Wisconsin’s public universities are now allowed to offer reduced-credit, three-year degrees — joining dozens of schools across the country finding alternatives to traditional four-year bachelor’s programs.
The UW Board of Regents on Thursday approved policy changes allowing the Universities of Wisconsin’s schools to develop the degrees, which typically require students to take 90 credits to earn a bachelor’s degree, rather than a minimum of 120.
The University of Wisconsin announced Mar. 4 that it created a web page with expanded information and guidance should students or employees encounter someone representing a federal agency in campus facilities or workspaces, according to UW News.
Shorter and ultimately cheaper college degrees could be coming to some University of Wisconsin campuses.
The UW Board of Regents approved revising a policy that previously mandated bachelor’s degree programs be a minimum of 120 credits. The changes, unanimously endorsed without discussion during a March 5 meeting, now allow campuses to offer 90-credit degrees.
Wisconsin’s 13 public universities can now develop three-year bachelor’s degree programs — but it could be a while before any appear at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“I know there are some other UW institutions that are exploring that as a possibility. We have not had discussions here at Madison about that,” Allison La Tarte, UW-Madison’s vice provost and chief data and analytics officer, said at a recent campus meeting.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is addressing the impact of the ongoing conflict in Iran and the broader Middle East. Students who are studying abroad in the region are being moved to new locations, where the university says they will continue their programs. Their plan aims to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff.
“The situation is evolving rapidly, and we are closely following developments,” said Fran Vavrus, vice provost and dean of the International Division. Vavrus emphasized the university’s commitment to connecting with both international students in Madison and those studying abroad.
Eric Wilcots, dean of the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters & Science, has been named interim chancellor of the university, effective May 17.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison and other employers across the United States face new federal guidelines for highly-specialized H-1B international visa sponsorship that prioritize higher-paying positions and, in some cases, require a $100,000 fee, following changes made by the Trump Administration last fall.
Three candidates vying to become the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s next provost recently outlined their visions for how to address the university’s most pressing challenges and opportunities.
University of Wisconsin-Madison President Edward Birge did not want the university to be known as a dancing school.
But after physical education instructor Margaret H’Doubler began teaching dance classes in 1918, that’s the direction things were headed. Hundreds of students signed up each semester, and H’Doubler and her students were being invited to colleges and universities across the country to share their methods.
Birge took away H’Doubler’s travel privileges, to no avail.
“It was too late. Other institutions were inviting H’Doubler all the time, and if she couldn’t come to them, they would come to her,” said Andrea Harris, professor of dance history and Buff Brennan faculty fellow in dance at UW-Madison. “The interest outweighed any pushback that there was at that time.”
harles Martinez, a dean at the University of Texas at Austin, says he’s the right person to guide UW-Madison through the upcoming search for the university’s next chancellor.
The three finalists for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s second-highest academic position — the provost — presented their visions for the role and the future of campus to an audience of faculty, staff and students alike last week.
The Milwaukee School of Engineering came out on top, which apparently did not sit well with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Two UW-Madison economists dove into earnings data by program. Their recent report, “Degrees of Deception,” found their university came out on top for the most majors of any Wisconsin school. But this point of pride was obscured in the overall rankings because the university offers some lower salary-producing programs that MSOE doesn’t offer, such as music and social work.
Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, a board member and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s vice chancellor for research, expressed concern that fewer solicitations will lessen junior faculty’s ability to receive awards that jump-start their careers. She also said the agency’s practice of frontloading the funding of previously multiyear grants further reduces how many researchers receive grants in a year.
After a nine-month search to replace the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s second-highest academic official, three finalists — Anna Stenport, John Zumbrunnen and Charles Martinez Jr. — are presenting their visions for the future of campus this week.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s sustainability-focused hiring and research initiative will have a new home at the Wisconsin Energy Institute led by professor of plant and agroecosystem sciences Chris Kucharik.
The RISE-EARTH initiative is one of several hiring and research priorities from campus administration across disciplines like artificial intelligence and human health.
UW-Madison’s Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen saw a room of familiar faces Tuesday during his presentation to faculty and the campus community explaining why he should be in the role permanently.
Zumbrunnen is one of three finalists in the university’s search for the next provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs. Finalists are doing in-person visits to campus this week as UW-Madison seeks a replacement for Charles Isbell Jr., who was named chancellor at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 2025.
The visit follows a partnership announcement between the Public Service Commission and UW’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics to study nuclear energy opportunities in the state.
Inside the University of Wisconsin Nuclear Reactor Tuesday morning, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers peered over the shoulders of student operator Nick Tierney, a senior majoring in nuclear engineering, to eye the array of instrumentation on the reactor control panel, then climbed the stairs to look down into the reactor’s cooling pool.
Name and likeness of college athletes
The bill, if signed into law, would formalize rules around name, image and likeness opportunities for college athletes in the state while providing taxpayer funding for athletic facility maintenance.
UW-Madison, the one power-conference athletic department in the University of Wisconsin System, would receive $14.6 million of taxpayer money annually for debt service for maintaining its athletic facilities. UW-Milwaukee would receive $200,000 for debt service and maintenance for the Klotsche Center, and UW-Green Bay would receive $200,000 for debt service for its athletic facilities.
Anna Stenport, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia, laid out her case Monday for why she’s the right pick for UW-Madison’s second-in-command.
The Universities of Wisconsin and the Board of Regents have reviewed and changed policies regarding political campaigning in residential halls, both at UW-Madison and other UW system schools, according to the Feb. 5th Education Committee Meeting.
Ignite Wisconsin’s grant of nearly $800K to the Wisconsin Fusion Energy Coalition will help push Wisconsin as a national hub for fusion energy.
Gov. Tony Evers, along with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), announced Thursday that the coalition, led by 5 Lakes Institute and UW-Madison’s fusion research work, will “accelerate startup formation, supply chain development, and community outreach in a sector projected to reach nearly $3 trillion by 2080.”
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has required international students with partial or full teaching assistant appointments to prove their English fluency for decades, but now, amid heightened federal funding uncertainty, some international graduate students say departments are using the test to force them out.
Consequences for failing the language test differ by department and year, and this year, some students say those consequences have become increasingly punitive.
University of Wisconsin online master’s in Education and Engineering were ranked 8th and 11th best in the U.S., according to U.S News and World Report rankings.
The UW education program’s No.8 national ranking makes it the highest-ranked program in the Midwest. UW also ranked well in specific online master’s degree programs, including holding the No. 2 in Educational Administration and Supervision.
Like most schools, UW started out small with just a couple of buildings – North Hall and South Hall – on Bascom, a hill in Madison where the campus was established. And though agriculture was part of the mission from the beginning, the School of Agriculture at the university we now take for granted began much later.
Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor and past president of Purdue University, spoke Monday at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as part of the La Follette School of Public Affairs’ Spring Spotlight series.
The La Follette School of Public Affairs plans to move into one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s oldest buildings and rename the facility after former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl.
Former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl’s foundation is donating $30 million to UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs to modernize Music Hall, which will be renamed Herb Kohl Hall in honor of the late politician and businessman.
In moves they described as efforts to make the state’s higher education system more meritocratic and safe for conservative students, Assembly Republicans voted Thursday to change eligibility for certain financial aid programs, and make it easier to sue universities for free speech violations.
The University of Wisconsin College of Engineering is set to debut its new Aerospace Engineering major this fall after the UW System Board of Regents voted on its approval Feb. 5, according to a College of Engineering press release.
Eric Wilcots, dean of UW-Madison’s College of Letters and Science, will serve as interim chancellor, the Universities of Wisconsin has announced.
Wilcot replaces Jennifer Mnookin, who is taking over as president of Columbia University in New York City.
Here’s what to know about Wilcots.
UW-Madison is looking for an additional $14.6 million from taxpayers annually to maintain its athletics facilities.
But the state’s flagship public university also wants to ensure that name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts for the student athletes who train in them — and all other Badgers athletes — aren’t viewable by the public. Legislators on the Assembly Committee on State Affairs on Feb. 11 unanimously passed a bill which would exempt NIL contracts and revenue sharing for any UW campus from Wisconsin’s public records law.
UW-Madison students now will be required to report their vaccination status to the university, campus officials said Thursday.
The mandate comes after UW-Madison announced earlier this month that a student living in an off-campus apartment tested positive for measles. University and Dane County officials said at least 4,000 people were exposed.
UW-Madison has announced it will now require students to share their vaccination status for multiple diseases, including measles.
The policy change comes after a measles case in a UW-Madison student, which was reported in early February. The student visited several locations on and off campus while contagious, and university officials had to notify about 4,000 people who may have been exposed.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved new policies that would cautiously ease access for political campaigning in residence halls in their February meeting by allowing greater door-to-door campaigning.
Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will now be required to disclose their vaccination status to the university under a new policy introduced Thursday.
A new $5 million grant is set to bring more mental health professionals to Milwaukee Public Schools.
The U.S. Department of Education awarded MPS the four-year grant to help the district recruit and train school psychologists through partnerships with Alverno College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
University of Wisconsin-Madison leaders and students urged campus communities to strengthen civil dialogue, protect free expression and adopt a systemwide artificial intelligence vision responsibility at a Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
Republican lawmakers are advancing a bill to restore the ACT requirement as the “predominant” factor in admission to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In her final appearance before the Board of Regents on Thursday, outgoing University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin delivered a reflective defense of public higher education, urging leaders to hold fast to core values while navigating an era of “profound uncertainty.”
A student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison also tested positive for measles last week; an update from the university on Friday confirmed that the student was no longer contagious and provided a list of times and places, both on and off campus, “where they may have inadvertently exposed others to measles.” The university called for exposed unvaccinated students to quarantine for three weeks in accordance with local public health guidance.
UW-Madison took second place among public universities on Time Magazine’s list of World’s Top Universities, UW officials said Tuesday.
The school took spot #20 for the overall worldwide list.
The rankings, generated by Statista, focused on academic capacity and performance, innovation and economic impact, and global engagement.
“UW–Madison’s value lies not just in our direct teaching and research, but also in the impact our graduates have when they go out into the world and our contributions in advancing knowledge across the globe,” says UW interim Provost John Zumbrunnen. “It’s encouraging to see this value acknowledged in the Time rankings.”
The Universities of Wisconsin has named a temporary successor for UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin.
College of Letters and Science Dean Eric Wilcots will serve as interim chancellor starting May 17 as Mnookin begins her departure to lead Columbia University, UW system President Jay Rothman announced Wednesday.
Mitch Daniels, a former Republican governor of Indiana and president of Purdue University, says there are three attitudes toward higher education: those who say it is running smoothly, those who want reform, and those calling for a nationwide overhaul.
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents is looking to incorporate a shortened degree length.
Currently most degrees studied in the UW system require 120 credits to graduate, but a revised policy may lower that to 90. Following the lead of other universities including Milwaukee’s Mount Mary University and Indiana’s Manchester University
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Wednesday over the legality of a grant program aimed at helping students of color attend college.
The case dates back to 2021, when a group of Wisconsin taxpayers — including some from Madison — filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court, arguing the state’s Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant program unlawfully discriminates based on race and national origin.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison saw a 17 percent decrease in federal research funding since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to outgoing Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin.
In a presentation to the Board of Regents last week, Mnookin shared the clearest quantification yet of cuts to Wisconsin’s flagship university by the Trump administration, which also included a decrease in grants awarded.
The effects of the federal government’s cuts to UW-Madison’s research are coming into full view: $27 million lost in the last year from terminated or suspended grants.
On this day, Feb. 5, 1849, the first University of Wisconsin-Madison class met under the direction of professor John Sterling. The event is celebrated as Founder’s Day.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison attempted to strike a reassuring tone in the wake of a student contracting measles. While submitting immunization records to UW-Madison is voluntary, the available records indicated 95% of the campus is vaccinated against measles.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s continued and growing excellence will depend on either more state support or more flexibility, the school’s leader said Thursday.
“Now look, both would be best of all. But we deeply need, at a minimum, one or the other,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin told the Board of Regents, which oversees UW-Madison and Wisconsin’s 12 other state universities, at a campus meeting.
UW-Madison is among the top 20 universities in the world, according to a new ranking from TIME.
TIME ranked the university 20th next to top private and global institutions and gave UW-Madison the no. 2 spot for public universities in the United States, after the University of Michigan.
After concerns were raised about spending on DEI, the University of Wisconsin-Madison shuttered a department but kept most of the staff and their titles working on equity issues, an investigation by The Center Square found.
The former Division of Diversity, Equity and Education Achievement – which employed about 100 people who earned more than $7 million annually – had been mired in financial mismanagement and attacks from Republicans before the university closed it last year.
An audit found that the university had no grasp of its total diversity spending and whether it was effective, and auditors identified problematic employee bonuses, travel and other expenses in the division.
Tensions rose in discussion over a bipartisan bill that would require state agencies, including the University of Wisconsin System, to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism for any “law, ordinance or policy” when evaluating possible discriminatory intent at a Jan. 28 public hearing.
Daniel Hummel, a research fellow with the History Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on U.S. relations with Israel, said there has been increased “antisemitic rhetoric around campus” since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Dane County health officials continue to contact hundreds of people who may have been exposed to measles after a University of Wisconsin–Madison student tested positive for the highly contagious virus.
Public Health Madison & Dane County posted a growing list of exposure locations on its website, including several UW-Madison buildings such as Union South, the Genetics and Psychology buildings, multiple Madison Metro bus routes, Qdoba on Park Street and the Waisman Center.
Growing up in a first-generation Indian household, Armaan Jain was thrown into activities from a young age — baseball, basketball, soccer and everything but football. The packed schedule forced him to learn time management early, a skill reinforced by parents who deeply valued education and structure.
“From elementary school onward, I had to have systems in place to succeed,” he said. “I learned early that motivation isn’t always there, so you need something that keeps you going anyway.”
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s decision to leave the University of Wisconsin-Madison for Columbia University has drawn mixed reactions from campus, varying from bittersweet goodbyes from campus leaders to celebratory farewells from Badger sports fans, labor leaders and student activists alike
Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman says artificial intelligence is no longer an abstract idea, but is now transforming how the state’s public universities operate.
Rothman penned an op-ed on the future of AI and higher education Monday ahead of the Thursday Board of Regents meeting where he said there will be a “robust discussion” on the topic.
Jake Baggott, associate vice chancellor & executive director of University Health Services, said UW-Madison has directly notified around 4,000 people who may have been exposed. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Baggott said immunization data voluntarily reported by students shows many are already protected against the virus.
“We estimate, based on our own data, that about 95 percent of our campus is vaccinated against measles, which is a good place to be,” Baggott told reporters.
UW-Madison rose seven positions from 2025, leapfrogging the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles. The University of Michigan took the top U.S. public university spot
The Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Black Affinity Group launched Black History Month with Legacy and Libations, an event celebrating the Black community in Madison.
This year’s theme, “Taking Flight,” highlighted UW-Madison student projects and alumni-owned businesses. The event featured the SoulFolk Collective, a recently established research department at UW-Madison focused on documenting Madison’s Black community stories through research.
