The title of the UW’s business school stands out because, unlike other schools and colleges on campus, it doesn’t use the “University of …” part, nor does it have an individual’s name attached to it. But it is, in fact, a named school. It just happens to be named after Wisconsin and the university, not a single person or family. This unconventional decision was made in 2007 when 13 alumni formed the Wisconsin Naming Partnership and pooled an $85 million gift dedicated to not changing the business school’s name for 20 years. (The agreement expires in 2027, but the school is hoping to keep a good thing going.) The business school, originally called the School of Commerce, was established 125 years ago as part of the College of Letters & Science. Within four years, in 1904, it was folded into the Department of Economics and renamed the Course in Commerce. In 1944, the UW established it as a separate entity and redubbed it the “School of Commerce.” According to the UW’s alumni magazine, then called the Wisconsin Alumnus (another relatively frequent target of name changes), the school adopted its current name, the Wisconsin School of Business, in 1966.