Dear friends:
For many who’ve studied or worked at UW–Madison, the term “sifting and winnowing” is a familiar charge to describe our imperative toward inquiry and seeking the truth. It’s at the core of our scholarship — and research — at the School of Education.
Research is ubiquitous across disciplines and fields at our unique School of Education that houses departments across the arts, health, and education.
Research comes in many forms. It’s the work of artists — painters, sculptors, choreographers — who through artistic production are innovating upon previous forms and inquiring into what happens when something new comes into existence and interfaces with human experience. It’s the work of sociologists and historians who are investigating what was and what still can be in society. It’s the charge of education researchers who are measuring the impact of curricula and interventions in classrooms to make more equitable and effective learning possible. It’s the focus of scientists doing basic research on how the human body and muscles work, and how such knowledge can advance medicine and quality of life.
All of these are examples of research within the School, and they reflect our dedication to expanding knowledge and sharing it with the world.
This fall, as we transitioned back to in-person instruction, I was struck by how little the pandemic seemed to slow down our researchers and scholars across the School. By the end of the fiscal year, we discovered our external research dollars continued to increase, which is not only a testament to the excellence of our faculty, staff, and students, but also is important to our future success in attracting talented faculty and high-quality students. Across the School — including at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), which is one of the largest and most productive education research centers in the world — our research and scholarship is thriving.
As you’ll read about in this issue of Learning Connections, our School of Education continues to push boundaries. I can’t wait to learn what we’ll discover next.
— Diana Hess