Former Lt. Gov. and 2026 gubernatorial candidate Mandela Barnes joined approximately 40 students at a University of Wisconsin College Democrats meeting Wednesday to discuss his affordability-centered campaign.
Barnes will face eight other candidates in the Democratic primary for governor Aug. 11, according to Ballotopedia.
Clean Lakes Alliance hosted an event today to explain seasonal changes happening to Madison’s lakes.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher is encouraging people to visit local lakes in May to witness an annual phenomenon that makes the water crystal clear.
Hillary Dugan, an associate professor at the Center for Limnology at UW-Madison, explained the science behind the seasonal clarity. In spring, a large bloom of diatoms, a species of phytoplankton, provides food for zooplankton, tiny organisms that then boom in population.
One of the best-selling authors in the world will be giving the keynote commencement speech at UW-Madison this spring.
James Patterson was announced as the spring speaker by UW-Madison in a press release on Wednesday.
“James Patterson has shown what it means to make the most of your education — and what it means to give back. We are thrilled to welcome him as this year’s commencement speaker,” UW–Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said. “His successes as a writer are unparalleled, and so is the generosity of his time, talent and resources, which have made lasting impacts on higher education and the lives of countless students.”
Susan Zahner, who has served in the role of interim dean of the School of Nursing since the beginning of December, will continue in her role for the foreseeable future.
Zahner, former associate dean for faculty affairs and Vilas Distinguished Achievement professor, has served in the role since Nov. 30, 2025, upon the passing of Dean Emerit Linda Scott. Zahner brings 24 years of faculty and leadership experience to the role.
Republican lawmakers are threatening to remove members of the UW Board of Regents after the Board asserted its own authority to fire the Universities of Wisconsin president.
The Regents unanimously voted without discussion Tuesday to fire President Jay Rothman, who has led the about 165,000-student and 13-university system since 2022.
Governor Tony Evers signed a bill Wednesday that gave the University of Wisconsin athletic department financial cushion in the form of tax dollars to service debt, and codified the university’s rules surrounding name, image, and likeness payments to athletes into law.
Kristin Eschenfelder, a professor and associate dean, will serve as the interim dean of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s largest academic unit, the College of Letters & Science.
The appointment is effective on May 17, concurrent with the beginning of Dean Eric M. Wilcots’s term as interim chancellor.
Eschenfelder, who has been on campus since she joined the Information School faculty in 2000, has served as the L&S academic associate dean and associate director for the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences since it launched in 2019.
Fired Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman told The Associated Press on Wednesday in his first interview since the ouster that he was “blindsided” by the move but has no hard feelings and is unlikely to sue.
Rothman was fired on Tuesday night in a unanimous vote by the board of regents following a roughly 30-minute closed-door discussion. Regents have not given a reason for firing Rothman, who was in the job for just under four years.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is inviting the community to explore science up close this weekend during its annual UW Science Expeditions.
The free, campus-wide open house runs Friday through Sunday, April 10–12, across UW–Madison. Organizers say the event is designed to connect the public with scientists, students and research spaces through hands-on experiences.
UW Science Expeditions features dozens of venues and activities spanning disciplines from astronomy to zoology. Visitors can take part in interactive exploration stations, attend live science shows and tour labs, museums and greenhouses across campus.
Throughout the weekend, participants can visit locations such as Washburn Observatory, campus greenhouses, and research centers, while meeting scientists and learning about ongoing work at the university.
“Researchers worked with the audiology lab on the UW Madison campus to help extend that squeak so that people all over the nation can enjoy them, which helps maintain that economic viability of Wisconsin dairy,” Hagenow said.
It began with a fall. Then another, and another.
LuAnn Guffey had watched over the years as her brother suffered with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that gradually disrupts a person’s basic muscle functions. When she began losing strength in her own legs, falling without tripping, suddenly losing the ability to stand, she feared she was following the family footsteps.
The board of Wisconsin’s public university system voted on Tuesday to fire President Jay O. Rothman, who angered Democrats and faculty members for bargaining with the Republican-led State Legislature and recently defied regents pressing for his resignation.
The decision was unanimous, with 17 members of the board — which is controlled by appointees of Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat — voting to remove Mr. Rothman. One member was not present for the vote.
UW Health said Wednesday it has acquired University Podiatry Associates of Madison.
The podiatry clinic, which opened in 1981, is located in a roughly 7,600-square-foot facility at 450 S. Yellowstone Dr. on the West Side.
The practice provides podiatry care for a wide range of conditions, including diabetic foot ulcers, arthritis, bunions, hammertoes and other deformities or injuries.
On the Near West Side, newcomer Ellen Zhang cruised to victory in District 8, defeating fellow UW-Madison student Bobby Gronert 1,677 votes to 401. Zhang had been endorsed by Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and outgoing council member MGR Govindarajan.
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents scheduled a Tuesday vote to consider firing the system’s president, who refused their offer to quietly resign because he said no reason had been given for the surprise ouster.
Jay Rothman said in two letters sent to regents that he would not resign from leading the 165,000-student system without an explanation of what he had done wrong.
A new five-year strategic framework for UW–Madison helps identify and advance clear shared priorities and define the university’s mission for the years ahead.
The following message was sent by Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin, Provost John Zumbrunnen and Interim Chancellor-designate Eric M. Wilcots to all students and employees on April 7, 2026.
University of Wisconsin–Madison graduate programs are once again highly ranked among the nation’s best in the 2026 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools.”
Highlights include high marks in several specific rankings — with nearly 20 ranking in their respective top 10 lists — shining a light on the breadth and depth of the university’s overall graduate offerings.
The UW Board of Regents appears poised to fire the Universities of Wisconsin president, after a dayslong standoff between the top leader and the board.
The Regents will convene virtually at 5 p.m. Tuesday, enter a closed session to discuss President Jay Rothman’s termination, and then may reconvene in public session, according to the meeting notice published Monday afternoon.
As Wisconsin farmers prepare for the 2026 growing season, the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension is launching another year of Badger Crop Connect webinars, a twice-monthly series providing timely, data-driven insights for the state’s corn, soybean, small grain, and forage farmers and industries.
University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman has refused to resign at the Board of Regents’ request, the Associated Press first reported Thursday.
Rothman, who has led the System for nearly four years, said that he will not step aside and has been given no reason from the Regents for why they are requesting his removal in a letter to the Regents, obtained by The Daily Cardinal. In a second letter, he claimed the Regents planned to fire him over the weekend which would make him the first UW System president to be fired.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is opening its doors for Science Expeditions, an annual campus-wide science open house held April 10-12.
The community is invited to try hands-on activities at different stations, tour research spaces, view Science Spectacular Shows, and attend lectures.
This is the 24th year of the event, and it is free and open to all.
How is air quality measured and what are the trends in Wisconsin?
The president of the University of Wisconsin system said in letters obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday that he has been told to either resign or be fired, but has been given no reason and won’t step aside.
Jay Rothman, president of the multicampus 165,000-student university system since 2022, said in a letter addressed to the head of the Board of Regents dated March 26 that he has been given no reason why regents want him to leave.
After her 122nd and final game for the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team, dynamo point guard Ronnie Porter fielded a question on her legacy.
The Badgers had just lost 67-50 to Columbia in Monday’s semifinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) at Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
Jay Rothman’s tenure as Universities of Wisconsin president hasn’t been without controversy, but it’s not clear yet why the UW Board of Regents has asked him to resign or be fired.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Rothman wrote in a letter to the Regents that he is resisting the board’s request for him to step aside as leader of the 13-university system because they didn’t give him a reason.
UW-Madison’s women’s sports teams will soon have some extra branding on their jerseys.
UW Health on Thursday announced it would become the official jersey patch sponsor for the Badgers women’s squads. The healthcare provider’s logo will appear on basketball, volleyball, hockey and softball uniforms beginning with the 2026-27 season.
The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and UW Health are pleased to announce that Dr. Christian Capitini, a national expert in the treatment and research of childhood cancers, has been named the next director of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. Capitini will also hold the title of director of UW Health Cancer Services. He will assume the role of Carbone Cancer Center director on April 19.
UW Health is joining organizations across the country to recognize April as Donate Life Month, honoring organ, eye, and tissue donors.
Over 108,000 adults and children in the U.S. are awaiting an organ transplant, including 1,500 people in Wisconsin.
UW Health states that most individuals on the waitlist need a kidney, but more than 13 people die each day while waiting for a transplant, according to Michael Anderson, executive director of UW Organ and Tissue Donation.
NASA has launched its Artemis II mission, sending astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years — a milestone a University of Wisconsin–Madison expert says could shape the future of human spaceflight.
“There was an old IMAX movie called ‘The Dream is Alive’, narrated by Walter Cronkite about the space shuttle,” said UW–Madison astronomy professor Thomas Beatty. “And I think I watched that a million times with my mom.”
Now, decades later, he’s watching as humans prepare to travel back toward the moon for the first time since the Apollo era.
Genevieve Simmons grimaced the more Mitch Reuter tightened a tourniquet around her arm.
“Definitely don’t have a pulse,” Simmons chuckled as Reuter checked her wrist.
Reuter was demonstrating how to use a tourniquet as he led a Stop the Bleed training last month at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Students filled a classroom in Birge Hall to learn how to pack a wound and apply pressure in a medical emergency.
While facing a tough job market, the majority of recent UW-Madison graduates found employment or planned to pursue another degree after graduation, a new university survey found.
Within six months of graduation, about 62% of recent UW-Madison graduates had a job lined up, and nearly 27% planned to continue their education, according to the survey the university released Tuesday.
For most of his childhood, Shaawan Francis Keahna considered himself to be a fundamentally unattractive kid — “too giggly and too gangly and too smart,” as he put it to me recently, “with a face that was really, really adult, despite my youth. My biggest problem, of course, was that I was just plain weird.” Growing up in Hayward, a former logging town on the Namekagon River in northwestern Wisconsin, he was often teased by white classmates for his Native ancestry and for his love of poetry and art. “It became a self-fulfilling thing,” he said. “I internalized it and basically came to see myself exactly the way they saw me.”
The University of Iowa has a National Advanced Driving Simulator, one of the largest in the world, which will assist the team in building a lunar terrain vehicle.
The UW-Madison student who was arrested for recording other students in a residence hall bathroom will be facing adjusted charges.
Braden Berndt, 19, was arrested in February and charged with three felony counts of capturing an intimate representation and three misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct.
Wisconsin Football announced the death of Jack Pugh, a former football player who graduated from UW-Madison in 2025.
In a recent post from Wisconsin Football on Facebook, they remember him as a positive and genuine light who cared about people.
There is something revealing — almost too revealing — about how quickly a university can move from the language of education to the language of enforcement.
Within hours of a student government vote calling for divestment, the University of Wisconsin–Madison administration issued a statement denouncing the resolution as “flawed, unrelated and illegal.” Not misguided. Not debatable. Illegal.
A former assistant professor at Wisconsin’s flagship public university has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit that claimed he was discriminated against when he was denied tenure.
The case was scheduled to go to trial Monday in the Western District of Wisconsin and was expected to last five days. But over the weekend, the parties notified the judge they reached a settlement, court records show.
The leading candidate in Wisconsin’s race for governor is unhappy with a new law that defines antisemitism and looks to fight it at the University of Wisconsin.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, who is leading the Democratic race for governor, and who calls herself a Democratic Socialist, took to social media recently to criticize a new law that Gov. Tony Evers signed.
“I am disappointed that Gov. Evers has signed into law a controversial definition of antisemitism that will compromise free speech across the state and academic freedom at our universities,” Hong wrote.
The UW-Madison Police Department announced they will be conducting their annual test of the WiscAlert system.
The test will take place on Tuesday at noon.
The UW-Madison Police Department stated that the timing of the test during spring break is intentional to avoid disrupting classes and studying.
The University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team forced six Columbia turnovers in a row to fuel a run in the fourth quarter to shrink its deficit to eight points with nearly seven minutes left.
But the Badgers’ surge was short-lived. The Lions went on a run of their own to pull ahead by double digits once more.
The UW-Madison Police Department will stop sharing its campus Flock camera’s data with Wisconsin counties that are cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, Chief Brent Plisch said at a meeting Monday.
The eight AI-powered surveillance cameras, installed on campus in July, have been a flashpoint at UW-Madison in recent weeks, sparking calls from staff and faculty on leaders and police to remove them, over concerns about mass surveillance and data sharing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This March and April, the UW Cinematheque is featuring a new series on the work of legendary American film director John Ford in the 1930s, in conjunction with the publication of John Ford At Work: Production Histories 1927–1939. Professor Lea Jacobs, who wrote this new book, out now with Indiana University Press, is also giving short presentations after each screening. The titles in the series—five in all, three of which are on rare 35mm prints—were curated by Director of Programming Jim Healy, Director of the Cinematheque Jeff Smith, and Professor Jacobs herself.
When University of Wisconsin-Madison student Ella Stoltz was considering signing a lease with her friends just a few months into her freshman year, she planned to share her room — a personal sacrifice she believed necessary when faced with an unaffordable rent.
That fall, Stoltz applied for a House Fellow position instead, a decision she made with housing at the front of her mind.
“I think if I was going to a university that had lower tuition and more housing prices, I wouldn’t be a House Fellow,” Stoltz said.
“Is the Mosse Humanities building a historical building?” student government Rep. Amelia Alvarez asked at a March meeting where representatives debated symbolic legislation aimed at saving a building the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been trying to demolish for at least two decades. “It depends. Up to personal interpretation,” the legislation’s co-sponsor, Rep. Amitabha Shatdal, replied.
The University of Wisconsin said Wednesday that it is disappointed with the passage of an Associated Students of Madison resolution, according to a UW press release. The resolution issued a number of flawed, unrelated and illegal demands, according to the press release.
The Associated Students of Madison voted 15-5-3 Wednesday to pass anti-discrimination divestment legislation introduced at the last meeting held March 18.
The legislation calls for divestment from BlackRock index funds containing holdings in companies that manufacture weapons for Israel’s military operations and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, as well as corporations that have contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the legislation.
Two appeals court judges are making their pitches to voters as the April 7 election approaches.
Although technically a nonpartisan race, Judge Chris Taylor is backed by liberals, while Judge Maria Lazar is supported by conservatives. If Lazar wins, liberals will maintain their 4-3 majority. Conversely, if Taylor wins, liberals will expand their majority to 5-2.
To break down the stakes of this election, For the Record sat down with UW-Madison Professor Michael Wagner.
People with sensitive ears might have had trouble with some of the things Luke Osburn said when he got back to the bench at one point in Saturday’s University of Wisconsin men’s game.
Coach Mike Hastings said he was glad there weren’t microphones in that area.
“Let’s just say he wasn’t politically correct,” Hastings said.
We live in a heyday of meat. Americans ate $45 billion of beef in 2025, up more than 10 percent from the previous year, according to Beef Research, an industry marketing group. Ground beef is driving sales — McDonald’s recently released its new half-pounder, the Big Arch — but steak sales remain robust. In a February interview at CattleCon, the beef industry conference, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed that his favorite beef cut was strip steak. He eats beef every day — “usually twice a day,” he said, to applause.
UW-Madison is reimagining its sailing facilities and outdoor classroom along the shoreline of Lake Mendota, with major proposed upgrades.
The university is planning to build an estimated $2.7 million facility for its Outdoor UW equipment rental facility and Wisconsin Hoofers outdoors club for boat storage, events and education, according to a preliminary design proposal.
UW-Madison Police Department officers cited three people after a high-powered laser was pointed at buildings, roads and a police officer on Wednesday.
The department explained a high-powered laser can be significantly stronger than a typical laser used during a presentation, which poses major safety risks to drivers and law enforcement.
UWPD said the laser briefly affected the officer’s vision.
UWPD urged people to never aim a laser at others.
Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison must strike a difficult balance between building the perfect resume to achieve their postgrad goals while also focusing on the classes and college experience in front of them.
College students like UW-Madison junior Abby Madonia say they feel pressured to pursue work experience, while also juggling coursework, part-time jobs and a balanced social life. This pressure is beginning to take its toll.
Dane County’s low unemployment rate, and its role as driver of Wisconsin’s economy, is tied in part to Madison-based Exact Sciences, according to a University of Wisconsin report.
“The Economic Impact of Exact Sciences on Dane County and Wisconsin” was published by UW-Madison’s Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy before Exact Sciences was acquired on March 23 by Abbott for $23 billion.
Wisconsin women’s basketball is off to its first postseason tournament semifinal since 2007, according to UW Athletics.
The Badgers staged a furious comeback in the final minute of regulation to force overtime, then defeated Harvard 64-61 in the extra period.
If Wisconsin adopts a specific definition of antisemitism — as proposed in a bill recently passed by the state Legislature — the change could collide with First Amendment rights, said Howard Schweber, who studies free speech and constitutional law.
The definition wouldn’t necessarily violate the First Amendment, he said. But issues could “easily arise” if the definition is put to use, said Schweber, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an affiliate faculty member in the Law School.
UW-Madison on Wednesday swiftly denounced the university student government after it approved a measure demanding the school divest from companies linked to Israel, calling the demands “flawed, unrelated and illegal.”
The Associated Students of Madison passed the bill at a special meeting Wednesday evening after hearing from nearly 40 students who spoke both in favor and against the legislation. The meeting followed several hours of debate at a forum earlier Wednesday.
Jordan Siegler has been named Executive Director of Wisconsin Public Media (WPM), a division at the University of Wisconsin–Madison that delivers the services of PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) to statewide audiences.
The appointment was announced today by UW-Madison Provost John Zumbrunnen.
“There is no prize for second place,” said Greg Keenan of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. “It is critical that the U.S. win the race for quantum technologies. Fortunately for us, UW-Madison is home to some of the world’s most significant breakthroughs in quantum science.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison students, alumni and professors who came to Washington to lobby for more research funding got schooled on just how important that funding is.
University researchers explained how federally funded work in quantum physics and mechanics led to the invention of GPS, lasers and MRI technology.
About a dozen people stood on the steps of Bascom Hall Tuesday. They chanted together and held a banner that said, “No ICE on campus!”
“No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here,” Bradley Keenan, a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said into a megaphone.
Each year, to recognize their contributions to teaching, research and service, the faculty divisions honor four University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty members with the Hilldale Award.
Faculty members representing the arts and humanities, biological sciences, physical sciences and social sciences are selected from nominations submitted by department chairs. The winners will be recognized at the April 6 Faculty Senate meeting.
