University of Wisconsin–Madison

Message to alumni from the Center for Botany Faculty Director

A message from Professor Anne Pringle, ’25-’26 Department of Botany Chair and ’26-’27 Center for Botany Faculty Director.

A rainbow arcs through the sky with prairie plants growing lushly in the foreground.
A rainbow is seen during a summer sunset at the Arboretum at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Althea Dotzour / UW–Madison)

Dear Botanists,

Greetings! I hope that wherever you are, there are flowers. In Madison we are almost to high summer, and our prairies are bursting with milkweeds, rattlesnake master, and as many difficult-to-identify-species-of-Asteraceae (and grasses) as your heart might desire.

In my last letter to you I let you know our Department is merging with the Department of Integrative Biology (formerly Zoology). As of July 1, we are the Department of Biology. While we have a new administrative structure, I’m excited to report this is not the end of Botany, but rather a beginning: July 1 also marked the founding of our new Center for Botany, which will sustain and build on UW-Madison’s legacy in botany to strengthen botanical research across campus. 

Portrait of Anne Pringle on a grey studio background.
(Photo by Althea Dotzour / UW–Madison)

The Center for Botany’s mission was crafted collaboratively by faculty, staff, and students to “…bring people together to explore, understand, and celebrate the worlds of plants, fungi, and algae. We will foster inclusive leadership, education, and collaboration across Wisconsin and beyond, inspiring curiosity, discovery, and recognition of the vital role plants play in nature, our local communities, and global wellbeing.”

The Center for Botany will be a steward for our beautiful garden and greenhouses and for our globally important collections. We will advocate for botanical infrastructure on campus. We will champion the study of “plants”, broadly interpreted. But in addition to protecting all that is good, we will look to the future, focusing on efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis and on using plants and fungi as raw materials to find solutions to our food, energy, and environmental crises. 

To do our work, we will need your support and engagement: Our greatest strength is our vocal and dedicated community of alumni and I hope and believe you will resonate with the Center’s mission. We ask you to help us keep Badger Botany vibrant and relevant!

By the next time you hear from us, the newsletter will be arriving to you from our newly established Center for Botany!

Best,

Professor Anne Pringle

    2025-26 Department of Botany Chair

    2026-27 Center for Botany Faculty Director