WPT and the UW-Madison announce the Timothy William Trout Education Innovation Lab

December 12, 2018 Erik Ernst Leave a Comment

Gift of $2.1 Million from Dr. Monroe and Sandra Trout creates partnership among Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Morgridge Institute for Research, UW Madison School of Education and Wisconsin Public Television.

An ambitious new partnership in Wisconsin will create, connect, and activate world-class content creators in science, instruction and media with teachers and learners across the state and the nation. This K-12 education-based project will leverage the data, knowledge and expertise of a top university, coupled with the national educational resources and reach of the PBS system, all focused and concentrated through the innovation and educational infrastructure of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT).

Dr. Monroe and Sandra Trout, who earlier created the Timothy William Trout Education Endowment Fund at Wisconsin Public Television, have made a gift of $2.1 million as an investment in creating this new model, recognizing the power of public media to help learners, teachers and parents with valuable educational programming and resources.

“With this investment, in memory of their son Timothy, Dr. Monroe and Sandra Trout will help fuel the next generation of scientists and explorers,” said Jon Miskowski, WPT Director of Television. “This work will help connect the breadth and depth of world-class resources of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the rest of the state, and nation, through public television. It’s the Wisconsin Idea realized.”

This endeavor will join the University of Wisconsin’s premiere science discovery labs through a partnership with Discovery Outreach, a joint venture of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, the Morgridge Institute for Research and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; together with the UW-Madison School of Education, the leading public school of education in the nation; and the reach and impact of WPT’s media resources and broadcast, online and classroom engagement fully comprise the Timothy William Trout Education Innovation Lab.

“As part of UW-Madison, Wisconsin Public Television shares its mission to provide knowledge, connect to the whole state, and make life better for its citizens,” says UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank. “Through this new partnership, WPT and UW’s faculty will build new connections to content available across our campus – from both our research and teaching.  We expect that this will provide new opportunities for public media to inform and engage learners.”

Fueled by creative leadership and the energy and academic excellence of the collaboration, the approach will be research-based and be subject to rigorous evaluation in a spirit of continuous improvement. The project’s goals include inspiring and enabling teachers and learners to stoke personalized curiosity-driven learning experiences, creating institutional level change in how research reaches public and K-12 audiences, and developing models and resources to be shared at a national level.

“This embodiment of the Wisconsin Idea will help us translate the discoveries happening inside the Discovery Building into public knowledge and will advance our efforts to bring STEM programming to the citizens of Wisconsin and beyond,” says WID Director Jo Handelsman.

The Timothy William Trout Education Innovation Lab will focus the energy and expertise needed to deliver inspirational, high quality science education tools and roadmaps that teachers and learners need and can easily use in their classrooms, homes and other learning environments.

WPT is a service of the Educational Communications Board and the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wisconsin Public Television is a place to grow through learning on WHA-TV, Madison; WPNE-TV, Green Bay; WHRM-TV, Wausau; WLEF-TV, Park Falls; WHLA-TV, La Crosse; and WHWC-TV, Menomonie-Eau Claire.

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery is an interdisciplinary research institute on the UW-Madison campus built to develop a new approach to science driven by unlikely collaborations and partnerships.

The Morgridge Institute for Research is an independent biomedical research organization that explores uncharted scientific territory to discover tomorrow’s cures.

PBS public television Wisconsin Public Television Wisconsin UW Madison Education