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Category: Campus life

Demand for campus housing spikes at UW-Madison

NBC-15

UW-Madison housing officials say they’re expecting an increase in students living on campus this upcoming school year. Many of them are incoming freshman and right now, the university is working to make room in the dorms.“Students are excited to have that on campus experience,” said Brendon Dybdahl, Director of Marketing & Communications for UW-Madison’s Division of University Housing.

UW-Madison packing in more students per dorm to accommodate largest freshman class

WKOW-TV 27

Director of Marketing and Communications for University Housing at UW-Madison, Brendon Dybdahl explained, “The rooms are actually a pretty good size, especially some of those dens that are being used as quads. There’s there’s a lot of square footage there for them. And they wind up being pretty popular because there’s a lot of people in the room, and they just kind of become a hub of activity.”

Wisconsin engineering programs strive for diversity with mixed success

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Major engineering schools in the state, such as UW-Madison and Marquette University, have diversity numbers that reflect the national data. “We do know that we need to increase diversity in engineering, at the undergraduate level, the graduate level, the staff level and the faculty level,” said Ian Robertson, dean of the College of Engineering at UW-Madison.

Q&A: Jazz musician Johannes Wallmann pays tribute to a creature he’s never met

The Capital Times

Johannes Wallmann got the recording of his new jazz album “Elegy For An Undiscovered Species” in just under the wire. The director of jazz studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison brought 14 musicians, including a string section, together in the Hamel Music Center for a week in late February 2020 to record the tracks for the album. Two weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down everything.

College Players May Make Money Off Their Fame, Powerful N.C.A.A. Panel Recommends

New York Times

Noted: Some athletes have already begun making plans to cash in on their renown. Jordan Bohannon, a men’s basketball player at the University of Iowa, has announced plans for an apparel line that will debut on Thursday, and the University of Wisconsin’s starting quarterback, Graham Mertz, posted a video with a personal logo.

UW-Madison computer science major grows by more than 800% as tech industry flourishes

WISC-TV 3

In 2011, the computer science major at the University of Wisconsin – Madison had about 200 students. Today, it has more than 2,000. It’s now the largest major on campus, and it’s expected to keep growing.“I used to teach a class which I called a big class, which would have 60 or 70 students in it. Now this fall I’m slated to teach a course that will probably have 350 people in it,” said Department Chair Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau.

UW-Madison names new Chief Diversity Officer

NBC-15

UW-Madison has named a new Chief Diversity Officer. Dr. LaVar Charleston will begin this new role on August 2, the school announced. “To our students, an important part of my history is that I was once a student twice over right here on this campus,” Dr. Charleston said in a video released by UW. “And I need you to know that I see you, I hear you and I absolutely cannot wait to connect with you,”

How high school bathrooms put non-binary student on path to UW-Madison student leader

Wisconsin State Journal

Lampron will take the lessons learned in high school and apply them at UW-Madison, where the incoming senior was elected student government chairperson for the next academic year. The 21-year-old is believed to be the first non-binary individual to hold the position at UW-Madison, and among just a handful of college student leaders nationwide to identify as gender-neutral, according to the American Student Government Association.

UW-Madison epidemiologist Malia Jones named as Academic Staff Excellence award recipient

The Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison System Board of Regents named epidemiologist Dr. Malia Jones as one of three recipients of the 2021 Academic Staff Excellence Awards. The award, which recognizes staff members and academic programs based on superior performance and creative, personable approaches to education, presents winners with a $7,500 cash prize. It is the highest honor the UW System can bestow upon their academic staff.

The pandemic’s effects on campus sustainability

Daily Cardinal

Campus operations at colleges across the nation have been undeniably different from previous years due to COVID-19, and UW-Madison is no exception. From an environmental and sustainability perspective, one can only wonder what the impacts of the pandemic will have on the environment.

Escape the stress of freshman year in these UW green spaces

Daily Cardinal

Freshman year can be a stressful time. You’re learning to manage a new, often heavier workload, taking care of yourself, and being a (baby) adult. Spending time in nature can be a great way to manage the anxieties that accompany the first year of college. Luckily, the UW-Madison campus provides a number of beautiful green spaces in which students can destress.

Exclusive: Chris Evans Was Captain America. Now He Wants to Help Gen Z Reshape US Politics

Newsweek

Talia Joseph, 19, is looking forward to flexing that sort of newfound political muscle. As an incoming freshman this fall at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, she is not only a youth voter but a swing-state voter as well. “People my age realize how much of an impact our vote had in 2020,” she says. “I like Joe Biden, but he’s not perfect. If he makes any policies we don’t approve of, we know we can pressure him.” Joseph, who’s one year older than Thunberg, is active in fundraising and organizing aimed at turning up the heat on the administration in combating climate change.

Wisconsin Republicans approve $1.5 billion for state building projects

Wisconsin State Journal

A little less than half of the GOP proposal, or nearly $629 million, is earmarked for the University of Wisconsin System. Evers had asked for about $1 billion for UW campuses. Humanities is on track to be demolished by 2030 because the committee approved $88 million for a new academic building that will move many academic departments housed in Humanities to the new facility. A quarter of the cost will be covered through fundraising with the rest supported through state borrowing.

The pandemic’s effects on campus sustainability

Daily Cardinal

Sustainability is the ability for humans to coexist with the earth in a way that meets both the needs of the present and the future — it’s a way of living that tries to ensure that future generations will be able to safely and healthily inhabit the planet. Malorie Garbe, the Sustainability Coordinator at University Housing and Dining, describes sustainability as having three parts: social, environmental and economic.

Free from masks and COVID-19 limits, Dane County resumes most activity

Wisconsin State Journal

Dane County residents could cast aside their face masks and gather without limits Wednesday after nearly 15 months of COVID-19 restrictions. But experts said that while the pandemic has clearly eased up here and around the country, the threat is not over. “The ‘officially over’ likely will be when the world sees a decline like the U.S. has seen,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director for infection control at UW Health. “That isn’t likely anytime soon.”