The Marquette University community enjoys checking out the Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility on its opening day Jan. 13, the first day of the 2025 spring semester. (Submitted photo)
Exciting changes have been taking place on the Marquette University campus in downtown Milwaukee this academic year. Since the fall semester started in August, four capital projects have come online at the Jesuit university: the Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility, Lemonis Center for Student Success, David A. Straz Jr. Hall (the home of the College of Nursing) and Chapel of the Holy Family.
Each of these projects represent an investment in an existing building, adaptively reusing and transforming it into something state-of-the-art intended to elevate the student experience.
Shepherding these projects from ideation to execution is Lora Strigens, who has served as the vice president for planning and facilities management at Marquette University for 10 years.
“Our goal is that the physical campus and actions we take in terms of buildings and grounds is a response to our mission, values and the strategy of serving students while ensuring that we have a great experience for faculty, staff and the entire community,” Strigens said.
In her role, Strigens works closely with all units across campus, engaging with academics, students, administrative departments, student life, and other campus and community stakeholders to ensure that planning decisions are approached in an integrated way.
Guiding all campus initiatives and capital projects is Marquette University’s strategic plan. The plan encompasses three primary themes: thriving students, healthy campus and care of our world, Strigens said.
“It’s not just about what we do when we build a new building but how we care for buildings and facilities on campus over the life cycle of those things and that we do that in the smartest way possible,” Strigens said. “My team is focused on using resources — human and financial — wisely when making decisions about facilities.”
Given Marquette University’s location in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, considering how projects will affect the surrounding neighborhood and city is also important when taking on new construction.
“We aren’t a campus with walls — we are permeable,” she said. “We have to be sensitive to how we can be safe but welcoming and balance the tension of the urban environment with the demands of the campus.”
Involving all the community and campus stakeholder groups in the planning and construction process is critical to ensuring that the hopes and aspirations of the primary users are expressed in the final designs, and spaces enhance how students engage with each other, faculty and staff, Strigens said. Communication and transparency during projects are key.
Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility
Marquette opened its new Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility, a 195,000-square-foot re-imagining of health, wellness and recreation services on campus, Jan. 13, the first day of the spring semester.
Wellness + Helfaer Recreation provides a continuum of wellness services that are integrative, inclusive, accessible and responsive to the changing needs of the campus community.
Lemonis Center for Student Success
Alumnus Marcus Lemonis, star of HGTV’s “The Renovator,” CNBC’s “The Profit” and chairman and CEO of Camping World, and his wife Bobbi donated $15 million to create the Lemonis Center for Student Success. The center is a primary tool in enhancing and scaling the university’s efforts to drive its Student Success Initiative forward.
Centrally located and highly visible, the Lemonis Center, which formerly housed Memorial Library, will provide wraparound services for students across all majors, academic abilities and backgrounds to enrich and expand student opportunities.
David A. Straz Jr. Hall (the home of the College of Nursing)
After serving as home to Marquette Business since its initial construction in 1951, the David A. Straz Jr. Hall building underwent a radical transformation and is now home to the College of Nursing.
This 103,000-square-foot, five-story building houses a blend of general use classrooms, skills practice labs, health care simulation spaces, administrative offices and student study areas. The hall also includes several health care simulations.
“Straz Hall allows us to expand the number of students we admit to the college, which is necessary to help alleviate the nursing shortage, both locally and nationwide,” said Dr. Jill Guttormson, Dean of the College of Nursing. “The investment of Marquette and our engaged alumni in this building is going to be transformational for the college.”
Chapel of the Holy Family
The Chapel of the Holy Family is the Marquette community’s primary worship space. The renovation was unveiled to a full congregation of more than 125 faculty, students and staff during a candlelight Mass early in the school year.
“The original chapel opened in 1990 and sat appendaged to the Alumni Memorial Union all these years,” said Strigens. “While people may know we have a chapel, I am not sure they would have known this was it.”
The new space features improved lighting, multiple windows along Wisconsin Avenue, a skylight and a new sound system. The improvements were part of a series of those made to sacred spaces on campus over the past eight years.
Outside, a terrace provides a place for students to gather and a new statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola offers a strong statement about the Catholic Jesuit mission and values of the university.
