The IRE's history dates back to the mid-1970s when the UW System Board of Regents authorized the creation of the American Ethnic Studies Coordinating Committee (AESCC) and the Center for the Study of Minorities and the Disadvantaged (M/D Center). These two entities amalgamated in 1987 to create the IRE. Housed on the UW-Milwaukee campus, the UW System Institute on Race and Ethnicity is unique in the American academy in that it is the only scholarly institute on racial and ethnic studies which is systemwide and serves all the     state's campuses. As such, the IRE's existence sends a strong signal regarding the importance that the UW System places on the study of race, ethnicity, diversity, and pluralism statewide, nationally, and internationally. Administratively, the IRE reports to the Office of the UW System Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.