Campus Plan was adopted in October 2002, Doug Marsh, associate vice president and university architect at Notre Dame, said in an e-mail. He said the plan is one in a long line of master plans developed for the university since its inception.

Marsh said the key to becoming a top tier Catholic university is having clear goals and a plan to achieve them.

“(There must be) an institution-wide commitment to a set of values and goals and a tireless effort to accomplish them,” Marsh said. “There has to be a strong plan that gives one a sense of being part of a special place.”

Notre Dame has recently completed or is currently working on an athletic complex, a women’s residence hall and a wind tunnel research facility, among other projects. Proposed developments at Notre Dame include a parking structure, an art museum and a track and field stadium, according to the school’s master plan.

Marquette is working to execute its long-term plan. Scheuber chairs the Campus Facilities Master Planning Committee, which serves as a barometer, evaluating whether the university is following the master plan, he said. The committee of about 15 people meets monthly, and includes faculty and administration, such as Ganey, Bill Henk, dean of the College of Education and Rana Altenburg, vice president for public affairs.

The university is building the new facilities with an eye toward the future.

“The buildings alone are not going to push Marquette into the top tier of Catholic schools,” Scheuber said. “They will contribute, but what goes on inside the buildings is what will propel us.”