Who we are: The Academic Fellowship Club is a long-standing group of active and retired UW-Madison faculty and academic staff members who want to stay connected with colleagues from across campus in an informal social setting, enjoy a monthly dinner together, and hear intellectually stimulating after-dinner talks by engaging speakers drawn from a diversity of disciplines. Following a group tradition, the speaker and topic are not identified ahead of a meeting so that members can’t decide whether to attend based on the presentation. That policy is deliberately intended to expose members to speakers and topics they might not otherwise have sought out.
How we started: In the fall of 1945 after the end of World War II a group of intellectually curious UW-Madison faculty members decided there was a need to break out of their disciplinary silos and learn more about one another’s work. Thus began what was originally called A Faculty Coterie, or AFC. The group was initially limited to no more than one person per department, often, but not always, the department chair. The early members were some of the most visible scholars on campus. Among them were faculty luminaries such as Aldo Leopold, Arthur Hasler, Harry Steenbock, and Harry Harlow. Reflecting the timeliness of the presentations that members enjoy, the first speaker described his then-recent experience attending the meetings that led to the formation of the United Nations. Since then, speakers from almost every unit across campus have presented on their scholarly work.
How we’ve evolved: There are few, if any, intentionally cross-disciplinary campus groups and institutions with such a long continuous history. Over the decades AFC expanded membership beyond faculty to include individuals and their spouses/partners from across the broader UW-Madison academic community. The group renamed itself the Academic Fellowship Club (while retaining the AFC acronym) to clarify that membership is open to academic staff as well as faculty from across campus. Reflecting AFC’s disciplinary diversity, current members come from all the major Divisions of the university: 15% from the Arts and Humanities, 20% from the Biological Sciences, 14% from the Physical Sciences, 23% from the Social Sciences, and 2% from Administration. Members are affiliated with 38 different academic departments and programs.
How to become involved: If you are an active or retired UW-Madison faculty or academic staff member and are interested in the unique social and intellectual experience AFC provides, please contact us for details on how to attend an upcoming meeting (normally held on the second Tuesday of the month at a Madison dining facility).
Contact us: AFC@mailplus.wisc.edu
Membership is informal. No invitation is needed; simply ask to join and attend a meeting now and then. There are no membership dues. Individuals who attend a meeting pay for their meals and share any associated costs such as room rental fees.
Upcoming 2025-26 meetings: September 9, 2025; October 14, 2025; November 11, 2025; December 9, 2025; February 10, 2026; March 10, 2026; April 14, 2026
Keywords: academic social groups, faculty social groups, academic dining groups, faculty dining groups