question about the UW system

[David Ash]

To clarify, my question is about UW as in University of Wisconsin--not the other UW's like University of Waterloo (which I attended) or University of Washington (to which I lived nearby for 11 years):

How close, if at all, is the connection between UW-Madison, which runs the Wisconsin Math Talent Search, and UW-Milwaukee, where Gabi and István are--and I believe George also lives in Milwaukee? Is it a close connection, are they essentially different colleges, or somewhere in between?

I've never been associated with a US state college system, having done my undergrad in Canada and grad school at Stanford. So please forgive my ignorance of how this system works and, in particular, how it may work in Wisconsin.

[Istvan Lauko]

FYI

They are separate universities within a large state university system, which is state regulated and partially state funded. Madison being by far the oldest and largest, the flagship institution, Milwaukee is the second largest.

https://www.wisconsin.edu/campuses/#map

https://www.wisconsin.edu/about-the-uw-system/

There is weak connection between the Mathematics Departments. In Milwaukee the Mathematics Department has been the institution's largest (and historically its first PhD granting) department. However as I mentioned earlier due to administrative preferences in the wake of a series of institutional-level budget emergencies the department's size and influence has been substantially reduced (e.g  in number of faculty)  in the past two decades. We are active in math outreach but do not take an active role in the WI Talent Search. At the same time there is both preference and pressure on current faculty to keep up the levels  of the department's research activities and graduate output (Master's and PhD).

[David Ash]

Thanks István! That's what I was hoping to find out.