University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved statehood and is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. The 933-acre (378 ha) main campus is located on the shores of Lake Mendota; the university also owns and operates a 1,200-acre (486 ha) arboretum 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the main campus.

UW–Madison is organized into 13 schools and colleges, which enrolled approximately 34,200 undergraduate and 14,300 graduate and professional students in 2024. Its academic programs include 136 undergraduate majors, 148 master's degree programs, and 120 doctoral programs. Wisconsin is one of the founding members of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". UW–Madison was also the home of both the prominent "Wisconsin School" of economics and diplomatic history. It ranked fifth among U.S. universities in research expenditures in 2024.

As of March 2023, 20 Nobel laureates, 41 Pulitzer Prize winners, 2 Fields medalists, and 1 Turing Award recipient have been affiliated with UW–Madison as alumni, faculty, or researchers. It is also a leading producer of Fulbright Scholars and MacArthur Fellows. The Wisconsin Badgers compete in 25 intercollegiate sports in NCAA Division I, primarily in the Big Ten Conference, and have won 31 national championships. Wisconsin students and alumni have won 50 Olympic medals (including 13 gold medals).

History

Establishment

The university had its official beginnings when the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature in its 1838 session passed a law incorporating a "University of the Territory of Wisconsin", and a high-ranking board of visitors was appointed. However, this body (the predecessor of the UW board of regents) never actually accomplished anything before Wisconsin was incorporated as a state in 1848.

The Wisconsin Constitution provided for "the establishment of a state university, at or near the seat of state government..." and directed by the state legislature to be governed by a board of regents and administered by a chancellor. On July 26, 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin's first governor, signed the act that formally created the University of Wisconsin. John H. Lathrop became the university's first chancellor, in the fall of 1849. With John W. Sterling as the university's first professor (mathematics), the first class of 17 students met at Madison Female Academy on February 5, 1849.

A permanent campus site was soon selected: an area of 50 acres (20.2 ha) "bounded north by Fourth lake, east by a street to be opened at right angles with King street", [later State Street] "south by Mineral Point Road (University Avenue), and west by a carriage-way from said road to the lake." The regents' building plans called for a "main edifice fronting towards the Capitol, three stories high, surmounted by an observatory for astronomical observations." This building, University Hall, now known as Bascom Hall, was finally completed in 1859. On October 10, 1916, a fire destroyed the building's dome, which was never replaced. North Hall, constructed in 1851, was actually the first building on campus. In 1854, Levi Booth and Charles T. Wakeley became the first graduates of the university, and in 1892 the university awarded its first PhD to future university president Charles R. Van Hise.

Late 19th century

Female students were first admitted to the University of Wisconsin during the American Civil War in 1863. The Wisconsin State Legislature formally designated the university as the Wisconsin land-grant institution in 1866. In 1875, William Smith Noland became the first known African-American to graduate from the university.

Science Hall was constructed in 1888 as one of the world's first buildings to use I-beams. On April 4, 1892, the first edition of the student-run The Daily Cardinal was published. In 1894 an unsuccessful attempt was made by Oliver Elwin Wells, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin to expel Richard T. Ely from his chair of director of the School of Economics, Political Science, and History at Wisconsin for purportedly teaching socialistic doctrines. This effort failed, with the Wisconsin state Board of Regents issuing a ringing proclamation in favor of academic freedom, acknowledging the necessity for freely "sifting and winnowing" among competing claims of truth.

Campus

The main campus of the university is situated partially on the Madison Isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. The main campus comprises 933 acres (378 ha) of land, while the entire campus, including research stations throughout the state, is over 10,600 acres (4,290 ha) in area. The campus contains four National Historic Landmarks. The central campus is on an urban layout mostly coinciding with the city of Madison's street grid, exceptions being the suburban University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, and the Department of Psychiatry & Clinics in the West Side research park. It is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Wisconsin State Capitol, connected by State Street. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum, a demonstration area for native ecosystems, is located on the west side of Madison.

UW–Madison's campus includes many buildings designed or supervised by architects J. T. W. Jennings and Arthur Peabody. The hub of campus life is the Memorial Union. It also features the Allen Centennial Gardens and University of Wisconsin–Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve. UW–Madison's campus has been ranked as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States by Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler. One feature of the campus is the Babcock Hall dairy plant and store, a fully functional dairy well known for its ice cream.

Bascom Hill

As one of the icons on campus, Bascom Hall, at the top of Bascom Hill, is often considered the "heart of the campus." Built in 1857, a decorative dome that once sat atop the structure was destroyed by fire in 1916. The structure has been added to several times over the years. The building currently houses the office of the chancellor and vice chancellors. Bascom Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing building within the Bascom Hill Historic District.

Flanking both sides of Bascom Hall are the two oldest surviving buildings on campus. Designed by John F. Rague in a Federal style, the oldest structure in the university, North Hall (built in 1851), was planned to be similar to the dormitories at the University of Michigan. It is still in use as the home of the Department of Political Science. Its opposite twin, South Hall (built in 1855), originally served as the women's dormitory prior to the establishment of the Female College Building in 1871 (today the location of Chadbourne Hall). The administrative offices of the College of Letters and Science now occupy the building.

The Carillon Tower, erected in 1936, was designed by Warren Powers Laird and Paul Philippe Cret so that the balustrade echoes that on Bascom Hall. The carillon has 56 bronze bells, with the largest weighing 6,800 pounds. An automated system rings bells on the hour, playing songs such as "Varsity" and "On, Wisconsin!". East of the tower lies a monument to the Sauk leader Black Hawk, whose flight through the Madison area represented the last armed conflict between the United States Army and native peoples in southern Wisconsin.

Organization and administration

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is divided into several main undergraduate schools and colleges and four main professional schools, some of which have further divisions:

• College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
• School of Business
• School of Education
• College of Engineering
• Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
• College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence
• Graduate School
• School of Human Ecology
• Law School
• College of Letters & Science
• Mead Witter School of Music
• School of Journalism & Mass Communication
• School of Social Work
• Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs
• School of Medicine and Public Health
• School of Nursing
• School of Pharmacy
• School of Veterinary Medicine

UW–Madison is governed by the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin System, which governs each of the state's 13 comprehensive public universities. The board has 18 members; 16 are appointed by the governor of Wisconsin, while two are students of the system. Furthermore, the elected superintendent of public instruction serves as an ex-officio member. The board establishes the regulations and budgets for the university and appoints the chancellor. Eric Wilcots, has served as Interim Chancellor since May 2026, having succeeded Jennifer Mnookin, who was named president of Columbia University.

Academics

The University of Wisconsin–Madison, the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System, is a large, four-year research university comprising twenty associated colleges and schools. In addition to undergraduate and graduate divisions in agriculture and life sciences, business, education, engineering, human ecology, journalism and mass communication, letters and science, music, nursing, pharmacy, and social welfare, the university also maintains graduate and professional schools in environmental studies, law, library and information studies, medicine and public health (School of Medicine and Public Health), public affairs, and veterinary medicine.

The four year, full-time undergraduate instructional program is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as "arts and science plus professions" with a high graduate coexistence. The largest university college, the College of Letters and Science, enrolls approximately half of the undergraduate student body and is made up of 38 departments and five professional schools that instruct students and carry out research in a wide variety of fields, such as astronomy, economics, geography, history, linguistics, and zoology. The graduate instructional program is classified by Carnegie as "comprehensive with medical/veterinary." In 2008, it granted the third largest number of doctorates in the nation.

Admissions

The Princeton Review ranked the University of Wisconsin–Madison's undergraduate admissions selectivity a 92/99. The 2022 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes UW–Madison as "more selective." For the Class of 2027 (enrolled Fall 2023), UW–Madison received 63,537 applications and accepted 27,527 (43.3%). Of those accepted, 7,966 enrolled, for a total yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 28.9%. On average, UW–Madison accepts about two-thirds of in-state applicants, while its out-of-state acceptance rate is approximately 47%. UW–Madison's freshman retention rate is 94.2%, with 89.2% going on to graduate within six years.

The university started test-optional admissions with the Fall 2021 incoming class in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and extended this through Fall 2024. Of the 38% of enrolled freshmen in 2022 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50 percent composite score was between 28 and 33. Of the 18% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores; the middle 50 percent composite scores were 1370–1500. The average unweighted GPA among enrolled freshmen was 3.88.

Research

UW–Madison was a founding member of the Association of American Universities. In fiscal year 2024, the school received over $1.9 billion in research and development (R&D) funding, placing it sixth in the U.S. among institutions of higher education. Its research programs were fourth in the number of patents issued in 2010.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is one of 33 sea grant colleges in the United States. These colleges are involved in scientific research, education, training, and extension projects geared toward the conservation and practical use of U.S. coasts, the Great Lakes and other marine areas.

The university maintains almost 100 research centers and programs, ranging from agriculture to arts, from education to engineering. It has been considered a major academic center for embryonic stem cell research ever since UW–Madison professor James Thomson became the first scientist to isolate human embryonic stem cells. This has brought significant attention and respect for the university's research programs from around the world. The university continues to be a leader in stem cell research, helped in part by the funding of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and promotion of WiCell.

Its center for research on internal combustion engines, called the Engine Research Center, has a five-year collaboration agreement with General Motors. It has also been the recipient of multimillion-dollar funding from the federal government.

The Department of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics conducts research to advance the scientific and technical basis for fusion energy. They have over 70 current graduate students and recruit new students annually. Their research includes non-inductive startup techniques, investigation of ion gyro-scale turbulent instabilities and dynamics, understanding core-edge coupling, modeling of fusion machines through digital twins, and development of diagnostic systems. The UW also hosts the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX), which is a modular coil stellarator.

In June 2013, it was reported that the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) would fund an $18.13 million study at the University of Wisconsin. The study will research lethal qualities of viruses such as Ebola, West Nile and influenza. The goal of the study is to help find new drugs to fight off the most lethal pathogens.

In 2012, UW–Madison experiments on cats came under fire from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who claimed the animals were abused. In 2013, the NIH briefly suspended the research's funding pending an agency investigation. The following year the university was fined more than $35,000 for several violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Many people spoke out against the experiments that ended in 2014. The university tried to defend the research and the care the animals received claiming that PETA's objections were merely a "stunt" by the organization. Since then, it remains the only major university that abolished its testing on cats.

Student life

Organizations and activities

Over 800 student organizations or clubs are registered with the Office for Student Organizations, Leadership & Involvement (SOLI) at UW–Madison each year.

There are fraternities and sororities on campus.

Religious student organizations include affiliates of the Christian organizations Athletes in Action, Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, and the Christian Legal Society. Pres House is a progressive student organization loosely associated with the PCUSA that welcomes students of all backgrounds to its worship and various other gatherings. Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel is a Lutheran chapel and campus ministry that serves students of UW–Madison. There are also a Hillel and a Chabad serving Jewish students.

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