UW–Madison breaks ground on long-anticipated engineering center
Gov. Tony Evers talks with Marv Levy, Jeff Levy and Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center. Photo: Bryce Richter
On Thursday, April 17, a crowd of several hundred students, staff, faculty, university leaders, alumni and dignitaries kicked off construction of the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering’s new building at a ceremonial groundbreaking event.
The 395,000-square-foot Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center — named by brothers and UW–Madison alumni Marvin and Jeffrey Levy in memory of their elder brother and alumnus, Phil — will occupy a prominent 2.5-acre site in the heart of the engineering campus.
“The Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center will be a hub for learning, exploration, discovery and innovation for all who use and visit it,” said Ian Robertson, Grainger Dean of the College of Engineering, at the event. “Importantly, it provides an even greater opportunity for our college to benefit humanity through our intertwined missions of education and research.”
Wisconsin’s legislature and Gov. Tony Evers approved funding for the building in March 2024.
“Our UW System is one of our state’s greatest assets, and making sure our campuses can deliver the world-class education students expect and deserve and that our state needs to build the workforce of tomorrow must be a top priority,” said Gov. Evers. “I’m incredibly proud of our work fighting to ensure this project received critical state support and investments. While getting this project done wasn’t without its challenges, we’re thrilled to be breaking ground on an engineering building that’s going to help graduate thousands of new engineers and have a tremendous impact on the students and faculty that teach and learn here, as well as on our state, our workforce, and our future.”
In keeping with the design philosophy of its namesake, the Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center will be welcoming, light-filled and human-centered. Through form as well as function, it will showcase engineering and unite people. Through experiential learning, emerging research, and dedicated industry partnership space, it will stimulate discovery and spark new ideas that will fuel innovation and economic growth in communities across Wisconsin and beyond.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said the new engineering building will help UW–Madison meet the ever-growing demand for an engineering education. Photo by: Bryce Richter
Gov. Tony Evers said the new building will help graduate thousands of new engineers. Photo by: Bryce Richter
Principle donor Marvin Levy spoke during the groundbreaking for the Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center, named after his and Jeffrey Levy's older brother. Photo by: Bryce Richter
Ian Robertson, dean of the College of Engineering, said the building will be a hub for learning, exploration, discovery and innovation. Photo by: Bryce Richter
College of Engineering students listen during the groundbreaking ceremony. Photo by: Bryce Richter
“This is an exciting day for us. We are thrilled to see the beginning of construction on the fantastic Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center. It is such a game-changer for the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the College of Engineering,” said Marv Levy. “We are excited to see the resulting elevation of UW–Madison to a new level of success educating both the students and the engineers of the future.”
The new building will allow the university to provide a relevant, top-quality Wisconsin engineering education to an even greater number of talented students. Currently, the college has the space to educate only about a tenth of all applicants.
“With today’s groundbreaking, we are on the path to not only meeting the ever-growing demand for the engineering education we offer but also to strengthening the excellence of those opportunities,” said Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin. “This combination is a win for our students who want to pursue an engineering education, for Wisconsin employers who are urgently asking for well-educated engineers, and for all who benefit from our pioneering faculty research.”
The ceremonial groundbreaking marked just the third time the university has begun construction of completely new engineering academic building in nearly six decades.
Attendees of the groundbreaking gathered inside Engineering Hall, where floor-to-ceiling windows in the Huibregste Commons atrium provided an apt backdrop — the future building site. Since summer 2024, much of the site has undergone a massive enabling project that is modernizing century-old infrastructure and outdated systems ahead of the new building.
A “mound of ground” inside the atrium served as a construction-site proxy for a symbolic shoveling ceremony that included 20 people pivotal to the success of the building project, and 20 shovels etched with the outline of the Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center. Staff in the college’s Grainger Engineering Design Innovation Laboratory customized each shovel shaft to include a capsule that contains soil from the building site, while engineering students presented the shovels and escorted each shoveler to the dig site.
Honorees and donors take part in a ceremonial earth shoveling. Photo by: Bryce Richter
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Dean of the College of Engineering Ian Robertson take photos with engineering students. Photo by: Bryce Richter
An engraved shovel honors the groundbreaking ceremony. Photo by: Bryce Richter
Audience members and guests listen and look at a mock-up of the building. Photo by: Bryce Richter
For Robertson, the event was the culmination of more than six years of planning and advocacy on the part of countless alumni, friends, industry partners, university leaders and others. “The next chapter in our college’s history has begun — and everyone here in this room has played a role in getting us to this point,” he said. “Now, the Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center will allow our college to grow in size and, importantly, in impact. We can’t wait to fill the building with an even greater number of incredibly talented people, let their boundless energy and creativity soar, and see where their enthusiasm and ideas take us next.”
The building’s architectural and engineering team is Continuum Architects + Planners, S.C., in association with SmithGroup & Ring & DuChateau, LLP. Findorff is the building’s construction firm.
