The Milwaukee College Endowment Association (MCEA) was formed in 1890 to aid the trustees
of Milwaukee College in raising the funds required to equal the sum of Edward D. Holton's
gift to the school. Mrs. William Grant Fitch, a member of the Ladies' Art and Science Class
of Milwaukee College, made the original proposal. When the $75,000 was raised, the
association reorganized in 1892 and incorporated in 1893. The organization's earliest
missions were to endow the Mary Mortimer Chair and provide funds for advanced studies in
special subjects via lectures. Later, its mission expanded to secure further endowments for
the school and to create a "club life of broader standards to further the culture of [its]
members."
Milwaukee College and Downer College merged in 1895 to form Milwaukee-Downer College, but
MCEA didn't change its name to the Milwaukee-Downer College Association until 1957. After
Milwaukee-Downer merged with Lawrence College (now University) in 1964, the organization
changed its name to the College Endowment Association the following year.
The association continues to raise funds to promote the higher education of women and
provide educational opportunities for its own members. For example, from 1895-1925, the CEA
contributed about $20,000 to Milwaukee-Downer College to help endow chairs in philosophy,
religious education, and domestic science. In 1984, its philanthropic contributions reached
$63,000. In 2000, the CEA established the Milwaukee College Endowment Association
Scholarship Fund with Lawrence University, a $125,000 permanent scholarship endowment. Since
then, the CEA has given scholarship money to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and
the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
At this writing, CEA's weekly speaker lecture series--Milwaukee's
longest-running--continues to meet Wednesdays at the Woman's Club of Wisconsin. Notable
speakers have included Jane Addams, Pearl Buck, William Buckley, Gen. Charles King, Alex
Haley, Julie Nixon, and William Proxmire. The topics often reflect a strong interest in
current events and have included discussions on economic collapse in the 1930s, geopolitical
reconstructions in the 1950s, and AIDS research in the 1990s.
