e Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and promotion of WiCell.[71] Its center for research on internal combustion engines, called the Engine Research Center, has a five-year collaboration agreement with General Motors.[72] It has also been the recipient of multi-million dollar funding from the federal government.[7

 that 57 disciplines at the UW–Madison were in the top 10 in the U.S. in scholarly productivity, which placed it second after UC-Berkeley in the number of top ten programs.[48] The UW placed 30th among national universities in Washington Monthly's 2009 rankings, which consider community service and social mobility, as well as research productivity.[49] In 2009, UW–Madison was ranked 6th in the TrendTopper MediaBuzz rankings by the Global Language Monitor.[50] In 2011, the Global Language Monitor increased the ranking to 1st in Internet Media Buzz.[51]
Madison's undergraduate program was ranked 42nd among national universities by U.S.News & World Report for 2012 and 10th among public schools.[52] In both cases, UW-Madison is tied with another UW, University of Washington. The same magazine ranked UW's graduate School of Business 29th,[53] and its undergraduate business program 13th.[54] Twelve CEOs of S&P 500 companies hold degrees from the University of Wisconsin, putting it in a tie with Harvard and Princeton for first place.[55]
In 2011, USNWR ranked UW's Law School 35th,[56] while Vault listed it as 25th for 2008.[57] Other graduate schools ranked by USNWR include the School of Medicine and Public Health, which was 27th in research[58] and 13th in primary care,[59] the College of Engineering 16th,[60] the School of Education 12th,[61] and the La Follette School of Public Affairs 14th.[62]
Madison has been labeled one of the "Public Ivies," a publicly funded university considered as providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.[6][7]
Research[edit]
UW–Madison was a founding member of the Association of American Universities.[63] In 2009, the school received $952 million in research funding, placing it third in the country.[64] Its research programs were also fourth in the number of patents issued in 2010.[65] The University's research programs were ranked fourth in federally funded research and second in nonfederally funded research among U.S. public universities in 2009.[66]
The University of Wisconsin is a participant in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the academic consortium of the universities in the Big Ten Conference and the University of Chicago. The initiative is a research partnership that involves faculty and staff networking, cooperative purchasing, course sharing, professional development programs, study abroad, diversity initiatives for students and faculty, and sharing of library resources and information technology.[67][68][69]
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is one of thirty sea grant colleges in the United States. These colleges are involved in scientific research, education, training, and extension projects geared toward the conservation and practical use of U.S. coasts, the Great Lakes and other marine areas.
The University maintains almost 100 research centers and programs, ranging from agriculture to arts, from education to engineering.[70] It has been considered a major academic center for embryonic stem cell research ever since UW–Madison professor James Thomson became the first scientist to isolate human embryonic stem cells. This has brought significant attention and respect for the University's research programs from around the world. The University continues to be a leader in stem cell research, helped in part by the funding of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and promotion of WiCell.[71]
Its center for research on internal combustion engines, called the Engine Research Center, has a five-year collaboration agreement with General Motors.[72] It has also been the recipient of multi-million dollar funding from the federal government.[73]
In June 2013, it is reported that the United States National Institutes of Health would fund an $18.13 million study at the University of Wisconsin. The study will research lethal qualities of viruses such as Ebola, West Nile and influenza. The goal of the study is to help find new drugs to fight of the most lethal pathogens.[74]
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences[edit]
The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences fulfills the UW-Madison’s mission as a land-grant university, which dates back to 1862, when Congress passed legislation to establish a national network of colleges devoted to agriculture and mechanics and Wisconsin received 240,000 acres of allotted federal land.[75] In 1885 the university began offering a winter course for farmers, the Agriculture Short Course, which was greatly developed and enhanced by Ransom Asa Moore from 1895 until 1907 and continues today as the Farm and Industry Short Course. In 1889 the university put all of their agricultural offerings under a new College of Agriculture, with W.A. Henry as dean.[75] Professors listed in the 1896 Agricultural Short Course for the College of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison listed popular professors such the Dean of the College of Agriculture, Prof. W.A. Henry (Feeds and Feeding), Prof. S.M. Babcock (Agricultural Chemistry; Farm Dairying), Prof. F.H. King (Agricultural Physics, Agricultural Mechanics, and Meteorology), Prof. E.S. Goff (Plant Life, Horticulture, and Economic Entomology), Prof. H.L. Russell (Bacteriology), Prof. J.A. Craig (Breeds: Breeding and Judging Live Stock), Prof. Wm. A. Scott (Economics of Agriculture), Prof. C.I. King (Practical Mechanics), Mr. R.A. Moore (Parliamentary Procedures and Book-keeping), Mr. A.B. Sayles (Farm Dairying), Mr. Fred. Cranefield (Ass

Forbes[35] 68 U.S. News & World Report[36] 41 Washington Monthly[37] 18 Global

ts radical image, the campus is still known ered to control patenting and patent income on UW–Madison inventions
1934 The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum, whose mission was to restore lost landscapes, such as prairies, was opened
1936 UW–Madison began an artist-in-residence program, the first ever at a university
1940–1951 Warfarin (Coumadin) developed at UW. Named after Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
1969 The Badger Herald was founded as a conservative student paper
1970 Sterling Hall bombing
1984 University Research Park founded to encourage technology transfer between university and businesses
1988 The Onion founded by two UW–Madison students, Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson
1998 UW–Madison's James Thomson (cell biologist) first isolated and cultured human embryonic stem cells
2011 Wisconsin defeats Michigan State to win the first ever Big Ten Football Championship Game.
Academics[edit]



"Sifting and winnowing" plaque on Bascom Hall, UW–Madison tribute to academic freedom
The University of Wisconsin–Madison, the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System, is a large, four-year research university comprising twenty associated colleges and schools.[10] In addition to undergraduate and graduate divisions in agriculture and life sciences, business, education, engineering, human ecology, journalism and mass communication, letters and science, music, nursing, pharmacy, and social welfare, the university also maintains graduate and professional schools in environmental studies, law, library and information studies, medicine and public health (School of Medicine and Public Health), public affairs, and veterinary medicine.
The four year, full-time undergraduate instructional program is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as "arts and science plus professions" with a high graduate coexistence; admissions are characterized as "more selective, lower transfer-in."[10] 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 schools[32] that instruct students and carry out research in a wide variety of fields, such as astronomy, economics, geography, history, linguistics, and zoology. The graduate instructional program is classified by Carnegie as "comprehensive with medical/veterinary." In 2008, it granted the third largest number of doctorates in the nation.[10][33]
Rankings[edit]
University rankings
National
ARWU[34]    17
Forbes[35]    68
U.S. News & World Report[36]    41
Washington Monthly[37]    18
Global
ARWU[38]    19
QS[39]    38
Times[40]    31
International[edit]
In the 2011, QS World University Rankings it was ranked 41st in the world and received five excellence stars.[41] It was ranked 17th among world universities and 15th among universities in the Americas in Shanghai Jiao Tong University's 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities, which assesses academic and research performance.[42] In the G-factor International University Ranking of 2006, which is a re-analysis of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University data, the UW–Madison was listed 13th.[43] The Times Higher Education Supplement placed it 27th worldwide, based primarily on surveys administered to students, faculty, and recruiters.[44] Additionally, the professional ranking of world universities from École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, based in part on the number of senior managerial positions occupied by alumni, placed UW–Madison 35th in the world.[45]
National[edit]
UW–Madison was ranked 11th among national universities (with three institutions tied) by the Center for Measuring University Performance in its 2007 report, with rankings based on objective statistics on research, faculty awards, student qualifications, and university assets. Of 38 programs at the UW–Madison that were included in the National Research Council's 1995 study, 16 ranked in the top 10 nationally.[46][47] In 2007, the Chronicle of Higher Education reportedof the University of Wisconsin–Madison include:
1863 Women students first admitted to Univ

ts radical image, the campus is still known for its progressive politics.[citation needed] In February 2011, thousands of students marched and occupied the Wisconsin State Capitol during the 2011 Wisconsin protests. Timeline of notable events[edit] Notable historical moments in the first 150 years of the University of Wisconsin–Madison include: 1863 Women students first admitted to Univ

Over time, additional campuses were added to the university. The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee was created in 1956, and UW–Green Bay and UW–Parkside in 1968. Ten freshman-sophomore centers were also added to this system.[23] In 1971, Wisconsin legislators passed a law merging the University of Wisconsin with the nine universities and four freshman-sophomore branch campuses of the Wisconsin State Universities System, creating the University of Wisconsin System and bringing the two higher education systems under a single board of regents.
Student activism[edit]
See also: Sterling Hall bombing


Bascom Hill, 1968, with crosses placed by students protesting the Vietnam War, and sign reading, "BASCOM MEMORIAL CEMETERY, CLASS OF 1968"


Sign near Sterling Hall commemorating fatal 1970 bomb attack
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, UW–Madison was shaken by a series of student protests, and by the use of force by authorities in response, comprehensively documented in the film The War at Home. The first major demonstrations protested the presence on campus of recruiters for the Dow Chemical Company, which supplied the napalm used in the Vietnam War. Authorities used force to quell the disturbance. The struggle was documented in the book, They Marched into Sunlight,[24] as well as the PBS documentary Two Days in October.[25] Among the students injured in the protest was current Madison mayor Paul Soglin.
Another target of protest was the Army Mathematics Research Center (AMRC), located in Sterling Hall, which was also home of the physics department. The student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, published a series of investigative articles stating that AMRC was pursuing research directly pursuant to US Department of Defense requests, and supportive of military operations in Vietnam. AMRC became a magnet for demonstrations, in which protesters chanted "U.S. out of Vietnam! Smash Army Math!"
On August 24, 1970, near 3:40 am, a bomb exploded next to Sterling Hall, aimed at destroying the Army Math Research Center.[26] Despite the late hour, a post doctoral physics researcher, Robert Fassnacht, was in the lab and was killed in the explosion. The physics department was severely damaged, while the intended target, the AMRC, was scarcely affected. Karleton Armstrong, Dwight Armstrong, and David Fine were found responsible for the blast. Leo Burt was identified as a suspect, but was never apprehended or tried.[27]
While the student body has shed much of its radical image, the campus is still known for its progressive politics.[citation needed] In February 2011, thousands of students marched and occupied the Wisconsin State Capitol during the 2011 Wisconsin protests.
Timeline of notable events[edit]
Notable historical moments in the first 150 years of the University of Wisconsin–Madison include:
1863 Women students first admitted to University of Wisconsin during the American Civil War,[28][29][30]
1866 State legislature designated the University as the Wisconsin land-grant institution
April 4, 1892 The first edition of the student-run The Daily Cardinal was published
1894 State Board of Regents rejected an effort to purge Professor Richard T. Ely for supporting striking printers, issuing the famous "sifting and winnowing" manifesto in defense of academic freedom, later described as "part of Wisconsin's Magna Carta"[31]
1898 UW music instructors Henry Dyke Sleeper and Conner Ross Buerosse wrote Varsity, the university’s alma mater[31]
1904–1905 UW Graduate School established
1905 the University awards the first PhD in chemical engineering ever granted, to Oliver Patterson Watts.
1907 Wisconsin Union was founded
1909 William Purdy and Paul Beck wrote On, Wisconsin the UW–Madison athletic fight song
1907–1911 The "Single-grain experiment" was conducted by Stephen Moulton Babcock and Edwin B. Hart, paving the way for modern nutrition as a science
1913 Vitamin A discovered by UW scientist, Elmer V. McCollum
1916 Vitamin B discovered by McCollum
1919 Radio station 9XM founded on campus (Now WHA (970 AM), it is the oldest continually operating radio station in the United States)
1923 Harry Steenbock invented process for adding vitamin D to milk
1925 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation chart