When people think of "college," what often comes to mind is students sitting in classrooms listening to lectures by learned professors. While this is indeed a major part of the college scene, a great university system is far more than this, and its contributions to society, often taken for granted, range far beyond the classroom.
Amidst recent publicized incidents of student misconduct, skepticism in some quarters of the science behind evolution and climate change, and budget cuts such as the proposed $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin system, let's review some history and facts on what a treasure we have in Wisconsin's world-class university system.
A college education was once the exclusive domain of a very few people. In America, this changed with a bill introduced by Vermont Congressman Justin Morill, passed by Congress, and signed by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862. This far-sighted legislation provided land in each state to be sold, and the proceeds used to fund public colleges that would educate people in agriculture and the mechanic arts. Morill wanted to assure that education would be available to all social classes.
Morill's Land Grant Act permanently changed the course of higher education, assuring government support for public universities, making college available to more people, and preparing them to contribute to a rapidly changing and growing nation. Now taken for granted, this was considered a novel idea at the time.
The concept that a university system should serve the broader society was augmented by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 that established a system of cooperative extension services connected to land grant universities, to serve people regarding agriculture, home economics, public policy/government, leadership, 4-H, economic development, and related subjects. The funding for these programs would be jointly shared by federal, state, and local (mainly county) sources. Personnel would be located in every county, providing a direct link to its respective Land Grant University.
While the Smith-Lever Act formalized the connection of Land Grant Universities with the general population, in Wisconsin, the notion that resources of the university be oriented toward solution of real-world problems pre-dated that act. What has become known as "The Wisconsin Idea," incorporated in Wisconsin statutes, was first enunciated by UW President Charles R. Van Hise in 1904. Van Hise declared that he would "never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family in the state."
During Wisconsin's Progressive Era, proponents of the Wisconsin Idea saw the state as "the laboratory for Democracy." This philosophy resulted in effort "to ensure well-constructed legislation aimed at benefiting the greatest number of people." This Progressive-era policy applied the expertise of the university to social legislation relating to regulation of utilities, workers' compensation, and tax policy, all leading to a maxim expressed as "the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state."
The influence of Wisconsin's UW system extends far beyond the state's borders, to all corners of the earth. Students from all over the world come to Wisconsin for its excellent undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. Its many scientific contributions include original research on vitamin D, culminating in the enrichment of milk, and formulation of the blood anticoagulant, "warfarin," named after the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). Warfarin is now one of the world's most widely prescribed medicines.
More recently, WARF was assigned patents for non-human primate and human embryonic stem cells, first isolated by James Thomson in 1998.
UW's societal contributions extend beyond the "hard sciences." During the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt formed the "Committee on Social Security," charged with producing a "complete system of social insurance." The committee included four cabinet secretaries, and was headed by an executive director, Professor Edwin Witte of UW-Madison's Economics Department. His primary assistant was one of his recent economics graduates, Wilbur Cohen, who would play a prominent role in Social Security for another 50 years.
FDR's original charge of that committee was to include workers' compensation, health insurance, and much more. Although this was too much to achieve in the six-month deadline given to the committee, their pioneering work established the Social Security program that serves the nation so well to this day.
As Wisconsin's world-class university system has served the broader society, the state, the nation and beyond so well, it serves our local citizens in many ways, including through its Cooperative Extension System, with its 72 county extension Offices.
Our Green County UW Cooperative Extension office includes the following personnel:
• Mark Mayer, Agriculture and Natural Resources, with the objective of supporting the county's agricultural and horticulture industries while encouraging practices protecting land and water resources.
• Bridget Mouchon-Humphrey, Family Living, with the objective of education focused on family financial security, parenting, and childcare.
• Lisa Messer, Nutrition, with the objective of education on healthy eating, economical food choices, and life styles.
• Victoria Solomon, Community Resource Development, with the objective of building local and regional capacities for economic development and natural resource protection.
• Ellen Andrews, 4-H youth development, with the objective of creating opportunities for youth to become active and engaged citizens.
County Extension staff are faculty members of UW, employed jointly by the university and the county. They serve under supervision of the County Agriculture and Extension Committee, ensuring that their programs are geared to our most pressing local issues and needs. UW Extension staff members have access to university professors and specialists with expertise that can be called upon to assist local programs and citizens.
During 2014, our Green County Extension staff collaborated with more than 100 groups and organizations on issues ranging from production agriculture, safety, land and water conservation, families, youth, community planning, and much more.
The University of Wisconsin is world renowned - a state treasure to which every citizen has access through its Cooperative Extension System. We can be immensely proud of it and it deserves our support.
- John Waelti's column appears in the Times every Friday. A 1962 graduate of UW-Madison, he can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
Amidst recent publicized incidents of student misconduct, skepticism in some quarters of the science behind evolution and climate change, and budget cuts such as the proposed $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin system, let's review some history and facts on what a treasure we have in Wisconsin's world-class university system.
A college education was once the exclusive domain of a very few people. In America, this changed with a bill introduced by Vermont Congressman Justin Morill, passed by Congress, and signed by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862. This far-sighted legislation provided land in each state to be sold, and the proceeds used to fund public colleges that would educate people in agriculture and the mechanic arts. Morill wanted to assure that education would be available to all social classes.
Morill's Land Grant Act permanently changed the course of higher education, assuring government support for public universities, making college available to more people, and preparing them to contribute to a rapidly changing and growing nation. Now taken for granted, this was considered a novel idea at the time.
The concept that a university system should serve the broader society was augmented by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 that established a system of cooperative extension services connected to land grant universities, to serve people regarding agriculture, home economics, public policy/government, leadership, 4-H, economic development, and related subjects. The funding for these programs would be jointly shared by federal, state, and local (mainly county) sources. Personnel would be located in every county, providing a direct link to its respective Land Grant University.
While the Smith-Lever Act formalized the connection of Land Grant Universities with the general population, in Wisconsin, the notion that resources of the university be oriented toward solution of real-world problems pre-dated that act. What has become known as "The Wisconsin Idea," incorporated in Wisconsin statutes, was first enunciated by UW President Charles R. Van Hise in 1904. Van Hise declared that he would "never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family in the state."
During Wisconsin's Progressive Era, proponents of the Wisconsin Idea saw the state as "the laboratory for Democracy." This philosophy resulted in effort "to ensure well-constructed legislation aimed at benefiting the greatest number of people." This Progressive-era policy applied the expertise of the university to social legislation relating to regulation of utilities, workers' compensation, and tax policy, all leading to a maxim expressed as "the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state."
The influence of Wisconsin's UW system extends far beyond the state's borders, to all corners of the earth. Students from all over the world come to Wisconsin for its excellent undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. Its many scientific contributions include original research on vitamin D, culminating in the enrichment of milk, and formulation of the blood anticoagulant, "warfarin," named after the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). Warfarin is now one of the world's most widely prescribed medicines.
More recently, WARF was assigned patents for non-human primate and human embryonic stem cells, first isolated by James Thomson in 1998.
UW's societal contributions extend beyond the "hard sciences." During the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt formed the "Committee on Social Security," charged with producing a "complete system of social insurance." The committee included four cabinet secretaries, and was headed by an executive director, Professor Edwin Witte of UW-Madison's Economics Department. His primary assistant was one of his recent economics graduates, Wilbur Cohen, who would play a prominent role in Social Security for another 50 years.
FDR's original charge of that committee was to include workers' compensation, health insurance, and much more. Although this was too much to achieve in the six-month deadline given to the committee, their pioneering work established the Social Security program that serves the nation so well to this day.
As Wisconsin's world-class university system has served the broader society, the state, the nation and beyond so well, it serves our local citizens in many ways, including through its Cooperative Extension System, with its 72 county extension Offices.
Our Green County UW Cooperative Extension office includes the following personnel:
• Mark Mayer, Agriculture and Natural Resources, with the objective of supporting the county's agricultural and horticulture industries while encouraging practices protecting land and water resources.
• Bridget Mouchon-Humphrey, Family Living, with the objective of education focused on family financial security, parenting, and childcare.
• Lisa Messer, Nutrition, with the objective of education on healthy eating, economical food choices, and life styles.
• Victoria Solomon, Community Resource Development, with the objective of building local and regional capacities for economic development and natural resource protection.
• Ellen Andrews, 4-H youth development, with the objective of creating opportunities for youth to become active and engaged citizens.
County Extension staff are faculty members of UW, employed jointly by the university and the county. They serve under supervision of the County Agriculture and Extension Committee, ensuring that their programs are geared to our most pressing local issues and needs. UW Extension staff members have access to university professors and specialists with expertise that can be called upon to assist local programs and citizens.
During 2014, our Green County Extension staff collaborated with more than 100 groups and organizations on issues ranging from production agriculture, safety, land and water conservation, families, youth, community planning, and much more.
The University of Wisconsin is world renowned - a state treasure to which every citizen has access through its Cooperative Extension System. We can be immensely proud of it and it deserves our support.
- John Waelti's column appears in the Times every Friday. A 1962 graduate of UW-Madison, he can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
