Each semester the University Roundtable features 3 lunch programs with a talk or program by a member of the university community. Roundtable programs are open to members of the university community and their guests.
- Roundtable events are held in Varsity Hall in Union South
- Roundtables begin at 11:30 a.m. and end by 1:00 p.m.
- The registration cost for each event is $15 and includes lunch
- Registration and payment must be received in advance; there will be no day-of registration
- Registration deadline is 15 days prior to each event
- Register online at: https://www.talent.wisc.edu/catalog/ or via the direct links below
- If you are experiencing difficulty registering, please call LTD (Learning and Talent Development, formerly OHRD) at 608-262-7107 or e-mail registrations2@ohr.wisc.edu
- Payment must be received by the registration deadline, or your registration will be cancelled
- We are not able to offer refunds after the registration deadline has passed; if you are no longer able to attend, you may let someone else attend in your place
- If you would like to pay by credit card or pay for multiple individuals once they are registered, please call 608-262-7107
- Checks should be made payable to UW Roundtable and can be sent to: Learning and Talent Development, UW-Madison, Suite 5101, 21 N. Park St., Madison, WI 53715
Fall 2024 Programming
October 16
Why U.S. Presidential Rhetoric Still Matters
Allison M. Prasch
In an era of deep partisanship and an increasingly fractured media environment, many have grown skeptical of the merits of presidential rhetoric. Why, some might ask, should we give credence to political officials who use their language to divide us, rather than unite us? And is it possible to demand something more? Allison M. Prasch, Associate Professor of Communication Arts, will explore these questions and argue that analyzing a president’s words can help us understand who we are and who we want to be. This presentation will draw on historical and contemporary examples to demonstrate the possibilities and perils of U.S. presidential discourse and to develop practical tools we can use to assess the rhetoric of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
November 6
Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net
Jessica Calarco
America runs on women—women who are tasked with holding society together at the seams and fixing it when things fall apart. Tracing present-day policies back to their roots, and drawing on five years of research involving more than 400 hours of interviews and surveys with over 4000 families across the US, Jessica Calarco, Professor of Sociology, reveals a systematic agreement to dismantle our country’s social safety net and persuade citizens to accept precarity while women bear the brunt. She leads us to see women’s labor as the reason we’ve gone so long without the support systems that our peer nations take for granted, and how women’s work maintains the illusion that we don’t need a net.
December 18
UW-Madison at the Forefront of the H5N1 Epidemic in Dairy Cattle: How Can We Simultaneously Protect Human and
Animal Health and Maintain Continuity for the Dairy Industry in the United States?
Keith Poulsen
The circulating strain of H5N1 influenza A has been circulating in migratory birds for years and is the worst foreign animal disease in US history, wiping out over 100 million birds since 2022. Since early 2024, H5N1 has been spreading throughout the US dairy herd, and human and animal health experts are racing to contain and eliminate the virus from our nation’s dairy cattle. Keith Poulsen, Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, will discuss how this is happening, and what can we do about it.
Have ideas or questions?
If you have ideas for speakers for University Roundtable or questions about the program, please contact Lesley Fisher at roundtable@soas.wisc.edu or 263-1011.