University of Wisconsin-Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison (also known as UW–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin, or UW) is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. Founded in 1848, it is the largest university in the state with a total enrollment of over 41,000 students, of whom approximately 29,000 are undergraduates.

A public, land-grant university, UW-Madison offers a wide spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs, and student activities. The school is frequently called a "Public Ivy," and in 2007 U.S. News & World Report ranked UW as the eighth best public university in the United States. It has also been ranked as the 16th best university in 2006 in terms of volume scientific publications according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities. UW-Madison ranked second in a list of top national research universities for the 2006 fiscal year, generating more than $900 million in research, according to statistics by the National Science Foundation.

From 1848 to 1956, the university was part of the higher education system in Wisconsin that included the current Madison campus, ten freshman-sophomore centers and the state-wide extensions. Between 1956–1971, it was part of the then University of Wisconsin. It became a part of the University of Wisconsin System in 1971.

Wisconsin's NCAA Division I athletic teams are called the Badgers. They compete in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except ice hockey, where they participate in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Wisconsin's football team won the Rose Bowl in 1994, 1999, and 2000. Its men's basketball team won the NCAA National Championship in 1941, and made it to the Final Four in 2000. Both the men's and women's hockey teams won the national championship in 2006.



History

In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin–Madison has long been recognized as one of America’s great universities. A public, land-grant institution, UW–Madison offers a complete spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs and student activities. Many of its programs are hailed as world leaders in instruction, research and public service.

Origins

The university traces its roots to a clause in the Wisconsin Constitution, which decreed that the state should have a prominent public university. In 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin’s first governor, signed the act that formally created the university, and its first class, with 17 students, met in a Madison school building on February 5, 1849.

From those humble beginnings, the university has grown into a large, diverse community, with about 40,000 students enrolled each year. These students represent every state in the nation, as well as countries from around the globe, making for a truly international population.

Mission

UW–Madison is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Wisconsin System, a statewide network of 13 comprehensive universities, 13 freshman-sophomore transfer colleges and an extension service. One of two doctorate-granting universities in the system, UW–Madison’s specific mission is to provide “a learning environment in which faculty, staff and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help insure the survival of this and future generations and improve the quality of life for all.”

The university achieves these ends through innovative programs of research, teaching and public service. Throughout its history, UW–Madison has sought to bring the power of learning into the daily lives of its students through innovations such as residential learning communities and service-learning opportunities. Students also participate freely in research, which has led to life-improving inventions ranging from more fuel-efficient engines to cutting-edge genetic therapies.
The Wisconsin Idea

Students, faculty and staff are motivated by a tradition known as the “Wisconsin Idea,” first started by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904, when he declared that he would “never be content until the beneficent influence of the university [is] available to every home in the state.” The Wisconsin Idea permeates the university’s work and helps forge close working relationships among university faculty and students, and the state’s industries and government.

Academics

the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System, is divided into twenty associated colleges and schools. In addition to traditional undergraduate and graduate divisions in business, engineering, education, agriculture, and letters and sciences, the university also maintains professional schools in law, medicine, veterinary medicine, environmental studies, public affairs, journalism, library science and pharmacy.

The largest university college, the College of Letters and Science, enrolls approximately half of the undergraduate student body and is made up of thirty-nine departments and five professional schoolsthat instruct students and carry out research in a wide variety of fields such as biology, astronomy, history, geography, linguistics, and economics.

Agricultural and Life Sciences, College of
Business, Wisconsin School of
Continuing Studies, Division of
Education, School of
Engineering, College of
Environmental Studies, Gaylord Nelson Institute for
Graduate School
Human Ecology, School of
International Studies, Division of
Journalism and Mass Communication, School of
Law School
Letters and Science, College of
Library and Information Studies, School of
Medicine and Public Health, School of
Music, School of
Nursing, School of
Pharmacy, School of
Public Affairs, Robert M. La Follette School of
Social Work, School of
Veterinary Medicine, School of

Rankings

Wisconsin has been one of the leading public universities in the United States since the beginning
of the Twentieth Century and ranks as one of the great research universities of the world.

According to the National Research Council there are over 70 programs at UW ranked in the top 10 nationally. In the Academic Ranking of World Universities, published by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is ranked 17th best university in the world. In the Gourman report on undergraduate programs, the University of Wisconsin-Madison was ranked the third-best public university, after the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan.

Additionally, it was ranked the seventh-best university in the United States for overall strength of the undergraduate programs. In a 2004 study by Bloomberg Market News, researchers found that UW-Madison tied Harvard for producing the most CEOs at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies. UW-Madison is second only to Harvard in the number of alumni receiving doctorates, and leads the nation by numbers of alumni in the Peace Corps. The University is one of 60 elected members of the Association of American Universities.

In U.S. News & World Report's ranking of national universities in 2007, Wisconsin ranked 38th. Among U.S. universities, UW-Madison is frequently listed as one of the "public Ivies"—publicly-funded universities providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.
In addition to being a top-ranked school in education, geography, history, journalism, and sociology, the university was recently ranked the second-best college at which to earn an education degree, and the overall seventh-best public university in the United States.

Washington Monthly's 2006 college rankings placed Wisconsin eleventh, based not only on academic measures, but also student research, public service and social mobility.

University of Winsconsin-Madison ranked 55th in the 2007 THES-QS world university ranking

University of Winsconsin-Madison ranked 55th in the 2008 THES-QS world university ranking
University of Winsconsin-Madison ranked 61st in the 2009 THES-QS world university ranking
University of Winsconsin-Madison ranked 48th in the 2010 QS world university ranking

University of Winsconsin-Madison ranked 41st in the 2011 QS world university ranking