Alumni & Friends

“We must always remember that we — the people of this nation — should and can be ‘the powers that be,’ ” said Paul Rusk (BS’77 Horticulture, MA’91 Public Affairs and Administration) in a speech during UW–Madison’s 1977 spring commencement.

On Tuesday, May 1, the Poetry Foundation announced that Martín Espada was awarded the 2018 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which is presented annually in recognition of the lifetime achievements of a living US poet.

The #Blackandhooded hashtag, which has since gained traction across the world and spurred offshoots including a website and scholarship fund, was created last year by University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni Anthony Wright and Brian Allen.

"That negative connotation that's associated with being black and in the hood is kind of what sparked our interest to change the negative narrative into a positive one," said Wright,

History grad Mike Matucheski blends creativity and a love of tradition with scientific rigor to produce award-winning cheeses for Sartori Cheese Company.

New Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) curators Leah Kolb (BA'07 History, MA'11 Library & Information Studies) and Mel Becker Solomon (BA'03, Sociology and Psychology, MA'11, Library & Information Studies) are tasked with selecting and protecting Madison’s visual treasures

As a long-time Madisonian and UW Distinguished alumnus, it’s quite fitting that Ben Sidran’s archives remain in Madison. Sidran’s expansive career has taken him from Racine, WI, where he enjoyed playing boogie woogie piano as a little boy, to sharing his talents with the world, and gaining widespread acclaim in Europe and Japan, in particular.

The Madison Reunion — a countercultural Chautauqua that includes former UW-Madison teachers and students — begins June 14. Isthmus talks to Ben and Judy Sidran, the couple that helped pull it all together.

It’s graduation season, and UW-Madison alums Anthony Wright and Brian Allen are promoting #BlackandHooded to black recipients of advanced degrees, inviting them to share photos celebrating their accomplishments.

Using social media, two University of Wisconsin-Madison alums have created a movement among African-American students in higher education that has two goals: one academic, the other political.