UW-Green Bay Announces $20 Million ‘Ignite the Future’ Campaign Goal

Green Bay, Wis.—Leaders and friends representing the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay announced today (May 2, 2022) a $20 million fundraising goal for its “Ignite the Future” campaign to support and ensure student success. The fastest-growing UW school is already more than halfway to its goal.

See and photos from the event.

At a news conference in its newly remodeled spaces in the Cofrin School of Business, the University announced the campaign goal and highlighted a $5 million gift by Richard and Sharon Resch to establish the Sharon J. Resch Institute of Music. This will include an endowment for scholarships and equipment and funds for a new audio production facility—the Richard J. Resch Audio Production Studio. In introducing Resch, campaign co-chair and Packers President Mark Murphy said, “Sharon is a shining example of how philanthropy can change a community.” Resch, speaking for herself and her husband Dick Resch (namesake of Richard J. Resch School of Engineering) said they have long believed that engineering and music go hand-in-hand.

The University also announced a $1 million gift for Green Bay Athletics and the Electrical Engineering program by Larry Treankler, CEO of The Village Companies. Treankler said he first became truly engaged with the University while watching the Green Bay women’s basketball team battle Baylor in the NCAA Tournament about a decade ago. “I saw something special,” he said. “A passion for the game and compassion for one another…” Treankler said he realized then that the University wasn’t just “a” university, but “our” university. “Once we got involved, it was easy to see that this is a place with wonderful students and student/athletes, and great leaders. And our world is in desperate need of great leaders. We have great faculty who are here for the right reasons and great administrators, and a beautiful campus with one of the great lakes in our own backyard. It’s critical that we create great connections between our university and our community.”

Recently, the University announced a campaign gift from the Schwab Advisor Services, in partnership with the Charles Schwab Foundation, for the newly named Charles Schwab Foundation Center for Personal Financial Planning and the Charles Schwab Foundation Boardroom.

Following the campaign announcement, those present were able to tour the spaces, along with the newly completed Willie D. Davis Finance and Investment Laboratory. A $250,000 gift by the Green Bay Packers honoring the Packers’ great was announced in December of 2020. “This is a wonderful tribute to Willie, who completed his MBA from the University of Chicago while he was still a player. He was a Hall of Fame player who became a great businessman and entrepreneur,” noted Murphy.

Murphy said community and business leaders are recognizing how tied UW-Green Bay is to the region’s success. “We recognize that it needs to continue to grow,” Murphy said. “When we were planning for Titletown, one disadvantage was that the region had fewer college graduates than other communities of our size. We recognize that more college-educated people are staying in the community, and this is a great opportunity to help our region prosper.”

Other campaign chairs are Cordero Barkley ’09 and ’16, Partner & Director, Finance and Investments, Titletown Tech; Ron Dunford, CEO, Schreiber Foods; and Dr. Tina Sauerhammer Dean ’99, private practice surgeon.

In his remarks, UW-Green Bay Chancellor Michael Alexander said the campaign will help build on the University’s “access mission.” In quoting author and educator Nina Simon, Alexander said, “It does not matter how powerful the experience is inside the room if most people cannot or choose not to enter it.”

Alexander said the University can either bemoan the lack of state resources to support the growth or “we can do the right thing and work with the community to support the growth of Northeast Wisconsin.” He said the University will focus on Northeast Wisconsin’s growth and work continuously to improve the quality of life for those who live here.

“It takes humility and courage to create access,” Alexander said. “We are asking our community to join us to dream bigger and rise higher.”

The news conference was held adjacent to newly remodeled spaces in UW-Green Bay’s Cofrin School of Business—the Willie D. Davis Finance & Investment Laboratory and the Charles Schwab Foundation Center for Personal Financial Planning.

The campaign includes 11 strategic priorities:

• Need-based Aid for Students
• First Nations Studies
• Electrical Engineering
• New Finance Laboratory, Student Managed Investment Fund, and a Center for Personal Financial Planning
• Center for Entrepreneurship
• Audio Production
• Institute of Music
• Water Science Research and the National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Institute for Women’s Leadership
• Athletics
• Shorewood Redevelopment

On Thursday, May 5, 2022, from 5:30 to 6 p.m., the University will celebrate the public grand opening of the first of the campaign initiatives to be visible in terms of space—the Willie D. Davis Finance and Investment Laboratory and the Charles Schwab Foundation Center for Personal Financial Planning. More information can be found here for tours. Media is welcome.

About the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Established in 1965, UW-Green Bay is a public institution serving 9,276 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students and 79,604 continuing education enrollees each year across all campus locations. We educate students from pre-college through retirement and offer 200+ degrees, programs and certificates. UW-Green Bay graduates are resilient, inclusive, sustaining and engaged members of their communities, ready to rise to fearlessly face challenges, solve problems and embrace diverse ideas and people. With four campus locations, the University welcomes students from every corner of the world. UW-Green Bay is the fastest growing UW school. For more information, visit www.uwgb.edu.

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