Wisconsin Idea Seminar: Friday, May 25

Map of Wisonsin showing Madison, Baraboo, Fond Du Lac, Oshkosh, the Oneida Nation, Door County, Green Bay and Milwaukee.

The final day of the seminar focused on Wisconsin’s education system. Over breakfast, the group learned about issues facing UW–Madison — and the UW System in general — including financial challenges and efforts to increase diversity in the student body.

The group toured Riverside University High School in Milwaukee, a large, comprehensive public school that excels at preparing students for college. Riverside offers 17 different Advanced Placement classes, boasts a graduation rate of over 93 percent and is not representative of Milwaukee high schools in general.

Next, the group visited Marquette University in Milwaukee. There, Howard Fuller, director of the university’s Institute for the Transformation of Learning, answered questions about Wisconsin’s education system—past, present and his vision for the future.

First-person impressions

Asifa Quraishi

Assistant professor of law

On: Reflections on the five-day bus tour

“What stands out most for me is how interconnected everything is, with looking at farms and factories to small family-owned business, the prison system, and now, today, a high school … There are career choices, work choices that the citizens of Wisconsin make that lead into education issues and legal issues and minority and social issues. If we’re all aware of the impact we are having on each other, we’re all going to do a better job.”

Listen to Quraishi’s comments (1.5 Mb mp3; 1 min., 38 sec.)

Mahesh Mahanthappa

Assistant professor of chemistry

On: Take-home messages from the trip

“I think the most important part of it for me was really gaining a new sense of community and my own role in the community as a new resident of Wisconsin … (I’m thinking more about) how I might have an impact through my research and development activities and my educational activities with my graduates students and undergraduates in contributing to the state economy and the development of new ideas in the state.”

Listen to Mahanthappa’s comments (1 Mb mp3; 1 min., 6 sec.)

Edward Ruotsinoja

UW-Madison director of internal audit

On: Overall impressions of the seminar

Routsinoja’s father was a dairy farmer and he had a previous career in manufacturing, so the level of change in those two fields made a strong impression. “There are not as many people involved in the dairy farms or manufacturing plants. Where are the jobs for our youth? Where are they going to be able to go from one level to another?”

Listen to Ruotsinoja’s comments (.8 Mb mp3; 50 sec.)

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