Founders' Day

WAA's Founders' Days commemorate the first class held at UW-Madison, taught by Professor John Sterling on February 5, 1849.

Founders' Days celebrations are held every year, from January through May, and are sponsored by the local alumni club chapters throughout Wisconsin, across the country, and around the world. Most Founders' Day events feature a dinner or reception, a presentation by a prominent UW-Madison faculty member, and other fun, fundraising, and/or educational components.

Founders' Days celebrations got their official name seventy years ago, although the events marking the founding of the university started several years before that, instigated by Robert Crawford '03, who was then serving in the position of general secretary (now executive director) of WAA.

The Madison 1924 Founders' Day was a doozy. UW archivist Frank Cook says "that rowdy celebration opened with bells and factory whistles all over the city chiming in to congratulate the university on reaching its 75th anniversary." A crowd of 4,000 was expected at the Stock Pavillion, although 6,000 showed up and another 2,000 had to be turned away. All went well, Cook says, until the end of the celebration, when the audience surged forward to receive a piece of a huge white anniversary cake made from three-quarters of a barrel of flour, 150 pounds of sugar, 480 eggs, 40 pounds of butter, and 32 quarts of milk.