Category Society & Culture
UW researchers develop tool to equitably distribute limited vaccines
The School of Medicine and Public Health and UW Health have developed a tool that incorporates age and socioeconomic status to prioritize vaccine distribution among people who otherwise share similar risks due to their jobs. Read More
Sociologist battles inequities in artificial intelligence
Alumna Alex Hanna is a research scientist on Google’s Ethical AI Team, which focuses on responsible artificial intelligence systems. “There’s a very strong chance that those data are exacerbating existing race, gender, and class inequalities,” she says. Read More
Embracing the cold, dark winter
Instead of complaining about the long, cold midwinter nights, a group of enthusiastic hikers have been embracing them, joining a series of socially distanced nature hikes sponsored by Outdoor UW. Read More
UW-Madison geographer recognized for work to diversify geoscience
Erika Marín-Spiotta has worked to enact meaningful policies against sexual harassment, bullying, and discrimination, and to take meaningful steps to make the geosciences more diverse. Read More
Celebrate with winter 2020 graduates during virtual commencement ceremony
The prerecorded ceremony will be released at 11 a.m. central time on Dec. 13 and will remain available on the web so people anywhere can watch it at a time most convenient to them. Read More
Research provides tools for achieving the ‘how’ of well-being in daily life
A new framework introduced by UW–Madison's Center for Healthy Minds provides evidence that people can weather life’s ups and downs with resilience, and that the brain and body can change and adapt. Read More
New game helps refugee camp kids become academic ‘stars’
Once a refugee himself, senior Joel Baraka has invented "5 STA-Z" — a board game for students across sub-Saharan Africa that turns learning into fun. Read More
Winter is coming, Badgers
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it a year like no other on the UW–Madison campus, but the seasons continue to change as always. The first snowfall of the year on Tuesday gave campus a wintery look. Read More
Researchers videotape hundreds of classrooms in 8 countries to study teaching
Essential to the study’s success are observation systems designed by Courtney Bell, a UW–Madison learning sciences professor who directs the School of Education’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research. Read More
UW alumnus Brandon Taylor one of six finalists for prestigious Booker Prize
Taylor came to UW–Madison pursuing a Ph.D. in biochemistry but his education, both in and out of the college classroom, inspired him to write “Real Life.” Read More
Special education teacher residency program supporting rural schools, UW–Madison students
An innovative program housed within UW–Madison’s School of Education is designed to prepare future special education teachers to work in high-need and small, rural districts in Wisconsin, where they're in demand. Read More
Native November: In new First-Year Interest Group, students connect with the land through Indigenous lens
Instructor Dan Cornelius is "trying to help students connect to place, so that no matter where they are, they’ll think more deeply about the land and its history.” Read More
Thesis-writing program shares joy of scientific research
The Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy Thesis Award Program’s mission is to both promote science literacy among the public and recruit future generations to careers in scientific research with an approachable look at the latest findings. Read More
Menard family gift supports UW’s Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy
The gift enables the CSLD to promote the "critical understanding of ... constitutionalism and the rule of law, individual rights, and the meaning of freedom and free markets in a flourishing liberal democracy." Read More
‘All Ways Forward’ campaign extended
The multiyear campaign to raise much-needed funding for UW–Madison priorities has been extended until Dec. 31, 2021, Chancellor Rebecca Blank announced Thursday. Read More
WARF announces annual grant for UW research
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which obtains patents on UW inventions and licenses them to industry, has granted the university and the Morgridge Institute for Research a combined $100.3 million for 2020-21. Read More
Diversity Forum keynote: ‘We would be wise to honor the inherent dignity of all people’
Austin Channing Brown says she learned early on that white people have a tendency to think — often incorrectly — that their experiences are universal and normal. Read More
New resources, upcoming discussions to help campus prepare for and reflect on presidential election
University officials will be offering several opportunities to engage in civic dialogue, build community, and discuss the election both before and after the vote. Read More
COVID-19 model quantifies impact of region-specific social distancing orders
A simulation using cellphone data shows social distancing measures had a major influence on case numbers, though the impact varied markedly in different areas, even within the same state. Read More
New polls show Biden with growing leads in three battleground states
With voting already well underway, former Vice President Joe Biden has extended his leads over President Donald Trump in three key battleground states — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — according to new polls by the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Read More