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Category: Campus life

Inside UW’s most haunted building: Science Hall’s ‘Fright Night’ returns

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The Daily Cardinal

University of Wisconsin-Madison students explored Science Hall’s rumored hauntings in an interactive haunted house experience Wednesday hosted by the Nelson Institute Ambassadors in collaboration with Japanese Student Association (JSA) and Intermission Theater.

Starting in 2013, the annual Fright Night gives Science Hall a frightening makeover, decorating the building with cobwebs, skeletons, candles and spiders while giving visitors a spooky self-guided tour of the building to celebrate Halloween and the building’s history.

Halloween starship delivery bots, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and more spooky Halloween campus events

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The Daily Cardinal

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will host many free Halloween events around campus leading up to Oct. 31.

Starship delivery bots are already celebrating. Customized spooky robot themes are available now until Oct. 31, with personas of Count Snackula, Witchy Wheels, FrankenFeast, Hungry Haunter and Pumpkinbot available to choose. Robots will deliver speaking in-character.

UW-Madison launches privately funded ‘pluralism’ initiative to promote open conversation

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The Daily Cardinal

The University of Wisconsin-Madison launched “The Wisconsin Exchange: Pluralism in Practice,” a campus-wide initiative aimed at promoting open dialogue and creating a campus atmosphere where “different points of view are both expected and respected.”

The initiative will streamline the university’s preexisting programs with new opportunities, emphasizing the value of diverse viewpoints and civil dialogue.

Say goodbye to the chairs at Memorial Union Terrace

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Channel 3000

Terrace Season is coming to an end, which means the colorful chair decorating Memorial Union will be leaving at 8 a.m. on Oct. 27.

The Terrace first opened in 1928, with the first full “Terrace Season” took place the following year in 1929. The green, orange and yellow Sunburst chairs first came to campus in 1933 and over the years emerged as a campus icon and trademark of the Wisconsin Union.

UW-Madison becomes hub for Puerto Rican studies with new center

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Wisconsin State Journal

It’s because of the vision of professors Aurora Santiago Ortiz and Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, who secured a $3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that over the next three years will bring research scholars, musical artists, culinary and film events and expert speakers related to Puerto Rican studies to the university.

UW hosts Homecoming Blood Drive

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The Daily Cardinal

As part of the Big Ten’s “We Give Blood” campaign, the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a Homecoming Blood Drive at the Nicholas Recreation Center Tuesday and Wednesday. Working with Abbott Laboratories, a health care company, the 18 universities in the conference aim to address the nation’s blood shortage by targeting first-time blood donors.

Effigy mounds on UW-Madison campus get national historic nod

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Wisconsin State Journal

Dugout canoes discovered in Lake Mendota have been getting much attention in recent years, but a series of burial mounds on the lake’s shoreline are now getting their turn.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced that a grouping of burial mounds on the UW-Madison campus has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

 

13th annual ‘Fill the Hill’ at UW-Madison kicks off, raising thousands for student causes in 24 hours

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WKOW - Channel 27

‘Fill the Hill’ at UW-Madison kicked off at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9. The event is the university’s largest fundraising day, allowing donors to gift money to student groups for 24 hours.

To celebrate the event, a flock of flamingo rubber duckies will be dumped into the fountain at Library Mall at 9 a.m. on Friday Oct. 10. Participants can rescue them with a net and keep the ones they catch.

In the 608: ‘Fill the Hill’ returns to UW-Madison with flock of pink flamingos

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Channel 3000

Thousands of pink plastic flamingos will once again cover Bascom Hill as the University of Wisconsin–Madison celebrates its 13th annual Fill the Hill fundraiser.

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association hosts the event each fall as part of the University’s day-of-giving campaign. Each donation of $5 or more adds another flamingo to the growing flock on the hill.

2 UW-Madison professors named MacArthur Foundation ‘genius’ fellows

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Wisconsin State Journal

Two UW-Madison professors have been named MacArthur Foundation fellows, called “genius awards,” for their work in studying weather patterns in the tropics and investigating the effects of nuclear weapons.

UW-Madison professors Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, who is an atmospheric scientist, and Sébastien Philippe, a nuclear security specialist, were selected Wednesday for the prestigious fellowships. Fellows receive $800,000 paid out over five years for any use.

MacArthur 2025 ‘genius’ grant winners include 2 UW-Madison professors

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named atmospheric scientist Ángel Adames Corraliza, 37, and nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe, 38, as recipients of the prestigious MacArthur fellowship. Also known as the “genius grant,” the national award is given annually to a small group of people across a range of disciplines who show exceptional creativity in their work and future ambitions.

Bat Brigade: The UW group contributing to bat conservation

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The Daily Cardinal

A University of Wisconsin-Madison collective is working to establish a long-term data set of little brown bat populations on campus with national implications for conservation.

The UW-Madison Bat Brigade is a collaboration between students, professionals and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to monitor and study bats on campus. The Brigade is part of Biocore, an honors biology program.

How does the government shutdown impact UW-Madison research?

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The Daily Cardinal

Some University of Wisconsin-Madison research will be affected due to the federal government shutdown, according to a message from both the Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration and of Research.

UW-Madison ranked sixth nationally for research expenditure in 2024 and is at risk for delayed research project funding after the shutdown.

Meet the 22 artists, scientists and authors who will each get $800,000 MacArthur genius grants

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Associated Press

For Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the award is also a recognition of the talent and grit coming from Puerto Rico, where he is from, despite the hardships his community has endured. His research has uncovered many new findings about what drives weather patterns in the tropics, which may eventually help improve forecasting in those regions.

Adames said usually one of his classes would be ending right when the foundation would publish the new class of fellows, so he was planning to end the lecture early to come back to his office. He said he’s having trouble fathoming what it will be like.

“I am low-key expecting that a few people are just going to show up in my office, like right at 11:02 a.m. or something like that,” he said.

Many 2025 ‘Genius’ Fellows affiliated with universities

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Inside Higher Ed

Since the fellowship launched in 1981, fellows have included writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers and entrepreneurs. While no institutional affiliation is required, the award went to the following 2025 fellows with ties to a college or university:

  • Atmospheric scientist Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, an associate professor in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for investigating the mechanisms underlying tropical weather patterns.
  • Nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe, assistant professor in the Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for exposing past harms and potential future risks from building, testing and storing launch-ready nuclear weapons.

UW-Madison plans to move Athletic Hall of Fame to Kohl Center

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The Cap Times

While the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Athletic Hall of Fame is set to move next year, commemorative bricks purchased by Badgers fans will stay near Camp Randall Stadium, an administrator said Tuesday.

The athletics department plans to relocate the Hall of Fame outside of the Kohl Center, where the school’s basketball teams play. About a mile east of UW-Madison’s football stadium, the Kohl Center is a “prime location” on campus that attracts thousands each year, said Jason King, UW-Madison’s senior associate athletic director for capital projects and operations.

Wisconsin Badgers changed the brats they’re serving at games. Here’s the backstory

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Wisconsin State Journal

Part of the shipment of food to be prepared for the next week’s University of Wisconsin football game arrived, as usual, at Camp Randall Stadium on a Thursday. The collection was short in one product that in Wisconsin almost certainly would get noticed if concession stands ran out early: There weren’t enough brats.

In the short term, a search gathered enough supply of the brats to get Wisconsin through the football season before pivoting. Over the following months, chefs went through a taste-testing process that informed how they were planning to move forward.

A “country cap” at universities shouldn’t worry international families

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Forbes

While the proposed caps might not immediately affect most colleges, some of the “elite” private colleges and large state schools would be impacted. Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Southern California, along with the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, all surpass the proposed limit. The high concentration of international students at these institutions is more related to brand recognition and recruitment efforts than to student success. Families should keep this in mind.

UW, state leaders unveil Morgridge Hall, ushering in ‘AI revolution’

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The Daily Cardinal

Morgridge Hall, the new home of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Computer, Data and Information Sciences (CDIS) programs, which may soon separate from Letters & Sciences, is officially open for business.

After a two-and-a-half-year construction project which cost $260 million, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and a host of other speakers cut the ribbon on Morgridge Hall Friday, ushering in a “new AI revolution” that will sweep the campus.

About that column I didn’t write as a UW professor

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Wisconsin State Journal

“I am not going to be that professor who posts on social media and is promptly pilloried for expressing an opinion.

“Like many academics these days, I have been wanting to weigh in on recent crises and tragedies that are at the top of the news cycle. But such a course hardly seems wise.”

Written by Russ Castronovo, a professor of English and the director of the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison.

UW-Madison cuts diversity-related unit in human resources office

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison has shuttered the equity and well-being department in its human resources office, which worked to retain LGBTQ+ and employees of color.

The university established the Office of Equity, Inclusion and Employee Well-Being in spring 2021 to offer consultation and promote inclusive policies and environments, with a focus on support for traditionally marginalized communities.

UW-Madison lab creating archive of historic, significant locations for Black Madisonians

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Spectrum News

New research going on at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is focused on how Black residents find and build community in the City of Madison, which is predominantly white.

About a dozen students are part of the first research lab within UW-Madison’s Department of African American Studies. It’s called the Soulfolk Collective.

4 takeaways from UW-Madison’s new enrollment numbers this fall

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The Cap Times

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.

VIDEO: Fight and gunfire outside UW Madison frat house

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WKOW - Channel 27

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.

UW system plan nixes ethnic and cultural studies requirement

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Wisconsin State Journal

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.

The flamingos are coming back to Bascom Hill. Here’s what to know

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Wisconsin State Journal

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.

UW-Madison, city partner to locate cheaper apartments for students

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Isthmus

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.

UW panel discusses impact of housing quality on equity, well-being

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The Badger Herald

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.

UW students to lose local abortion access

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The Daily Cardinal

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.

FAFSA opens despite government shutdown

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Wisconsin Public Radio

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.