The University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science is the largest college of the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. It is located at

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

About the college

The College of Letters and Science enrolls more than half of all students of the university. It provides the foundation courses in science, math, languages, and literature for all undergraduate programs across campus. The college has more than 21,000 students and more than 3,000 faculty and staff. Letters & Science is the focal point of research in fields such as humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The college ranks third among UW–Madison colleges for research grant awards and contributes a significant portion of the grants administered through the Graduate School of UW–Madison. It is also a liberal arts college.

Departments and academic programs

The college is made up of 39 departments and five professional schools that instruct students and carry out research in a wide variety of fields, such as

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, chemistry,

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

journalism and mass communication Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profe ...

linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

, and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

. The five professional schools comprise: * Information School (iSchool) * School of Journalism & Mass Communications * La Follette School of Public Affairs * Mead Witter School of Music * Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work In addition, many centers, programs, and institutes offer courses for academic credit. Within the college, these units are organized under Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences Divisions. Because most freshmen and sophomores take courses in the College of Letters and Science, it is the only college of the UW–Madison that touches every undergraduate student.

Letters & Science Honors Program

The Letters & Science Honors Program serves more than 1,700 students in the college with an enriched undergraduate curriculum. The program also offers professional advising services, grants, scholarships, and awards, and numerous academic, social, and service opportunities through the Honors Student Organization. The Honors Program also supports several student organizations, such as the University of Wisconsin–Madison Forensics Team. The Honors Program was begun in response to a petition by a group of students in 1958 seeking more challenging work for outstanding students.

Notable alumni and faculty

Many distinguished people have studied at the College of Letters and Science. Nobel prize-winning physicist

John Hasbrouck Van Vleck John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (March 13, 1899 – October 27, 1980) was an American physicist and mathematician. He was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977, for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of electronic magnetism ...

completed his

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from the college in 1920. Winners of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

, the Pulitzer Prize, and fellows of the National Academy of Sciences have been associated with the college.

References

External links

College of Letters & Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:University Of Wisconsin-Madison College Of Letters And Science University of Wisconsin–Madison Liberal arts colleges at universities in the United States *