On a visit to the campus for homecoming ceremonies in 1955, when Frederick Wardenburg received an Alumni Recognition Award, he and his wife, Effie, expressed a desire to show their appreciation to the university. They presented the university with a gift of $1,000,000 intended to enlarge the student health facilities. On October 17, 1959, Fred and Effie Wardenburg – who met at CU as students (and graduated in 1900 and 1902, respectively) – attended the dedication of a student health center named in their honor. At the cornerstone-laying ceremony, Fred commented, “You might say this is just in appreciation of what we feel the university did in preparing us for a profession and bringing us together in a marriage that has lasted 55 years.”
The new Wardenburg Health Center included an outpatient clinic, a 53-bed modern hospital, an emergency room, x-ray technology, a physical therapy department, and offices and exam rooms for eight physicians. It provided students with every medical service except major surgery, which was performed in Boulder hospitals. A pharmacy, the Apothecary, was part of the UCHSC School of Pharmacy, and it provided prescription-filling services for students. A cafeteria on the first floor was popular with employees and other members of the university until it closed in the 1980s.
Over the years as the campus grew and student health needs evolved, so did Wardenburg Health Center’s services. Renovations turned the hospital and cafeteria into additional clinic space. Technological advancements were implemented – starting with basic computer systems leading up to digital radiography and electronic health records.
Today the health center is just one piece of a student health network which provides services to students across the campus in the University Memorial Center (through the Community Health department), at the student Recreation Center (through the wellness suite), and at the Center for Community (through Counseling and Psychological Services). As of 2015, Wardenburg Health Services employs over 160 staff members and sees 80,000 patient visits per year.
