Learning about the state we serve
In this edition of Why Wisconsin?, a series produced by the Division of the Arts, Edward Klorman, a professor of music theory and alum of the 2026 Wisconsin Idea Seminar, discusses how teaching a seminar on music by women composers inspired broader rethinking of the music theory curriculum. Klorman is also finding opportunities to reach …
Erika Meitner, professor of English and an alum of the 2026 Wisconsin Idea Seminar, is a recipient of the Kellett Mid-Career Award in 2026. The award, named for the late William R. Kellett, a former president of the WARF board of trustees and president of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, celebrates faculty promoted to tenured positions seven to …
A dugout canoe made from a cottonwood tree in McDaniel Park by Bill Quackenbush, tribal historic preservation officer of the Ho-Chunk Nation, was donated to Dane County Parks in June of 2026. The 22-foot canoe had been used for an annual educational voyage organized by Quackenbush that retraced ancestral Ho-Chunk water routes in Wisconsin. It …
In May, the 2026 Wisconsin Idea Seminar set off on a journey to follow a 900-mile circular path around Wisconsin focusing on the state’s great waterways. Three dozen University of Wisconsin—Madison faculty and staff, many of them new to campus, were on a mission: to meet fellow Wisconsinites in communities along the route and hear …
Each year, undergraduate students in Professor of Design Studies and WIS’15 alumna Marianne Fairbanks’ weaving class create handwoven textiles called “water cloths” that are included in gratitude bundles for Wisconsin Idea Seminar collaborators and hosts. This story by Maggie Ginsberg, writer in the Division of the Arts and WIS’26 alumna, highlights the collaboration and undergraduate students’ reflections on the process.