Counting by County
The Wisconsin Idea Database shows the connections between UW–Madison and its home state.
When UW–Madison refers to the Wisconsin Idea, it likes to point to a quotation from Charles Van Hise 1879, 1880, MS1882, PhD1892: “I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every home in the state.” The line is memorable because of how often UW leaders quote it and because it’s probably the only context in which you’ve ever seen the word beneficent. But the Wisconsin Idea isn’t important for its vocabulary lesson. Rather, it’s important because of the intention behind it: the purpose of a state university is to serve its entire state, not just those who have the good fortune to attend. To show that principle — and illustrate beneficence around the state — UW–Madison has created a couple of websites, impact.wisc.edu and wisconsinidea.wisc.edu. Here are a few bits of data from those sites.
Danielle Lawry
Key
Source of Students
The state’s most populous counties provide the most UW–Madison students. But some smaller counties contribute a lot of their population. About one of every 20 residents of Ozaukee County is a UW–Madison alum. Six out of every 1,000 are currently students at UW–Madison.
Cheese Heads
The UW’s Master Cheesemaker program lists 40 master cheesemakers in the state, including at four companies in Green County alone.
Health Care
Through programs such as the School of Medicine and Public Health’s Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine, the UW works to increase the number of health professionals in rural communities. More than a sixth of the UW–Madison grads who live in these 11 counties work in health care professions.
4-H Support
Through UW Extension, the university supports 4-H youth clubs in every Wisconsin county. Rock has the most 4-H participants, with more than 1,000. Shawano, with a population of fewer than 42,000, has nearly 600 kids involved in 4-H.
Published in the Winter 2025 issue
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