UW-Eau Claire is in search of student input for the name of its new Science and Health Sciences Building.
In an email via the dean of students two weeks ago, Student Body President Kaitlyn Hevrin, a fourth-year neuroscience student, urged students to submit name ideas for the Science and Health Sciences Building. There was an option to provide an explanation for the name as well.
“I’m excited that there’s a possibility that a student’s name that was selected will go through,” Hevrin said.
With the form now closed, the naming committee will narrow the list of names and send out another form for voting in the coming weeks.
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The Science and Health Sciences Building, set to open in the fall of 2027, will include state-of-the-art labs, nursing simulations and research spaces. The construction began in the summer of 2024 and is currently on track for the construction to be finished by early 2027.
It will be the largest academic building on the UW-Eau Claire campus. An important next step in the process is naming this new building.
Hevrin said she was impressed by the student involvement with name submissions. The naming committee reached out to faculty and alumni first before extending the form’s reach to students.
“The responses have been great,” Hevrin said. “Originally, that form had been out for quite a while. It was really cool to see all the different name suggestions and things that people had for our university.”
The committee in charge of naming the science building includes a community member from Mayo Clinic Health System — which helped sponsor the building — Dr. Julie Anderson, director of the Health Careers Center and Professor William Wolf from the physics and astronomy department.
Hevrin, who fulfills the student member role on the committee, said that the naming committee plans to have a finalized name for the science building this spring.
“[The committee is] coming up with a couple of names to submit over to, one, the chancellor, for vetting, and then when the chancellor selects a final name, that will go over to the Board of Regents at UW-System to solidify the name,” Hevrin said.
At their last meeting, the naming committee opted to pick a general, Eau Claire-related name rather than naming the building after a person. Hevrin said that naming buildings after people often includes more regulations and bureaucratic steps.
“I know that would’ve taken a longer process, which is why the committee decided to move away from that,” Hevrin said.
The next step for naming the new Science and Health Sciences building is narrowing down the submissions of names from faculty, staff, alumni and students.
“Right now, we’re ranking a list of 10,” Hevrin said. “I think we’ll push out another email when we’ve selected five.”
This is not the first instance of student involvement for the new building. In September of 2025, students, staff, faculty and community members were given the opportunity to sign the final steel support beam for the building. This initiative — like the new name — shows an interest in involving Eau Claire’s community in this big change.
“[Including students has] been a long-standing process,” Hevrin said. “They did the same thing when they named Centennial,” Hevrin said. “We did the same thing of including students and making sure they’re a part of the process since they’re the ones attending the university and getting to use the building.”
Students should check their emails over the next week as the committee narrows down the list of options and has students vote on possible names.
Hevrin said she is looking forward to seeing the new name unveiled this spring.
“I’m really excited to see what name we end up choosing, and I hope the Board of Regents will agree, whatever that may be,” Hevrin said.
Schwartz can be reached at [email protected].