German, Nordic, and Slavic+

Scandinavian Day at UW-Madison

Scandinavian Day at UW-Madison

Celebrating 150 Years of Scandinavian Studies

November 14th, 2025

For more information and registration, please go to:

150th Anniversary Celebration

Join us for a day of seminars, tours, and performances celebrating the Nordic Unit
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by a festive Scandinavian-inspired buffet dinner in the Fluno Center.

Scandinavian Day is open to anyone with an interest in Scandinavian culture, including community members, representatives of the Nordic countries, and alumni of the UW-Madison Scandinavian Studies Department.

 

MORNING ACTIVITIES

A free class visit, open house and UW-Madison campus tour.

8:50  am – Audit a lecture in the Hans Christian Andersen course being taught by Professor Claus E. Andersen in the William H. Sewell Social Sciences Building
10:00 – Noon Open House in the Madsen Reading Room, Nordic Unit of the German, Nordic and Slavic+ Department, 13th floor of Van Hise Hall
11:00 am Campus Walking Tour

 

REGISTRATION

11:30-1:00 Registration at the Fluno Center, 601 University Ave, Madison, WI

Lunch on your own in the Memorial Union or nearby restaurants.

 

AFTERNOON PROGRAMS

These informative, informal sessions will be held in the Fluno Center, Chazen Museum of Art and the Memorial Union. There is a $40 fee to attend one or all of the afternoon seminars. (You’ll be able to pick one per time slot when you register.)

SESSION 1SeSS

1:00-2:00

  • Dealing with Disney: Ensuring Quality Representation of Sámi Culture in Disney’s Frozen II.Thomas A. DuBois. Thomas A. DuBois is the head of the Folklore Unit and a professor of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies.
  • How Thor Got His Hammer – An introduction to Nordic Mythology.Scott A. Mellor. Scott Mellor is a teaching professor in the Nordic Unit who has been at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since September 1989.
  • Scandinavian Art in the Chazen Museum of Art.Berit Ness. The collection at UW’s Chazen Museum of Art includes light-sensitive Scandinavian works on paper not currently on view by artists such as Edvard Munch and Olle Baertling.  A small selection of works from these works will be made accessible in a pop-up viewing in the Chazen’s object study room. A Chazen staff member will be on hand to engage with attendees and answer questions. Limited to 20 people.

2:30-3:30

  • My Viking longship journey: singing in Nordic languages.  Mimmi Fulmer. Join Mimmi Fulmer as she shares her “voyage home” to her Nordic heritage through songs and discuss resources for pronunciation of Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.  Mimmi Fulmer is Professor of Voice and Opera at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  • Swedish Pancakes for Breakfast?”Marcus Cederstrom. This talk explores what the foods we eat can tell us about immigration and Nordic-American life in the Upper Midwest.  Marcus Cederstrom is the Community Curator of Nordic-American Folklore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  • Norwegian 101. Ida Moen Johnson. Come and refresh—or begin!—your Norwegian language study in this fun session. Ida Moen Johnson is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of German, Nordic and Slavic+, where she teaches courses in Norwegian language and Nordic literature and culture.

4:00-5:00

  • Hygge, Health, and Happiness. Claus E. Andersen. Professor Andersen will introduce the Danish concept of hygge, explain how it relates to the Scandinavian way of life, and show what Americans can learn from it. Claus E. Andersen is the head of the Nordic Unit and the Birgit Baldwin and Paul and Renate Madsen Professor of Scandinavian Studies.
  • Rasmus B. Anderson and the First U.S. Scandinavian Studies Department. Susan Brantley.  Learn more about the man who founded the Scan Studies Department 150 years ago – but who also was an author, editor, businessman and diplomat who brought to popular attention the fact that the Vikings were the first Europeans to arrive in the New World.  Professor Susan Brantly is a specialist in Swedish language and literature who served as the editor of the journal Scandinavian Studies for over a decade.
  • The Teacher’s Revolt against Nazism in Occupied Norway.  Dean Krouk. Professor Krouk explains the inspiring story of resistance to the Nazification of schools and teaching in occupied Norway, which led to the arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of teachers in 1942.  Dean Krouk is a professor in the Nordic Unit whose specialties include Nordic literature and the cultural and political history of Scandinavia.

 

 RECEPTION AND BUFFET DINNER 

There is a $60 fee for the cocktail hour and dinner, with a special price of $40 for students. Sponsored tables of 8 are available for $500.

5:00 – 6:30 A cocktail reception in the lobby of the Fluno Center, with light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.

6:30 Scandinavian-inspired buffet dinner in the Oros Executive Dining Room of the Fluno Center, followed by a program honoring the past, present and future of the oldest Scandinavian Studies program in the world.

 

AFTER PARTY

Location to be announced

 

Parking and hotel rooms

Information about parking, including some in the Fluno Center,  will be sent to all registrants. Overnight accommodations are available in the Fluno Center and the Wisconsin Memorial Union on a first-come basis.