The start of the fall semester was marked by new places and faces.
New classrooms, new faculty members, new friends — Sept. 2 was the start of a brand-new academic year on campus at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Never mind the unseasonably warm weather: Students crisscrossed the campus with first-day energy and anticipation, headed for classrooms that by the end of the fall semester will feel like home.
That includes the freshly constructed Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall, a bright new home for the humanities. Badgers found their way to large lecture halls as well as cozy spots to study or just regroup. Some 100 new faculty members, too, were starting their UW–Madison journey on Wednesday. Everywhere on campus, the feeling was “Forward.”
Students head to their classrooms in the just-opened Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall, UW–Madison’s new hub for the humanities, on the first day of the 2026-27 fall semester. Photo: Althea Dotzour / UW–MadisonFrom left to right, Zoe Zawacki, neurobiology first-year student, and Rashida Kappera, molecular and cell bio first-year student, introduce themselves to one other while waiting for their public affairs class to start in Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall on the first day of the fall semester. Photo: Althea Dotzour / UW–MadisonOn the first day of fall classes at UW–Madison, students pass by a flower bed on University Avenue displaying a “W” filled with red blossoms. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonSarah Strochak, assistant professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs in the College of Letters & Science, leaves her office in the Observatory Hill Office Building on her way to teach PA 818: Introduction to Statistical Methods for Policy Analysis. Strochak, a new UW–Madison faculty member, studies housing policy with an emphasis on how the design and administration of affordable housing programs can affect program take-up, participant outcomes and broader economic outcomes. Photo: Jeff Miller / UW–MadisonAt left, Natalie Koehler, career development coordinator, speaks to Saanvi Gandhari, career peer advisor, in the new SuccessWorks Gateway space located in the newly constructed Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall on the first day of fall classes at UW–Madison. Photo: Althea Dotzour / UW–MadisonEdvard Avilés-Meza, assistant professor of philosophy in the College of Letters & Science and a new faculty member at UW–Madison this fall, holds a replica of the human brain as he introduces the course syllabus for Philo 551: Philosophy of the Mind in Helen C. White Hall. Avilés-Meza’s research lies at the intersection of the philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and epistemology. Photo: Jeff Miller / UW–MadisonThe hustle and bustle of a new fall semester fills the intersection of West Johnson Street and University Avenue during a passing period on the first day of classes. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonThird-year undergraduate student Jayda Smith, who’s majoring in theater and drama and legal studies, holds up a W while walking between classes. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonKristin Merss, assistant professor in the School of Nursing, talks with students about a patient case study in the course Nursing 433: Nursing Care of the Older Adult on the first day of fall classes. Merss co-teaches the class in Signe Cooper Hall with fellow new faculty member Laura Block, also an assistant professor of nursing. Both come to UW–Madison as part of the university’s RISE-THRIVE initiative. Photo: Jeff Miller / UW–MadisonStudents listen intently in their first session of English 177: Weird Literature, taught by Frédéric Neyrat in UW–Madison’s new Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall. Photo: Althea Dotzour / UW–MadisonSecond-year pre-nursing student Ana Ruvalcaba studies in Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall. With the new fall semester, “I am excited to meet new people, meet my classmates and my instructors and professors,” Ruvalcaba said. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonJeff Levy, left, and Marv Levy, right, tour the brand-new Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall with interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots, center, on the first day of fall classes at UW–Madison. Photo: Althea Dotzour / UW–MadisonDavid Brundage, a new faculty member and assistant professor of surgical sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, discusses the topic of artificial intelligence applications in clinical work as part of the course syllabus for Med Sc-V 708: Pre-clinical Topics in Veterinary Medicine. Brundage’s work focuses on developing and evaluating artificial intelligence systems that support veterinary, comparative and wildlife medicine. Photo: Jeff Miller / UW–MadisonA FORWARD donor board decorates a hallway in the newly opened Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall. Photo: Althea Dotzour / UW–MadisonBefore the start of a class in Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall, two Badgers salute the new fall semester with a smile and a W. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–Madison
UW–Madison students from the La Follette School of Public Affairs developed research-based recommendations to help a K-12 district implement new policies.
