Baldwin Endowment

Bringing the Universe to Wisconsin is funded in part by the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment. The endowment was established in 2002 by Ira Baldwin and Ineva Reilly Baldwin, both UW-Madison graduates who worked for the university and were heavily involved in administration.

The purpose of the endowment closely follows the Wisconsin Idea, an early 1900’s Progressive-era policy commonly expressed as “the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state.” At the time it was closely linked to applying progressive social legislation but over the years has expanded to include sharing information about agriculture, health, environment, and science.

The Baldwin’s maintained that the “quality of a university is determined primarily by the quality of its staff and students.” Partnering with the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment to share astrophysics and engineering innovation with citizens around the state while developing the quality of our team.