Learning about the state we serve
Dr. James Deline, a central fixture in the La Farge community, has practiced medicine in Vernon County for nearly 40 years. Deline works at the intersection of rural and Amish healthcare, and sees many rare genetic conditions. The Wisconsin Idea Seminar has visited the La Farge Medical Clinic twice, in 2017 and 2019, to see …
Teal VanLanen, Director of Improvement & Community Engagement for the Algoma School District, spoke on October 3rd at a panel presentation presented in collaboration with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. “Communities do hold the solutions and have the power to make sustainable, equitable changes for health and opportunity for all,” says VanLanen. In May of …
Dr. James DeLine, a rural healthcare provider in Wisconsin’s southwestern Vernon County, shares his experiences of practicing family medicine since 1983. DeLine works closely with specialists at UW-Madison to provide unique genetic testing for Plain community members, many with rare conditions. In 2019 and 2017 the Wisconsin Idea Seminar traveled to visit Dr. DeLine at …
Kent Weigel, a professor, extension specialist, and chair of the Dairy Science Department, helps change graduate students’ lives through a new program — the Dairy Research Partnership. This new initiative encourages dairy-related businesses to fund the education of graduate students who are conducting industry-related research. The program is supporting four graduate students this year …
Jennifer Van Os, an assistant professor of dairy science, visits milk producers around the state to study cow comfort. In May, she will accompany the Wisconsin Idea Seminar to Rosy-Lane Holsteins in Watertown, Wisconsin, where she has collaborated with owners Daphne and Lloyd Holterman on a number of research projects that look at cow …
Thea Whitman, who traveled along with the Wisconsin Idea Seminar in 2016, studies microbes here at UW-Madison, burning wood in a large furnace in order to look at carbon and its role in soil. The knowledge gained from analyzing the biochar can then be applied to current situations – most notably, climate change. Originally …
Dr. Christine Seroogy, a pediatric immunologist and associate professor at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, heads a project funded by the UW-Madison Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, to pinpoint the unique genetic disorders affecting Plain sect communities in Wisconsin, and then to design a low-cost screening to enhance current newborn genetic testing. Seroogy and …
Justin Isherwood, farmer and writer living in central Wisconsin, is helping UW researchers study how much water from rain and irrigation enters the crop before being transferred into the atmosphere, and how much seeps deep into the soil and recharges the groundwater. Isherwood was a panelist during the 2018 Wisconsin Idea Seminar to discuss how …
In certain campus circles Margaret “Peg” Geisler, 82, is best known and celebrated as the founding director of the Wisconsin Idea Seminar, the UW-Madison’s signature study tour for faculty and staff. Others now know Geisler and her life experiences with cancer as the inspiration that launched an international search for “extreme survivors” of metastatic breast …
The 2018 Wisconsin Idea Seminar is set to visit Mystic Valley Dairy in Sauk City as it begins the 5-day tour of the state. Owner Mitch Breunig will give a tour of the farm covering topics like cow comfort, sustainability, dairy economics, and his farm’s research collaborations with UW-Madison. One such collaboration has been the …