On 1 April 1963, Dean Joseph G. Baier appointed an ad hoc
committee to begin planning for the establishment of a Center for Great Lakes Studies, which
was to be a interdisciplinary unit consolidating research in the physical, chemical, and
biological aspects of the Great Lakes. The center's first acting coordinator was appointed
on 15 October 1964. The center was officially established in February 1966. Between
1964-1973, the center was administered by the College of Letters & Science; beginning in
the Fall of 1973, it was administered by the Graduate School. The Great Lakes Research
Facility was purchased in 1973, and is administered by UWM for the UW System.
For 30 years, until 1996, the center was titled the Center for Great Lakes Studies. In
1997, the center changed its name to the University of Wisconsin System/ University of
Wisconsin Milwaukee Great Lakes WATER Institute. In the year 2000 the name was shortened to
the WATER Institute. It was not until 2010 that a graduate degree program was suggested in
the field of freshwater science. The graduate program and the institute merged in 2012 to
become the School of Freshwater Sciences.
Directors of the Center
| 1966-1978 |
C.H. Mortimer
|
| 1979-1986 |
D.N. Edgington
|
| 1987-1995 |
C.C. Remsen
|
