UW-Madison Science Alliance Updater
5 October 2020
Hi Everyone,
Well, that was a memorable year that went by last week.
At the start of this week, I’d like to share at least two occasions of note.
First, today are marking the happy occasion of the 50th anniversary of PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, which succeeded the National Educational Television system. PBS didn’t invent putting science on TV, but in my memory it sped the transition from having only episodic specials to regular series on science.
PBS includes a consortium of local and state broadcasters, including PBS Wisconsin, which 11 months ago changed its name from Wisconsin Public Television. Happily for all of us, with the coming of digital TV a little more than a decade ago, WPT launched University Place as a broadcast & web-archived series of presentations in all fields of scholarly pursuit, including science. Luckily for me, University Place began recording Wednesday Nite @ The Lab lectures on October 17, 2007, and has continued to ever since.
Second, today is the Monday of National 4-H Week. 4-H is the youth development organization of the USDA’s nationwide Cooperative Extension Service dating from 1914 that encompasses the people, places and programs from the land-grant universities (started in 1862) and the federally-funded state agriculture experiment stations (started in 1887). With the merger in 2018 of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension and UW-Madison, Wisconsin 4-H has returned to being the statewide youth development organization of Wisconsin’s public land-grant university.
More than 30,000 young people across all 72 counties are members of 4-H, and they are supported and coached by nearly 10,000 adult volunteers. To give that some perspective, the 40,000+ 4-H folks in communities across Wisconsin is on a par with the number of students enrolled on the UW-Madison campus. As outreachers, the 4-H organization gives a university system for connecting young people all around Wisconsin to the people, places and programs all across campus.
I hope you’ll continue to consider your colleagues at PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin 4-H, which are both part of UW-Madison, to be potential partners in your science outreach work. We share similar missions and splendid aspirations.
Thanks again!
Tom Zinnen
Note: please visit https://science.wisc.edu/science-alliance/ for the updater archive.
Notable This Week
1. Science Alliance meets weekly by Webex at 10:00 am Mondays, including today, October 5. Email Liz Jesse at ejesse2@wisc.edu or Tom Zinnen at zinnen@biotech.wisc.edu to receive the link. The meeting notes are archived on https://science.wisc.edu/science-alliance/.
The draft agenda for October 5 at 10am includes:
-Welcome
-Updates from colleagues and their science outreach programs
-Wisconsin Science Festival
-UW Science Expeditions in April: suggestions for parallel planning for online, hybrid, and in person
-Other announcements or topics
2. Please add your upcoming online programs or resources with learners of any ages to the list at http://science.wisc.edu/ and be sure to include program events in the calendar at http://today.wisc.edu and tag them with “Science” and any other appropriate tag.
3. Programming Events coming this week and soon:
Badger Talks Live: – October 6 at noon. “HAMILTON: How a Musical About History is Making Musical History” by Sarah Marty of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration and of “Holding History”. https://www.facebook.com/UWConnects/live & https://badgertalks.wisc.edu/events/
“PLATO Frontiers in Life Sciences” public seminar, by Zoom. Wednesdays at 1 pm CT. September 30 through December 9 (except Nov 25).
“Wednesday Nite @ The Lab” public science seminar, by Zoom. Wednesdays at 7 pm CT. Every Wednesday night, 50 times a year.
Virtual Saturday Science Workshop with UW Space Place. Oct 10 at 10:00am. Check at http://www.spaceplace.wisc.edu/#satworkshops
About Every Two Weeks: Maritime Archeology Webinars. Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant. Wisconsin Historical Society. Archive of past talks at https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS16271 Contact Amy Wyatt for dates and times.
The UW Now Livestream. Tuesday October 6, 7pm CDT Speaker: Becky Blank
4. The PLATO Frontiers in Life Sciences Seminar has fired up again this fall for online presentations to a group of 20-25 active retires.
a We’ll be gathering by Zoom. Email Paul Brandl at pbrandl90@gmail.com to join PLATO Frontiers in Life Sciences and then register for the Zooms at https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUvcOmqqDMiEtDdb9mSYczXmivRVETlkeUp
b. If you’re a life sciences researcher or outreacher looking for a venue to hone your skills in sharing your science with an appreciative, affirmative audience, please contact Tom Zinnen at zinnen@biotech.wisc.edu and let’s find a Wednesday at 1 pm that’ll work well for you.
5. Wednesday Nite @ The Lab has returned by Zoom on Wednesdays at 7 pm CT with a second pilot session October 7 by Bruce Johnson on being an urban solar farmer.
a. Register at: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUrce2vrDwtHNBMv0FxIcmw56npNOhu831_
b. If you or one of your colleagues would like to present at WN@TL, please contact Tom Zinnen at zinnen@biotech.wisc.edu
6. Upcoming Events from the UW-Madison Arboretum
Virtual Lecture Series – “Land, Culture, Identity: Roots of Resilience”
Tuesdays in October, from 7:00–8:30 p.m. More at https://arboretum.wisc.edu/learn/adult-education/public-talks/
Free. Advance registration required. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffX5C9FD4UhjYp5k0cl_lHKsR9rOiCMyc55p7CMcdBJPhXEQ/viewform– October 6. Decolonization and Indigenization of Agriculture: The Foundation of Building a Resilient Regenerative System. Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin is the owner-founder of Regeneration Farms LLC, and founder and president of the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance.
– October 13. Preserving the Wisdom of the Land and Traditional Food Systems through Education. Elena Terry is the founder and executive chef of Wild Bearies, and the food and culinary program coordinator for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance.
– October 20. Honor the Guardians, Respect the Land. Pao Vue, PhD, is a wetland biologist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
– October 27. The African American Land Ethic. Lillian “Ebonie” Alexander is the executive director of the Black Family Land Trust.
Arboretum Observation Stations
Saturdays and Sundays, 1–3 p.m., through October 25. This fall Arboretum naturalists will be available outdoors to share knowledge and stories of the land. The station is located behind the Visitor Center in the Native Plant Garden. Participants are required to wear masks and maintain physical distance. Drop-in, no registration needed. Weather dependent, may be cancelled without notice.
Five Powerful Routes to Promote Your Events: The Updater newsletter (750 subscribers), the science.wisc.edu portal, the @sciencewiscedu Twitter feed (3.2K followers), the @UWMadisonScienceOutreach Facebook page, and the today.wisc.edu calendar.
* Add your news, requests and programming announcements to the Updater by emailing them to ejesse2@wisc.edu
* Check out www.science.wisc.edu for more science activities! We’re delighted to help you promote your upcoming science outreach events. Send a note to Liz Jesse at ejesse2@wisc.edu.
* Or post your events to the @sciencewiscedu Twitter feed and to the @UWMadisonScienceOutreach Facebook page.