UW Retains “New Ivy” Status

The rise of artificial intelligence and its career impact played a key role in this year’s list. Althea Dotzour

UW–Madison has again been named a “new Ivy” by Forbes magazine, honored as one of 20 public and private universities across the United States that are best “preparing and graduating the talent that employers will see in this new era.”

The UW also received the recognition in 2024, but this year, the rise of artificial intelligence and its career impact played a key role in the list. Forbes surveyed more than 100 C-suite and hiring executives. One respondent said that the ideal graduate entering the workforce in the age of AI will be grounded in an education that emphasizes the very human traits of “complex emotional intelligence, radical adaptability, and visionary creativity to orchestrate AI tools rather than compete with them.”

UW–Madison has made AI a priority, building on decades of investment in scholarship, research, and teaching and the university’s strengths in computer, data, library, and information sciences and statistics. Faculty and researchers across the university are approaching AI from different angles, from business and engineering to health care and public systems. The UW’s AI Hub for Business is also forging strong partnerships with Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller enterprises.

“We are looking to build a future that belongs to all of us: preparing our students, strengthening our research, serving our state, and fulfilling the Wisconsin Idea in the digital age,” says Provost John Zumbrunnen.

UW–Madison was one of four Big Ten schools named to the “new Ivy” list.

Published in the Fall 2026 issue