Contacts: Laura Smith, Office of the Governor, 608-261-2162
Stacy Forster, UW-Madison Communications, 608-262-0930
MADISON – Governor Jim Doyle today joined UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin and UW System President Kevin Reilly to announce a $10 million Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to enhance education and research in the humanities at UW-Madison. The grant, which will be matched by the state, is intended to support and sustain strength in core areas, hire new faculty, and support postdoctoral and graduate students.
“As Governor, I have worked hard to make sure that our young people have the opportunity to get a high quality education at Wisconsin’s world-class universities,” Governor Doyle said. “This funding will allow the great humanities programs at UW-Madison to continue to grow and prosper. I want to thank Chancellor Martin and President Reilly for their dedication and innovative thinking and the Mellon Foundation for making this funding possible.”
The Mellon Foundation grant will provide $2.5 million for a permanent endowment for a chair in ancient Greek philosophy. The remaining $17.5 million, including the matching funds, will help fund the hiring of additional faculty; the continuation of a program for postdoctoral students in the humanities and humanities-like social studies to take part in research, teaching and mentoring by senior faculty; and approximately 65 two-year fellowships for graduate students who are in the proposal and writing stage of dissertations in the humanities and certain social studies.
“I’m delighted by this support for the humanities at UW-Madison,” Chancellor Martin said. “The funding will allow us to strengthen fields that are essential to the education of our students and to the body of scholarship that preserves and reinvents culture.”
Governor Doyle has made major new investments in the state’s university campuses that improve the quality of campus life while also supporting learning, teaching and research. Through Governor Doyle’s efforts, projects have been approved on all 12 four-year campuses in the UW System, including the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery at UW-Madison; a new engineering campus, School of Public Health, School of Freshwater Sciences and expanded Great Lakes WATER Institute at UW-Milwaukee; the Jarvis Hall Science and Technology Wing upgrade and the Memorial Student Center at UW-Stout; the new Swenson Hall at UW-Superior; and new academic buildings at UW-Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse.
Since taking office in 2003, Governor Doyle has taken major steps to improve higher education in Wisconsin. The Governor has tripled the amount of financial aid available to students to $243 million. The Governor has also signed legislation to increase the maximum Wisconsin Higher Education Grant for UW System schools from $2,500 to $3,000 and has expanded the college tuition tax deduction. Governor Doyle also created the Wisconsin Covenant, a pathway to higher education for every hardworking Wisconsin student.
