Wisconsin’s first public schoolteacher was Electa Quinney, a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans. Quinney had come to Wisconsin in the massive Indian removal from New York in 1827. She wanted to teach the …
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Campus mourns Teju Olaniyan, renowned scholar of the African Diaspora
Tejumola (Teju) Olaniyan, Louise Durham Mead Professor of English & Wole Soyinka Professor of the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, died suddenly at his home in Madison on Saturday, Nov. 30. He was 60. …
Opera singer’s concert will honor father, raise money for scholarships
Prenicia Clifton’s father loved telling people about his daughter’s accomplishments as an opera singer. He attended every performance he could, always sitting in the front row. When cancer brought him to the end of his …
Ada Deer awarded inaugural 4W UNESCO Chair Prize on Gender, Wellbeing and a Culture of Peace
Last year, history was made with the election of the first Native American women to Congress. Decades before, Ada Deer was busy paving the way for others to succeed. In 1957, she became the first …
Alex Gee: ‘This place changed my life because of who it helped my mom become’
The Rev. Alex Gee, Ph.D., and his family together hold 13 degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It’s a legacy spanning three generations that began when his mother, Verline Gee, brought her young children to Madison to pursue a new life and new opportunities in the early 1970s.
Dakotah/Hidatsa elder, storyteller, and traditionalist to be Elder-In-Residence
The University of Wisconsin–Madison will welcome nationally renowned Dakotah/Hidatsa elder, storyteller, and traditionalist Mary Louise Defender Wilson to campus the week of November 18-22. The Elder-in-Residence program welcomes tribal leaders to campus to provide education …
Corporate Ladder Climber
When the clock hits midnight next December 31 and 2020 begins, Justin Cruz ’96 will start his third decade in a position of authority at American Family Insurance, marking one of the most impressive ascents …
Q&A: UW prof Duane Lee Holland, Jr. locks into a new space for hip hop
Duane Lee Holland, Jr. is thrilled to be the first hip-hop faculty member at the first university in the United States to grant degrees in dance. “It goes along with the legacy of why the …
Painter, Muralist Jenie Gao Celebrates Studio Grand Opening
Madison-based artist Jenie Gao held a grand opening to her new studio on East Main Street on Friday, October 4. Gao, who is also a full-time creative director and entrepreneur, celebrated her new studio with …
DIP Raffle Winner-Aaron Bird Bear
Congratulations to Aaron Bird Bear the winner of this week’s DIP raffle prize! Aaron submitted multiple initiatives including the Summer Education Research Program, the School of Education Graduate Assistant Orientation, and Education Graduate Research Scholars. …
Director hired to lead UW–Madison’s Public History Project
September 24, 2019 By Doug Erickson Kacie Lucchini Butcher, a public historian and award-winning museum curator who works with marginalized communities to tell their stories, has been hired as director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s …
First Wave Fellow Natasha Oladokun: ‘A BRIDGE FROM DESOLATION TO THE DIVINE’
Outside of basketball spheres, Charlottesville, Virginia, had maintained a relatively low profile for a while. That is, until the summer of 2017. In May of that year, white supremacist leader Richard Spencer led a small …
Yiddish Collection At UW-Madison Named A National Treasure
Along with Neil Diamond’s 1969 “Sweet Caroline” and a speech from Robert F. Kennedy, the earliest known recordings of Yiddish music are now officially considered national treasures. In March, 11 cylinders that are part of the University …
This land is their land: UW-Madison grapples with Wisconsin’s ugly treatment of the Ho-Chunk
UW–Madison was built on land where the Ho-Chunk people lived for at least 12,000 years before white settlers forced them out. The university is trying to acknowledge this painful history with the Our Shared Future …
JASMINE ZAPATA AIMS TO EMPOWER COMMUNITIES TO AID PREVENTION
Jasmine Zapata, MD ’13, MPH ’17 (PG ’16, ’18), believes that the pathway to improving African American birth outcomes begins long before conception, pregnancy or delivery. It begins when girls of color are elementary-school age and …
Rachel Azanleko-Akouete On A Mission to Eliminate Racial Health Disparities
Nearly all states have significant black/white infant mortality disparities, but Wisconsin has historically been one of the worst. In fact, the United Health Foundation indicated that Wisconsin’s black/white infant mortality rate disparity ratio of 2.9 …
PEOPLE Alumni: Savion Castro (’18) Unanimously Appointed to Madison’s School Board
Savion Castro has been appointed to the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) Board of Education. The appointment of Castro, in addition to the recent election of Board member Ali Muldrow, marks the first time in …
First Wave alumna awarded major graduate fellowship
Mackenzie Berry, a recent UW–Madison graduate whose work has explored topics ranging from Muhammad Ali’s influence on hip hop to health-care access in Kentucky, has been awarded a top national fellowship to continue her studies. …
Earth Partnership Award Cites Indigenous Arts & Sciences Collaboration Among Wisconsin’s First Nations
Every year, the UW-Madison recognizes exemplary partnerships that embody the Wisconsin Idea of university-community collaboration. This year, Earth Partnership Indigenous Arts and Sciences was one of seven projects across the entire campus that was selected …
Wild rice project sows seeds for university, tribal collaboration
The Ojibwe people tell of a prophecy that spurred their journey from the Atlantic coast of North America to the Great Lakes region more than 1,000 years ago — revelations that told them to travel …