MADISON, Wis. — UW–Madison officially opened Irving and Dorothy Levy Hall on Thursday, adding a new academic space to the campus at the corner of North Park and West Johnson streets. The building will serve as a home for courses and programs in history, African American studies, gender and women’s studies, and religious studies. The university broke ground on the project in May 2024. Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots, Gov. Tony Evers and other UW leaders attended the opening ceremony. Speakers described the building as an investment in humanities education and in the role those fields play across Wisconsin. Grant Nelsestuen, associate dean for arts and humanities in the College of Letters and Science, said the project is unusual because it was designed specifically for the humanities. “That’s super exciting,” Nelsestuen said, calling the building an endorsement of the work humanities programs do for students and the state. The opening comes as the building begins taking on a central role in instruction for departments that examine history, culture, identity, belief and public life. Its location also places those classrooms and programs near one of the university’s busiest campus corridors.