Biography

After 19 years of teaching and administrative work at UW-Eau Claire, Larry Schnack served as chancellor from 1984 to 1998. His tenure was a period of stability with respect to enrollment and the university facilities, which provided Schnack with the time to focus his attention on improving academic programs.

In 1994 a redefined baccalaureate program strengthened general education. It emphasized study-abroad opportunities; promoted faculty-student collaborative research; encouraged the creation of capstone courses in the student's major; and initiated a service-learning requirement through which students would apply what they had learned in their courses to non-profit programs in the community. The university's enhanced academic reputation was reflected by its repeated high placing in the U.S. News and World Report's rankings of Midwestern regional universities —high rankings that have continued to the present day.

Chancellor Schnack also sought closer ties between the university and the Eau Claire community. In particular, he worked to make the university's resources more widely available by his membership on the Eau Claire Area Development Committee.

At the time of his retirement, the UW System Board of Regents emphasized his successes in "building an academic curriculum that has received national recognition" and his "significant contributions to regional economic development and the quality of life in the Eau Claire region."

Occupations

• Chancellor -- Date: 1984 - 1998

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