Forward? The Wisconsin Idea, Past & Present

Fall Public Lecture Series, 6 pm Tuesdays, September 6 – December 13, 2016 (no meeting 11/1), The Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street

press release: Join the UW Department of Sociology during fall 2016 for an experiment. "FORWARD? The Wisconsin Idea, Past and Present" is a new course offering, combining a small undergraduate seminar with a public lecture series that examines the University of Wisconsin's relationship with the people of the state. We examine our origins, from the birth of the university in 1849, a year following the birth of Wisconsin as a state in 1848. We explore our successes and failures along the way. In fifteen weeks we merely scratch the surface of suitable topics.  

The public lecture series takes place 15 consecutive Tuesday evenings at 6pm at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street. Please see the front desk attendant for room. We'd love to see you there! Please contact the Department of Sociology main office if you would like to formally enroll in the class as a student or an adult auditor. If you are unable to attend, each of the 15 lectures will be videotaped and placed on the internet for viewing remotely within 24 hours of the original lecture.

Sept. 6: J. David Hoeveler, “John Bascom and the Origins of the Wisconsin Idea”

Sept. 13: Curt Meine, “Conservation and the Wisconsin Idea: An Evolving Legacy"

Sept. 20: Lisa Graves, “ALEC: The Dark Partner in Authoring Wisconsin Legislation”

Sept. 27: Cameron Macdonald, “Badgercare: From Test Case to Worst Case”

Oct. 4: Dick Wagner, “Academics Shaping the Wisconsin Dialogue on LGBT History”

Oct. 11: Michele Lavigne, John Chisholm, and Pamela Oliver, “Criminal Justice in Wisconsin: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”

Oct. 18: Lewis Friedland, “Laboratory of Oligarchy”

Oct. 25: Katherine J. Cramer, “The Politics of Resentment”

Nov. 8: Sara Goldrick-Rab, “The Future of Wisconsin Public Higher Education”

Nov. 15: Paul Robbins, “Start with What People Value: Environment, Land, and the Wisconsin Idea”

Nov. 22: Film: Starving the Beast

Nov. 29: Aaron Bird Bear, “Notes from the Ethnic Cleansing Zone: The Wisconsin Idea, Imperialist Nostalgia, and the Remaking of a Shared Future”    

Dec. 6: Corrie Norman, Susan Ridgely, and Jordan Rosenblum, “Lived Religion in Wisconsin”

Dec., 13: Noel Radomski, “The Future of the Wisconsin Idea”