News from global and international programs affiliated with the College of Letters & Science.
UW-Madison is a leader in producing global citizens and is home to eight National Resource Centers (NRC) for the study of global cultures, languages and more.
We have the largest number of NRCs in the country with rising star faculty teaching in areas from Southeast Asia to India and Europe to Russia.
Growing up in Australia, Marie-Louise Mares didn’t have a television. Even then, she still got the occasional glimpse of “Sesame Street.” Now an associate professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mares and her colleague Zhongdang Pan, professor of communication arts, recently performed a meta-analysis of 24 studies of the impact of “Sesame Street” around [...]
According to a soon-to-be published meta-analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, watching international co-productions of “Sesame Street” has a positive effect on children’s learning and is an “enduring example of a scalable and effective early childhood educational intervention.” Commissioned by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization that revolutionized children’s television programming with the [...]
Trips to the South Pole usually require a lot of specialized equipment, but Nils Irland’s packing list for his November 2012 visit included some items unusual even by those standards: a specially designed video camera, extra batteries, and lots and lots of data storage. Irland, a staff member at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC) at [...]
Protecting Culture From Mines, Wars, Dams and Other Threats J. Mark Kenoyer stands on a windswept peak in Logar Province in eastern Afghanistan, his head wrapped in a traditional scarf against the harsh sun. As he chats in a mixture of Urdu and Pashto with an Afghan archaeologist, it’s easy to see why documentarian Brent [...]
The screenings of two classic features directed by King Hu, a landmark figure in world cinema, mark the latest donations to the unique collection of celebrated Taiwanese films at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following a donation ceremony, “Dragon Gate Inn” (1967) will be screened at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, April 13, and “A Touch of Zen” [...]
Eighty high school students from 20 schools around the state had the chance to speak (and sing) in 10 different languages at the inaugural Wisconsin Global Youth Summit on Feb. 23 at Union South. The day focused on what high school students can do to bring international elements into their schools. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Language [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Chemistry will be well represented at the June 2013 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Chemistry. Four members of the department have been selected to attend the meeting in Lindau, Germany, along with 620 other students and postdocs from 78 countries. The four participants are: Shakeel Dalal, a graduate student [...]
It’s no surprise that UW-Madison students want to make the world a better place — and ideally make a career out of doing good, too. That can be a tall task, though. But many talented alumni have trod this path before, and that’s the focus of an upcoming career panel on “Languages and Social Justice.” “Doing [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s African Studies Program will host a round table discussion of the recent political and military upheaval in the West African country of Mali on Tuesday, Feb. 19. “Urgent Understanding: Crisis in Mali” is free and open to the public, and will begin at 7 p.m. in the Red Gym’s first-floor Masley [...]
For decades, archaeologists have debated how farming spread to Stone Age Europe, setting the stage for the rise of Western civilization. Now, new data gleaned from the teeth of prehistoric farmers and the hunter-gatherers with whom they briefly overlapped shows that agriculture was introduced to Central Europe from the Near East by colonizers who brought [...]
For the second straight year, clinical associate professor Michelle Quinn and a group of graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders assisted in literacy efforts in Guatemala over winter break. Quinn and eight bilingual graduate students – Rose Heckenkamp, Kaylee Cullen, Allison Petska, Nicole Breunig, Ruby Braxton, Amanda Murphy, [...]
In forging connections with China, UW-Madison has created an international model for the university. The Innovation Office in Shanghai has opened up new opportunities for students, faculty and leaders in business and government. From the Shanghai Seminar Series to a UW account on Sino Weibo, and from technology transfer to official state visits, Wisconsin and China are closer than [...]
Field season is, of course, where the best photo ops and a lot of the fun of being a research scientist happens. Then there’s the arduous task of combing through specimens, which is how professor Peter McIntyre in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology and Ellen Hamann, the manager of the McIntyre lab, have spent this [...]
Monumental discoveries were made. Critical projects were finished. Laudable programs were celebrated. And scholars and alumni were remembered in the College of Letters & Science’s 124th year.
These were just some of the markers of 2012 in L&S. Here are some of the moments that made 2012 a memorable year for the College.
Faculty and students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will lend their expertise to conservation efforts in central Africa as the first university member of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership.
It took a trip halfway around the world to bring two University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists together.
After a journey of some 535 million space miles, give or take, and years languishing in a cavernous government warehouse, one of the original scientific instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope has splashed down in Wisconsin. The High Speed Photometer, or HSP, was one of five interchangeable instruments aboard the telescope when it first soared [...]
The recent heat wave baking much of the country has prompted many people to ask: Is this due to climate change?
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, aided by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have narrowed the search for the elusive Higgs boson, discovering a new particle with a mass in the region of 125 GeV.
Five UW-Madison students and one recent graduate are spending five weeks at an archaeological dig in Israel this summer.
For the past eight weeks, geoscience graduate student Tamara Jeppson has traded her usual commute, from her Madison apartment to Weeks Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, for a single flight of stairs. The stairs take her from her small cabin aboard the Japanese drilling vessel Chikyu to the laboratory where she spends her [...]
A series of online courses geared for members of the military to learn more about foreign policy and international relations is testing the geographic limits of one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s guiding principles. In this case, the boundaries of the university have extended to a student stationed on an aircraft carrier at sea, as [...]
UW-Madison students have had one more distraction to combat during finals week this year. Three baby red-tailed are growing up before their eyes. A webcam from the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) is capturing a live stream of a hawk nest located on a ledge of the Geoscience building, Weeks Hall, which is near [...]
Bit by bit over the last two decades, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s iconic Washburn Observatory has been restored to its original sheen. The dome was refurbished in the 1990s and the building itself was restored and updated in 2009. And this week, a final but crucial touch up — the cleaning and refurbishment of the [...]
More than 75 UW-Madison students and members of the public attended an April 25 panel discussion on internship and career opportunities in U.S. intelligence and national security agencies for students with language and cultural competencies. Panelists, representing the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Language Service Corps, National Security Agency, and the [...]
UW writes its own history with 24-hour social media project With only 24 hours to complete the task, University of Wisconsin-Madison students, faculty, staff and alumni participated in a project to document what makes UW a great place to live, learn and build friendships. The project asked participants to submit e-mails, photos and tweets with [...]
The University of Wisconsin recently sat down for a short conversation with Anna Therese Day, independent journalist and a BA’10 graduate of Political Science. Day has been covering the Middle East and the Arab Spring as an independent journalist. You can follow Anna on Twitter at @AnnaofArabia.
As founder of the Guatemala-based Range of Motion Project (ROMP), Eric Neufeld ’98 has worked to provide more than 1,500 custom-made prosthetic limbs to people in developing countries since 2005—people who, without Neufeld’s help, might have never regained mobility. With B.A. in Biological Aspects of Conservation, Neufeld represents one of the 13 outstanding alumni of [...]
The world knew Anthony Shadid as a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered the strife-torn Middle East, often at considerable personal risk. The University of Wisconsin-Madison knew Shadid when he was just a young journalism student on deadline for the Daily Cardinal. Shadid, 43, died Thursday, Feb. 16 of an apparent asthma attack while on assignment in Syria for the New York Times.
The Department of Slavic Languages and Literature at UW-Madison recently received a prestigious award from the University of Warsaw. Among fierce global competition, the Institute of Polish Language and Culture for Foreigners at the University of Warsaw voted unanimously to honor UW’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literature with the Polonicum Distinction. This award recognizes [...]
University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Catherine Skroch is now part of a select group of Mitchell Scholars who will pursue postgraduate study in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Skroch, who majored in political science and international studies with an individual major in peace studies and conflict resolution and a certificate in African studies, was one of 13 [...]
Not all of the fallout from last March’s disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was radioactive. There was also considerable policy fallout, as the crisis caused many to rethink the safety of nuclear power.
Kenya: Students, teachers promote Health by Motorbike (Wisconsin State Journal) A woman from a remote village in Kenya delivered her own twins and the babies of neighbors. But she still had this question: When should the umbilical cord be cut? That such vast personal experience could lack such basic knowledge of maternal health baffled Araceli Alonso, a [...]
Story by Richard Mumford, University Communications The Guest Artist Series at the School of Music presents the Academy Percussion Ensemble from South Korea and the U.S.-based Galaxy Percussion Group on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. in Mills Hall. Each ensemble will perform works in its own traditions separately prior to combining forces for the [...]
The Language Institute is pleased to announce its 2011-12 lecture series, Cosmpolitanism and Language.
Talks in the series will consider the ways in which language defines and perpetuates community in ways that challenge a static notion of nationhood. Speakers will consider how language choice, group discourse, and linguistic and cultural identity contribute to notions of citizenship at the global level.
On a research trip to India several years ago, UW–Madison sociology professor Gay Seidman was eavesdropping on other visiting faculty sharing their struggles to set up international study abroad programs when a familiar name came up.
“I heard one say, “You know what Joe Elder has done at Wisconsin, he’s been doing this for years and we’re just all imitating him!’” Seidman says.
“Partly Colored: The Other Segregated South’” (Capital City Hues) Professor Leslie Bow‘s book was featured in the Capital City Hues. Bow is a professor of English and Asian American Studies.
“An interview with UW’s Lynet Uttal: Making the Asian American experience visible through learning” (Asian Wisconzine) Featuring Lynet Uttal, the Director of the Asian American Studies Program at UW-Madison.
Rohany Nayan knows what it’s like to feel left out because of her faith. But Nayan, who came to the U.S. from Malaysia in 1985, says being part of Islam is to be part of a bigger community, which is why she’s been active in interfaith activities wherever she lives.
The European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE) at University of Wisconsin–Madison has received a grant for €300,000 (ca. $430,000) from the European Commission in Brussels renewing its funding through 2014.
Legendary UW-Madison Professor Harold Scheub turned 80-years-old on Friday, August 26, 2011. Scheub is the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Humanities in the Department of African Languages and Literature and one of the world’s leading scholars in African oral traditions and folklore. His course, The African Storyteller, is one of the most popular on the UW-Madison campus, regularly enrolling over 500 students.
The Department of French & Italian Spring 2011 newsletter is now available online.
The European Studies Alliance Newsletter is now available online [pdf].
In the News: Professor J. Mark Kenoyer Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences – Some of the world’s most accomplished leaders from academia, business, public affairs, the humanities, and the arts have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and joining them this year is UW-Madison professor Jonathan Mark Kenoyer.
The Japan Tsunami Relief (JTR), a student organization, has been providing support to those affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The group recently decided to plant a commemorative flowering cherry blossom tree on campus to honor and remember the victims of the Japanese tsunami.
A team of Madison East High School students will be heading to New York on April 26, 2011 to participate in the national finals of the Euro Challenge Competition.
School Spotlight: East Students head to Euro Challenge (Wisconsin State Journal) A team of Madison East High School sophomores will compete in the final rounds of the Euro Challenge this month at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City, with help from the European Union Center for Excellence …
[9780816670376.big] Associate Professor Preeti Chopra (Languages and Cultures of Asia) published a new book with the University of Minnesota Press: “A Joint Enterprise: Indian Elites and the Making of British Bombay.”
What began as a class project in 2010, has turned into an musical and cultural adventure for two former language students. Last summer, Brian Tilley and Ted Watter took “Elementary Pashto” as part of the South Asian Summer Language Institute. Pashto is a language spoken by 40-60 million people, primarily in Pakistan and Afghanistan …
Cricket may not be as popular as football in the United States, but the sport wasn’t lost on all at UW-Madison. To celebrate the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, South Asian students organized to watch the matches from a far.
[WovenLives_Poster[1]] As part of the Year of the Arts, UW-Madison is proud to host a celebration of Latin American art, music and dance at the new Union South on Saturday, April 23.
The College of Letters & Science is proud to count eight young alumni as recipients of the 2011 Forward Under 40 award from the Wisconsin Alumni Association.
The European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE) is delighted to announce that a team from Madison East High School took first place in the Regional Rounds of the Euro Challenge Competition held at the Chicago Federal Reserve on March 23, 2011.
Japan earthquake eyewitness interview Matt Alt (BA 95, Japanese and International Relations) has been interviewed several times by CBS News. Alt is living and working in Tokyo.
On Tuesday, April 5 at 7pm the Scandinavian Department will host John-Henri Holmberg, a personal friend of Stieg Larsson, author of the acclaimed Millennium Trilogy featuring the “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”.
The following memoir was written by Christopher Kleinhenz, professor Italian emeritus, and appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of L&S TODAY.
The Center for South Asia is proud to host the Traveling Film South Asia 2010, a film festival featuring 12 award-winning documentaries. The film festival runs Feb. 18-20 at the Memorial Union. The films debuting were documentaries featured in the 2010 Film South Asia festival in Nepal and hail from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, [...]
StoryCorps, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs, will visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison from March 24-26 as part of “Peace Corps and Africa: 50 Years,” an event honoring and assessing a half-century of volunteer service.
Historically, the United States and the United Kingdom have stood out among rich nations as having particularly high child poverty rates. But last year Timothy Smeeding (Institute for Research on Poverty Director and La Follette School of Public Affairs faculty) and Jane Waldfogel (Columbia University) published an article in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management that showed how child poverty trends in the United States and United Kingdom had diverged over the past decade, during which the United Kingdom pursued an ambitious war on child poverty.
The Center for South Asia outreach program is partnering with the first-ever Uplands Area All-Community Read, an exciting, intergenerationl year-long community book reading programming in South Central Wisconsin.
Global health problems extend beyond clinics, vaccine laboratories, and hospitals. Some of the most pressing problems stem from societal, economic and environmental factors as well. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s growing Global Health Initiative is taking on this multisector challenge by fostering research collaborations that advance sustainable health in Wisconsin and the world.
The Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) and the Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are proud to announce the inaugural session of the Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute (CESSI).
IceCube completed (Nature.com, Dec 29, 2010) On the day that researchers lowered the final detector of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory into a 2.5-kilometre-deep hole, the Antarctic sun was nearly as high as it gets and the temperature a balmy −23 °C.
Singing in front of your fellow classmates may not be for the faint of heart, but one group of first-year students doesn’t have any reservations. The students are all enrolled in a First-Year Interest Group or FIG that introduces them to South Asian culture through the lens of music and dance, including a 6-hour singing workshop.
The Language Institute is pleased to present a new project — Profiles — which highlight the language learning experiences of UW-Madison students and alumni. Profiles will help inspire current students with diverse academic interests and professional goals to study foreign languages.
The following story was submitted by Nancy Heingartner, the outreach coordinator at the Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia (CREECA). You can view a Photo Gallery of Andrei Codrescu’s visit at the CREECA website. On an unseasonably beautiful Monday in early October, I had the pleasure of escorting Andrei Codrescu, a prolific writer and social commentator, to various gatherings at UW-Madison.
If you’re going to teach a course on French cinema in France, why not involve actually film making, too? That was the idea for Tom Armbrecht, a professor of French, who is leading the UW-Madison Aix en Provence study abroad program this year. Armbrecht is teaching a new course in France that focuses on French [...]
This week, the Chronicle of Higher Education released its 2010 Fulbright rankings. UW-Madison ranked 11th among U.S. research universities for number of Fulbrights awarded. In all, 14 UW-Madison students received Fulbright awards for the 2010-11 year. Read about this year’s UW-Madison awardees. In 2009 and 2008, UW-Madison ranked ninth among U.S. research universities for number [...]
The world’s rivers, the single largest renewable water resource for humans and a crucible of aquatic biodiversity, are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis. The report, published in the journal Nature, is the first to simultaneously account for the effects of such things as pollution, dam building, agricultural runoff, [...]
Riddarasögur (Sagas of Knights) is a term used to designate a group of Old Norse-Icelandic prose texts from the 13th Century, many preserved in late Icelandic manuscripts. The texts are either based directly on extant Old French texts (usually romances or epics) or original compositions, and are finally beginning to receive impartial scholarly attention from [...]
UW-Madison’s Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) is proud to present Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and prolific writer and editor. He will give a free, public lecture at the Wisconsin Union Theater, 800 Langdon Street, Madison, on Monday, October 4, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. During his visit to Madison, Codrescu will speak with [...]
The Russian Flagship Program admitted its first class of students to begin the program in the Fall 2010. The new undergraduate program provides highly motivated students the opportunity to achieve a professional level of competence in Russian …
The week before classes started, new instructors of languages as diverse as Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Twi, Yoruba and Zulu came together for a 3-day workshop coordinated by the Language Institute on teaching foreign languages at the college level. The workshop included lectures by Sally Magnan, Department of [...]
The UW-Madison Center for South Asia, under the leadership of Center Director J. Mark Kenoyer, has secured another four years of funding under the U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center program. The center will be funded through 2014 and is a fantastic result as the Center celebrates its 50th anniversary. As a [...]
Aili Mari Tripp, professor of political science and gender and women’s studies, takes a close, clear-sighted look at Ugandan politics since 1986, when Yoweri Museveni became the country’s president in her new book, Museveni’s Uganda: Paradoxes of Power in a Hybrid Regime (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2010). Museveni’s exercise of power has been replete with contradictions: steps toward political [...]
