[media-credit name=’BEN CLASSON/Herald file photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]With constant construction on campus, the University of Wisconsin continues to undergo expansion with the help of generous donors in the community.

Yet one of the stipulations for some donors is permanent recognition by naming a building after their family.

Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Planning and Management Alan Fish said if a donor gives a gift that supports anywhere between 25 to 50 percent of the project, the individual or family can typically ask for a naming.

For example, Fish said buildings such as the Kohl Center, Fluno Center, Pyle Center and Chazen Museum of Art are all named after lead contributors who requested recognition.

Recently, the donor family chose to name the business school the Wisconsin School of Business rather than the family name Grainger, Fish said.

“You may be surprised that the majority of the buildings don’t have names,” Fish said. “Most of the time people are very supportive of the project and don’t ask for a naming opportunity.”

However, if a donor requests naming rights, Fish said the Board of Regents must approve it.

According to the Facility Naming Policy, the regents must approve the naming in a closed session and public announcement of the request by the university cannot be made until the name has been officially approved.

UW System Board of Regents Vice President Chuck Pruitt said their only purpose is to ensure there is integrity in the process and recognize the long-term nature of a naming decision.

“We will always balance the fundraising needs of the university with the need for us to also maintain the university’s well-deserved reputation for quality,” Pruitt said. “Naming rights are an important fundraising tool for the university — and not just for buildings but also for scholarships, faculty positions, research projects and a host of other things that can be named in honor of donors and other respected university leaders.”

Yet, aside from new buildings, naming rights of rooms and wings within buildings are left up to each UW institution.

Director of Space Management Doug Rose said most rooms in buildings are given honorary names after someone who worked here, went to school here or had prior affiliation with the university but has nothing to do with a specific donation.

Under the regents’ guidelines, Rose said the department chair or dean of a specific college would need to endorse the naming of a particular section of a building. The request would then be taken to the chancellor’s office for approval.

Fish said despite the economic slowdown, all of the projects planned to take place in the next four years have already been financed, and if naming approval was necessary it occurred even before the design.

Still, Fish said construction is not going to slow down, and private support will need to increase, especially with decreasing state funding.

Consequently, Fish said naming new building could become more frequent because many buildings constructed in the 1960s need to come down.

Additionally, many buildings, such as those in the School of Education and School of Human Ecology, need improvements so they can stand for another century.

“As private support becomes a larger part of the overall university budget, we need to give support to those seeking to raise these funds in a responsible way,” Pruitt said.