Month: May 2025

Student Spotlight: From Microscope Slides to Sliding Scales

Six beats with keyboardist Isaiah Dobbins, the double neurobiology and jazz studies major who is improvising life as he goes. By Maggie Ginsberg, Division of the Arts The fingers on Isaiah Dobbins’ left hand run scales along his knee while he speaks, providing a silent bass line to his thoughts. I’ve asked him what motivates him, …

The Exquisite Poetry of Place

Erika Meitner, one of this year’s Creative Arts Award recipients, talks about going analog, changing minds by breaking hearts, and the power of telling our own stories. By Maggie Ginsberg When Professor Erika Meitner first stepped onto campus more than two decades ago as the 2001-02 Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, …

More Than Moves: Omari Carter’s Dance 115 Changes Perspectives and Perceptions

By Jakob Miller In a brightly lit studio at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, students gather for a class that offers far more than a workout or an easy elective. Dance 115: Hip-Hop Dance Technique and Theory isn’t just about learning choreography, it’s about unpacking a culture, challenging assumptions, and building a sense of community. At the center …