[Iefac.list] Major gift to College of Engineering

[Vicki Bier]

Just wanted to share the great news from the University of Wisconsin-Madison this week.

>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>9/17/15
>
>CONTACT: Renee Meiller, (608) 262-2481, meiller at engr.wisc.edu
>
>MAJOR COMMITMENT TO ELEVATE UW-MADISON UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING EDUCATION
>
>MADISON - On any university campus, the sidewalks are teeming with
>students carrying backpacks filled with the books they'll need for a
>day's worth of classes and homework.
>
>But in the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering,
>textbooks make up only a fraction of a world-class educational experience
>that transports undergraduate students beyond the theory and into real,
>meaningful engineering work that can change the world.
>
>And now, a $22 million commitment over four years from The Grainger
>Foundation of Lake Forest, Illinois, will establish the Grainger Fund for
>Undergraduate Education to help augment that experience, providing
>College of Engineering undergraduate students an unparalleled environment
>that will position them for success, not only academically, but in their
>future careers.
>
>"We are deeply dedicated to providing an outstanding education for our
>undergraduate students," says UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank. "The
>Grainger Foundation's generous commitment will allow us to expand the
>range of experiences we offer to our engineering students, both inside
>and outside the classroom, to give them the skills they will need to
>design innovative solutions to some of the world's most complex problems
>across a broad range of fields."
>
>Nationwide, the demand for engineers is growing - and the burgeoning
>undergraduate student body in the College of Engineering reflects young
>students' interest in careers that enable them to make a difference in
>society.
>
>The Grainger Foundation commitment comes on the heels of a $25 million
>commitment that founded the research-focused Grainger Institute for
>Engineering in the college in June 2014.
>
>This new commitment will help launch initiatives that allow the college
>to educate an increasingly diverse population of undergraduate students
>and to enable a growing number of students to achieve their goal of
>becoming an engineer.
>
>Among those initiatives are a peer-to-peer learning and tutoring center
>that focuses on student success and a level academic playing field for
>students from a wide range of backgrounds; state-of-the-art classrooms
>conducive to collaborative learning that solidifies students' deep
>understanding of the material; and a design innovation maker-space that
>will be a hub for creativity, enabling students to roll up their sleeves,
>explore new ideas, tinker, build and experiment, and in the process,
>broaden their understanding of the entire cycle of product development.
>
>Today, successful engineers aren't siloed in a single discipline, but
>rather, they work in teams and communicate across disciplines. They must
>understand business, social, political, economic, regulatory and ethical
>issues so that they can make informed decisions and develop designs that
>don't just solve a problem; they make sense for the people who will use
>them. This world - which presents societal-scale challenges in fields
>ranging from energy, the environment and sustainability to medicine and
>manufacturing - is the landscape for which the College of Engineering is
>preparing its graduates, says Dean Ian Robertson.
>
>"This commitment will have a transformational impact on the success of
>our undergraduates," says Robertson. "Opportunities for our students to
>work in trans-disciplinary teams, to express their creativity and to
>expand their entrepreneurial skills have become an essential component in
>the engineering experience. We are changing the world by changing the way
>we deliver an undergraduate education."
>
>About The Grainger Foundation
>
>The Grainger Foundation, an independent, private foundation located in
>Lake Forest, Illinois, was established in 1949 by William Wallace
>Grainger, founder of W.W. Grainger, Inc., North America's leading broad
>line supplier of maintenance, repair and operating products. Since its
>founding, the foundation has provided substantive support to a broad
>range of organizations including museums and educational, medical and
>human services institutions. Today, the foundation is guided by the
>leadership of David W. Grainger (BSEE '50), president and director since
>1979.
>###
>-Renee Meiller, (608) 262-2481, meiller at engr.wisc.edu
>