Quick Takes: Spring 2015

Katie Couric will be the 2015 spring commencement speaker. The former Today show host and former anchor of the CBS Evening News and New York Times best-selling author good-naturedly donned a cheesehead and Bucky T-shirt for a special video to announce her upcoming UW gig. You can view the video on YouTube.

A campus food pantry was approved by the Associated Students of Madison as part of its 2016 budget. The volunteer-based resource will serve students who struggle to afford food.

The website ratemyprofessors.com ranked UW–Madison first in a 2013–14 survey based on student ratings of professors. Criteria included the instructors’ clarity and helpfulness.

Campus bid farewell to its oldest tree when the 300-year-old President’s Oak — so named for its location near the former UW president’s house (now the La Follette School of Public Affairs) — was felled in January. The hollow burr oak was deemed a hazard.

The UW-Madison Oral History Program (OHP) is searching for past interviewees to collect missing release forms. If you have been the subject of an OHP interview or know someone who has, please contact Troy Reeves at troy.reeves@wisc.edu.

The university will launch a new master’s degree in energy conservation this fall — the Resource and Energy Demand Analysis program — that will become the first in the world to train students to evaluate energy efficiency and other conservation initiatives.

Photos (top to bottom): CBS, Bryce Richter, Jeff Miller, UW School of Music.

The School of Music’s new music performance center will be named in honor of Pamela and George ’80 Hamel, who provided the $15 million lead gift to construct the new facility.

Published in the Spring 2015 issue