Learning about the state we serve
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Hillary Bark of De Soto Area School District Hillary Bark is an agriculture teacher and FFA (Future Farmers of America) advisor at De Soto Area School District, a rural school district in western Wisconsin. She graduated from UW-Platteville with her B.S. in Animal Science and went on to get her …
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 …
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Caitlin Cullen of Tandem Restaurant Caitlin Cullen is the chef and owner of the Tandem restaurant in Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights. Since 2016, she has been using her restaurant to train young people on Milwaukee’s north side for careers in the service industry. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, her restaurant was …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Titus Seilheimer, Fisheries Specialist at the Wisconsin Sea Grant, is collaborating with the Wisconsin Idea Seminar to bring the 2020 Bay Tour to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, where participants will learn about commercial fishing operations. Seilheimer received his B.A. from Lawrence University and his Ph.D. from McMaster University. In this interview, Seilheimer discusses non-native species in …