A series of images show Bucky Badger doing pushups after a score at the Rose Bowl, a collage showing a Terrace sunset and a space-telescope image of distant stars, a collage of a tractor harvesting a field and the Agriculture Building, and Bascom Hill. The following text animates over these images. From Academic Powerhouse to Powering the State. Where an idea can change the world. From pushups to pushing limits. Where an idea can change the world. From terrace sunsets to NASA moonshots. Where an idea can change the world.

Where an idea can change the world

From terrace sunsets to NASA moonshots

Where an idea can change the world

From pushups to pushing limits

Where an idea can change the world

From Academic Powerhouse to Powering the State

Celebrate 175 years of UW–Madison

From 1848 to today, the University of Wisconsin–Madison has been home to both dreamers and doers. Badgers are driven by public service, pushing beyond our boundaries, and solving society’s largest problems. We call it the Wisconsin Idea. Because this is where an idea can change the world.

Learn more about UW 175

Join the festivities

To mark our 175th anniversary, the UW is hosting events on campus and across the state through May 2024. Join us in celebrating the UW’s world-changing impact on the past, present, and future.

See the UW 175 event calendar

Experience 175 years of pushing beyond boundaries

Groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Life-saving medical advances. Pioneering fields of study. Barrier-breaking social movements. UW–Madison has always been home to history in the making. Here’s your chance to experience it all.

Explore a timeline of UW–Madison

1851 If you build it, they will climb

North Hall becomes the first building on campus, where 56 students eat, sleep and study in one place.

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1889 Picking a mascot is no miner matter

The UW goes with “Badgers” for its mascot in a nod to the state’s nickname — the origin of which may surprise you.

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1926 Doubling down on dance

Under the direction of Margaret H’Doubler, the UW begins the nation’s first college dance program.

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1935 The New Deal adopts a Wisconsin idea

President Franklin D. Roosevelt taps UW professor Edwin Witte to draft the landmark Social Security Act.

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1959 Say cheese: Satellite photos are something special from Wisconsin

The UW contributes to NASA’s groundbreaking Explorer 7 launch.

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1969 13 demands, thousands of allies

Black students launch a campuswide strike to educate the community about racism and rally around change.

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2013 The human family tree sprouts another limb

UW paleoanthropologists play a key role in discovering a new branch on the human family tree: Homo naledi.

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2023 Rink rank: Most women’s titles ever

The Wisconsin women’s hockey team sets a new national record by winning its seventh championship.

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Get the latest anniversary news and updates

The perfect holiday gifts

Share the holiday spirit with a limited-edition The Red Shirt™ or our Cranniverscherry cheese commemorating 175 years of the UW.

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Seed by Seed

November 7, 2023

In celebration of the University of Wisconsin’s 175th anniversary, banners designed in collaboration by Molli Pauliot, Marianne Fairbanks and Stephen Hilyard merge traditional Ho-Chunk handcrafts with cutting edge animation software to create a design that honors Ho-Chunk heritage and the technical skill of the handmade.

Artists bring Ho-Chunk beadwork, imagery to giant banners on Bascom Hall

November 7, 2023

At a special ceremony held Tuesday, Nov. 7, the campus community and invited guests celebrated the installation of Ho-Chunk banners on Bascom Hall, commissioned as part of the University of Wisconsin’s 175th anniversary.

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Watch UW–Madison at 175

Share your spirit

Join our virtual celebration of UW–Madison’s 175th anniversary by using #UW175 on social media. (After all, “demisemiseptcentennial” anniversary has a few too many characters.). Select posts will be featured below.