Campus Alerts

From: Provost John Zumbrunnen

Dear students,

At around 3 p.m. today, UW–Madison became aware we are part of a nationwide Canvas outage. We recognize this is occurring at a very challenging time during final exams and grading, and we’re committed to providing you with support and flexibility as we navigate this significant disruption. Multiple teams are working to address this issue.

IMPORTANT: If Canvas prompts you to perform any action — such as clicking a link, logging in, resetting your password, or completing any tasks — do not proceed. These prompts may not be legitimate.

If you have an upcoming final exam or any outstanding assignments that require Canvas access, please watch for communication from your instructor and reach out if you need clarification.

We will share additional information about final exams and grading as we learn more. See the Campus Alerts page for ongoing updates.

Thanks for your patience.

To:  All instructors 

From: Provost John Zumbrunnen

cc: Deans, Department Chairs

Dear instructors,
At around 3 p.m. today, UW–Madison became aware we are part of a nationwide Canvas outage. We recognize this is occurring at a very challenging time during final exams and grading, and are committed to providing you and your students with support as we navigate this significant disruption. Multiple teams are working to address this issue.

IMPORTANT: If Canvas prompts you to perform any action — such as clicking a link, logging in, resetting your password, or completing any tasks — do not proceed. These prompts may not be legitimate.

How to proceed
It is essential that we all provide flexibility to students with any outstanding exams and assignments. As of 3 p.m. Thursday, students lost access to all materials in Canvas to assist in their exam or assignment preparation and submission.  

Final Exams:

• If you are unable to administer your final exam or you feel students cannot prepare adequately without access to Canvas, you should use an alternative option, such as, basing grades on work completed so far. You are encouraged to consult with your department chair, academic dean’s office, or other colleagues as you weigh the options.

• However you plan to proceed, please communicate with your students as soon as possible.

Grading: 

• If you are able to submit final grades without the use of Canvas, please continue as planned.

  • Refer to the following KB document for guided steps to grading in Faculty Center: https://kb.wisc.edu/65138 

• The deadline to submit grades for all courses has been extended to 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, May 14.

A separate communication is being sent to students. We will share additional information about final exams and grade submission as we learn more. See the Outages page and the Campus Alerts page for ongoing updates.

Thanks for your patience.

At around 3 p.m. today, the Universities of Wisconsin Administration and UW-Madison became part of a nationwide Canvas outage. 

We are aware of the outage and multiple teams are working with the Universities of Wisconsin Administration and UW-Madison to address this issue on behalf of our students.

Please note: if Canvas prompts you to perform any action - such as clicking a link, logging in, resetting your password, or completing any tasks - do not proceed. These prompts may not be legitimate while the system is down. We will send a follow-up notification when Canvas is back online. 

The original third-party cybersecurity incident, first reported May 1, affects the cloud-based system operated by Instructure, and affects UW-Madison and all other Universities of Wisconsin (UWs) campuses. 

As we know more, we will share it promptly. Thanks for your patience.