UW-Madison College of Letters & Science

Let’s learn about the ocean! Assistant Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Hannah Zanowski kicks off day three of the Wisconsin Center for Origins Research (WiCOR) STAR Bootcamp, a summer camp training program in astrobiology and origins research topics for graduate students.

We're super proud of the many L&S graduates who have gone on to make a serious impact in the environmental space. Meet three of them: A restoration ecologist who is restoring Wisconsin's prairies, an environmental reporter covering climate change and a lobbyist who advocates for wildlife conservation.

L&S Alumni Who are Green Lights Environmental stewardship comes in many forms. From reporting on thawing permafrost in the Arctic to restoring prairies in Wisconsin to lobbying politicians for change, these L&S alumni are showcasing how to make a difference.

Our monthly Sift & Winnow e-newsletter doesn't just keep our alums updated on all the cool things happening at the College. Sometimes, it creates important connections, as it did in helping Meg Bortin ('71) connect with Michael Braun (’06, MA’11, PhD’13), who helped her realize the dream of publishing her first novel.

Badgers Helping Badgers: The Journey to Getting a Novel Published Reading the College of Letters & Science’s monthly newsletter connected Meg Bortin with a UW–Madison alumnus who helped her get her first novel published.

Kristin Eschenfelder, our new interim Dean, will co-chair the working group that will guide this initiative. We're excited to see where it goes.

UW–Madison designates 2026 as the ‘Year of AI Readiness and Competency’ The effort, which supports a number of campus priorities, will focus on a people-centered approach to guide thoughtful use of artificial intelligence on campus.

Writing for the Can We Still Govern? Substack, Mike Wagner, professor of journalism and the William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea, discusses recent research by his Center for Communication and Civic Renewal that shows three-quarters of Americans oppose government pressure on TV networks to cancel shows that satirize the powerful.

Colbert, courage and capitulation New data show bipartisan opposition to government leaning on TV networks and universities

Important update on the ongoing effort to renovate Science Hall. The College is grateful to the Morgridge family for their generous and expansive support.

Morgridges gift $85.2 million for major renovation of UW-Madison’s historic Science Hall A glass atrium and air conditioning are a few of the major updates the 137-year-old Science Hall at UW-Madison will undergo during its $163.2 million renovation project.

Join us in welcoming Kristin Eschenfelder, the new Interim Dean of the College of Letters & Science, who begins her tenure this week. Eschenfelder, a professor of information sciences who most recently served as the College of Letters & Science’s associate dean and associate director for the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS), brings a student-centric approach to the job, and has deep experience in strategic thinking and consensus building.

“I have a desire to contribute in more strategic ways, to be able to think about and work on really hard problems at the campus level,” says Eschenfelder. “And what we’re pitching to our alumni and current and future students — the enduring value of a liberal arts and sciences education — is something I deeply believe in.”

New Interim Dean Looks to Build on Success Kristin Eschenfelder brings a consensus-building, student-centric approach to her role as the Interim Dean of the College of Letters & Science.

Before we slide officially into Summer Term, we're taking one last look at our Pre-Commencement Celebration from last weekend. Photographer Andy Manis really captured the joy and triumph of the occasion.

AI has become a big part of the modern hiring process, both for employers and for applicants, but you might be surprised to learn isn't a new thing. Research by Greg Downey, the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication and the director of the Information School, reveals that the phenomenon dates all the way back to UW-Madison....in the 1920s.

“We’ve been here before, even if we didn’t call it AI, or even if it wasn’t computers,” says Downey. “There’s this history of how people think about matching individuals to careers or jobs, and all the tools and algorithms and methods and technologies and machines people have been using to do that over the last 100 years.”

AI Hiring Is Nothing New AI’s influence now dominates the modern career-matching experience. But as Greg Downey’s research shows, it’s been that way for a lot longer than we…