Long-planned UW-Madison engineering building nets $75M donation

University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni donors are giving $75 million for construction of a long-awaited new engineering building.

The gift, from brothers Marvin and Jeffrey Levy, covers half the private dollars needed for the building. It will be named after their late brother Phillip A. Levy, who graduated from the university in 1964.

The donation was announced Wednesday at an event at Bascom Hall on campus.

“Our grant is also, in our mind, a gift to the people of the state of Wisconsin,” Marvin Levy said to an audience of dozens. “Wisconsin’s economy will really benefit from having a tremendous increase in the graduation of engineers from this campus.”

University leaders have been working to build a new engineering building for years, looking to expand a program that was forced to turn away applicants because of space constraints in existing facilities. According to past statements, about 8,000 students apply to engineering programs each year, but the campus can only admit around 1,200.

“This [building] will let us increase the size of our entering engineering class,” said UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin. “Once we’ve started construction, we’ll probably start making small increases even at that point, since we know the building will be here soon.”

The university hopes to begin construction within the next year so that they can open the building in summer 2028, she added. 

Although the new building was a top priority for the university, it was stripped from the state budget last year. State funding was finally unlocked as part of a deal promoted by Republican legislators approved by the Board of Regents to limit DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) staffing at system universities. 

Gov. Tony Evers signed the bill allowing the university to move forward with construction of the $347 million project in March. Under that plan, the state will pay $197 million toward the project, with the remaining balance coming from private giving. With the Levy’s pledge and other donations, their $150 million private-dollar goal is close to three-quarters complete, Chancellor Mnookin said.

In announcing Levy’s donation, the university said the building will be named the Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center, noting it will be the new centerpiece of the College of Engineering campus.

Wisconsin businesses have voiced support for the eight-story, 395,000 square-foot building, saying it would help the program remain competitive. 

Phil Levy, who died in 2021, graduated from the university with an English degree. He went on to become an interior designer and founded Phillip Levy Fine Furniture and Interior Design in Madison. He was active in the community and with the university, and established the Phillip A. Levy Design Excellence Fund that led to the school’s Master of Science in Design + Innovation program, offered jointly with the College of Engineering.

“I wish Phil was here today,” Marvin Levy said. “None of us were engineers, but all through this process, Jeff and I feel we’re engineering a great university.”