Gifts from Alumni Have the Union Reaching New Heights

Photo by Jeff Miller, University Communications.

Phase I of the Union’s Reinvestment

Accomplished with the assistance of private giving and student fees, the Memorial Union Reinvestment is giving a facelift to the building that has been the campus’s living room for nearly nine decades — the first major renovation in its history.

The Union depends on funds from alumni and donors to ensure that students have opportunities to see high-quality dramatic and musical performances and to experience hands-on, outside-the-classroom learning opportunities. Although more than half of the funds for the renovation have come from student fees and operating revenue, gifts play an important role in making the Union reinvestment possible.

The project’s first phase began in 2012 with the closing of the theater and several other facilities on the west side of the building, including the Wheelhouse Studios, the Fredric March Play Circle, and the Hoofers’ clubhouse. Among the alumni supporting the project were Mike and Mary Sue Shannon. Fans of the Union, the Shannons made a significant gift toward the project, and the theater’s largest performance space has been renamed Shannon Hall in their honor.

Not part of the original Memorial Union, the theater first opened in 1939. Its reopening in September 2014 featured the Madison World Music Festival, which included a performance by BANDALOOP, a vertical dance troupe based in California.

The second phase of construction, which includes work on the building’s east wing and the Terrace, began in 2015 and will continue through 2016.

Memorial Union remains a popular destination on campus, not only for students, but for alumni and visitors as well. In June 2015, it was named to the National Register of Historic Places.