Denise Wiyaka is director of the UW Madison American Indian and Indigenous Studies program, where she spearheads the Annual Evening of Storytelling and established the Elder-in-Residence program as associate director in 2018.
Category: UW-Madison Related
Only 2% of Madison lawyers are Black. One group wants to change that.
At the University of Wisconsin School of Law in 2023, one of just two law schools in the state, Black students accounted for 34 of the 698 law students, or 4.9%, according to data compiled by the university. But of the 228 students who graduated with juris doctorate degrees in 2023, just seven (3.1%) were Black. It’s not clear how those numbers will change following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that struck down affirmative action in college admissions.
$30 million residential substance abuse treatment center coming to Milwaukee near west side
The development’s financing includes $4.9 million Meta House received from the state’s share of a 2022 opioid lawsuit settlement; a $775,000 grant from University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health via American Rescue Plan Act funds; private philanthropy, and federal New Markets Tax Credits − which help finance new commercial buildings in lower-income neighborhoods.
Baldwin unveils first ad in Wisconsin Senate battle
In the ad, his wife, Sharon Hovde, talks about her husband, noting he graduated from the University of Wisconsin, built up numerous companies and started a foundation focused on addressing homelessness and children facing abuse, sex trafficking and slavery.
Kamala Harris rallies voters, and works in a visit to her childhood home, in return to Madison
Just before speaking to supporters, she visited her childhood home on the west side of Madison, where she lived from age 3 to 5 before leaving in 1970. At the time, her father was an associate professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her mother worked as a breast cancer researcher in the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, according to a White House official.
Three questions for UVA’s Kemi Jona
I began my academic journey as an undergraduate at University of Wisconsin at Madison—another great public university—and I was excited to be able to contribute to advancing UVA’s role in serving citizens of the commonwealth and our country.
Bonafide Badger or ‘pure California’? Senate messages paint contrasting pictures of Eric Hovde
“I would like to tell you about the man I love, Eric, who is running for the U.S. Senate,” Hovde’s wife, Sharon, says in his Tuesday ad. She calls Hovde a fourth-generation Wisconsinite and notes he graduated from Madison East High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Gen Z on Marriage: In This Economy?
For thousands of years, marriage has been a building block of productive societies. Despite modern sentiments to the contrary, men and women need each other. The easiest way to build a meaningful and productive life is to fall in love, get married and start a family.
—Anika Horowitz, University of Wisconsin-Madison, economics
4 must-read books on birding (and 2 bonus picks)
But, shaken by the devastation she (Trish O’Kane) saw in New Orleans, O’Kane, in her mid-40s, decided to return to school for a PhD in environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Enchanted by catbirds singing near her new home, she signed up for an ornithology class and became a regular at Warner Park, a recreation center and urban wildlife refuge.
UW student John Oncken often hitchhiked home to Stoughton to help with dad with farm work
My future was cloudy at best until I remembered a scholarship given to me at graduation by the local Legion that paid my University of Wisconsin semester fees for two years. True, I had never considered the U.W. before but my future choices seemed limited – so off to college I went.
Residency, authenticity emerge as early issues in Senate campaign
Even before Hovde formally announced his candidacy, Democrats had spent months casting him as a carpetbagger, who spends more time in California tending to his business interests than in the Badger State. Hovde does own homes in both Wisconsin and California, but he grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
$30 million substance abuse treatment center could come to Milwaukee. It needs city ok
In an interview, Vidal said financing for the development would include $4.9 million Meta House received from the state’s share of a 2022 opioid lawsuit settlement; a $775,000 grant from University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health via American Rescue Plan Act funds; private philanthropy, and federal New Markets Tax Credits − which help finance new commercial buildings in lower-income neighborhoods.
NPR College Podcast Challenge 2023: Finalists
Among the podcasts featured is All Good Things, Jack Ohly, a senior mechanical engineering and communication arts student at UW-Madison.
Conservative law firm challenges UW race-based programs after Supreme Court ruling
Eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of race in college admissions, a conservative Wisconsin law firm is drawing attention to what it says are Universities of Wisconsin programs that continue to consider race in other areas, while the state’s flagship university says it’s reviewing programs that might be affected by the court’s ruling.
UW alumni earns early career award for contributions to Latinx higher education
UW PhD graduate, now assistant professor at UIC, studies factors in language education in U.S. schools.
‘US History in 15 Foods’ author goes deep on green bean casserole
In her latest book, UW-Madison grad Anna Zeide explores what foods like Jell-O, corn, Big Macs and chicken nuggets mean to people in the U.S.
Snow and ice are a way of life here. See how a lost winter upended that.
“Maple sap just does not flow in January in northern Wisconsin, but this year it did,” said Karl Martin, co-owner of Martin and Sons Maple Syrup and dean of extension for the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Homegrown celebrity Bradley Whitford salutes arts educators on UW-Madison professor’s podcast
The acclaimed, Madison-raised actor Bradley Whitford is well known for his work in TV’s “The West Wing” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” — and now for the role he played in “Arsenic and Old Lace” as a teenager. It was that early experience on stage, after all, that confirmed Whitford’s love of acting and put him on a career trajectory that would later include three Emmy Awards.
Whitford, who attended East High School in the 1970s, tells that story on “Arts Educators Save the World,” a revealing and entertaining podcast co-created by UW-Madison professor Erica Halverson.
Can ChatGPT pass college assignments? We tested it out, with help from Wisconsin professors
In the era of artificial intelligence, cheating is only getting easier for students.
Some instructors say they can easily tell when students turn in AI-generated work. Others find it far trickier and will turn to online AI detectors for confirmation when their suspicions are raised. Educators everywhere are trying to create AI-proof assignments.
Smith: On its 75th anniversary, lessons of “A Sand County Almanac” more relevant than ever
Leopold, born in Iowa in 1887, received a forestry degree from Yale and began his professional career in 1909 with the U.S. Forest Service. In 1924 he became associate director of the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison and in 1933 the University of Wisconsin created a chair of game management for him. Leopold died in 1948 fighting a grass fire on a neighbor’s farm. The property is now part of the Aldo Leopold Foundation near Baraboo.
Epic’s Antitrust Paradox: Who Should Control The Levers Of Healthcare Innovation?
Epic attracts thousands of new employees to the company and area each year, regularly pulling in top tech talent, including the likes of Amazon and Google. The company also has a symbiotic relationship with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with Epic consistently being a “top employer” of UW grads.
Star Tribune hires Daily Beast manager as senior VP of consumer growth
Mayer spent the last decade on the East Coast but is from Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and also attended the University of Iowa.
‘Our voices are needed’: Supporting Wisconsin women in STEM
UW-Madison Spirit Squad members Elisabeth Keefner and Sophie Cowgill are passionate about showing women belong in both the dance field and the scientific community.
Keefner, a neurobiology major, sees no separation between her passions. “I don’t see a world without dance, I don’t see a world without science. They go hand in hand, in that sense that I can help people in either way,” she explained.
Why Is Johns Hopkins Still Honoring an Antisemite?
Along with the University of Wisconsin historian Paige Glotzer, we have petitioned Johns Hopkins’s Name Review Board to stop honoring Bowman. We are asking the board, which is tasked with reconsidering controversial campus iconography, to remove the bust and change the road’s name. It is slated to consider our petition this spring.
Blk Power Coalition to host teach-in on radical imagination
The Blk Power Coalition will host a Black history teach-in Feb. 24 at 10:30 a.m. called “Radical Imagination.” The event will include a keynote address, a meditative practice and an intergenerational panel on Black student activism, chief officer of BPC Jekiah Manor said.
Founded during the Spring 2023 semester BPC is a student-led organization unaffiliated with the University of Wisconsin. The group focuses on making the UW campus a safer and better place for Black and Brown students, according to Manor.
Twenty-five US universities face calls to cancel Starbucks contracts
The “Starbucks gets an F” actions will take place on Thursday at campuses including the University of Chicago, the University of South Florida, UW-Madison, New York University, Georgetown and Rutgers.
Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Has Fallen Out of Favor
“Chocolate chip used to be a flavor we produced constantly,” said Caroline Crowley, communications specialist for Babcock Dairy Plant, which has 75 years of ice-cream making under its belt, in Madison, Wis. Chocolate chip hasn’t been a staple for a decade, she said: “Now it’s seasonal.”
UW biochemists’s vision extends past US, impacts communities in Uganda
University of Wisconsin biochemistry professor James Ntambi and former associate director of UW’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences international program John Ferrick have been working to combat roadblocks for up-and-coming scientists in developing countries by leading UW’s community health initiative in Uganda.
First Came Blood Sausage, Then Botulism, and Then Botox
Dr. Ed Schantz, a lieutenant in the army and later civilian employee at Camp Detrick, remained custodian of the culture for more than 40 years at the newly named Fort Detrick and later the University of Wisconsin Madison. During this time, he provided suitable portions of the toxin to more than 100 researchers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. In 1972, one of these researchers requesting the toxin was Alan Scott.
‘A giant’: Late Wisconsin civil rights leader Vel Phillips honored at Milwaukee ceremony
Phillips was also a trailblazer in the world of law. She was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1951 and the first female judge in Milwaukee County.
New Native American Graves Protection Act provisions further repatriation efforts in Wisconsin, US
In recent decades, UW–Madison has begun to square its own history with the history of Indigenous peoples that occupied the land long before the university, and undergo its own repatriation process following the initial passage of NAGPRA.
JJ Watt is still having fun with the haircut that broke the internet during the Super Bowl
JJ Watt had an eventful Super Bowl broadcast, and it wasn’t for anything the CBS commentator said.
The Pewaukee native, former University of Wisconsin star and future NFL Hall of Famer debuted a hairstyle that seized control of the internet discourse during parts of Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. His spiky … 90s inspired? … look was met with some major curiosity. And comparisons.
Fox Bros.’ head sausage-maker, now a Master Meat Crafter, talks about making the Wisconsin staple
Sausage-making and bratwurst are part of history and tradition in Wisconsin, yet there is always something new to learn. That’s the view of Nathan Broker, the head sausage-maker at Fox Bros. Piggly Wiggly. After working his way through a two-year program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Broker earned the title of Master Meat Crafter in December.
UW staff demand paid family leave as new bill seeks to mandate it
University of Wisconsin-Madison staff and graduate workers delivered to the chancellor’s office Wednesday a petition that garnered support from about 700 signees, all of whom demand administrators implement a paid family leave policy for its employees.
Experts believe negligence contributed to a baby’s death. Wisconsin laws don’t make it worth it for anyone to take the case.
Wisconsin’s medical malpractice laws include: $250,000 cap in malpractice lawsuits involving doctors employed by the state, a category that includes the more than 1,670 faculty physicians employed by UW–Madison. The cap applies even if a doctor’s negligence results in a lifetime injury that will require millions of dollars of future treatment.
Smith: They may be dummies but New London mannequins are in step with modern ice science
In Madison highly-regarded ice records have been kept on the city’s local lakes since the middle 19th century. The work is now conducted by the Wisconsin State Climatology Office at the University of Wisconsin’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
TAA delivers paid family leave petition to UW-Madison chancellor
A UW-Madison spokesperson said Wednesday Mnookin is committed to offering paid parental leave and continues to work with UW System and state partners to advance the initiative.
Opinion | “An Incoherent Riot”: Why London’s Skyline Looks So Weird
“Pittsburgh has recovered from the collapse of its steel industry in the 1970s and 1980s by building out competencies in computer and data science, A.I. and automation and now medical treatments. … Minneapolis-St. Paul — once the flour-milling capital of the world — is now a dynamic finance, retail, medical and biomedical hub. Nearby Madison, Wis. — home to the University of Wisconsin and its University Research Park — hosts over 125 start-ups.”
10 best U.S. cities for single young professionals
The city is home to or in close proximity to major employers like the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lands’ End, Spectrum Brands, American Girl and more.
Former Badgers linebacker Leo Chenal now has two Super Bowl rings in two years, and he made an impact against 49ers
It’s not a bad way to start a career.
Former Wisconsin Badgers star linebacker Leo Chenal is now 2-for-2 in Super Bowl-title seasons, winning another ring with the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night in the 25-22 victory over San Francisco.
The Wisconsin I know never gives up on its kids. Life prison sentences do that.
In fact, my great-grandfather’s tenacity for Wisconsin’s youth inspired his daughter, my grandmother, to help set up a research center and scholarship program at UW-Madison to focus on neuroscientific research regarding child development and well-being. The center, named after my great-grandfather Willis Jones, recognizes that “adolescence is a period when the brain is more sensitive” and prepares young people in leadership, including in conflict resolution.
Health officials notifying close contacts of UW-Madison student with tuberculosis
The student with active, contagious TB has not been on campus since December, said Sarah Clifford Glapa, spokesperson for UW’s University Health Services. The student lived in Smith Residence Hall.
Title VI complaint filed against UW-Madison
The university says the complaint was not filed by a member of the UW community, but by an outside organization that has filed complaints against several other higher education institutions.
Department of Education investigates UW for alleged Title VI violations
The University of Wisconsin released a statement Tuesday agreeing to cooperate with a Title VI lawsuit being filed against them. The statement reads that UW is under investigation by the Department of Education for a lawsuit filed by an outside organization. The university claims the organization has filed similar lawsuits against other universities.
Here’s why 5,000 Madison households just received $1 in the mail
The Parks Division worked with UW’s Survey Center, which suggested the strategy of giving a random selection of residents a small monetary gift.
Conservative activist files federal complaint against UW-Madison over pro-Palestinian rally
The federal Department of Education has opened a Title VI investigation into whether UW-Madison failed to protect its students of shared Jewish ancestry from harassment after the Hamas attacks in October.
Wisconsin writer Ali Novak’s ‘My Life with the Walter Boys’ thrives as new Netflix series
By the time she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she had a book deal for “My Life with the Walter Boys” from Sourcebooks Fire.
My friend Herb Kohl had deep convictions, including more equitable health care
The recent death of Herb Kohl concluded our association of 70 years as mutual friends and ideological colleagues. We began to interact as University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate fraternity brothers living together at our frat house. We frequently discussed maximizing opportunities to achieve what our democracy provided for us to attain professional prominence as minorities.
UW-Madison officers uninjured after rear-end crash involving squad cars during call, police say
Two UW-Madison officers were not injured after they were involved in a rear-end crash involving squad cars during a call on Sunday night, UW-Madison police reported.
Wisconsin residents are pushing for a ‘home lake’ rule for wake boats to limit movement of invasive species
He also noted state history: a petition by state residents helped lead to a ban of the pesticide DDT. The petition, filed in 1968 with the DNR, requested a “declaratory ruling on whether DDT was an environmental pollutant” within state statutes, according to a University of Wisconsin law review article.
From classroom to cosmos: Glen Hills teacher pioneers student-led NASA projects
She was accepted into a paid, seven-week research program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she worked with Jason Kawasaki, an associate professor in the Materials Science & Engineering Department, studying the piezoelectric capacities of crystals.
Nine connections between Wisconsin and the Super Bowl teams
Though the Green Bay Packers were left lamenting a narrow loss to the San Francisco 49ers, perhaps even more so after Detroit suffered an even greater heartbreak in an NFC championship-game loss, there are several Wisconsin connections heading to Super Bowl LVIII in two weeks.
Get to know the Wisconsin sports fan and UW-Madison grad who will be on Fox’s ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’ this season
Meet Grace Girard. Maybe you’ve seen her cheering on Wisconsin sports teams, posting up at Wolski’s, dining in the Third Ward — oh, or in previews for the upcoming season of “Farmer Wants a Wife.”
Verline Gee recalled as icon of Madison’s Black community
When Verline Gee first began at UW, a Black Studies program was in its infancy. The university created the program as a result of student protest.
“Mom was one of the inaugural students in the Black history program,” Alex Gee said. At the time it, he said, was “the only Afro-American department in the Big Ten.”
You can sign Spanish tiles that will be part of Olbrich Gardens’ Thai pavilion on Sunday
The pavilion arrived in Wisconsin in 2001 as a gift to UW-Madison from the government of Thailand and the Thai Chapter of the Wisconsin Alumni Association as a gesture of international friendship. Constructed in Thailand and then flown to the U.S. in sections, the pavilion was assembled by Thai artisans who were on one of the last planes to land in Chicago after the terrorist attacks.
J. Henry & Sons is the only distillery in the world to use rare corn to make whiskey and bourbon
Developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1939, a corn known as W335A sat overlooked in a seed bank for decades. Today, that red heirloom corn is what sets apart J. Henry & Sons whiskey and bourbon. They’re the only ones in the world using it.
Grown for three generations at the Henry family farm in Dane County, W335A fell out of favor in the 1970s when higher-producing options became more available. It sat untouched at UW-Madison until 2006, when the Henry family began propagating the seed again. They began turning it into whiskey in 2009, and in 2015 J. Henry & Sons sold its first bottles.
Four takeaways from Tony Evers’ state of the state address
Photo: The University of Wisconsin-Madison marching band, with Walter Smith on the trumpet, performs “On Wisconsin” at the end of the State of the State Address in the Assembly Chambers of the Wisconsin state Capitol in Madison on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024.
To mark Vel Phillips’ 100th birthday, Milwaukee Art Museum plans free admission Feb. 18
On Sunday, Feb. 18, admission to the Milwaukee Art Museum will be free in honor of Vel Phillips’ 100th birthday.
Phillips, a civil rights activist who was born and raised in Milwaukee, has a series of “firsts” to her name — including the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin law school, the first Black person and woman to be elected to the Milwaukee Common Council, the first woman judge in Milwaukee and the first Black judge in Wisconsin, and the first elected secretary of state who was a person of color.
UW- Madison hit with civil rights complaint over scholarship program for BIPOC students
The Equal Protection Project, an anti-Affirmative action group, filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education. The group, founded by Cornell Law School professor William Jacobson, claims UW’s Community-Engaged BIPOC Fellows program engages in discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin.
Conservative group files civil rights complaint against UW, alleging discrimination against white students in fellowship program
The Equal Protection Project (EPP), a project of the right-wing Legal Insurrection Foundation, has filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Right against the University of Wisconsin-Madison, alleging that the BIPOC Fellowship program run by the Morgridge Center for Public Service is illegal because it discriminates against white students.