Chapter Leaders

Student Welcome Virtual Celebration and SOAR Meet Ups

There are two ways your chapter can participate in helping incoming students prepare for their UW experience!

As we discussed on last month’s call, we are transitioning our annual Student Send-Off Celebrations to a single Student Welcome Virtual Celebration in mid-August. We hope you’ll join other WAA chapters around the world as we introduce new Badgers to the UW experience! Of course, your participation in this virtual event is optional. If you would like to be involved, please confirm your participation by July 15. We will share details on this new event on our chapter leader call next month.

Additionally, this year’s online SOAR (Student Orientation, Advising, and Registration) program team will be leading virtual “Meet Up Mondays” featuring Q & A panel discussions for incoming students and their families from specific states/countries/regions. Meet Up Mondays will start in early July and run through the end of August. If your chapter would like to participate, let us know and we will provide specific dates and additional information.

CONFIRM YOUR PARTICIPATION

Annual Report

It’s hard to believe, but fall is just around the corner. The 2020 annual report template is available here and will be due on October 1. We understand this year was unique for many reasons, and chapters were unable to see their plans come to fruition. Please rest assured that we will be taking recent events into account as we go through your annual reports, and you will not be demoted as a result of the current times.

INTERNATIONAL DOMESTIC

Athletics Update

In the wake of the Big Ten’s announcement regarding conference-only schedules for fall sports, Wisconsin Athletics has announced that all previously scheduled non-conference games in 2020 will not be played. That means that the Southern Illinois, Appalachian State, and Notre Dame games have been canceled, and the Northwestern game will now no longer be played at Wrigley Field.

Discussions about the remainder of the season and the circumstances of games are ongoing. We will keep you apprised on any developments. Please hold off on planning any fall game-watch events until receiving guidance from WAA and your chapter representative. For questions about tickets, BADGER HUDDLE, or chapter-led pre-game and away-game events, contact Jeff Wendorf ’82.

Virtual Events

We have been so impressed with the creativity of chapters around the world as they create virtual events to engage area alumni. In an effort to share these ideas and concepts, we have created a best practices document based on past virtual events. If your chapter hosts a virtual event, please expect a brief survey from your chapter representative to share details about your event. Thank you all for your ongoing enthusiasm, creativity, and engagement during these challenging times.

WFAA Update

The Wisconsin Alumni Association is hard at work planning virtual opportunities to connect in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our organization will work to offer delightful diversions and important information to our alumni and friends in innovative new ways—while not meeting in person until at least October 1.

The UW Now Livestream events have been covering the most timely subjects in the COVID-19 era with UW-specific expertise and exploring our favorite Badger traditions . We’re also creating ways to connect our alumni to campus with virtual backgrounds, and take you for a walk down memory lane with new online Badger Scrapbooks. You’ll be able to catch up on the news of the week with a new #UWWeekinReview on Instagram, and we’ve got plenty more programming in the works.

As always, if you have questions or would like to learn more about these virtual opportunities, reach out to your chapter representative.

Scholarship Timeline

• Nov 1 – Feb 3: Confirm scholarship committee members and submit data agreement forms to WAA for each individual in order to access student data. Student applications available on Wisconsin Scholarship Hub (WiSH)
• February 12 – March 12: Review applicant data for incoming freshmen and transfer students and select award winners and alternates.
• March 13: Deadline for chapters to submit scholarship recipients and alternates online
• March 14 – March 20: Deadline for chapters to notify student scholarship winners via phone or email.
  • Notify alternates and rejections via email.
• May 1: Commitment day! Deadline for students to accept scholarship awards on WiSH
  • Due to COVID-19 OFSA will be providing incoming freshman with the option to postpone their decision until June 1. Students must submit a request through OFSA if they would like an extension on their decision.
• January 1: Deadline for chapters to deposit funds into their scholarship accounts
• March: Funds will be removed from chapter accounts and credited to students’ tuition bill (covering fall and spring semester)

NOTE: All funds should be deposited into your chapter’s scholarship fund by January.

If you have questions, please contact your chapter representative.