J. Martin Klotsche

Who was J. Martin Klotsche?

J. Martin Klotsche, was an American professor of history and the first chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

A native of Scribner, Nebraska, Johannes Martin Klotsche was a high school graduate at age 13 and a college graduate at 17; he earned his M.A. at the University of Nebraska in 1928. He got his Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin in 1931 and came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to teach at what was then Wisconsin State Teachers College, a small Wisconsin teachers college with an enrollment of 1700. He became President of the college in the fall of 1946, when he was 38. It was renamed Wisconsin State College-Milwaukee in 1951. In 1956, the college became part of the then University of Wisconsin, with Klotsche remaining as provost. In 1965, his title was changed to Chancellor. After his retirement as chancellor in 1973, he remained on the faculty of the History Department until 1978.

Klotsche's administration oversaw the growth of the tiny Wisconsin State Teachers College into the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee: enrollment increase from 1,700 to almost 25,000; construction or purchase of more than 20 major buildings; and the establishment of ten schools and colleges. The J. Martin Klotsche Center for Physical Education on the UWM campus is named for him.