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MILWAUKEE (AP) — New Marquette University President Michael Lovell announced an expansion of the school's Milwaukee campus and plans to forge new partnerships during his inaugural ceremony address Friday.
Lovell said Marquette has purchased about 7 acres that will expand the school's footprint to the east. He said the university will close on the property at the end of September.
He called the deal a "once a generation opportunity" for Marquette and Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1wOYKlg ) reported.
"We look forward to working with the campus community in the coming months to develop the best uses for the land," Lovell said.
Lovell, former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is the first lay president in the Jesuit school's 133-year history.
He announced Marquette will move in to the sixth floor of the $22 million Global Water Center in Milwaukee, joining other universities and water-related companies at the research facility. Opened in September 2013, the center is where water-related academic research and industry research and development can come together. UWM occupies an entire floor of the building.
Lovell said Marquette is exploring options for a presence at the Innovation Campus in Wauwatosa, the public-private research park he championed while at UWM. Marquette will also launch a joint bioengineering department with the Medical College of Wisconsin, Lovell said.
Lovell revealed several major donations, including a planned gift to create a future Center for Advancement of the Humanities. The multimillion dollar commitment from an unidentified donor was made by a Marquette alumna who is a research scholar. Lovell said the center will help establish Marquette as a leading humanities institution in the Midwest.
Lovell also announced a $5 million strategic innovation fund. Among those who donated to the project are the Kern Family Foundation and Donna O'Rourke, whose late husband, Jerry, was a longtime Marquette trustee.
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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com
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