Around UW

Wisconsin Alumni Association

Wisconsin Alumni Association was established in 1861 to connect UW-Madison alumni to the university and each other. Today, many of the 370,000 alumni living around the world are connected through lifelong learning programs, student scholarships; alumni travel opportunities, career services, and a network of affiliate groups and regional chapters. WAA is an independently financed, nonprofit alumni organization funded by dues-paying members from all parts of Wisconsin and around the world.

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation founded in 1925, WARF serves UW-Madison’s scientific community by patenting the discoveries of UW-Madison researchers and licensing technologies to leading companies worldwide. The Graduate School refers to WARF’s annual gifts of over $30 million as its “margin of excellence” funding, since the money can be used to support important research when other funding sources are not available.

University of Wisconsin Foundation

The UW Foundation created in 1945, is the official fund-raising and gift-receiving organization for UW-Madison and other donor-designated units of the UW System. For 60 years, the UW Foundation has engaged those who care about the university by providing opportunities to enhance its teaching, research and outreach programs, and has guaranteed ethical stewardship of the gifts it has received. Thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, total gifts received by the Foundation since 1945 now stand at more than $1.76 billion.

Fun Campus Facts

  • The Wisconsin Alumni Association was founded in 1861, just 13 years after the first class was taught.
  • Bucky Badger’s full name is Buckingham U. Badger.
  • Annual tuition in 1900 was $20.
  • Graduating law students toss white canes over the goalpost at Homecoming. Legend has it that if they catch the canes on the other side, they’ll win their first case.
  • The Marching Band started wearing their caps backward after a Badger win in the 1920s to symbolize looking back at their victory.
  • Freshmen were forced to wear green Eton caps in 1901 as part of a dress code.
  • 17 Nobel Prizes and 30 Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded to UW faculty or alumni.
  • More than 30,000 doctorates have been awarded by UW-Madison. Few institutions in the world can match that record.
  • UW was founded in 1848. The first building wasn’t constructed until 1851, so students met in makeshift classrooms elsewhere in Madison until then.
  • Current enrollment: 42,041
  • 2006-2007 Budget: $2,191,700,000
  • Federal funds: $526,300,000 (27.7%)
  • Gifts, grants and segregated funds: $372,500,000 (19.6%)
  • State general purpose revenue: $369,700,000 (19.5%)
  • Chancellor: Carolyn "Biddy" Martin
  • Vitamins A, B and D were all discovered at the UW.
  • School colors: cardinal and white
  • Total living alumni: 350,156
  • Alumni in Wisconsin: 128,360 (37%)
  • In 2005, more than half (53%) of the freshmen were in the top 10% of their high school class, had an ACT score of 27.5 and an SAT score of 1,261.
  • US News and World Report ranked UW-Madison as the eighth-best public school in the nation in 2005.
  • UW-Madison is tied with Harvard for producing the most Fortune 500 CEOs (Bloomberg Markets 2004)