Each year >100 undergraduate students from various departments across the UW-Madison campus enter the Wisconsin State Herbarium in order to gain a better appreciation of the world’s floristic diversity. These students are complemented by a sizeable number of graduate students from UW (ca. 15/yr) and beyond (ca. 6/yr) who request specimen loans from WIS, use its facilities and/or its virtual herbarium.
Moreover, WIS routinely participates in Madison’s city-wide Science Expeditions, Darwin Day, and WI Institutes for Discovery events through open houses, facilities tours, off-site interactive stations, posters, public display exhibits, and other forms of local outreach for people of all ages.
The Herbarium also showcases its collections within public displays just inside its main entrance (Birge B1 floor) and in the lobby of Birge Hall (first floor) at the top of historic Bascom Hill.