University of Wisconsin-Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison (also known as University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, "UW", or regionally as, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, UW–Madison is the official state university of Wisconsin, and the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It was the first public university established in Wisconsin and remains the oldest and largest public university in the state. It became a land-grant institution in 1866. The 933-acre (378 ha) main campus includes four National Historic Landmarks.

UW–Madison is organized into 20 schools and colleges, which enrolled 29,302 undergraduate, 9,445 graduate, and 2,459 professional students and granted 6,659 bachelor's, 3,493 graduate and professional degrees in 2013-2014. The University employs over 21,796 faculty and staff. Its comprehensive academic program offers 136 undergraduate majors, along with 148 master's degree programs and 120 doctoral programs.

The UW is one of America's Public Ivy universities, which refers to top public universities in the United States capable of providing a collegiate experience comparable with the Ivy League. UW–Madison is also categorized as an RU/VH Research University (very high research activity) in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. In 2012, it had research expenditures of more than $1.1 billion, the third highest among universities in the country. Wisconsin is a founding member of the Association of American Universities.

Research

UW–Madison was a founding member of the Association of American Universities. In 2009, the school received $952 million in research funding, placing it third in the country. Its research programs were also fourth in the number of patents issued in 2010. The University's research programs were ranked fourth in federally funded research and second in nonfederally funded research among U.S. public universities in 2009.

The University of Wisconsin is a participant in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the academic consortium of the universities in the Big Ten Conference and the University of Chicago. The initiative is a research partnership that involves faculty and staff networking, cooperative purchasing, course sharing, professional development programs, study abroad, diversity initiatives for students and faculty, and sharing of library resources and information technology.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is one of 33 sea grant colleges in the United States. These colleges are involved in scientific research, education, training, and extension projects geared toward the conservation and practical use of U.S. coasts, the Great Lakes and other marine areas.

The University maintains almost 100 research centers and programs, ranging from agriculture to arts, from education to engineering. It has been considered a major academic center for embryonic stem cell research ever since UW–Madison professor James Thomson became the first scientist to isolate human embryonic stem cells. This has brought significant attention and respect for the University's research programs from around the world. The University continues to be a leader in stem cell research, helped in part by the funding of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and promotion of WiCell.