Best University of Wisconsin Foundation Podcasts (2025)

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Political Disclosure in the Classroom | Harry Brighouse and Tony Laden (Higher Ed) 22:42

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3M ago22:42

22:42

Should professors share their political views with their students? What happens to students when they do? Today's show is about how decisions around disclosure affect teaching, learning, and trust. Featuring Harry Brighouse and Tony Laden with Daisy Jagoditsh, Max Patterson, and Avra Reddy. Produced by Jennifer McCord and Carrie Welsh. Written by J…

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Building Trust in Higher Education | Tony Laden (Higher Ed) 34:10

9M ago34:10

34:10

In this special collaborative episode with the L&S Exchange Podcast, we explore how college changes what we trust and what higher ed can do to become more trustworthy. With special guest philosopher Tony Laden, author of Networks of Trust: The Social Costs of Higher Education and What We Can Do About Them (2024). Aftershow featuring the L&S Instruc…

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Why Mentoring Matters | Harry Brighouse and Diamond Lannaman (Higher Ed) 26:32

1+ y ago26:32

26:32

College students need good mentorship. Here's why those mentors should be university teachers. With Harry Brighouse and Diamond Lannaman. Based on a paper by Harry Brighouse, "The Mentoring Responsibilities of University Teachers" (unpublished), 2023. Produced by Carrie Welsh and Jennifer McCord. Special thanks to Diamond Lannaman.…

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Touchy Subject: Thinking Better About Sex Education | Lisa Andersen and Lauren Bialystok (Book Talk) 31:12

2y ago31:12

31:12

Why all the whispering? What should kids know about sex? And how can we think better about sex ed – so we can do better – by kids, by ourselves, and by each other? With Lisa Andersen and Lauren Bialystok. Touchy Subject: The History and Philosophy of Sex Education Produced by Carrie Welsh, Anna Nelson, Teresa Nelson, and Jennifer McCord. Ethics & E…

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Introduction 2:54

2y ago2:54

2:54

Thank you for listening to Spirit & Stone, an audio tour of the historical and geographical heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This tour highlights some of this historic campus's rich religious and spiritual heritage. Whether you are a prospective student or a longtime resident of Madison, the following stops will introduce you to some o…

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Alumni Park 3:48

2y ago3:48

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Alumni Park, finished in 2018, sits on the historic site of UW’s YMCA building. Founded in 1881, the YMCA became the center of student social life for decades. It foreshadowed the Memorial Union, which would open in 1928, as a gathering place for students, a hosting site for extracurricular activities, and the social hub of campus. The YMCA itself …

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Helen C. White Building 2:25

2y ago2:25

2:25

The large building in your view was opened in 1971 and carries the name of Helen C. White. It houses a popular student study spot, College Library, and a handful of academic departments, including the English Department. Helen White taught English at UW for forty-eight years, from 1919 to her death in 1967. As mentioned in a previous stop, she was …

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Science Hall 1:43

2y ago1:43

1:43

UW has been a leader in scientific research and teaching for more than a century. The rustic red brick walls of Science Hall are an imposing testament to this legacy. The building was erected in 1887, and has hosted more than a dozen science departments, from agriculture to zoology. As the university grew, Science Hall came to be known for its chie…

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Education Building 1:52

2y ago1:52

1:52

The Education Building, built in 1900 and renovated in 2011, houses UW’s School of Education, routinely ranked as one of the top programs of its type in the country. The School of Education was founded in 1930 and was seen by the university as a direct outgrowth of the Wisconsin Idea, a term first coined in the early twentieth century by UW Preside…

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Muir Woods and North Hall 2:19

2y ago2:19

2:19

Across Observatory Drive there is a small nature preserve named Muir Woods. It stretches down the hill to the shore of Lake Mendota. Muir Woods is named after John Muir, sometimes called the “Father of the National Parks” for his career as a preservationist and co-founder of the Sierra Club. Muir was born in Scotland in 1838 and when 11 years old i…

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Birge Hall 2:05

2y ago2:05

2:05

Birge Hall, home of UW’s Department of Botany, was erected in 1910. It took its current name in 1950 in honor of Edward Birge, a prominent zoologist, educator, and two-time president of UW-Madison. Birge was one of the country’s first great experts on lakes. He contributed to Lake Mendota being nicknamed “the most studied lake in the world.” Birge,…

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South Hall and the John 8:32 Plaque 1:57

2y ago1:57

1:57

South Hall, built in 1855, is the second oldest building on campus. It was the original women’s dorm before what is now Chadbourne Hall was built, and it is now home to the administration of the College of Letters and Science. Like all early buildings at the university, South Hall at one time possessed a chapel that was an active part of student li…

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Music Hall 1:54

2y ago1:54

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Looks like a church, doesn’t it? It was built in 1878 and first named Assembly Hall because administrators were eager to have a space to accommodate the entire student body in one place. Today, many high schools wouldn’t be able to fit into its original 800-seat auditorium, but back then UW’s student body hovered around 500. UW’s student population…

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Park Street Bridge 1:46

2y ago1:46

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Stand in the middle of the bridge, facing away from the lake, and look to your right to Chadbourne Hall. Back in 1871, this building was the Female College and women’s dorm. The Female College had been created a few years earlier to separate men and women students, who had been enrolling together since 1863. The UW president who insisted on the sep…

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The Humanities Building 2:18

2y ago2:18

2:18

You’re now standing in the middle of the Humanities Building. Contrary to popular myth, the building was not designed to protect against antiwar student riots. The architectural style is aptly called “Concrete Brutalism.” It looks more like a Soviet-era bunker than a place where history is taught and music recitals are held. The building was part o…

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The University Club 2:43

2y ago2:43

2:43

As you look south to the brick building of the University Club, you’ll see one of the oldest existing social spaces on campus. The building was finished in 1907 and, on the order of university president Charles Van Hise, the club was founded to promote faculty community. It has always had a dining area on the first floor, but originally the more th…

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Calvary Lutheran Chapel, St. Paul’s Catholic Center, and Pres House 3:30

2y ago3:30

3:30

Colleges like Harvard and Yale were founded to train clergy. They grew to become research universities, but they maintained their schools of divinity as part of their original commitments. When UW and other public universities were founded much later, the question of religious instruction was front and center. Would the new state-funded schools hav…

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Library Mall 2:20

2y ago2:20

2:20

On one end of your vision should be the Capitol, the center of state government. On the other end, up the hill, is Bascom Hall, the center of UW’s administration. Although these two buildings are one mile apart, state government and UW have always been closely related. For thousands of years, the Ho-Chunk Nation inhabited the land on which you are …

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Bascom Hall 2:38

2y ago2:38

2:38

You have probably heard of the idea of “academic freedom.” At UW, it has meant that anything that matters to the citizens of the state is worthy of study. Read the plaque to the left of the front door out loud. The plaque symbolizes the seriousness with which the university takes its commitment to the “continual and fearless sifting and winnowing b…

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Can College Level the Playing Field? | Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson (Book Talk) 26:06

2+ y ago26:06

26:06

Harry Brighouse and Hannah Bounds interview Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson about their book, Can College Level the Playing Field?: Higher Education in an Unequal Society (2022). Links: Book: Can College Level the Playing Field?: Higher Education in an Unequal Society Episodes mentioned: The Plumber Episode, The Right to Higher Education, and The …

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Faculty and Social Media | Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, TJ Stewart, Harry Brighouse, and Jacob Fay | (Ethics in Higher Education Book Series) 36:35

3+ y ago36:35

36:35

This is the third episode in a miniseries co-produced by Rebecca M. Taylor and Ashley Floyd Kuntz. Rebecca and Ashley are the editors of Ethics in Higher Education: Promoting Equity and Inclusion Through Case-Based Inquiry. This episode is about faculty using social media, hosted by Jacob Fay (Open Mind) and featuring the voices of Chanda Prescod-W…

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HBCUs Present and Future | John Torrey, Joyce E. King, Felecia Commodore, and Corey Reed | (Ethics in Higher Education Book Series) 48:17

3+ y ago48:17

48:17

This is the second episode in a miniseries co-produced by Rebecca M. Taylor and Ashley Floyd Kuntz. Rebecca and Ashley are the editors of Ethics in Higher Education: Promoting Equity and Inclusion Through Case-Based Inquiry. This episode is about the ethical dilemmas that HBCUs face, featuring the voices of host John Torrey (Buffalo State) and gues…

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"Divisive Concepts" | Sigal Ben-Porath and Laura Dinehart (Ethics in Higher Ed Book Series) 37:25

3+ y ago37:25

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This is the first episode in a miniseries co-produced by Rebecca M. Taylor and Ashley Floyd Kuntz. Rebecca and Ashley are the editors of Ethics in Higher Education: Promoting Equity and Inclusion Through Case-Based Inquiry. This episode is about "divisive concepts" and features Sigal Ben-Porath (University of Pennsylvania) and Laura Dinehart (Flori…

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Trailer--Ethics in Higher Ed: Case-Based Conversations (Ethics in Higher Education Book Series) 2:10

3+ y ago2:10

2:10

Introducing a miniseries about ethical issues in higher ed. Co-produced by Rebecca M. Taylor (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Ashley Floyd Kuntz (Florida International University), this series is based on their new book, Ethics in Higher Education: Promoting Equity and Inclusion Through Case-Based Inquiry. In this series, we cover "…

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The Ethics of College in Prison (Controversial Issues in Education) 45:12

3+ y ago45:12

45:12

Where is the contrast between the aims of American prisons and the aims of college in prison programs? This piece is about those ethical dilemmas. Featuring the voices of: philosophers John Fantuzzo, Jennifer Lackey, and Daniel Wodak; and brothers Freedom and Lee Horton. Links: PBS segment about Lee and Freedom: Brotherhood & Clemency Part 1: The P…

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The Plumber Episode | Harry Brighouse and Grace Gecewicz (Teaching Better) 42:11

3+ y ago42:11

42:11

Imagine you call a plumber. This episode is about becoming a better college teacher (if you're lucky), featuring UW-Madison philosophy professor Harry Brighouse and Oakland middle school teacher Grace Gecewicz. Links: The plumber essay ("Becoming a Better College Teacher (If You're Lucky)" by Harry Brighouse, Fall 2019, Daedalus) Produced by Carrie…

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The True Costs of College | Nancy Kendall, Matthew Wolfgram, and Natnael Shiferaw (Higher Ed) 42:08

3+ y ago42:08

42:08

The true costs of college go way beyond simple frugality. The costs are serious, and they are often overlooked by universities. Hosted by UW-Madison grad Natnael Shiferaw, this episode features a conversation with ethnographers Nancy Kendall and Matthew Wolfgram, two of the authors of the 2020 book, "The True Costs of College." This is part of our …

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The Ethics of College Admissions | Joe Boeckenstedt and Harry Brighouse (Higher Ed) 52:05

3+ y ago52:05

52:05

Jon Boeckenstedt is the Vice Provost of Enrollment Management at Oregon State University. He has thoughts about how we do--and should do--admissions. Here he is in conversation with philosopher of education Harry Brighouse. What is "enrollment management"? Is the admissions office more like Space Mountain or Studio 54? What information does an admi…

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The Right to Higher Education | Christopher Martin and Harry Brighouse (Higher Ed) 45:25

4y ago45:25

45:25

Do we have a right to higher education? A conversation between philosophers of education Harry Brighouse and Christopher Martin. What is the point of higher education? Why is there a right to higher education? Should education be compulsory after 18? Should tuition be free? Plus: civic education, elite institutions, selection theatrics, and armchai…

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What Should the Aims of Higher Education Be? (Higher Ed) 10:29

4y ago10:29

10:29

What should the aims of higher education be? We asked undergrads, grad students, and philosophy professors what they think. This is the first episode in our series on the ethics of higher education. Special thanks to UW-Madison philosophy majors Ria Dhingra and Anna Nelson, who collected responses from the 2021 NAAPE Conference (North American Asso…

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The Ethics of Teacher Strikes | Tony Laden and Eleni Schirmer (Controversial Issues in Education) 42:11

4y ago42:11

42:11

At the Center for Ethics & Education, we (obviously) think a lot about the ethical dimensions of teaching. But what about the ethical dimensions of *not* teaching? We invited labor scholar Eleni Schirmer into conversation with philosopher Tony Laden to talk about what makes successful teacher strikes successful, strikes as direct action, what the b…

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Love and Teaching | Meghan Sullivan and Maria Salazar (Teaching Better) 53:56

4y ago53:56

53:56

Why is it weird to talk about loving your students? A great conversation about love and teaching. Featuring philosopher Meghan Sullivan in conversation with Maria Salazar about what it means to bring love into the classroom and why more philosophers should study love. Transcript The Good Life Method book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/62…

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Educational Opportunity with Jencks's Principles of Justice | Jaime Ahlberg (Popular Papers) 27:50

4y ago27:50

27:50

Navigating educational equal opportunity is hard. Christopher Jencks's five principles for equal education opportunity make navigating equal education a little bit easier - once we understand the principles, of course. In this episode, Avra Reddy interviews Jaime Ahlberg (University of Florida) about how we can use moral principles to understand th…

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The Ethics of Punishment | John Tillson and Winston C. Thompson (Controversial Issues in Education) 26:39

4y ago26:39

26:39

How and why should we punish schoolchildren--if at all? That's the guiding question of the Pedagogies of Punishment project. This episode features the project's PIs, John Tillson (Liverpool Hope University) and Winston C. Thompson (The Ohio State University). Pedagogies of Punishment: https://www.pedagogiesofpunishment.com/ This project was a grant…

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Learning Through Conversation | Agnes Callard (Teaching Better) 30:57

4y ago30:57

30:57

What can we learn from conversation that we can't learn on our own? Agnes Callard (Philosophy, University of Chicago) talks about the paradox of learning through conversation, the secret to asking a good question, chatting with the ghost of Aristotle, and that time her lecture notes were stolen and it ended up being a good thing for her teaching. M…

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Trailer - Season 2 3:14

4y ago3:14

3:14

Welcome to a new season of the Ethics & Education podcast! Here are some snippets of episodes we'll share this fall, featuring the voices of Agnes Callard, Lindsey Schwartz, Winston Thompson, John Tillson, Jaime Ahlberg, and Quentin Wheeler-Bell. Stay tuned for more episodes starting in September. In the meantime, we’ll keep making study guides for…

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Humor, Movement, and Multimedia | Jen Kling (Teaching Better) 21:13

4+ y ago21:13

21:13

At CEE, we think a lot about good teaching. This is the fourth episode in our 2021 Teaching Series. And it's the last episode of our first season! Jen Kling is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and the director of the Center for Legal Studies at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She's also the Executive Director of Concerned Philosoph…

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Being in Love with Knowledge | Bailey Szustak (Teaching Better) 9:44

4+ y ago9:44

9:44

At CEE, we think a lot about good teaching. This is the third episode in our 2021 Teaching Series. Bailey Szustak is a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In this episode, Bailey talks about teaching new philosophy students in a way that helps them feel at ease with and compelled by philosophy. After all, that's what the word 'phi…

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Argument and Curiosity as Skills | W. John Koolage (Teaching Better) 17:34

4+ y ago17:34

17:34

At CEE, we think a lot about philosophical skills and good teaching. This is the first episode in our 2021 Teaching Series. W. John Koolage is a philosophy professor and the Director of General Education at Eastern Michigan University. John is a philosopher of education who thinks a lot about teaching and learning. In this piece, he talks about how…

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Interactive Methods and Feminist Critiques | Susan Kennedy (Teaching Better) 19:00

4+ y ago19:00

19:00

At CEE, we think a lot about good teaching. This is the second episode in our 2021 Teaching Series. Susan Kennedy is a postdoctoral fellow in philosophy at Harvard University, where she works with the Embedded EthiCS team to integrate ethical reasoning into the computer science curriculum. In this episode, Susan talks about teaching non-canonical t…

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Teaching, Indoctrination, and Trust | Tony Laden (Controversial Issues in Education) 31:18

4+ y ago31:18

31:18

Who do you trust? Are universities trustworthy? Professors? What about students? Philosopher Tony Laden (UIC Chicago) is writing a book about democracy. He sees higher ed as a way to think about trust networks and broader questions about how we talk to each other. Episode transcript Citations (and further reading!): Binder, Amy J., and Kate Wood. B…

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Why Principles? | Jaime Ahlberg (Thinking Better) 19:27

4+ y ago19:27

19:27

Principles are your pal. They offer both theory and a diagnosis to help you figure out what the problem is. But on their own, they're not enough. Where do they fit in decision-making? Plus a burning question about relativism. At the NAAPE Conference in 2019, Grace Gecewicz (UW Madison Philosophy undergrad, '20) and Abby Beneke (UW Madison Education…

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The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Universities | Laura Hamilton and Kathryn Joyce (Book Talk) 26:31

4+ y ago26:31

26:31

This piece features two voices: sociologist Dr. Laura T. Hamilton (UC Merced) and philosopher Dr. Kathryn Joyce (Princeton University). Educational Policy Studies PhD student Abby Beneke (UW-Madison) interviewed Laura when she came to UW in 2019 to give a talk on her book project, Broke: The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Universities, which s…

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Education for Liberation | Quentin Wheeler-Bell (Teaching Better) 17:19

4+ y ago17:19

17:19

"Education doesn't always need to start with an answer. It starts, sometimes, with a question." Professor Quentin Wheeler-Bell (Indiana University) discusses one of the driving questions of his work: what is liberatory education? Transcript Produced and edited by Kellen Sharp. Recorded at the NAAPE Conference, October 2019.…

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The Ethics of Doctoral Admissions | Bryan Warnick (Controversial Issues in Education) 17:10

5y ago17:10

17:10

It’s late January, which means snowstorms (here in Wisconsin, anyway), the start of the spring semester, and grad school application deadlines. Universities will be making admission decisions over the next few months, and then applicants will decide where to go. But who really knows what they're getting into when they apply to grad school?? This is…

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Sexual Citizenship | Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan (Book Talk) 37:03

5y ago37:03

37:03

Grace Gecewicz and Madeline Brighouse Glueck interview Jennifer S. Hirsch (Public Health, Columbia University) and Shamus Khan (Sociology, Princeton University) about their book, Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. This conversation offers a hopeful vision for the future of sex education, preventing sexual assaul…

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The Ethics of Opting Out | Terri Wilson (Controversial Issues in Education) 10:37

5y ago10:37

10:37

What are the ethical questions behind opting out of state testing? Professor Terri Wilson (University of Colorado Boulder) discusses a case study she co-wrote on opting out of state standardized testing. Study Guide: Opting Out of State Assessments - with a Structured Academic Controversy activity Audio Transcript Recorded at the American Philosoph…

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The Ethics of Charter Schools | Harry Brighouse, Erica Turner, Gina Schouten (Controversial Issues in Education) 30:13

5y ago30:13

30:13

What is a charter school? Philosophy professor (and director of the Center for Ethics and Education) and UW-Madison student (and undergraduate project assistant at the Center) Grace Gecewicz host this episode about a type of school that everyone seems to have an opinion about. Find out who the "strange bedfellows" were that came up with the idea of…

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Higher Education and Social Mobility | Jennifer Morton (Book Talk) 15:34

5y ago15:34

15:34

What ethical compromises do students make when they seek upward mobility through education? We talk with Professor Jennifer Morton about her new book, Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility (2019). Morton is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a senior fellow at t…

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The Case of the Privileged Poor | Anthony Jack (Book Talk) 13:21

5y ago13:21

13:21

We talk with Dr. Anthony Abraham Jack, an assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, about his new book, The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students (2019). Jack’s work examines the often-overlooked diversity of low-income college students. Book: The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleg…

University Of Wisconsin Foundation Podcasts