With not quite my first year as dean complete and as a new resident of Wisconsin, I appreciate opportunities to learn about the university and the state. The Wisconsin Idea is the principle that the university should improve people’s lives beyond the classroom. It spans UW–Madison’s teaching, research, outreach and public service.

The bustle of a semester end, a new pinning ceremony for our DPH-3 students, and the pomp and circumstance of graduation festivities all echo that principle. Whether our third year students transitioning to their experiential education rotations, the words of George Zorich, successful alumnus and Hooding ceremony keynote speaker, illustrating you can do anything with a pharmacy degree and emphasizing the importance of giving back, or our brand new alumni, they all serve as ambassadors of this great School. They are an extension of our teaching, research, outreach and public service and the Wisconsin Idea at its best.

I, too, was able to learn firsthand about the Wisconsin Idea as a participant in the 2015 Wisconsin Idea Seminar. The five-day traveling study tour in late May immersed forty UW–Madison faculty, academic staff, and administrators in the educational, industrial, social, and political realities of Wisconsin.

It was a non-stop, whirlwind that exemplified the broadness of UW-Madison’s impact. From showcasing Aldo Leopold and the Wisconsin Idea, dairy research and viewing a state-of-the art operation, learning about Native Americans in Wisconsin and a tour of the Red Cliff Reservation, conversation with the Mayor of Bayfield on sustainability and the tourism economy, juvenile corrections, vegetable processing, and how promoting early literacy changes lives, by the end of each day I was equally exhausted and exhilarated to begin it all over again the next morning. The tour also afforded participants some fun with a performance at the StageNorth Theatre in Washburn and a dinner at the Old German Beer Hall in Milwaukee.

As I learned about the world renowned individuals and locations from UW-Madison experts and met citizens from all corners of the state it reinforced the big impact and big ideas that this great institution has generated. The School of Pharmacy has contributed for more than 130 years to the Wisconsin Idea and the tour re-invigorated my efforts to lead this great School and continue our impact to the border of the state and beyond.

Idea on and On, Wisconsin!

Steve