Featured Alumni
Neil Willenson
Power Promoter of Human Achievement At age 15, Neil Willenson BS 1992 raised money to alleviate homelessness. At age 17, he was the youngest-ever candidate for Wisconsin State Assembly. He lost. At age 21, he... Read more »
North Hall
The UW’s oldest building, North Hall opened on September 17, 1851, just two years, seven months, and 12 days after the university held its first class. Student D. K. Tenney (for whom Madison’s Tenney Park... Read more »
Numen Lumen
Numen Lumen Not long after classes commenced at the UW in 1849, newly minted chancellor J.H. Lathrop went to work on a design for a formal university seal. What he came up with raised eyebrows: an upturned... Read more »
On Her Own Judgment
Geraldine Hines rose to high judicial office by ignoring advice.... Read more »
On Wisconsin (origins of)
The Finest of All College Marching Songs “On, Wisconsin!” On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin! Plunge right through that line! Run the ball right down the field, a touchdown sure this time. On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin! Fight... Read more »
Orchesis
Pioneering Dance Group These days, legacies are measured by online searches. The results that pop up on the computer screen for Orchesis, a dance group formed at the University of Wisconsin in 1918, reveal a... Read more »
Origins of Varsity
Varsity! Varsity! “A great University is a singing University.” Charles Kendall Adams, UW president 1892-1902 Listen while you read: President Dykstra’s War Convocation (1941) with Varsity Get more Varsity at badgerband.com Check out other renditions... Read more »
Outdoor movies
There’s no shortage of beautiful views on the Terrace: Progress Point to the right, Picnic Point to the left, and, on certain summer nights, a blockbuster film in the center of it all. Started in... Read more »
Pat Lucey
Governor, Ambassador Patrick Lucey BA1946 went home to Ferryville, Wisconsin, one weekend during his final semester of college to discover that he’d been elected justice of the peace. A friend had organized a write-in campaign,... Read more »
Phillip & Elizabeth Gross
Family investment One won’t find many media interviews or public anecdotes about the frugality for which Phillip Gross BBA1982, MS1983 and Dr. Elizabeth Cochary Gross are known in investment circles. But if money does indeed... Read more »
Picnic Point/Fire circles
Since the 1800s, Picnic Point has been a popular spot for UW students to hike or have a romantic rendezvous, even though the university didn’t acquire the land until 1941. A 1992 article in the... Read more »
Pongsak Payakvichien
Thailand’s Pioneer for the Power of the Press Newspapers have long been entrusted as watchdogs for society. And in his native Thailand, legendary editor Pongsak Payavichien MA1971 leads the pack. As an editor and industry... Read more »
Raymond Damadian
Father of the MRI No scalpels required. Thanks to Raymond Damadian BS1956’s remarkable invention, it’s no longer necessary to open up the human body to detect cancer or pinpoint an injury. Damadian built the world’s... Read more »
Robert La Follette
The fire of “Fighting Bob” One of the most fiery and influential American politicians of the 20th century began as a struggling UW student well known for his campus pranks. Robert La Follette BS1879, LLD1901,... Read more »
Russ Feingold
Feingold: “Destined to be a Badger” Russ Feingold BA1975’s father, Leon BA1935, LLB1937, shaken by anti-Vietnam War violence in Madison – especially the Sterling Hall bombing that claimed a researcher’s life — urged his son... Read more »
Rustem Ismagilov
Nobel-Caliber Discoveries Think of your high school chemistry lab shrunk down smaller than the palm of your hand. Now you are in Rustem Ismagilov’s world. A former Harvard researcher and professor at the University of... Read more »
Sand County Almanac
Prairie Populizer: Curtis and the Leopold Legacy UW professor Aldo Leopold left a long legacy, both through his own work and through the work of those he taught. One of these was John Curtis MS... Read more »
Science Hall
The castle-like building at the corner of Langdon and Park Streets is a campus icon, and the legends that surround it cement its place in campus lore. When it was built, its designers demanded that... Read more »
Scott Resnick and Jon Hardin
The Authors of Apps When Scott Resnick BA2009 and Jon Hardin BS2008 were undergrads, they weren’t busy downloading the latest apps on their smartphones and computers. They were developing them. While living in Chadbourne Hall,... Read more »
Serena Pollack
Attorney to the Rescue Serena Pollack BA1997 is general counsel at Boelter Companies, a third-generation, Wisconsin-based company in the restaurant and hospitality industry. A Badger through and through, she’s motivated to help others both on... Read more »
Sergio Fajardo
A New Medellín The city of used to be the scarred face that Colombia showed to the world. The streets of this cocaine capital were pockmarked by car bombs, bloodied by drug violence; its people... Read more »
Shell Game: The Nautilus and the Guggenheim
Frank Lloyd Wright (attended 1886–87) urged people — and especially his fellow architects — to “study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” That directive shows in the buildings he designed, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. ... Read more »
Shirley Abrahamson
High Court Pioneer Passes Test of Time The day when Shirley Abrahamson DJS1962 became the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s longest-serving justice in 2013, folks celebrated with pastries and good humor. “It’s just living. That’s good, right?”... Read more »
Sledding on Lunch Trays
It’s All Downhill It’s an item on every Badger’s bucket list: tray sledding down Bascom and Observatory Hills. Students “borrow” dining hall trays and make the trek up the often-icy hill. Forms of sledding vary:... Read more »
State Street
State Street links Library Mall to Madison’s Capitol Square. Its 0.7-mile length is the heart of Madison and the center of off-campus culture. A daily hangout for everyone from students to street musicians, State Street... Read more »