Honoring the 100th anniversary of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Whereas La Crosse is located on the western border of middle-Wisconsin on the east side of the Mississippi River;

Whereas the first Europeans to see the site of La Crosse were French fur traders who traveled the Mississippi River in the late 17th century;

Whereas La Crosse was incorporated as a city in 1856;

Whereas Thomas Morris sponsored a bill in the Wisconsin State Senate that led to the creation of the current day University of Wisconsin-La Crosse;

Whereas University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was founded as the La Crosse Normal School in 1909 for the purpose of teacher preparation;

Whereas the philosophy of Fassett A. Cotton, the university’s first president, was to train the whole person;

Whereas “Mens Corpusque”, Latin for mind and body, is the motto on the university seal;

Whereas the college changed its name to Wisconsin State College-La Crosse in 1951 when the La Crosse State Teachers Colleges could establish baccalaureate degrees in liberal arts;

Whereas University of Wisconsin-La Crosse offers 88 undergraduate programs in 44 disciplines and 26 graduate programs;

Whereas University of Wisconsin-La Crosse celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1959, the same year that presidential candidate John F. Kennedy visited the campus and spoke to the student body in Graff Main Hall auditorium;

Whereas U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse second among Midwestern public universities offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees;

Whereas the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men’s athletic teams took the nickname “Eagles” in fall 1989, and the women teams a year later;

Whereas the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse athletic teams have won 59 NCAA Division III national titles in nine different sports; and

Whereas 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse: Now, therefore, be it