Dorota Grejner-Brzezińska a year ago stepped into a top role at UW-Madison with big plans to expand its billion-dollar research operation.
Then the executive orders poured in. Her plans had to change.
As the pot of federal funding for research at universities and colleges continues to shrink, UW-Madison’s campus leaders are positioning the university to grow its work with the Department of Defense.
That doesn’t mean UW-Madison researchers will be at the forefront of developing new bombs, said Vice Chancellor for Research Dorota Grejner-Brzezińska.
As artificial intelligence infiltrates nearly all facets of society, an education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is no exception. While professors use AI to provide accessible materials, they want their students to understand how to use AI tools without circumventing learning.
Artificial intelligence is powering breakthroughs in everything from health care to climate science, but each new discovery comes with a cost: significant energy. Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are asking a new question — how can this powerful technology be more sustainable?
The University of Wisconsin is implementing a national pluralism grant this year to support staff and faculty in addressing antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, according to an emailed statement from UW Student Affairs.
The grant will provide support for a project titled “Pluralism Cohort Initiative for Senior Leadership in Student Affairs” over the course of the 2025-2026 school year, using the work of a cohort of 20 senior administrators at UW, according to SA’s statement.
There are two types of artificial intelligence, Sendhil Mullainathan argued to a sold-out crowd Thursday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
One kind can do everything that the smartest people can do. That sounds ambitious, he said, until you realize “we already have things that can do what people can do — people.”
The other kind of AI, Mullainathan said, can do what even the smartest people cannot.
Fresh off the heels of summer break, some students were startled by three words they thought had been lost to time: “blue book exam.”
Indeed, for many students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this year, gone are the days of the take-home paper or at-home Canvas final. Faced with rising instances of students using generative artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, to cheat, professors have instead returned to the ol’ reliable: a handwritten, in-class exam.
As artificial intelligence rapidly advances, University of Wisconsin System universities are launching new majors and certificates to prepare students for an increasingly AI-driven workforce.
The programs aim to teach students how to use the technology ethically, practically and responsibly as the technology becomes more integrated into everyday life.
The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire started offering majors, certificates and minors in Artificial Intelligence this fall, while the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has offered an AI-related certificate since as early as spring of 2022. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, engineering students have been able to add a capstone certificate in AI since April.
Last spring, UW-Madison awarded the largest number of degrees in the university’s history, the campus reported Wednesday.
The university awarded 13,733 degrees to 13,663 recipients. The total is 1,200 more degrees students earned the year prior.
After he graduates from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Drew Wesson hopes to begin a career in strategic communication, a field with higher-than-average job growth and earnings.
Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful and controversial vice presidents in history, died Nov. 3 at age 84.
Cheney died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from his family.
The Cheney family had numerous connections to Wisconsin. Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1960s. His daughter, Liz, was born in Madison. Cheney returned to Wisconsin as recently as 2019.
It may be November, but some lilacs in the UW Arboretum are behaving like it’s spring.
That these normally spring-blooming bushes are blossoming here in the fall is starting to become an annual event, said David Stevens, curator of the UW Arboretum’s Longenecker Horticultural Gardens.
Dick Cheney’s political career started in Wisconsin before he headed to Washington. Cheney, one of the most influential and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history, died at age 84 Monday.
Three companies behind planned and ongoing data center developments on Thursday separately announced efforts aimed at supporting Wisconsin researchers and communities.
The announcements come as new polling shows most Wisconsin voters believe the costs associated with data center projects outweigh the benefits of those developments.
Legendary heavy metal rock and roll band AC/DC announced Monday that it will play at Camp Randall Stadium on Sunday, July 19.
The Madison show will be part of the Australian band’s “Power Up” tour named for its latest studio album, which reached No. 1 in 21 countries.
UW Health encourages lung cancer screenings, as it is the leading cause of cancer death and the second most common cancer in the U.S. excluding skin cancer.
Dr. Cheryl Czerlanis, a medical oncologist and UW Health and a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, says screening is a critical tool for early cancer detection.
UW-Madison’s food pantry, in one sense, looked a lot like business as usual Friday: Student workers continued to dump bags of carrots and onions into bins. They wrote produce labels. They trained volunteers.
The bevy of activity, however, was set against a backdrop of uncertainty, as millions of Americans were set to lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding, known as SNAP payments, due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The University of Wisconsin African Studies Program hosted a discussion Wednesday afternoon featuring UW Vice Provost and Dean of the International Division Frances Vavrus and other program directors. The discussion provided insights into the importance and future of international education amidst federal funding cuts.
As darkness fell over the state capital Oct. 25, Makeela Magomolla, Tayah Dean and George Whitney led a group of more than 40 people on the winding paths of UW-Madison’s Lakeshore Nature Preserve.
Avian flu—otherwise known as bird flu, or H5N1—has spread to dairy cattle in several states across the country. The first confirmed case of the virus in dairy cattle was recorded in March 2024. Luckily, there have been no cases among cattle in Wisconsin.
As a prime dairy state, Wisconsin has implemented mandatory testing of milk entering the supply chain, and researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are actively helping to keep tabs on bird flu in dairy milk by testing samples.
Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall in both Jamaica and Cuba in the last two days, followed what has unfortunately become a familiar pattern for major storms in a warming world.
Microsoft, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Princeton University, and the New Jersey AI Hub, announced a unique partnership with TitletownTech to accelerate scientific discovery.
This new model will combine the agility of a startup, the technology of a global company, and a university’s expertise.
The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison appointed Ricardo Carrion Jr. as its next director on Oct. 23. Carrion will begin the role Nov. 3, 2025.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved a request from University of Wisconsin-Madison on Sept. 18 seeking an additional $13.5 million to make space for a cancer research project.
Originally budgeted at $48.5 million, researchers at the Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research found the new structure requires significantly more complex infrastructure, adding $13.5 million to construction costs. The building will support a cyclotron particle accelerator, [brief definition], and will be ready in 2027 according to UW-Madison’s request.
Professor, author and orator Brittney Cooper discussed the need to reframe narratives surrounding attacks on justice and recognize individual power in reforming systems rooted in oppression at her keynote speech at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center Saturday for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Gender and Women’s Studies 50th Anniversary Celebration.
The University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty hosted a webinar Oct. 29. The webinar examined the effects of student loans and how they specifically target Black students and families, welcoming three experts to discuss a variety of effects impacting students.
UW-Madison has announced a swath of new programming intended to improve civil discourse across campus among students and faculty with differing viewpoints.
Starting in the spring, the “Wisconsin Exchange: Pluralism in Practice” initiative will bring in prominent speakers to talk about free speech and the value of having a diversity of opinions in a community, UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said last week.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice says funding in the state would impact a Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction grant program that includes training new providers, increasing teleservices, and a UW-Madison program which trains 24 psychology graduate students to work in high-need high schools.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is in the process of laying off 31 employees and leaving an additional 156 positions vacant. Schools and colleges have cut back on supplies, travel and other expenses. Some libraries plan to shorten hours. And some deans are relying on other funding sources to maintain services and staffing.
Local pharmacies across the state are playing a bigger role in preventing people from dying from opioid overdoses, largely because of the work of a Madison-based program that started one year ago. The Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Response Center estimates it has brought more than 185,000 residents into contact with a variety of expanded services since launching last year.
Thinking about joining the growing number of people zipping around Madison on electric scooters? Know this: They are generally allowed anywhere you can ride a bicycle, though there are exceptions. Madison and UW-Madison police say there’s been a noticeable uptick in e-scooter use over the last one to two years, even as no business renting out commuter scooters has yet opened in the city.
A conservative student group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a panel discussion on campus Oct. 15 highlighting growing tensions on college campuses over free speech, representation and political balance in the classroom.
Wisconsin Young Americans for Freedom’s panel, featuring current and former UW-Madison professors and state Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville, examined how universities can preserve open debate while addressing concerns about a shrinking range of political views, especially in the aftermath of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assasination at a college in Utah.
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 leaders want to hear a variety of viewpoints on campus.
Originally published in the January 2024 print issue of Madison Magazine, Oloizia’s “All the Lonely People” is noted in “The Best American Essays 2025” among works selected by guest editor Jia Tolentino of The New Yorker. The reported essay explores potential solutions to the loneliness epidemic declared by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in May 2023. Oloizia experiments with tempering his own moderate loneliness through cuddle therapy, behavioral economics and a University of Wisconsin–Madison course on human flourishing.
UW-Madison presented a new initiative titled “Wisconsin Exchange: Pluralism in Practice,” aiming to encourage civil dialogue and connect students, staff and faculty in a polarized world, according to UW News.
Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin said in a statement that learning happens best when those from different backgrounds come together and the Wisconsin Exchange will recognize that by building off existing programs and offering opportunities for open conversations, according to the Wisconsin Exchange website.
The UW-Madison main campus includes over two dozen properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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.
The Universities of Wisconsin this fall saw record in-state freshman enrollment growth but reported 8% fewer international students on campus amid federal pressures, including visa crackdowns, according to data released Wednesday.
UW systemwide enrollment is 164,626 students this fall, a slight increase of 190 students, or 0.12%, from last fall. The modest increase is higher compared to student count projections reported last month. That report suggested a loss of nearly 100 students, 0.05% decrease, credited to plummeting international student enrollment.
At the University of Wisconsin, the humanities department is stepping into the AI world with a new initiative. Backed by a $500,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the College of Letters and Science is launching the Center for Humanistic Inquiry into AI and Uncertainty, according to the CL&S website.
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 last year.
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.
It’s 7:30 a.m. on a Thursday, and class for the Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums program at UW-Madison is just getting started.
Program director Cassy Leeport, a descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, pulls up to a university parking lot and greets her student Cheyenne Woerman as she hops into the UW-Madison-issued minivan scented with cut sweetgrass ready for braiding.
Leslie Falcon, Citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and Ho-Chunk Educational Materials Director, speaks on the impact that UW-Madison students from the Tribal Libraries, Archives and Museums program have had on building the first Ho-Chunk library.
Lab director talks accessibility for lab work, research for students.
Across University of Wisconsin campuses, 9.6% of enrolled students utilize disability services, a number that has grown by 95% in the past nine years, according to the 2023-24 Services for Students with Disabilities Annual Report.
Applications to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s law school skyrocketed this fall and surpassed a national surge.
Leaders at the law school had noticed signs that applications could be up. They monitored how many people registered for the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, among other indicators.
The University of Wisconsin Foundation and Wisconsin Alumni Association (WFAA) broke a fundraising record during the 13th annual Fill the Hill, raising $737,849 in just 24 hours.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison saw a sharp drop in the number of new students attending from overseas this fall, the decline coming after college officials voiced concerns about the impact of Trump administration policies on international enrollment.
Neil Heinen recently attended two events — one being the dedication of the John D. Wiley Gallery for Art in Science — that showed people answering current political and societal challenges with determination and clarity of purpose.
Wisconsin is ranked among the worst in the country for college affordability, according to a new report.
The National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit aimed at improving student access to higher education, has calculated each state’s affordability gap for nearly a decade. It compares the cost of attendance at each institution to what the average student and family can pay.
Two professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have launched the Midwest’s first center for Puerto Rican studies.
Supported by a $3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Puerto Rican Studies Hub aims to connect researchers, students, artists and the public through lectures, musical performances, fellowships, film screenings and more.
The biota is a sedimentary deposit containing more than 2,000 fossils of small, aquatic animals from over 437 million years ago. Researchers salvaged the collection of specimens found at a Waukesha quarry. It was stored at the University of Wisconsin Geology Museum.
Greg Steinberger, president and CEO of Hillel at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said this is a historic moment.
“The hard work will now begin,” Steinberger said. “But to witness these images of all of these world leaders coming together to discuss and work on and overcome the thorny, challenging issues of the next moment is amazing, it’s very hopeful.”
Woznick traces his love of nature back to middle school, when he joined an after-school nature club. On Wednesday afternoons, the group would walk to Warner Park and learn about the plants and animals living there. That nascent fascination would inform Woznick’s career path: He double-majored in geology and environmental studies as an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before completing a master’s degree in geoscience at Utah State University.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate is also an author. Her debut novel “Sunny Side Up” narrates the journey of plus-size protagonist Sunny as she powers through life with confidence and humor.
In 2026, the city anticipates an $8.6 million increase in property tax revenues and a $5.2 million increase in other local revenues, including a $3 million increase in earnings from city investments due to higher interest rates. The city is also expecting $5 million more in state aid, partly because the most recent state budget raises payments for providing some municipal services to state and Universities of Wisconsin facilities.
Neubauer was elected to the court in 2008, 2014 and 2020. She is an honors graduate from the University of Chicago Law School in 1987, and she earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979.
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.
Though just 25, Alfonso could scramble the race with his strong ties to Duffy and President Donald Trump. He attended high school in the Wausau area and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to a now-deleted LinkedIn profile.
Having studied for two years at his local university, Wisconsin-Madison, he had won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford – unaware, he later insisted, that philosophy at the university was going through “a golden age”.
Manly’s list attracted wide notice, and a bit of controversy. But like Embree’s, it was a one-off. A few public institutions made Manly’s top 10—UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin—but the Ivy League and private schools that topped the list remained clubby domains that catered to their traditional clientele by selecting for intangible qualities, such as “character,” over academic excellence.
