UW Madison

[NiLaBee]

I was at the welcome days as well. Had a lovely time and really liked the department. I also have a sneaking suspicion that maybe @RydraWong and I walked back to our respective homestays together in the middle of a crazy lightning/thunderstorm. It was pretty epic.

There wasn't much direct discussion about Scott Walker during the visit, but I was also feeling a bit apprehensive after Caroline Levine wrote her open letter to Scott Walker and left the department. That being said, the faculty I met during my visit seemed very committed, and it didn't appear that they were going anywhere. Additionally, the hiring freeze in the department has ended, and I heard from some of the graduate students that the department is now either in the hiring process or looking to hire new faculty members soon. And, finally I would add that, barring any massive scandal, it appears Scott Walker intends to run for his third term as governor in 2018. What that (likely) means for people concerned about higher education is that he'll have to become more centrist in these next couple years and appease those who are suspicious or outright angry at him due to his stance on public education. I've even read that he is (bafflingly or strategically) suggesting a massive increase in public education funding for the upcoming budget. Here's a link to that news source: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/after-earlier-cuts-scott-walker-proposes-spending-boost-for-schools/article_1ded48c2-82ed-5697-8baa-102ec3abe8bb.html

Hope that helps!

[RydraWong]

@NiLaBee Your sneaking suspicion is correct! That was indeed pretty epic, especially considering it's currently a sweltering 75 where I am in California and the frozen lakes of Madison seem a world away. 

I think @NiLaBee covered everything really well, there was one current faculty member (Nirvana Tanhouki) who had recently accepted a position at another university but most of the faculty members we interacted with seemed committed to staying in Madison. Additionally, it seems like the English program has cut down on acceptances/cohort sizes in recent years to ensure that they can fully fund everyone in case of possible budget cuts; they're aiming for a cohort of 8-12 this year where everyone gets funding whereas in previous years, I think their cohorts were a bit bigger.