Skip to main content

Groundbreaking held for Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery

May 6, 2008

Gov. Jim Doyle and UW–Madison alumni John and Tashia Morgridge joined the UW–Madison community on May 2 to celebrate the start of construction of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.

Photo from groundbreaking ceremony

Chancellor John D. Wiley delivers remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony while Gov. Jim Doyle (seated, front row, left) and Tashia Morgridge look on.

Photo: Michael I. Kienitz

Hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), manager of the building project, the groundbreaking ceremony took place at the construction site on the 1300 block of University Avenue. The event featured several speakers, including UW–Madison Chancellor John Wiley, Doyle and the Morgridges.

The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery is being made possible by a $50 million gift from the Morgridges, matched by $50 million from WARF and $50 million from the state. The state-of-the-art research facility — composed of the public Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) and the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research — is expected to open in 2010.

Ceremony speakers included:

  • Chancellor John Wiley
  • Jan Ver Hagen, president, WARF board of trustees
  • Marsha Mailick Seltzer, interim director, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery; director, UW–Madison Waisman Center
  • Carl Gulbrandsen, chair, Morgridge Institute board of trustees and Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery Building Committee; managing director, WARF
  • Gov. Jim Doyle
  • John Morgridge, trustee, WARF and Morgridge Institute; chairman emeritus, Cisco Systems Inc.
  • Tashia Morgridge, trustee, Morgridge Institute; board of visitors, UW–Madison School of Education