UW-Madison alumni John and Tashia Morgridge recently donated $100 million to the university in an effort to support endowed faculty positions, according to a university release.
The donation, which was announced during Saturday’s football game against Nebraska, marks the largest single contribution by a single donor in university history and will go toward funding professorships, chairs and distinguished chairs.
The Morgridges, who are Wauwatosa natives and 1955 UW graduates, set up a one-to-one system that will match the donation of any outside donor who contributes to these endowed positions.
“This is a very Wisconsin gift and a gift very like the Morgridges – it’s not about them,” UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in the release. “The names of every one of these endowed chairs will be those of the matching donors, not of the Morgridges.”
The Morgridges’ contribution will be largely significant both to the university and the state, Blank said in the release.
“This extraordinary gift, and the gifts it will inspire, will shape the UW’s future in ways we cannot even foresee right now,” she said.
Blank pointed out the gift’s potential to have a “ripple” effect by positively affecting graduate research as well as the thousands of students who will learn and work under highly-qualified researchers and academics, according to the release.
Presently, UW-Madison is home to 102 fully endowed professorships and 34 chairs, numbers which could double as a result of the Morgridges’ gift, according to the release.
