Proud Badger fans and UW-Madison alumni will tell you that the school is one of the best, and it seems U.S. News and World Report agree.
UW-Madison named 10th best public college by U.S. News & World Report
WISC-TV 3
Category: Top Stories
‘There are many stories yet to be uncovered’: Sifting & Reckoning exhibit brings light to UW-Madison’s dark past
WISC-TV 3
“By uncovering our history we get a better sense of the progress that we’ve made, places that we’ve fallen short, and places where we need to focus our attention for the future,” LaVar Charleston, UW-Madison’s deputy vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, said.
New Chazen exhibition highlights UW’s history of discrimination
Badger Herald
Exhibition covers past discriminations faced by students, highlights protests, landmarks, cultural association openings.
Ho-Chunk Nation flag will fly at UW-Madison for more than 6 weeks to honor Indigenous Peoples
Wisconsin State Journal
The flag will first fly for one week in September, beginning with a public flag-raising ceremony at 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 15, as a part of UW-Madison’s ongoing commitment to educate the campus community about the ancestral home of the Ho-Chunk and First Nations history.
‘Sifting and Reckoning’: Public History Project installation at Chazen sheds light on history of discrimination on campus
Daily Cardinal
The history covered in the project spans nearly two centuries, from the founding of the Wisconsin Territory on stolen Ho-Chunk land to 2019’s controversial Homecoming video, and covers the university in all its aspects — academia, athletics, student life, housing and more.
‘Sifting and Reckoning’: UW-Madison exhibit puts past discrimination on display
Wisconsin State Journal
Set in the middle of the newest exhibition at the Chazen Museum of Art, opening Monday, is a video screen looping an artifact once thought to have been destroyed: a black and white film shot undercover in 1961 to document discrimination against students of color seeking housing in Madison.
As Wildfires Grow, Millions of Homes Are Being Built in Harm’s Way
The New York Times
“That’s the perfect storm,” said Volker Radeloff, a professor of forest ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who helped lead the research. “Millions of houses have been built in places that will sooner or later burn,” he said, even as climate change increases the risks of major wildfires across the West with extreme heat and dryness.
UW-Madison administrators decry anti-Semitic messages on first day of class
Wisconsin State Journal
Vice Chancellor Lori Reesor and Deputy Vice Chancellor LaVar Charleston, the university’s chief diversity officer, said while such statements aren’t against the law or campus policy, they do “violate our norms and actively work against the culture of belonging for which we are striving.”
UW-Madison welcomes record-breaking freshman class at convocation
The Capital Times
This year, UW-Madison is ushering in around 8,600 freshmen — the largest freshman class in the university’s history — and about 1,100 new transfer students. The freshman class was selected from a pool of over 60,000 applicants, which Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said was “one of our most competitive years ever.”
New student convocation welcomes the largest UW-Madison freshman class
NBC-15
“It’s likely that you may never have been and may never again be living and working alongside people from so many different backgrounds and countries and ethnicities and races and religions and points of view all together,” Mnookin said.
New Student Convocation welcomes incoming UW-Madison students ahead of start of classes
WISC-TV 3
“We’ve been planning Wisconsin Welcome events the last few days for our students, and this is a culmination to say, ‘We’re so glad you’re here, and tomorrow is the first day of classes!’” Lori Reesor, the university’s vice chancellor for student affairs, said.
UW-Madison holds welcome ceremony for new students
WKOW-TV 27
A day before classes begin at UW-Madison, school officials welcomed new students to campus.
Seven Million Years Ago, the Oldest Known Early Human Was Already Walking
Smithsonian
John Hawks, who studies human evolution at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and was not involved in either femur study, has questioned whether Sahelanthropus‘s skull and teeth mark it as an upright hominin. He finds the disconnect between femur analyses puzzling and more than a little frustrating—particularly since the fossil in question was discovered two decades ago.
UW South Madison Partnership holds community celebration
WKOW-TV 27
It opened in 2015 with a mission to connect the university with an area of the city where residents historically had less access to the school’s programs and resources.
UW’s South Madison Partnership to host community celebration on Thursday
Wisconsin State Journal
The UW South Madison Partnership is inviting the community to attend a celebration Thursday featuring food, music, games and visits from UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Bucky Badger at the Village on Park mall.
Wisconsin Considers Direct Admissions
Inside Higher Ed
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents is considering direct admissions for some of its campuses in an attempt to reverse enrollment declines, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.
Historically, 32 percent of high school grads from the state of Wisconsin have enrolled at one of the system’s campuses immediately after graduation. That dropped to about 27 percent in 2020.
UW System considering automatic admissions for in-state high school graduates
Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin System is considering automatically admitting high school graduates to its campuses in hopes of stemming enrollment declines and boosting college access.
UW Regents request $24.5M from state for Wisconsin Tuition Promise
The Cap Times
Under the new Wisconsin Tuition Promise starting next fall, in-state students from low income families will be able to attend any school in the University of Wisconsin System for free.
The program, announced this week, will waive the costs of tuition and fees that remain after receiving financial aid for UW System students whose household incomes are less than $62,000 per year.
UW System budget request seeks additional $262.6M from Legislature
Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin System is seeking $262.6 million in additional state funding in its two-year budget request and plans to use the bulk of that to boost employee pay by 8 percent by 2025. Regents passed the proposal unanimously even as some expressed concern that it could be a tough sell with Republican state lawmakers who increased the system’s base funding by $16.6 million last year.
As prison education expands in Wisconsin, incarcerated students find success
The Capital Times
In addition, the Odyssey Beyond Bars program expanded its English 100 college-credit course to four state prisons this past semester. The University of Wisconsin-Madison organization will add an intro to psychology class next year.
In collaboration with UW-Madison and four other campuses, the UW System will also soon offer incarcerated students a pathway to a bachelor’s degree through its Prison Education Initiative. Last December, the program received a $5.7 million grant from Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
UW System wants to expand UW-Madison’s tuition promise program to all UW campuses. Will the state support it?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
At a Monday news conference on the UW-Milwaukee campus, UW officials framed the scholarship program as a “gamechanger” that will help more students graduate and ease the workforce shortage straining the state.
“We are in a war for talent,” UW System President Jay Rothman said. “We are not graduating enough people with four-year degrees and graduate degrees in order to help sustain the economic growth of the state. We hear that from employers all the time.”
UW System launches free tuition program at regional campuses
Associated Press
The program, dubbed the Wisconsin Tuition Promise, is modeled after the Bucky’s Tuition Promise program at UW-Madison. Beginning this fall, Wisconsin residents who come from families making less than $62,000 a year will have any tuition and fees remaining after receiving financial aid waived.
A look at new UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s first day on the job
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Photo story.
Jennifer Mnookin begins term as UW-Madison’s 32nd Chancellor
Wisconsin Public Radio
On her first day as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jennifer Mnookin said she is working to build a “bold vision” for the state’s flagship campus by connecting with stakeholders, including state lawmakers who opposed her chancellorship.
UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin gets a warm welcome. The meet-and-greets with GOP critics are still to come
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Wisconsin-Madison welcomed its new leader Thursday on historic Bascom Hill with ice cream made from the campus dairy shop and the Badger Band playing “On, Wisconsin!”
Tuition, state funding and diversity: New UW-Madison chancellor’s agenda has familiar ring
Wisconsin State Journal
Jennifer Mnookin spent her first day on campus meeting with students, faculty and campus leaders as she takes on the role as UW-Madison’s 30th chancellor.
Mnookin, who comes to Madison from her previous role as dean of the UCLA School of Law, said her primary goal is to have conversations with UW-Madison students and staff and community and state leaders to discuss ways to keep UW-Madison affordable, while also addressing challenges like accessibility, funding and diversity.
New UW-Madison chancellor meets with students, staff on first day on campus
Channel 3000
New University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin met with students and staff members Thursday during an ice cream social to mark her first day on campus.
Teacher shortages loom ahead of the new school year. UW-Madison’s School of Education is trying to help.
Channel 3000
Kimber Wilkerson is the faculty director of UW-Madison’s Teacher Education Center. She says there are many reasons hiring teachers is difficult right now.
“A critique of the teaching profession is the pay,” said Wilkerson. “I think COVID has exacerbated that experience by making the working conditions for teachers even more challenging.”
At UW-Madison, Grandparents University crosses generations
The Capital Times
At Grandparents University, the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s intergenerational education program, learners young and old enroll for a taste of campus life, the chance to learn from college instructors and an opportunity to spend time with their loved ones.
A Navajo scientist couldn’t translate his work to his family. Now, because of a UW-Madison project he co-founded, he can.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
That’s when Martin and his colleagues — Joanna Bundus, a biology post-doctoral fellow at UW-Madison, and Susana Wadgymar, an assistant professor of biology at Davidson College in North Carolina — founded Project ENABLE (Enriching Navajo As a Biology Language for Education), an online dictionary of biology terms translated from English to Diné Bizaad, a Navajo language.
UW Alzheimer’s doctor, researcher inspired by father’s diagnosis with the disease
Wisconsin State Journal
Dr. Nathaniel Chin, who grew up in Watertown and got undergraduate and medical degrees from UW-Madison, planned to specialize in infectious diseases. But during his internal medicine residency at the University of California-San Diego, his father — a family medicine doctor in Watertown — was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Blank stepping down as president of Northwestern following cancer diagnosis
Wisconsin Public Radio
Former University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank has stepped down as president of Northwestern University after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.
Facing ‘aggressive’ cancer, former UW-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank steps away from Northwestern, returns to Madison
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Former University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank will not become president of Northwestern University due to a recent diagnosis of an aggressive form of cancer.
Rebecca Blank unable to takeover as Northwestern’s president after cancer diagnosis
WKOW-TV 27
Former University of Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank announced she has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form of cancer.”
Former UW Chancellor Blank diagnosed with cancer; will not take Northwestern job
NBC-15
Former University of Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, Northwestern University revealed Monday.
Rebecca Blank announces cancer diagnosis, steps down as president-elect of Northwestern
Badger Herald
’This letter is among the most difficult and painful I have ever written,’ Blank says in message to Northwestern community.
Former Chancellor Rebecca Blank steps down from Northwestern position following cancer diagnosis
Daily Cardinal
UW leaders reacted to Blank’s announcement with an outpouring of grief and support.
Former UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank diagnosed with aggressive cancer, won’t start new job
Wisconsin State Journal
Former UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank announced Monday she is stepping down from her new job as Northwestern University’s next president and instead will receive treatment in Madison for an aggressive form of cancer.
Four arrested, including 15-year-old, in attack on UW Ph.D. student
WISC-TV 3
Four people who police said attacked a UW-Madison Ph.D. student who was walking in downtown Madison Tuesday night were arrested Saturday. One of the suspects is 15 years old.Madison police said the fifth-year doctoral student was walking in the 400 block of West Gilman Street at around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday when he was allegedly punched by a group of men. The men then kicked and punched him after he fell to the ground.
‘A lasting and influential impact’: Karen Walsh elected president of UW Board of Regents
Wisconsin State Journal
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents elected Karen Walsh to serve as its president on Friday, filling the role after its former holder declined to run for the seat again earlier this year.
Also on Friday, the board elected Amy Blumenfeld Bogost to the role of vice president. Bogost works as a federal Title IX lawyer and joined the board in May 2020.
UW System keeps tuition freeze intact for year ahead
Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents Thursday approved a budget that keeps an in-state undergraduate tuition freeze in place for another year.
UW Board of Regents extends tuition freeze for in-state undergrads
Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin residents will not pay any more next year to attend the state’s universities. The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved a tuition freeze for in-state undergraduate students Thursday as part of the 2022-23 operating budget.
UW System President Jay Rothman to request continued tuition freeze
Wisconsin State Journal
Newly appointed University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman plans to recommend a tuition freeze in the upcoming school year for in-state undergraduate students when he presents the Board of Regents with the System’s annual budget next week.
Lifelong learners: For older students at UW-Madison, guest auditing keeps them young
The Capital Times
Steve Holtzman is easy to spot on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. At the back of a classroom in the psychology building, he and his wife Jane sit amid students decades younger than them as they take notes for a lecture on the Civil War. “You won’t have any problems seeing us,” Holtzman said, laughing. “We’re the only old folks in there.”
UW education dean Diana Hess to serve as interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs
Wisconsin State Journal
Diana Hess, dean of the UW-Madison School of Education, will become interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs on June 1, when Provost John Karl Scholz takes over as the interim chancellor, UW said on Tuesday.
Ancient canoe from Lake Mendota undergoes high tech scan
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison announced Tuesday that Lennon Rodgers, who directs the Grainger Engineering Design and Innovation Laboratory, conducted the scans at the invitation of Wisconsin State Archaeologist James Skibo and Scott Roller, a senior collections manager for the Wisconsin Historical Society. The canoe, being preserved and housed at the Wisconsin State Archive Preservation Facility on Madison’s Near East Side, was out of its tank for about a day in order for Rodgers, who oversees the College of Engineering’s makerspace, to do his work.
UW profs, Board of Regents show support for new chancellor after GOP attacks
The Capital Times
Professors and Board of Regents Vice President Karen Walsh spoke out in support of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s next chancellor, Jennifer Mnookin, after some state Republicans criticized the hire.
Cutting fossil fuel air pollution saves lives
NPR
“These [particles] get deep into the lungs and cause both respiratory and cardiac ailments,” says Jonathan Patz, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the authors of the study. “They are pretty much the worst pollutant when it comes to mortality and hospitalization.”
UCLA dean Jennifer Mnookin named UW-Madison’s next chancellor
Wisconsin State Journal
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents has selected Jennifer Mnookin as the next chancellor to lead UW-Madison. Mnookin, law school dean at UCLA, was unanimously approved as UW-Madison’s 30th chancellor, the regents announced in a Monday news release. Her appointment will take effect Aug. 4.
Five things to know about incoming UW-Madison chancellor Jennifer Mnookin
Wisconsin State Journal
Jennifer Mnookin has been named as the next chancellor to lead UW-Madison. She will be the university’s 30th chancellor. Her appointment takes effect Aug. 4.
Regents pick UCLA law school dean to lead UW-Madison
AP News
The dean of UCLA’s law school has been chosen as the next head of the University of Wisconsin’s flagship campus in Madison, the university system’s regents announced Monday.
Cutting air pollution from fossil fuels would save 50,000 lives a year
The Washington Post
Eliminating air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels would prevent more than 50,000 premature deaths and provide more than $600 billion in health benefits in the United States every year, according to a new study by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers.
Full UW-Madison commencement thunders back to Camp Randall
Wisconsin State Journal
After years of the COVID-19 pandemic’s shuttering of dear traditions, UW-Madison had its first proper spring commencement in three years on Saturday. As the smiling faces of friends and families packed the stands at Camp Randall, the theme of change, for students and the university, ran through the words of speakers and the audience of 42,000 people.
Rebecca Blank advises successor to improve campus climate, seek flexibility
The Capital Times
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank says she will miss the Memorial Union Terrace, Badgers game days and Bucky. What she won’t miss, she told reporters Wednesday, are the hurdles in leading “one of the more constrained and regulated universities in the country.”
Outgoing UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank suggests ‘persistence and stubbornness’ for successor
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
On the cusp of leaving the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chancellor Rebecca Blank used a final news conference Wednesday to take somewhat of a victory lap, saying she is leaving the university on strong financial footing and in a much better place.
But she also took the opportunity to highlight “unfinished agenda” items, such as increasing diversity and students’ sense of belonging on campus.
UW-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank reflects on tenure
WKOW-TV 27
Her final day is Friday, May 27 before she heads to Northwestern.
Blank holds final media briefing as UW-Madison chancellor
WISC-TV 3
Blank, at times emotional, touted the university’s accomplishments during her nine-year tenure, including efforts to make UW-Madison more financially stable. She highlighted the university’s work in expanding summer programs, increasing research dollars and fundraising, which have allowed it to invest in high-need areas like increasing staff salaries and scholarship opportunities.
Blank laments not building diversity, won’t miss bureaucracy
NBC-15
She said she will leave with “unfinished” items on her agenda, including increasing diversity and improving students’ sense of belonging.
Woman gets second chance at UW-Madison graduation she missed 36 years ago
Wisconsin State Journal
Dawn Proctor made a request in March that she considered to be bold and unusual and unlike her. The UW-Madison alumna graduated in 1986 but circumstances beyond her control prevented her from participating in the commencement ceremony. Now 67 and auditing a full load of courses this semester, being back on campus reminded her over and over again of the missed opportunity.
UW-Madison chancellor finalist John Karl Scholz points to track record of campus successes
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison chancellor finalist John Karl Scholz said it’s going to take a three-pronged effort to address the challenges the university faces, such as the need for additional resources and the increasingly polarized view of the value of higher education.