UW-Madison College of Letters & Science

05/27/2026

Kristin Eschenfelder, our new interim Dean, will co-chair the working group that will guide this initiative. We're excited to see where it goes.

The effort, which supports a number of campus priorities, will focus on a people-centered approach to guide thoughtful use of artificial intelligence on campus.

05/21/2026

Writing for the Can We Still Govern? Substack, Mike Wagner, professor of journalism and the William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea, discusses recent research by his Center for Communication and Civic Renewal that shows three-quarters of Americans oppose government pressure on TV networks to cancel shows that satirize the powerful.

New data show bipartisan opposition to government leaning on TV networks and universities

05/21/2026

Important update on the ongoing effort to renovate Science Hall. The College is grateful to the Morgridge family for their generous and expansive support.

A glass atrium and air conditioning are a few of the major updates the 137-year-old Science Hall at UW-Madison will undergo during its $163.2 million renovation project.

05/18/2026

Join us in welcoming Kristin Eschenfelder, the new Interim Dean of the College of Letters & Science, who begins her tenure this week. Eschenfelder, a professor of information sciences who most recently served as the College of Letters & Science’s associate dean and associate director for the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS), brings a student-centric approach to the job, and has deep experience in strategic thinking and consensus building.

“I have a desire to contribute in more strategic ways, to be able to think about and work on really hard problems at the campus level,” says Eschenfelder. “And what we’re pitching to our alumni and current and future students — the enduring value of a liberal arts and sciences education — is something I deeply believe in.”

Kristin Eschenfelder brings a consensus-building, student-centric approach to her role as the Interim Dean of the College of Letters & Science.

05/15/2026

Before we slide officially into Summer Term, we're taking one last look at our Pre-Commencement Celebration from last weekend. Photographer Andy Manis really captured the joy and triumph of the occasion.

05/15/2026

Hot off the presses! The Letters & Science magazine will hit mailboxes soon 📬. Read about navigating the attention economy, alumni who have careers in sustainability and a mushroom that escaped captivity. Plus shares why it’s important to take time to think.

05/13/2026

AI has become a big part of the modern hiring process, both for employers and for applicants, but you might be surprised to learn isn't a new thing. Research by Greg Downey, the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication and the director of the Information School, reveals that the phenomenon dates all the way back to UW-Madison....in the 1920s.

“We’ve been here before, even if we didn’t call it AI, or even if it wasn’t computers,” says Downey. “There’s this history of how people think about matching individuals to careers or jobs, and all the tools and algorithms and methods and technologies and machines people have been using to do that over the last 100 years.”

AI’s influence now dominates the modern career-matching experience. But as Greg Downey’s research shows, it’s been that way for a lot longer than we…

05/11/2026

Matthew Hannah, an associate professor of digital studies in the UW-Madison Department of Communication Arts, studies the ways the Internet accelerates the spread of conspiracy theories and extremism. He's become, as he puts it, "the QAnon guy."

“I studied conversations that revealed QAnon people had this capacity to think ‘If I start talking about Satan or UFOs, you’re going to think I’m insane, so I’m going to slowly introduce you to some of these ideas,’” says Hannah. “That to me was really striking and also kind of frightening — how sophisticated some of these tools are.”

Conspiracy theories and the people who deal in them are often written off. With trends sending more people down the rabbit hole, Matthew Hannah decided it…

05/11/2026

Did you catch our Fueling Discovery insert yesterday in the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal? If not, no worries: You can read all about how researchers across the College of Letters & Science are making a difference in our state in key fields like quantum computing, the environment and more: https://madison.com/exclusive/fueling-discovery/

05/09/2026

Another fantastic pre-commencement celebration in the books! Congratulations to all the 2026 graduates—we can’t wait to see how you change the world.

05/08/2026

Make sure you track down a copy of this Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal and don't miss our annual Fueling Discovery insert! Another great collection of essays by our faculty and students highlighting the amazing research that's happening across the College.