Learning about the state we serve
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Al Castro of the United Community Center Al Castro is the Director of Health Research Programs at the United Community Center, a nonprofit Latino community organization in Milwaukee. With an extensive background in social work, Al combines public health issues in his work at UCC, facilitating community-engaged health research in the …
Andy Diercks, a fourth-generation farmer and part-owner of Coloma Farms, helps grow 800 acres of potatoes in Central Wisconsin, among other vegetables. In 2018, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar visited Coloma Farms and learned about the 2,700-acre potato and grain operation from Andy’s father Steve Diercks, third-generation farmer, as part of the Big Lake Tour. In a …
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Rick Erickson of Bayfield High School Rick Erickson is an award-winning high school teacher at the Bayfield School District where he teaches high school chemistry, physics, and alternative education. Among his laurels are a 2014 Wisconsin High School Teacher of the Year and the 2019 Presidential Award of Excellence in Math …
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Dylan Jennings of Bad River Band Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013. He is now the Director of Public Information for the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission and also serves as an …
Mitch Breunig, third-generation farmer at Mystic Valley Dairy in Sauk City, and Kent Weigel, livestock geneticist and chair of UW-Madison’s dairy science department, passionately explained some current struggles associated with dairy farming in a recent article for Wisconsin State Farmer. Breunig welcomed the Wisconsin Idea Seminar to his 400-cow operation in 2018, where Weigel helped …
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 …
Claus Andersen spoke to Wisconsin Public Radio about hygge, the notion of pleasant togetherness, that is embedded in Scandinavian culture and which has recently caught on in the United States. Andersen, an assistant professor of Scandinavian Studies, traveled along with the Wisconsin Idea Seminar in 2018. Listen to Andersen’s WPR interview where he discusses hygge.