In the summer of 2011, UW-Madison alumni from coast to coast helped us commemorate our 150th anniversary with the help of dedicated chapter volunteers across the country.
June 23, 2011: WAA celebrates its birthday with a party at the future home of Alumni Park
Mad Grad Medley: WAA's 150th-anniversary ice cream — created for Badgers, by Badgers
Once we partnered with the Babcock Hall Dairy to create a special anniversary ice cream, we put out a call to Badgers everywhere to help us design this tasty 150th treat.
After selecting the name from a list of submissions, we asked for flavor ideas, and the response was tremendous. From more than 500 submissions, we selected the five best and put them to an alumni vote. After nearly 3,000 votes were tallied, we had our recipe: Door County cherry-infused vanilla ice cream whipped with chocolate chips and topped with chocolate flakes. The Wisconsin treat featured milk and cream processed by the Babcock Hall Dairy, cherries from Seaquist Orchards (Door County, Wisconsin) and dark chocolate from Masterson Company (Milwaukee). (Meet Robert Bell '64 JD'67, the winner of our Create a Flavor contest.)
This Wisconsin treat features milk and cream processed by the Babcock Hall Dairy, cherries from Seaquist Orchards (Door County, Wisconsin) and dark chocolate from Masterson Company (Milwaukee).
WAA Celebrates 150 Years with Gift to Campus
As it celebrates its 150th anniversary, the Wisconsin Alumni Association is giving a gift to change the way alumni, faculty, students and visitors navigate the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
WAA is presenting UW-Madison with new street signs to mark key intersections near academic buildings, laboratories and libraries on campus. The new signs will be white with black lettering and borders and feature the university crest, replacing the traditional green signs now in place.
"The new street signs throughout the UW-Madison campus symbolize our commitment to this great place," said WAA's president and CEO Paula Bonner MS'78. "The distinctive signs not only showcase the campus as a place to learn and discover, but as the place that alumni and students will forever call home."
Installation of the signs began in late June, with the gift unveiled at WAA's 150th birthday party on Alumni Pier on June 23. The first sign, at the intersection of Babcock Drive and Linden Drive, is in part to honor Babcock Dairy Store for its role in creating Mad Grad Medley, WAA's 150th anniversary commemorative ice cream flavor.
WAA continues to work with the city of Madison toward installing signs in campus areas south of University Avenue and east of Park Street.
The Wisconsin Alumni Association is celebrating a century-and-a-half of service to strengthen the connections alumni have with UW-Madison and with one another.
"We hope our birthday gift to the university not only highlights alumni appreciation of this beautiful campus, but also reminds everyone of what it means to be a Badger," Bonner said.
A Birthday Poem
by Carol J. Collins '92
It is true that nostalgia seems to run amok
whenever we reminisce about our bountiful luck
when we received our UW acceptance
with absolutely no thought of reluctance.
We gratefully began the journey to partake
of a lifelong learning that we will never forsake.
Through our alumn-to-alum collaborations,
and in honor of and respect for WAA's dedications,
we hope that like a flag unfurled
we tog4ether can strive for a better world.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WAA!
