When Eric M. Wilcots imagines Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall two years from now, he sees students biking to class, faculty members collaborating on research and courses that push for deep critical thought. The Dean of the College of Letters & Science and Mary C. Jacoby Professor of Astronomy sees a “hub for the humanities.”
“Eight departments in the College of Letters & Science will call Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall home, but the reach goes far beyond L&S,” Wilcots says. “It’s likely that nearly every incoming student will take a class in Levy Hall over the course of their college education.”
The Department of History will be housed in the new building along with African American Studies, American Indian and Indigenous Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano/a and Latina/o Studies, Gender & Women’s Studies, Jewish Studies and Religious Studies.
It’s the collaboration between these departments that has Simon Balto (’05, ’10, ’15) most excited. As a three-time graduate from L&S and the College of Letters & Science Mary Herman Rubinstein Professor of History, he has spent more than two decades on and off in the current Humanities Building on campus.
“One of the joys of academia is when you’re working in your office and you have your door open and someone randomly pops by, and all of a sudden that random pop by turns into an interesting conversation about the research you’re doing,” Balto says. “No one goes wandering around the current Humanities Building unless they’re lost.”
Balto is a professor in the Department of History with an expertise in African American history, so for him to have his future office in Levy Hall near faculty members like Department of African American Studies’ Chair and Professor Christy Clark-Pujara, who specializes in history, is a huge opportunity for him.
“Having history share a space with all of these other departments that have such an important and profound lesson to teach is really powerful,” Balto says. “For us to be in a shared home opens up a lot of really important avenues for collaboration and intellectual community — and to just build and continue to strengthen one another.”
Susan Zaeske (’89, ’92, ’97), a professor of communication arts and the former associate dean for the arts & humanities, is also a three-time L&S grad. What she’s excited about with this new space is a renewed commitment to the humanities.
“What we desperately need is to better understand the human condition,” Zaeske says. “When Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall opens, our campus and wider community will benefit from a model building in higher education that will offer an ideal environment for learning and research.”
That sentiment is at the core of the vision for this building. Dean Wilcots sees Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall as a singular statement that the humanities are at the heart of the university’s mission and the Wisconsin Idea.
“In a time when many campuses are devaluing the liberal arts, our university is standing tall and renewing our commitment to telling the human story,” Wilcots says. “If we are to tackle the great challenges facing us, we need to understand who we are as humans, our stories and how we engage with each other.”
Marv (’68, ’71) and Jeff (’72) Levy are the lead donors for the project and the building’s name honors the memory of their parents. Marv, Jeff and their late brother Phillip (’64) Levy are all proud L&S graduates.
“It will be a beehive of activity,” Jeff says, picturing the future building. “We hope that students will be as excited about the building as we are,” Marv adds.
