The College of Letters & Science is built on the pillars of pathbreaking research, life-changing teaching and conscientious public service. Each year, L&S faculty, staff and students embrace this three-part mission, and 2014 was no different.
Here is a sampling of the stories that made the past year one to remember in UW-Madison's largest academic unit:
Charting a new path for students
(Photo by Jeff Miller, University Communications)
L&S launched a new, coordinated effort to preparing students for careers in today's rapidly-changing economy. The L&S Career Initiative is funded by seed investments from alumni. As part of the initiative, L&S is offering a new one-credit academic- and career-planning course, starting in January 2015. L&S also received a grant from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation to help students with financial need land paid internships.
Anna Zeide was one of five UW-Madison graduate students who received public humanities fellowships for the 2013-14 school year. (Photo by Sarah Morton, College of Letters & Science)
The Center for Humanities' first cohort of public humanities fellows completed their yearlong terms in four Madison organizations. The fellowships, part of an experimental program called "Engaging the Humanities," were funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This new career training model for graduate students in the humanities is seen as increasingly important, since the changing job market for Ph.D.s means they won't necessarily become professors.
Valley studies oldest bit of Earth
This 4.4 billion-year-old zircon crystal is providing new insight into how the Earth cooled from a ball of magma and formed continents much earlier than previously believed. (Photo courtesy John Valley)
An international team led by UW-Madison's John Valley, the Charles R. Van Hise Professor of Geoscience, studied a tiny fragment of zircon from Australia and confirmed the Earth’s crust first formed at least 4.4 billion years ago. The microscopic zircon crystal used by Valley and his group in the study, which strengthens the theory of a "cool early Earth," is now confirmed to be the oldest known material of any kind formed on Earth.
Among the best
Clockwise from upper left: Brontë Mansfield, Colin Higgins, Tong Wang and Joshua Shutter.
L&S students once again collected prestigious national awards. Among the winners: Joshua Shutter (B.S.'14, Chemistry), one of 14 recipients of the Churchill Scholarship; Brontë Mansfield, an art history and English major who was one of 20 Beinecke Scholarship winners; Colin Higgins, a geography, history and environmental studies major and one of 50 Udall Scholarship recipients; and Tong Wang, a chemistry major who joined three other UW-Madison students in earning a Goldwater Scholarship. This follows last year, when two other L&S students were awarded major scholarships for 2014: Drew Birrenkott (B.S.'14, Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering and Political Science), who received a Rhodes Scholarship, and Andrew Bulovsky (B.A.'14, Communication Arts and Political Science), who landed a Marshall Scholarship.
Music hits high note with new building plans
Construction on the $22 million Hamel Music Center is set to begin in late 2015. (Illustration by Holzman Moss Bottino Architects and Strang Architects)
The School of Music unveiled plans for a new performance center in September, and the university will name the building in honor of lead donors Pamela and George Hamel. The new performance center will anchor a highly visible corner of campus and provide beautiful new performance space for the School of Music's students, performers, instructors and faculty.
Maria Cancian has been a faculty member at UW-Madison since 1993. (Photo by Sarah Morton, College of Letters & Science)
Maria Cancian, an associate dean in L&S and professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the School of Social Work, was nominated and confirmed as assistant secretary for children and families (family support) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Shining star scientists
Francis Halzen, Gregory Breit Professor and Hilldale Professor of Physics at UW-Madison and the principal investigator of IceCube. (Photo courtesy El Pais/Bernardo Perez)
Francis Halzen, the Hilldale and Gregory Breit Professor of Physics who was the driving force behind the IceCube neutrino telescope, was one of Smithsonian Magazine's ten 2014 American Ingenuity Award winners. And Halzen wasn't the only UW-Madison scientist feted this year. Chemistry Professor Shannon Stahl was one of five scientists nationwide to receive a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while Assistant Professor of Chemistry Trisha Andrew was one of 18 early career scientists from around the country named a Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering.
Exploring the effects of abuse on children's brains
(Photo courtesy iStock)
A study by UW-Madison researchers showed chronic, toxic stress like poverty, neglect and physical abuse may actually change the parts of developing children's brains responsible for learning, memory and the processing of stress and emotion. The study was led by Jamie Hanson (Ph.D.'13, Psychology) and Seth Pollak, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and director of the UW Waisman Center's Child Emotion Research Laboratory.
The pen is mightier
Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Mathematics Jordan Ellenberg, left, and Assistant Professor of Sociology Alice Goffman. (Photos by Jeff Miller, University Communications)
Faculty members across L&S published hundreds of books, manuscripts and articles, advancing scholarship and academic exploration. Two books in particular created a buzz with the wider public this past year: Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Mathematics Jordan Ellenberg's How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, which delves into the genuine influence of math on our lives, and Assistant Professor of Sociology Alice Goffman's On the Run, an ethnographic account of life in a poor Philadelphia neighborhood.
Elder, Sandefur depart
Former L&S dean Gary Sandefur, left, and Professor of Sociology, Languages and Cultures of Asia and Integrated Liberal Studies Joe Elder. (Photos by Jeff Miller and Bryce Richter, University Communications)
Two longtime, influential L&S faculty members left campus in 2014: Professor of Sociology, Languages and Cultures of Asia and Integrated Liberal Studies Joe Elder, who retired in May, and Professor of Sociology and former L&S Dean Gary Sandefur, who returned to his home state of Oklahoma in June as the new provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Oklahoma State University.
Botany Professor Simon Gilroy, left, and postdoctoral researcher Won-Gyu Choi unwrap four canisters of plants packed in dry ice. The plants aboard the International Space Station and were returned to Gilroy's lab today. (Photo by David Tenenbaum, University Communications)
Professor of Botany Simon Gilroy's lab is studying more than 1,000 frozen plants that germinated and grew aboard the International Space Station. The work is part of Gilroy's longstanding exploration of the genetic control of the proteins that enable plants to grow in zero gravity.
In memoriam
Howard Karp, pictured in 2000, was a professor emeritus of piano in the UW-Madison School of Music. (Photo courtesy University Communications)
L&S lost a number of talented and dedicated faculty members this year, including: Susan Horwitz (computer sciences), Al Kadushin (social work), Howard Karp (music) and Hans Schneider (mathematics). All made lasting contributions to campus that will live on.