Steve and Lynn Swensen

Steve and Lynn Swensen  

Stephen “Steve” Swensen’s roots at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls run deep. 

As the son of a prominent UW-River Falls leader and professor and one of six siblings who all attended the university, Steve’s connection already was strong before he met his future wife, Lynn, in his freshman calculus class in fall 1974. 

Steve sat in the front row, and Lynn sat a row behind him.  

“I spent as much time looking over my shoulder as I did watching the professor,” Steve joked, recalling how three years later he proposed to Lynn on a Japan-America Student Conference trip to Japan. 

They were married six months before graduating in 1978, sealing their love for each other and their bond with the institution that brought them together. 

During the 2022-23 academic year, the Swensens elected to express their appreciation to UW-River Falls through a major gift to the Science and Technology Innovation Center planned on campus. The SciTech project, scheduled to have its groundbreaking ceremony this fall, will offer students and faculty a transformational teaching and learning environment and support collaborations with regional and Wisconsin businesses. 

“From the moment Steve and Lynn heard details about SciTech, it was clear they understood the vital importance of the project and the impact it will have on generations of Falcons,” said Rick Foy, assistant chancellor for university advancement. “Their generous gift is even more meaningful because of the Swensen family’s long and deep relationship with UW-River Falls. We’re incredibly grateful for their support and the legacy they’ve established.” 

In recognition of their donation, the Swensens will have a SciTech chemistry lab named in their honor. 

“This is our way of saying thank you for all that UW-River Falls and the River Falls community have done for us,” Steve said. “Donating to a chemistry lab just fit with part of what we are grateful for — our love of learning and the spirit of inquiry that started at UW-River Falls.” 

The gift also was a nod to Steve’s late father, Richard “Dick” Swensen, a chemistry professor at the university before serving as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 

Steve and Lynn Swensen, now of Rio Verde, Ariz., expressed confidence that the SciTech project will help foster a similar spirit of inquiry in generations of new students at UW-River Falls. 

“It’s not just the building itself,” Steve said, “but what they’re going to do with the building to advance science and technology.” 

As a senior fellow for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and former chief quality officer and director of leadership and organization development at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, Steve has been dedicated to advancing science his entire career. He also served as a full professor specializing in radiology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, where he authored three books and 207 articles along with heading up three National Institutes of Health grants totaling more than $10 million that have led to advancements in the early detection, understanding and treatment of cancers and lung disease. 

Steve was named a UWRF Distinguished Alumni in 2005.  

Lynn, an education major at UWRF, helped guide students as a teacher and education administrator at Mayo for 20 years.