"[12] As a college primarily focused on educating teachers, Eau Claire housed Park Elementary, a laboratory school.

Park Elementary had an unusual architectural design that included a hidden third story balcony used by professors and student teachers to observe classes.

As a result of the changing educational focus of the university, this method of teaching new teachers fell out of use and Park Elementary School was closed.

Science and art buildings were erected and several dormitories were built or expanded to meet the needs of an ever-growing student population.

[16] Highlighting the university's aesthetic appeal, an Eau Claire poet wrote, "Through and from a shady glen / A charming streamlet hies / And rippling along its picturesque way / A campus glorifies.

"[18] In 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. visited the campus and called on president John F. Kennedy to issue a second Emancipation Proclamation.

"[23] Since the 1971 merger, Eau Claire has expanded its course offerings, added more faculty and students, and enlarged campus grounds.

Eau Claire has also acquired hundreds of acres of forested land primarily used for environmental research and purchased St. Bede's Monastery in October 2011.

[24][25] In 1974, the Richard E. Hibbard Humanities Hall opened on campus and an addition to the Davies Center was finished three years later in 1977.

[27] The university was involved in a gay rights controversy in 2016 when Tom Hilton, an information systems professor, negatively responded to a student email asking for his support for the Eau Queer Film Festival.

[38] In September 2019, a student's residence hall door decoration was vandalized with a racial slur against Indigenous people and the words "go back to the rez.

"[39] In November 2019, five football players were suspended from the team for using social media to convey racist messages targeting the campus Black Empowerment Organization.

The Council Oak is integrated into the university seal to symbolize UW-Eau Claire's commitment to serving as a place of meeting and exchange.

Service-learning "is intended to provide students with an opportunity to serve their community, apply knowledge gained in the classroom, enhance their critical thinking skills, and become informed, ethical, responsible, and active citizens.

Honors colloquia are interdisciplinary courses that encourage students to make connections across disciplines and sample knowledge outside their major while engaging in discussions with their classmates.

It also holds one of the nation's largest collections of jazz, which includes more than 1000 charts and 1000 recordings of artists such as Woody Herman, Sammy Nestico, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman and Henry Mancini.

The program at Eau Claire holds one of the top participation rates among Universities at the Master's level in the country.

The Forum has hosted a variety of speakers including Martin Luther King Jr., Carl Sagan, Henry Kissinger, William F. Buckley Jr., Maya Angelou, Richard Nixon, Noam Chomsky and Monica Lewinsky.

The program was set up after the death of Ann Devroy, the chief White House correspondent at The Washington Post and a 1970 UW-Eau Claire graduate.

Each year a noted journalist presents a keynote address at the Ann Devroy Memorial Forum, and a fellowship is given to a promising UW-Eau Claire journalism student.

[73][74] The band performs at Blugold home games, field exhibitions, parades, stage shows, and other selected events.

[75][76] UW–Eau Claire's Jazz Ensemble I is an eight-time winner of Down Beat's "Best College Big Band" award and has been nominated for a Grammy twice.

[79][80][81] The festival regularly attracts respected jazz musicians including Gary Burton, Bill Evans, Rufus Reid, Lewis Nash, Michael Brecker, Stanley Jordan, Eric Marienthal, Bobby Sanabria, Chris Potter, Benny Green, Charlie Byrd, Ira Sullivan and Slide Hampton.

The college and high school bands compete to win awards, and UW-Eau Claire's Jazz I regularly performs with the invited guests.

"[85] It is modeled on the New Year's Eve Kaiser Ball and showcases the University Women's Concert Choral and Singing Statesmen ensembles, which open the evening with several pieces including the American and Austrian national anthems, University Symphony Orchestra, which performs waltzes and polkas from the Strauss Era, and the Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble I, which plays music from the Big Band Era.

[88] Performances at this event include "swing classics, sultry ballads, and modern twists" from the UW–Eau Claire Jazz ensembles I and II, community guest artists, and "surprise vocalists."

"[89] The Pablo Center at the Confluence is a building in downtown Eau Claire used for a variety of showings and performance art displays.

[90] Inside of the center are the Jamf and RCU theatres, two of the largest performing spaces available to college students in the nation, light and sound projection labs, recording studios, and several art galleries.

[91] Eau Claire athletes are referred to as "Blugolds," a name coined to reflect the school colors, navy blue and old gold.

There are twelve men's varsity sports programs (basketball, cross country, football, golf, ice hockey, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, wrestling, soccer, and baseball) and thirteen women's sports programs (basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, and volleyball).