Blank’s Slate

High school seniors across Wisconsin are currently trying to decide where they want to apply to college. What percentage of Wisconsin residents who apply to UW-Madison would you guess are accepted to our campus? Less than half? We often get people who believe far fewer than half of our Wisconsin applicants are accepted at UW-Madison. In reality, we’ve been accepting about two-thirds of Wisconsin applicants for many years.  We have much lower acceptance rates for out-of-state applicants. In fact, because we’ve set a new record for out-of-state undergraduate applications every year for the last nine years, our out-of-state acceptance rate … Read more of Busting myths about UW-Madison

I’ll admit to being a little surprised to realize that as of today, July 20, I will have been here at UW–Madison for five years. In addition to having been gifted a beautiful German chocolate cake from Bucky and my friends at University Housing, I’m also finally vested in the Wisconsin state pension plan! I want to reflect a bit on what I think we’ve accomplished over the past five years, as well as some of the challenges we’ll be facing in the next five. And I use the term “we” very deliberately.  The vice chancellors and their staff … Read more of Reflections on Five Years

This month marks a significant expansion for our campus as Cooperative Extension, Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), Wisconsin Public Television (WPT), UW-Extension Conference Centers and Mailing Services, and the Department of Labor Education all become part of UW-Madison.  These units together will bring 958 new employees into UW-Madison, and will add $103 million to UW-Madison’s budget. I strongly believe this move can improve the opportunities for each organization. It connects UW-Madison more closely with units that work across the state, helping us do better outreach and research that fulfills the Wisconsin Idea. And it will connect Cooperation Extension, WPR, and WPT … Read more of Welcoming new colleagues to UW-Madison

Chancellor Blank’s column on the future of undergraduate education appeared in Sunday’s Wisconsin State Journal. Public education has been one of our greatest success stories as a nation. Our country pioneered in making public elementary and high schools available to all children and created land-grant public universities that made college possible for citizens from all backgrounds. The widespread availability of public education in the United States has been linked with the success of our society and economy over the decades. Today, almost 90 percent of high school graduates can expect to enroll in an undergraduate institution at some point during … Read more of Chancellor Blank column: Wisconsin and the future of undergraduate education