By Dominic Yates, reporting intern
UW-Stout’s Center for the Study of Institutions & Innovation (CSII) has gotten a name change after receiving a $2.36-million donation from the Menard family.
The donation is one of several that have been given to universities nationwide by the family. John Menard, founder of midwestern home improvement store Menards, is a Wisconsin native and a UW-Eau Claire alumnus.
The UW-Stout donation will fund student and faculty research programs, guest speakers at the university and other activities.
It will be disbursed over the course of three years, with the university collecting about $800,000 annually. Dr. Timothy Shiell, director of the newly-renamed Menard CSII, said that there were discussions of the donation long before it came to fruition.
“We discussed the gift for six months or so before it was finalized,” he said.
“We are the hub for a network of over 20 Wisconsin universities and colleges who provide civil liberty-related faculty and student research grants, student internship opportunities; course development; speakers, panels and debates; reading groups; and much more for their faculty, staff, students and community,” Shiell said.
Koch grant established CSII in 2017
The CSII, established in 2017 with a $425,000 donation from the Charles Koch Foundation, is headquartered at UW-Stout. The center funds a variety of programs and campus opportunities there and at other campuses around Wisconsin.
“In its first two years, the center sponsored more than 50 events and activities at UW-Stout and more than 200 events and activities across the state, reaching more than 15,000 campus and community members,” according to the CSII website.
The website lists the CSII’s mission as promoting “the study and discussion of civil liberties and related institutions . . . and innovations through scholarly inquiry, educational activities and community outreach.”
Jim Handley, senior lecturer in peace studies and geography at UW-Stout, is one of the faculty members whose program benefits from the CSII funding.
“The funds from John Menard make it possible for me to send up to eight students to Selma, AL for five weeks during the summer. Students work on projects related to community empowerment, social and racial justice and criminal justice reform,” he said.
Handley also said that without the donation, his program, among others, would not be able to continue.
“The Nonviolence and Social Change Leadership Institute would not exist without this funding,” he said. “We would not be able to sustain the relationship we have built with organizations in Selma without this funding.”
UW-Stout is not the only school that has received donations from the Menard family. Menard also donated $2.1 million to the UW-La Crosse School of Business Administration and $2 million to the Kansas State University School of Business Administration.
The Menard family’s open letter to the public, released after the UW-Stout donation was announced, said:
“We hope our support of the University of Wisconsin-Stout will enhance the educational experiences of students, preparing them for future success and inspiring generational prosperity throughout communities across the Midwest to lead the way.”
Dominic Yates is a junior at UW-Stout, majoring in Professional Communication and Emerging Media.