Dear Friends,
Please join me in celebrating the extraordinary people of the University of Wisconsin-Madison English department. This past year English students, staff, and faculty alike showed their brilliance, their creativity, their generosity, and—dare I say—their grit again and again. They rose to challenges, from the rigors of an honors thesis in creative writing to the daunting task of gaining college-level proficiency in a second (or third, or fourth) academic language; they published books, papers, stories, poems, and literary journals; they designed new classes to reach more students while maintaining high standards for excellent teaching. 
Over the course of the year, English department people brought in numerous accolades—Rhodes’ and Marshall’s nominations, major grants and fellowships, publication prizes, and more. Along the way, we continued to grow the English major. English added more students to our thriving program this past year than we have in any of the previous five years of growth. That growth is the result of exceptional teaching, dedicated community building, and a surging recognition that ways with words matter more than ever in our polarized, AI-equipped, ecologically fragile, connection-driven world.
In the coming year, we will again face challenges, some familiar and some new. And we will meet them. The attacks on higher education in the last six months bring daunting budget scenarios and concern over students’ and teachers’ right to engage in free thinking and spirited discussion. We hope you will join us in rising to the occasion: engaging critically, creatively, and fearlessly in learning and teaching, writing and speaking; offering support and encouragement to students, teachers, and peers; and finding opportunities to celebrate the accomplishments of UW English Badgers—including you!
If you have the wherewithal to provide financial support to the English department, please do so here. If you have the opportunity to speak with elected officials, journalists, or neighbors, please share the value of your UW-Madison degree. Those gifts will help the English department and all its people continue to thrive, whatever the climate.
We are grateful to have you as part of our community.
Sincerely,
Christa J. Olson
Department Chair and Tiefenthaler Professor of English