With 2024 coming to an end, the Office of University Relations shares Marquette’s top 10 news moments and media stories of the year. This does not include media related to the death of Dr. Michael R. Lovell. We continue to mourn this loss and remember his family in prayer.

10. Haggerty Museum of Art turns 40 with a new director

This was an exciting year for the Haggerty Museum of Art, as it welcomed John McKinnon as its new director and celebrates its 40th anniversary with exhibitions throughout the 2024-25 academic year. McKinnon has been busy introducing himself to Milwaukee’s arts and culture community, while sharing the excitement of the museum’s 40th anniversary events.

9. James W. Foley’s legacy continues at Marquette

This year was the 10th anniversary of the murder of journalist and Marquette alumnus James Foley. Raynor Library announced the James Wright Foley Archives Collection, a collection of his personal writings, reflections and works from his life and career until his murder, at the start of the year. His mother Diane was in Milwaukee to receive James’ posthumous Service Award as part of Alumni Weekend in May and CBS 58’s Mike Strehlow was on-hand as she toured the archive space for the first time.

8. Move-in day excitement

Excitement around a new academic year starts when students move into campus residences. Move-in day is annually a big draw for media and 2024 was no exception. Several TV stations were on campus capturing the excitement for first-year students and their families.

7. Marquette graduates reach to set the world on fire

The year comes to an end with Commencement, in which graduating seniors garner coverage as they leave Marquette to “go and set the world on fire.” Here are some student stories that media featured:

6. Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility gets a first look ahead of 2025 opening

The Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility opened its doors for a hard hat media tour, giving local print reporters and student media a first look at the reimagined space. In fact, reporters from the Marquette Tribune were the first students to see the facility, which centralizes recreation, mental health and medical resources in one building.

5. College of Nursing shows off new home

The College of Nursing moved into a home in the fall, leaving Clark Hall for a new Straz Hall. The 103,000-square-foot, five-story building will aid the college in preparing as many as 5,000 new Marquette Nurses over the next decade as part of a bold expansion initiative that calls for increased enrollment and greater diversity. Media were given an in-progress tour of the former home of Marquette Business in May and returned to see the finished product in early September.

4. Lemonis Center for Student Success makes immediate impact

The Lemonis Center for Student Success opened its doors to students at the start of the fall 2024 semester and has been its own success story, with more than 2,130 different students reserving study spaces in the first three months, with 90,300 swiped entries to the space. Media, such as WISN 12 toured the space ahead of its opening, while Marilyn Jones, director of the Lemonis Center, and Dr. John Su, vice provost for academic affairs and student success, joined Inside Higher Ed’s The Key podcast to discuss how Marquette remodeled its Memorial Library to better support students.

3. Marquette experts take center stage in political year

The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and November’s elections provided a national stage for Marquette faculty experts from the Department of Political Science and the Marquette Law School Poll. Marquette experts appeared multiple times in the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, USA Today and ABC News, among many other high-profile outlets. The figures below reflect June — in the lead-up to the RNC — until December, which accounts for post-election analysis:

Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law Poll, was quoted or cited in 189 stories — not including the hundreds of Law Poll citations. The stories were syndicated for almost 1,500 placements.
John Johnson, research fellow in the Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, has become an active media resource for his research and analysis on new legislative maps in Wisconsin, state voting demographics and results from the November elections. He appeared in 70 articles during this period, which were syndicated for 329 links.
Dr. Julia Azari, professor of political science, was sought after for her expertise on presidential elections. She was quoted and cited in over 50 unique stories from June to December, which combined to be syndicated over 600 times.

2. Find someone who loves you as much as D-Wade loves Marquette (and Marquette loves him!)

It was tempting to make this No. 3 for obvious reasons. To say that Dwyane Wade remains a popular figure at Marquette is an understatement. He returned to the university as Commencement speaker in 2022, but may have made a larger impact in January 2024 when he made a $3 million gift to Marquette to extend the Tragil Wade-Johnson Summer Reading Program, establish the Wade Scholars and support a new men’s basketball practice facility in a future expansion of the Athletic and Human Performance Research Center. Local media were right there for the announcement, but the gift also made national news, sports news and even reached Miami Heat Nation.

1. President Kimo Ah Yun

For just the 25th time in Marquette’s 143-year history, the university welcomed a new president when Acting President Kimo Ah Yun was named permanent president on Nov. 20. His announcement was well covered, media attended the press conference and captured student reaction. When he assumed the role on an acting basis in June, he met with media to discuss his efforts to help the campus heal and provide stability for the campus community.