Learning about the state we serve
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Dani Lind of Rooted Spoon Dani Lind, owner and head chef of Rooted Spoon, leverages her local agricultural connections to bring quality ingredients to the small town of Viroqua, Wisconsin. She has spent the last 20 years or so cooking, gardening, preserving, exploring, and developing relationships with local food and farmers. …
Marianne Fairbanks, textile artist and assistant professor of Design Studies at UW–Madison’s School of Human Ecology, has been sharing her book weaving tutorial videos with not only her students but with the general public. What started as a training video for the two courses she is teaching this spring is now available to everyone. Fairbanks …
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Brey Cycle Farms Lauren Brey, along with her husband Jacob, his brother Tony, and sister-in-law Moriah, own and manage a 600-cow farm in Sturgeon Bay. All four graduated from UW–Madison: Lauren in Food Science & Life Sciences Communication, Jacob and Tony in Dairy Science, and Moriah in Agricultural Journalism. They are …
CREATE Portage County has converted its IDEA Center in Stevens Point, which the Wisconsin Idea Seminar visited in 2019, into a 3D printing facility in order to create high-need medical equipment for local healthcare organizations, such as facemasks. The IDEA Center was founded as a hub of creativity that offers shared spaces and resources for …
Four Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants have received Distinguished Teaching Awards this year, an honor that recognizes their teaching and celebrates their hard work. William Brockliss, WIS’13, is an associate professor of classical and ancient near eastern studies. Kathleen Culver, WIS’12, is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication. Erica Halverson, WIS’07, is a professor …
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 …
As an American Indian curriculum consultant at UW–Madison’s School of Education, Omar Poler helps integrate concepts of Native history, culture and tribal sovereignty into the curriculum. Poler is a member of the Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and leverages his training in library science to support tribal archivists across Wisconsin. Most recently he …
Mitch Breunig, third-generation farmer and UW–Madison alumnus, was elected as chair of the Dairy Innovation Hub advisory council. In this new position, Breunig will work to assemble the council, set agendas, and provide guidance to the Dairy Innovation Hub’s faculty director: UW–Madison dairy scientist and WIS’13 alumna Heather White. In 2018, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar visited …
Beginning on February 1 and extending until May 10, the Faculty Exhibition 2020 will be on display in the Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries and throughout the Chazen Art Museum. Wisconsin Idea Seminar participant Tomiko Jones (WIS ’19) is showing three tricolor gum prints over cyanotype, inspired by a collection of Japanese ukiyo-e prints in the Van …
Sarah Bartlett, Water Resources Specialist at NEW Water — a water resource utility serving Northeast Wisconsin that cleans 38 million gallons of clean water per day — is collaborating with the Wisconsin Idea Seminar to bring the 2020 Bay Tour to Green Bay. Bartlett received her B.S. from UW–Madison, her M.S. from UW-Milwaukee, and her …