Cookies and Tracking Notice

1. Purpose

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is committed to protecting your privacy. This Cookie and Tracking Notice (Notice) is part of the University’s Privacy Notice found at https://www.wisc.edu/privacy-notice/. Capitalized terms defined in this Cookie Policy have the meanings set forth in the Privacy Policy.

This Notice describes the University’s use of cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies on our wisc.edu and certain other websites (a “Site” and collectively the “Sites”) By using our Sites, you are accepting the following uses of cookies.

2. What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that our Site automatically saves onto your computer or device when you use our Sites. We use cookies when you use our Sites to allow the Sites to remember your actions and preferences and recognize you or your browser.

We use both “first-party” or “third-party” cookies or similar technology on our Sites.

A first-party cookie allows your web browser to talk to the actual website that you are visiting (i.e., our Sites).
A third-party cookie or similar technology allows your web browser to talk to a third-party provider providing services or features on the website you are visiting. These are used for things like analytics or online-advertising as well as other purposes.
Other technologies, including single-pixel gifs (also known as web beacons), may also be used on our Sites and in promotional email messages, online ads, or newsletters. Web beacons allow monitoring of the actions of a user opening the page that contained the web beacon. They also help determine how many users have visited certain pages, the webpages users were on before coming to the Sites, or opened messages or newsletters, if a user clicked on something, how the user left the webpage, and statistics about users’ visits to improve user experience and manage site content.

3. What information do we collect through cookies?

With the use of technology, we automatically collect and store certain information while you use our Sites. This information may include your browser type, domain names, IP address, unique device identifier, search criteria used, content viewed, and the emails and phone numbers that you contact through the websites, the pages you view, access times and referring website addresses. We use this information to monitor the use of these Sites and to make improvements, analyze and track user behavior, personalize your experience, provide statistics regarding usage of the websites, and display relevant advertising. When you click on a link on a page with a web beacon, we may record your response to customize our offerings to you. We may combine information gathered from cookies with other Personal Information or use this information to tailor messaging to you on social media platforms.

4. How to manage cookies

You have several options available to manage Cookies.

Disabling cookies on your web browser

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies and web beacons. You can disable this function by changing your browser settings. However, if you disable cookies that are essential to the functioning of our Sites, you may not be able to use the Site as expected. You can manually delete persistent cookies, or cookies that track your activity across websites, through your browser settings. Please note that your experience on the Site may be affected if you choose to decline analytics and advertising cookies.

Here are links to instructions for changing the Cookie settings for common Internet browsers.

If your browser is not listed above, consult your browser’s guidance for instructions on how to manage Cookies. Also, for information about managing Google Analytics, consult Google’s browser add-on webpage.

You can find more information on how to control and delete Cookies by visiting the Federal Trade Commission’s Online Tracking website, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s website YourAdChoices, and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance’s website YourOnlineChoices.

Changing your preferences

Some of our Sites use cookies and web beacons for Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA), sometimes called interest-based advertising. OBA uses information collected across multiple websites that you visit to predict your preferences or infer interests and to show you information more likely to be of interest to you. To change your preferences with respect to certain online ads and to obtain more information about third-party ad networks and online behavioral advertising, visit National Advertising Initiative Consumer opt-out page or the Digital Advertising Alliance Self-Regulatory Program. Changing your settings with individual browsers or ad networks will not necessarily carry over to other browsers or ad networks. As a result, you may still see our ads.

You are responsible for setting your privacy preferences on your browser and/or in your device settings. Accordingly, when you visit our Sites with Cookies enabled on your browser and/or in your device settings, you consent to the storing of first- and third-party Cookies and related sharing and tracking technologies on your device as described in this Cookie Policy. If you do not want to consent to our use of Cookies, you must disable Cookies on your web browser to the extent possible. Note that it may not be possible to disable all Cookies on your web browser and that, to the extent Cookies cannot be disabled on your web browser, you consent to our use of Cookies when you visit our websites.

Who do I contact for more information?

If you have any questions about UW–Madison’s practices around the use of personal information, contact uwcomplianceoffice@wisc.edu.

Updates to our notice

We may update this Cookies and Tracking Notice from time to time. Any changes will become effective upon posting of the revised Cookies and Tracking Notice.

Last revised: 12/18/2024