Know Your WUD Leader: Deshawn McKinney
Deshawn McKinney, the president of the Wisconsin Union, offers this advice to students: Take advantage of each and every opportunity, whether that is studying abroad or joining a student organization. McKinney, a University of Wisconsin-Madison senior, is doing just that. He is an activist, an artist, a scholar studying creative writing and African American studies, and so much more. He was also recently awarded both the Truman and...
Behind the Scenes at the Union: Joe the Painter
Joe Padgham, known as “Joe the painter” around the Union, sits down to admire the 90-year-old ceiling of the Founder’s Room in Memorial Union. He’s dressed in white painter’s pants and a white button-down shirt, speckled with paint and plaster. Joe is a defender of history, a champion of the cracked, faded and crumbling, and a historical conservationist in his own right. He appreciates detail. Joe is a painter by trade, but he is also...
Introducing WUD Cuisine
Fresh out of the oven is a brand new Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Committee: WUD Cuisine. The student-run committee is centered around food and dedicated to exploring Wisconsin’s food system through education about food sustainability, practicality and justice. Sound appetizing? Read on to meet WUD Cuisine Director Federica Ranelli (‘17), and learn more about the events and outreach planned for the upcoming year. What is...
Terrace Paver Commemorates a Lifetime Union
On November 1, 2004, 29 family members gathered at the doors of the Paul Bunyan Room in the Memorial Union. They were celebrating the 60th anniversary of a meeting that would truly leave a legacy. John and Helen were both first-year students at UW-Madison when their paths crossed on a Wednesday night in 1944. Helen was volunteering as a hostess at a canteen in the Paul Bunyan Room. While greeting people at the door, Helen caught the...
Welcome the New WUD Officers and Directors
We are pleased to announce that the Union Council has chosen the new Wisconsin Union Officers and Wisconsin Union Directorate committee directors. These student leaders will serve during the 2016-17 academic year. We are very excited to have them on board and look forward to working with them to accomplish their goals for the Wisconsin Union. Wisconsin Union Officers: Deshawn McKinney: Wisconsin Union President Deshawn is a junior...
Wisconsin Union Student Showcase: Distinguished Lecture Series
At the Wisconsin Union, there are so many ways for students to excel in leadership positions. One opportunity is the Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS), a Wisconsin Union Directorate committee. The committee’s 25 student members devise the annual speaker schedule for the Distinguished Lecture Series and plan the Wisconsin Festival of Ideas, an annual event that showcases professor and student research. We caught up with a few of this...