UW’s new Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall welcomes the world

The transformational hub for the humanities and interpretive social sciences will serve as a center for cultural studies, history, community and more.

Walk through Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall and you'll find students everywhere. They're sitting in lecture halls, tucked into study pods, grabbing coffee at the café or seeking career advice at the Baumann Family SuccessWorks Gateway. You'll also find professors discussing their upcoming books, research projects and collaborative efforts in the halls and on the staircase. This building is a place to linger - exactly as it was designed to be.

To celebrate this vision coming to life, alumni, faculty, staff, donors, supporters from the state government and campus community members came together on Thursday for an official grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"Students will benefit from this building for generations to come, and you can see why they already love it here," says interim Dean for the College of Letters & Science Kristin R. Eschenfelder. "From all the natural light to the outstanding art installations and the amazing attention to even the smallest of details, this building is just spectacular!"

The festivities included "passports," so guests could visit all eight academic departments who now call this state-of-the-art learning facility their new home. Another must stop on the tour was on the third floor, where visitors could grab the new Babcock ice cream flavor, "Levylicious."

Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall's construction was made possible through the generosity of brothers Marv and Jeff Levy, who made a $20 million gift in honor of their late parents, Irving and Dorothy Levy. Marv, Jeff and their late brother, Phillip Levy, all graduated from the College of Letters & Science.

"Jeff and I both view Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall as an opportunity for the University of Wisconsin-Madison to reach for the stars of higher education," says Marv Levy. "It's an opportunity to recruit both great educators and great students. It's an opportunity to do research that will benefit all the citizens of Wisconsin. It's an opportunity for students to learn and study in a fantastic built environment for the ages."

"Our hope is that Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall will create the conditions for unexpected encounters, challenging questions and lifelong memories," adds Jeff Levy. "The students will have the chance to discover who they are and how they might contribute to the world around them."

The $115 million project - which was completed on time and on budget - also received critical funding of $60 million from the State of Wisconsin, with support from Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin State Senate and State Assembly, in addition to gifts from many other generous donors.

"Our UW System is one of our state's greatest assets, not only in inspiring and educating future leaders, but in bolstering our workforce and economy statewide," says Evers. "That's why we must make sure these institutions have the means to continue delivering the world-class curriculum, programming and support for students that UW is known for."

Interim Chancellor Eric M. Wilcots remembers standing across the street from the building with Marv and Jeff Levy several years ago envisioning the potential impact this building would someday have. Thanks to years of fundraising, design meetings and many passionate supporters, that vision has now come to life.

"We cannot tackle the grand challenges that are facing our nation and world today without understanding what it means to be human, without knowing something about our history, about our culture, or without being able to wrestle with the questions for which there may not be any correct answers," says Wilcots, who personally oversaw the design process while he was Dean for the College of Letters & Science. "I see the opening of this great new building as an expression of our strong commitment to the humanities and to that ever-fearless sifting and winnowing that guides what we do."