While folks were talking about the GE Foundation's $20.4 grant to MPS this week, UWM also announced a multi-million-dollar gift.

The donation from Lynde Uihlein will be used toward a new Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the university announced on Wednesday, the same day that MPS and GE held its event announcing that grant.

UWM will use the money to fund a director and an endowed chair at the center, which will be part of the university's new graduate-level School of Freshwater Sciences.

"This Center will provide world-class interdisciplinary solutions for problems related to the protection and restoration of our freshwater resources, and it will further position Milwaukee and the region as a national and international hub of water policy and technology innovation," said UWM Interim Chancellor Michael Lovell.

""UWM is grateful to Lynde Uihlein for the opportunity to provide such a vital resource to her alma mater, Southeastern Wisconsin and the nation."

Recruitment for both positions is expected to begin in spring.

"In creating this endowment I hope to contribute to the protection of the world's freshwater resources," said Uihlein. "My purpose is to foster an interdependent approach that will bridge the gaps between science, technology, business and the public good. By focusing on policy, the Center will bring to bear effective strategies that protect, conserve and restore our precious freshwaters."