The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) is a

private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grant (money ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. The campus is in the East Town neighborhood of downtown Milwaukee. The school's enrollment of 2,820 includes 224 graduate students. As of fall 2018, the university has a total of 138 full-faculty, more than 33% of which are women. The student-to-faculty ratio is 15 to 1. Through eight academic departments, the university offers 16

bachelor's degrees A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

, ten of which are in

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

. The university also offers nine

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. MSOE fields 21

varsity teams In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

known as the "Raiders", and most teams play in the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

as part of the

Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC), formerly the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC), is a college athletic conference. It participates in the NCAA's Division III and began its first season in the fall of 2006. The NACC sponso ...

(NACC).

History

Milwaukee School of Engineering was founded in 1903 by

Oscar Werwath Oscar Werwath (1880 – March 20, 1948) was the founder and first president of the Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. He is buried at Forest Home Cemetery. Born in Stallupönen Nesterov (russian: Н� ...

and initially called the School of Engineering. Werwath's goal was to meet the needs of the workforce for the growing engineering field. Werwath was the first person to plan an American educational institution based on an applications-oriented curriculum. The first classes began in the fall of 1903 at Rheude's Business College. By fall, 1905, the enrollment reached almost 100, exceeding the capacity of the business college. The school was subsequently moved to a new building with help from Werwath's colleague, Louis Allis. In spring, 1906, the school graduated its first class, enrolling about 200 students that fall. By 1920, the school consisted of four specific programs focused around electricity. Werwath developed a new curriculum "to equip the student in college-level engineering standards needed for the degree award combined with parallel hands-on training." At the same time the academic calendar called the "quarter system" was implemented. This allowed for students to graduate with collegiate engineering degrees in 3 years, or 4 if they chose not to take the summer quarter. In the summer of 1919, 52 Bachelor's degree graduates as well as 11 faculty were offered admission to the

American Institute of Electrical Engineers The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was a United States-based organization of electrical engineers that existed from 1884 through 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) to form the Insti ...

. Enrollment surpassed 1,200 in 1928, the school's 25th anniversary. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

when enrollment dropped, the school created a student financial fund for disadvantaged students. By 1933 enrollment had recovered to previous levels. On July 13, 1932, the School of Engineering was restructured through a charter revision and renamed "Milwaukee School of Engineering". This allowed the formation of the Board of Regents, a group of industrial and community leaders to oversee management of the school. One of the first major actions of the board was to purchase the German-English Academy building. In 1935 the board established the Industrial Research Institute, where students and faculty could partner with nearby industries for work. MSOE received the official seal of approval from the Society for the Promotion of Engineering in 1943, as part of recognition for educational achievements. The following year, MSOE also became a charter member of the National Council of Technical Schools. For the first time, the university started accepting females into its program in order to replace males who were drafted into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Following the end of the war enrollment swelled in 1946 and 1947 due to the GI Bill of Rights allowing returning service personnel to pursue a college education. By 1947 over 90% of the students were veterans. On March 20, 1948, Oscar Werwath died and his sons, Karl Werwath and Heinz Werwath became president and treasurer, respectively. Milwaukee School of Engineering has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,675, with a gender distribution of 74 percent male students and 26 percent female students. Obtaining full institutional accreditation from the

North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...

(NCA) began in 1950, and approval of accreditation was granted in 1971. By the time of the school's 50th anniversary in 1953, enrollment reached 2,300 students from 48 states and 30 foreign countries. With the beginning of the

Space Race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the t ...

as well as emphasis on technological education, many classes at MSOE upgraded their technology and their programs. The school partnered with

WISN-TV WISN-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, it is the second-oldest television station to remain with the company in all of its various iterations behind f ...

and

WISN (AM) WISN (1130 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It broadcasts a conservative talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios are on Howard Avenue in the Milwaukee suburb of Greenfield. By day, WISN run ...

to create programming centered around science and promoting their school. MSOE's logo was designed by industrial engineer

Brooks Stevens Clifford Brooks Stevens (June 7, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American industrial designer of home furnishings, appliances, automobiles, and motorcycles, as well as a graphic designer and stylist. Stevens founded Brooks Stevens, Inc., headq ...

's firm for the school's 1978 diamond jubilee.

Presidents

, 1903-1948 * Karl Werwath, 1948-1977 * Robert Spitzer, 1977-1991 * Hermann Viets, 1991-2015 * John Walz, 2016–present

Academics

The curricula at MSOE are centered on

, business, mathematics, nursing, and cardiovascular perfusion. MSOE's primary focus is on

undergraduate education Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

, where it has 8 academic departments and offers 16 undergraduate majors. MSOE mainly offers ABET-accredited Bachelor of Science degree to undergraduate students, as well as a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in user experience. MSOE also has 9 post-graduate

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

programs. As of 2019, MSOE had 157 full-time faculty members, 82% of whom hold a doctoral degree. Professors teach all courses;

teaching assistants A teaching assistant or teacher's aide (TA) or education assistant (EA) or team teacher (TT) is an individual who assists a teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include ''graduate teaching assistants'' (GTAs), who are graduate stude ...

are not used. The student to faculty ratio is 15:1.

Academic programs

MSOE has full-time Bachelor of Science programs in

, including two-year transfer programs. It also confers master's degrees. In 2016, MSOE had a four-year graduation rate of 44%.

Admissions

Undergraduate admission is described by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as "more selective". ''

Princeton Review The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...

'' gave the university an admissions selectivity rating of 86. For the 2018–19 academic year the university received 3,294 applications; 63% were admitted. The admitted students’ academic profile showed 75% were in the top 50% of their high school class, SAT scores of 670 in evidence-based reading and writing, 700 in math. The average composite ACT score was around 28.

Study-abroad programs

MSOE has study-abroad exchange agreements with five universities: the

Czech Technical University Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, cs, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČVUT) is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Central Europe. I ...

(CTU) in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

;

Lille Catholic University Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

, France; the Technische Hochschule Lübeck in Lubeck, Germany; the Florence University of the Arts in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, Italy; and

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kn ...

in New Zealand. All courses are taught in English.

Accreditation

MSOE is accredited by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Io ...

. The architectural engineering, biomolecular engineering, biomedical engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, electrical engineering technology, engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, mechanical engineering technology, and software engineering programs are accredited by The

Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology The ABET (incorporated as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.) is a non-governmental organization that accredits post-secondary education programs in applied and natural sciences, computing, engineering and engineeri ...

(ABET). The nursing program is accredited by the

Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is a nursing education accrediting agency in the United States. The CCNE is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. CCNE accreditation is a voluntary, self-regulatory process, and t ...

(CCNE). The construction management is accredited by the

American Council for Construction Education American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

(ACCE). The Master of Science in perfusion is accredited by the

Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, (or CAAHEP), is an accreditation agency for postsecondary education programs in 30 health science fields. Programmatic accreditation is granted after an education program is reviewed ...

(CAAHEP).

Rankings

According to '' U.S. News & World Report''s 2020 "Best Regional Universities Midwest Rankings," MSOE is rated eighth overall, sixth in "Best Colleges for Veterans", tied for eighth in "Most Innovative Schools", ninth for "Best Value Schools", and tied for 88th in "Top Performers on Social Mobility". ''U.S. News & World Report'' also ranked MSOE ninth among undergraduate engineering programs nationwide that do not offer doctorates, with program rankings of fourth (tie) in computer engineering, fifth in electrical engineering, 11th in civil engineering, and 11th in mechanical engineering In 2016 MSOE was listed among ''Princeton Reviews 159 best Midwestern colleges.

Board of Regents

Along with the president, Milwaukee School of Engineering is led by a Board of Regents composed of a chairman and 50 representatives from businesses, industries, education, and the government. The Board of Regents governs and makes major decisions through several standing committees, such as the executive committee and the business and industrial advisory committee.

The MSOE Guarantee

The Milwaukee School of Engineering operates on a four-quarter system year-round, with its

academic term An academic term (or simply term) is a portion of an academic year, the time during which an educational institution holds classes. The schedules adopted vary widely. In most countries, the academic year begins in late summer or early autumn an ...

s lasting ten weeks each. Most of the programs use a track system that outlines what courses students should take and pass for each term in order to graduate in four years. Freshmen usually take four courses per term and upperclassmen five. The MSOE Guarantee states that for a student starting and staying on track, all classes needed for graduation will be available when they need them so that they may graduate in four years. Despite this guarantee, MSOE maintains a four year graduation rate of only 42%.

Campus

MSOE's campus, which occupies in the East Town neighborhood of downtown

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, is spread over several blocks. MSOE has one of the smallest campuses in Wisconsin; only the

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) is a private art school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1974, it offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. MIAD is considered the successor to the Layton School of Art, and was formerly known as ...

(MIAD) has a smaller campus (). The buildings on campus vary in age, with most being built in the mid-20th century. The oldest building on campus is the Alumni Partnership Center (formerly the

Valentin Blatz Brewing Company Office Building The Valentin Blatz Brewing Company Office Building was built in 1890 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was originally home to the offices of the Valentin Blatz Brewing Company. It was designed by architect Paul Schnetzky in Romanesque ...

), built in 1890 and the newest being Diercks Hall, completed in 2019. Several of the buildings on campus use the iconic

Cream City brick Cream City brick is a cream or light yellow-colored brick made from a clay found around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the Menomonee River Valley and on the western banks of Lake Michigan. These bricks were one of the most common building materials u ...

, which is used in many other buildings in Milwaukee.

Academic facilities

Allen Bradley Hall of Science was acquired and renovated in 1958, formerly a parking garage.

Allen-Bradley Allen-Bradley is the brand-name of a line of factory automation equipment, today owned by Rockwell Automation. The company, with revenues of approximately US $6.4 billion in 2013, manufactures programmable logic controllers ( PLC), human-mach ...

provided much of the funding and equipment for the building and was thus obtained the naming rights. It houses

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

, and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

, as well as the

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

departments. The Fred Loock Engineering Center was opened in 1967, and was designed by Fitzhugh Scott. It is an extension of the Allen Bradley Hall of Science. The building houses several laboratories and classrooms for use of many engineering departments. The major library on campus is the Walter Schroeder Library. Dedicated in 1980 by

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

, the library is named after Wisconsin magnate Walter Schroeder and has the mathematics as well as the

electrical engineering and computer science Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) is an academic program at many universities which comprises scientific and engineering aspects of computing. CSE is also a term often used in Europe to translate the name of engineering informatics academi ...

faculty offices. Most of the administration buildings are located in Student Life and Campus Center, which was acquired from Blatz Brewery in 1987. The department of

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

architectural engineering Architectural engineers apply and theoretical knowledge to the engineering design of buildings and building systems. The goal is to engineer high performance buildings that are sustainable, economically viable and ensure the safety health. Archi ...

and

construction management Construction management (CM) is a professional service that uses specialized, project management techniques and software to oversee the planning, design, construction and closeout of a project. The purpose of Construction management is to control ...

(CAECM) have their faculty offices here as well. Recently added was the Ruehlow Nursing Complex, a multimillion-dollar upgrade for the School of Nursing. Many student resources such as the bookstore, a marketplace, and the student union called the "Great Room" are also here. Rosenberg Hall, home to MSOE's Rader School of Business, was dedicated in 2003. Funds for the project were provided by alumnus Kenneth Rosenberg and his wife Doris. The hall contains classrooms, labs and faculty offices and the Milwaukee U.S. Export Assistance Center. In 2006, MSOE acquired the former

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, make up the United States' central bank. The Chicago Reserve Bank serves the Seven ...

and renovated it for use as The Grohmann Museum to house the Man at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection, classrooms, and faculty offices for the humanities and psychology departments. Construction of the Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall began in early 2018. The building opened in September 2019.

Athletic facilities

In 2004, MSOE's Kern Center was completed, adding a hockey arena, basketball arena, fitness center, running track, and field house to its campus. MSOE's Kern Center houses many of the sports teams' facilities, as well as offering recreational areas for students, faculty and alumni. It also has classrooms, and houses the physical and mental wellness centers. In 2013, MSOE completed construction on a new athletic field and parking complex called Pamela and Hermann Viets Field. The athletic field was built on top of an in-ground parking facility immediately north of the Kern Center.

Residence halls

Undergraduates may live in one of four residence halls, but incoming freshman may live only in Hermann Viets Memorial Tower (VT), Margaret Loock Residence Hall (MLH), or Regents Residence Hall (RGN). Hermann Viets Tower was built utilizing the Roy W. Johnson Residence Hall (RWJ) as a substructure; with the original RWJ having been completed in 1965, and the renovations which brought about the name change occurring in 2020. MLH & RGN were constructed in 1967 and 1990 respectively. VT & MLH are traditional

residence halls A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or universit ...

; while Regents Hall and Grohmann Tower is arranged apartment style. Upperclassman, as well as international, graduate and married students may elect to reside in Grohmann Tower, although none of the aforementioned students are required to live on campus by MSOE policy. Meals are served by American Dining Creations, which operates a dining facility in the Campus Center (CC).

Student life

Student life at MSOE is based largely in sporting events including ice hockey, recurring events like ''Bob Ross and Chill'' where students are invited to eat chicken and waffles while painting along with episodes of The Joy of Painting. Student mental health has been an ongoing issue, which has been made worse by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. In 2013, MSOE was reported to have the 4th worst professors out of any University.

Athletics

MSOE's 21 athletic teams compete in

. MSOE competes in the

(NACC) for most sports, including seven women's sports. Men's ice hockey competes in the

Northern Collegiate Hockey Association The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division III as a hockey-on ...

(NCHA), men's lacrosse in the

Midwest Lacrosse Conference The Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) is a men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III lacrosse-only college athletic conference composed of schools located in the Midwestern United States. All schools are members of con ...

(MLC), men's volleyball in the

Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League The Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) is an intercollegiate men's volleyball conference associated with the NCAA's Division III. History The MCVL was founded in March 2014 by an amicable split of the Continental Volleyball Conference ( ...

(MCVL), and wrestling in the Northern Wrestling Association (NWA). Men's rowing is not sponsored by the NCAA, so MSOE competes against all collegiate teams. MSOE also has club and

intramural Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...

sports. The school colors are red and white, and the mascot is a raider named "Roscoe".

Notable alumni

* James I. Finley (1968, EE), Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology. *

Carl Kiekhaefer Elmer Carl Kiekhaefer (June 4, 1906 – October 5, 1983) was the owner of ''Kiekhaefer Mercury'' (later Mercury Marine) and ''Kiekhaefer Aeromarine'' and also a two-time NASCAR championship car owner. Kiekhaefer Mercury founder Mr Kiekhaefer ...

(c. 1925, no degree), former owner of

Mercury Marine Mercury Marine is a marine engine division of Brunswick Corporation headquartered in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The main product line is outboard motors. It also produces the MerCruiser line of sterndrives and inboard motors. Some manufacturi ...

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

team owner. * Joseph J. Rencis (1980, Architectural and Building Construction Engineering Technology (ABCET)),

ASME The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

. * Harout O. Sanasarian (1961, no degree) Wisconsin State Assemblyman * Larry A. Schotz (1973, EET), inventor of the digital tuning radio and the car radio adapter for CD players, and founder o
LS Research
* Norman Sussman, Wisconsin State Senator

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Private universities and colleges in Wisconsin Universities and colleges in Milwaukee Educational institutions established in 1903 Engineering universities and colleges in Wisconsin 1903 establishments in Wisconsin