Overall enrollment held steady. The number of graduate and international students declined, as anticipated. And the University of Wisconsin-Madison welcomed roughly 1,000 of the state’s top students through a new program this fall.
Those were among the key takeaways after Wisconsin’s flagship university released its latest enrollment numbers, based on a student census conducted on the 10th day of classes.
Madison police responded to reports of a fight with a shot fired on Friday in the 200 block of Langdon Street outside Pi Kappa Alpha on UW-Madison’s fraternity row. Authorities took an 18-year-old into custody nearby and recovered physical evidence at the scene.
“We live right over here, and like, past three, four years, we spend so much time on this street. And just to like, the fact that it happened is super scary,” said Jimmy Lynch, a UW-Madison student.
Bringing a new power station online means Wisconsin would need more nuclear engineers to design and operate the plant.
Department Chair Paul Wilson and Assistant Professor Ben Lindley believe there is a ready pipeline of qualified workers in the state to keep up with that added demand. UW-Madison “pumps out” nuclear engineers, but Wisconsin has only one nuclear plant located in Two Rivers, Lindley said. This leaves some graduates to look for employment in other states.
“A lot of them want to stay in the state, and so having more job opportunities would certainly help,” Lindley said.
“It absolutely puts people in this impossible situation where you’re signed up for a plan that you thought covered your provider and then it turns out it doesn’t,” said Dan Sacks, associate professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Written by Anthony Hernandez, a faculty member in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He received a research award from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation for his study on leadership in higher education.
Many residents in high-flood-risk areas, like coastal or riverside communities, have shifted to private flood insurance programs that can cover more damage, said Ben Collier, an associate professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The NFIP covers up to $250,000 for homes and buildings and up to $100,000 in personal property. Collier said costs can easily exceed that in the most severe flood situations.
“The National Flood Insurance Program has been priced too low and has run deficits for many years,” Collier said. “The coverage limits are not especially high.”
Though just 25, Alfonso could scramble the race with his strong ties to Duffy and President Donald Trump. He attended high school in the Wausau area and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to a now-deleted LinkedIn profile.
Arecently fired co-worker of a man severely beaten last month outside Camp Randall in Madison has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the man’s death.
Keith A. Jones, 58, of Madison, attacked Mark A. Tiggelaar, 62, of Fitchburg, in a University of Wisconsin Athletics parking lot in the early morning hours of Sept. 20, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
“Recent budget reductions to NOAA are reducing the observations needed to support these accurate weather prediction models. This budget impact results in fewer observations of the atmosphere and elimination of future satellite systems.”
Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
Marek Michalicka will make $125,000 this year in base salary, according to records released to BadgerExtra by the university through a public records request. This is his first college head coaching position.
He was hired for the job after Kelcy McKenna left for Southern Methodist in August just before the start of what would have been her 10th season in charge. She made $153,816 last season after starting with a $95,000 salary in 2016.
Universities of Wisconsin proposal to redesign general education curriculum would eliminate requirements that students take an ethnic or cultural studies class.
UW system administrators are trying to standardize general education requirements to comply with reforms approved during the biennial budget negotiations aimed at making it easier for students to transfer credits between the 13 universities.
Having studied for two years at his local university, Wisconsin-Madison, he had won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford – unaware, he later insisted, that philosophy at the university was going through “a golden age”.
“The tariffs are an insult to injury,” said Paul Mitchell, a professor of agriculture and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mitchell says farmers are now quietly rethinking the Trump administration’s strategies.
“We already have enough problems,” as he puts it. “Why are you making more for us?”
“Under the present deployments the legality of the orders is dubious, but historically it’s not within the ken of any individual service members to make a decision,” said John W. Hall, a professor of military history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“I feel like closing loopholes is kind of like this idea of putting Band-Aids on big wounds … it doesn’t seem like it will solve a problem,” said Shelby Ellison.
Ellison, a hemp researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at UW–Madison, proposes that the state could implement age limits, require testing and labeling, and prevent packaging that appeals to children.
“There’s lots of things to do with packaging and marketing that there are no restrictions on in Wisconsin that many other states have … but just that you can’t make it look like Skittles, right?” Ellison said.
Thirteen winners have been announced in the UW-Madison 2025 Cool Science Image Contest.
Winning snapshots include photos from professors, students, and specialists.
A flock of pink lawn flamingos will again dot the front lawn of UW-Madison’s Bascom Hill next week.
Support from the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association fundraiser, called Fill the Hill, which has happened at UW-Madison for over a decade, is more significant this year than ever amid cuts to federal funding, its organizers say.
City and UW-Madison officials want to make it easier for low-income students to find cheaper housing options.
Under a city zoning change enacted in 2024, downtown developers may exceed maximum story limits as long as they stay under the maximum height permitted under city ordinances and state law. In exchange, developers building student housing are expected to commit a negotiated amount of affordable beds for low-income applicants.
While the current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women, UW Health is recommending the vaccine for everyone 6 months old and older.
“We’ve always leaned into the professional societies’ recommendations,” said Dr. Jim Conway, the medical director of the UW Health immunization program and an infectious disease physician with UW Health Kids. “The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians [and] the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology have all endorsed, based on data, that every person over 6 months is eligible and should consider getting these vaccines.”
The EPA could take enforcement action against Wisconsin if the Legislature decides not to approve the rule or comply with federal standards, said Steph Tai, an environmental law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“They could initiate what’s called an administrative order to tell the state to comply, or they could do a civil action against the state,” Tai said.
Strifling added the EPA could offer water systems assistance with co
“When the peaks in Yosemite National Park are ice-free, we will be the first humans to lay eyes on that,” Andy Jones, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. candidate in geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an interview.
While heat pumps in the US have traditionally been associated with warmer locations, they are starting to become more feasible for colder climes. “You can pretty much buy a heat pump for most climates in the US and it can lower your energy bills,” Allison Mahvi, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells Popular Science. Some of Mahvi’s research focuses on how to make more efficient heat pump systems for cold climates.
Manly’s list attracted wide notice, and a bit of controversy. But like Embree’s, it was a one-off. A few public institutions made Manly’s top 10—UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin—but the Ivy League and private schools that topped the list remained clubby domains that catered to their traditional clientele by selecting for intangible qualities, such as “character,” over academic excellence.
The planetarium at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has educated hundreds of thousands of visitors about deep space and the night sky for close to 60 years.
That run is ending in December when the projection room will host its final program.
The University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Research on Poverty hosted a webinar Sept. 30 to examine the impact of housing quality on families and communities — focusing on health, stability and the lasting effects of discriminatory policies such as redlining.
The event featured presentations from senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Erik Hembre, Emory University assistant professor of epidemiology Christine Ekenga and Boston University assistant professor of sociology Steven Schmidt.
It’s Bucky Badger’s birthday.
The design for the mascot was copyrighted on Oct. 2, 1940, after an illustrator sketched the likeness of an upright badger wearing a cardinal and white sweater. The Library of Congress deemed this Bucky’s birthday.
Dr. Jim Conway, medical director of the UW Health immunization program and infectious disease physician with UW Health Kids, stressed the importance of vaccines to protect yourself and your loved ones respiratory illness season kicks off.
“By getting vaccinated, you decrease your chances of getting infected, or, if you do get infected, it’s more likely to be a milder case,” said Conway, who is also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “Everyone who can, should get the vaccines, but especially those who are 65 and older or individuals with high-risk factors.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison students will no longer have access to local abortion services, as Madison’s East Planned Parenthood clinic will pause performing abortions in October, forcing students seeking care to travel to the closest clinic located in Rockford, Ill. or independent practices in Milwaukee.
On this day October 2, 1940 “Buckingham Badger,” better known as “Bucky,” was born at UW-Madison.
A Badger mascot has been used by the university since 1889 when intercollegiate football was established.
Sam Frank, the head of the University of Wisconsin-Madison startup Realta Fusion’s theoretical physics team, Kai Shih, a Realta scientist, and Aaron Tran, a UW-Madison postdoctoral researcher, have spent years designing a model that shook up the order of the fusion world.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, for the 2026 academic year went live Wednesday as scheduled, despite the government shutdown.
Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman is urging high school students and their families to fill out FAFSA paperwork if students plan to attend one of the state’s 13 public schools or other private colleges.
The draft legislation calls for the establishment of a registry at the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. The registry would include a website with annual reports on the incidence and prevalence of Parkinson’s Disease in Wisconsin.
For another Wildlife Wednesday, emeritus professor and UW Extension wildlife ecologist Scott Craven joins us to talk about fall hunting seasons, the cost of poaching, and the latest on wolves in Wisconsin.
Antibiotic drugs are polluting waterways and exacerbating the spread of an infectious fungal disease in frogs and salamanders. We talk to Jessica Hua, an associate professor in UW-Madison’s Forest and Wildlife Ecology Department, about new research on the subject.
Barret Elward is an engineer at UW-Madison, and co-president of United Faculty and Academic Staff (UFAS) Local 223, the union that represents faculty and staff at UW-Madison.
Elward and his team study fusion energy. Their work is mainly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is directly affected by the government shutdown.
“We’ve already been operating under don’t buy the expensive things, or be really cautious about your expenses,” Elward said.
While not the typical cat-owners, University of Wisconsin-Madison students are increasingly adopting cats, touting the benefits of cat ownership.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison placed in the top 40 institutions nationwide for undergraduate education for the fourth year in a row, according to recent rankings by U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison international student enrollment fell to its lowest point in at least a decade, reflecting a national trend caused by shifting visa policies in the United States.
More than 67,000 students applied to UW-Madison this admission cycle, making it the most competitive applicant pool the university has ever seen. But the number of enrolled international students dropped by 30%, reaching its lowest point since at least 2013.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin highlighted the arrival of a record 8,500 freshman, even as she warned of looming challenges tied to federal and state funding and free speech scrutiny in a student media roundtable Tuesday.
In the short term, it will also force patients to rethink their upcoming health care appointments, said Dan Sacks, associate professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“It absolutely puts people in this impossible situation where you’re signed up for a plan that you thought covered your provider, and then it turns out it doesn’t for three months,” he said.
After studying at Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Wilson earned a master’s degree in piano performance and composition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Then he moved to Milwaukee to continue his varied career of performing, music directing and teaching.
Wisconsin is welcoming guests from around the globe as the 2025 World Dairy Expo is now underway in Madison.
According to a report from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension Farm Management program, Wisconsin exported $3 billion of agricultural products in 2024, making agriculture a major economic driver for the state.
The organization collected its data from several sources, including the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Miller is an educator at University of Wisconsin- Madison, and worked previously for 10 years as an English teacher.
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, much of the university’s research will continue for the time being, even projects that receive federal funding. But international students and staff may be affected as agencies that oversee passports and visas operate with reduced staffs. Similarly, small business loans and federal research grants will be paused or delayed during a shutdown.
When he’s not writing Brewers-themed songs at a breakneck pace, Gibson fronts Nate Gibson & the Stardazers, a local band that plays country, honky-tonk, rockabilly and bluegrass tunes from the Starday Records label. He is also an archivist at the Mills Music Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and hosts a long-running classic country music show at community radio station WORT 89.9 FM.
Students applying to the University of Wisconsin-Madison will soon need to complete a second, longer financial aid application if they want a share of the millions of dollars in financial aid the university gives out each year.
Starting this fall, UW-Madison will require applicants to fill out the CSS Profile, an online application used by around 270 colleges, universities and scholarship programs to award institutional aid, separate from a different form used to apply for federal financial aid. Students can start working on their CSS Profile Oct. 1.
A panel of media professionals discussed the implications of modern-day censorship at the annual University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics conference Friday.
“Journalism is a public good,” said Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy and communications at The Free Press. “The government needs to step in to figure out how it can help support that.”
For nearly a century, Trout Lake Station in Boulder Junction has been at the center of environmental research in Wisconsin. Now, a new documentary aims to show how the year-round field station’s work extends far beyond lake shorelines.
Operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology, Trout Lake Station has been supporting research since 1925.
PBS Wisconsin Education, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education, recently launched Whoopensocker, a new educational resource collection for upper elementary learners that provides an on-ramp to writing through group games and scaffolded lessons.
Whoopensocker was first developed as a six-week teaching artist residency by Erica Halverson, a professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at the UW-Madison School of Education. Halverson teamed up with PBS Wisconsin Education to make a multimedia version of the program that’s accessible to more educators around the state and in spaces where an artist residency may not be available.
“This terrible decision between offering abortion care or receiving Medicaid reimbursement for other services is a decision that, ultimately, is going to affect patients,” Dr. Jenny Higgins, director of the University of Wisconsin Collaborative for Reproductive Equity. “It’s a decision that no healthcare system should have to make.”
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater announced Thursday that it has partnered with Wisconsin technical colleges to deliver a pathway for health professionals looking to transition into careers in healthcare management.
This move comes as part of a continued effort to fill vital workforce needs in the region. UW-Whitewater’s Bachelor of Science in Health and Leadership Studies launched in Fall 2025, and is designed for students with Associate of Science degrees working in allied health professions. This includes dental hygiene, cardiovascular technology and physical therapy.
All core general education courses, or gen-eds, may soon be transferable between the 13 Universities of Wisconsin.
The proposed UW Board of Regents policy is now being shared for comment at the universities. The gen-ed credits, which are classes students must take for graduation outside their majors and minors, would range from 30 to 36 credit hours in 10 to 12 courses in six curricular categories at all the UWs, according to a statement.
Bill Ferrario, a four-year starter who was part of two Big Ten Conference and Rose Bowl championship Wisconsin teams in 1999-2000, died unexpectedly early Tuesday morning. He turned 47 on Monday. Details of his death have not been publicly released, but multiple former teammates who spoke to BadgerExtra on and off the record said he lost his battle to addiction.
Fewer graduate and international students are attending UW-Madison this fall, according to data the university released Thursday — a glimpse into how the deep cuts to federal research and visa crackdowns over the last year are rippling through the university.
The data show a 7% decline in total international student enrollment this fall, a decrease of 490 students, and 9% fewer new graduate and professional students.
UW-Madison was at a “critical juncture,” former Chancellor Donna Shalala told the group, amid budget constraints, critiques of higher education and a host of other issues.
“I look around, and I see a faculty and staff here that is too often trying to do 80 hours of work in a 40-hour week, too often fatigued, too often unheralded for their accomplishments, too often fearful of the future, and cynical about getting the resources they need to do their jobs,” said former Chancellor Donna Shalala.
A new Universities of Wisconsin policy is looking to ensure all core general education credits can transfer between each of the state’s 13 UW universities.
The Board of Regents policy would guarantee the credits earned at one UW university will apply toward graduation requirements at another UW university.
“What we study is thinking about new technology that would be a way to start up future fusion devices. And it’s really looking at, how do you reduce the cost and complexity,” said Steffi Diem, an assistant professor at UW-Madison and principal investigator of the Pegasus Three experiment. “And our technology looks at building. It looks kind of like a small lightsaber that injects, you know, the fuel in it, and then we capture it by a magnetic field.”
Former Chancellor Donna Shalala and University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin discussed the fragility of research institutions, the importance of undergraduate education and Shalala’s experience as the first female chancellor in the Big Ten at a fireside chat in Union South Monday.
The rate of children with profound autism has remained virtually unchanged since the CDC started tracking it, said Maureen Durkin, a professor of population health science and pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Indeed, the highest rate of new diagnoses has been among children with mild limitations, she said.
When the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched a Women’s Physical Education Department in 1912, Wisconsin women did not have the right to vote. Women, only reluctantly admitted to UW-Madison in the first place, faced scientific misconceptions, double standards and restrictions from administration. But the department itself was always years ahead of its time, alumni said, from its early days to its eventual merger with the men’s program in 1976.
