Sen. Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, said she wants constituents to know she is sorry she lied about her graduation from UW-Madison.

Panzer took out ads in several newspapers Thursday — including The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — accepting full responsibility for falsely claiming she graduated from UW.

Panzer spent between $1,500 and $1,800 on ads in the Journal Sentinel, The West Bend Daily News and several other newspapers to explain why she has claimed for the last 30 years that she is a UW graduate.

Panzer told the Journal Sentinel she wanted to take out the ads because she wanted to be upfront with what she had done.

The advertisements were “authorized and paid for by Friends and Neighbors of Mary Panzer,” according to the tag at the bottom. George Prescott, owner of the Pick ‘n Save chain of supermarkets, was listed as treasurer.

“I take full responsibility for this mistake,” the ads said. “I am sorry. I intend to fix it.”

Panzer invited constituents to call her at home with questions about her statement.

The ads stated that Panzer has served nine years in the state Senate and 12 years as a state representative. They included the fact that her father served in the state Legislature for 38 years.

WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee reported Feb. 6 that Panzer did not have a degree in political science from UW. She had claimed for nearly two decades she had completed her degree.

Panzer said she had believed she completed her degree because she had completed 148 credits of classes, more than the 120 needed to graduate.

Panzer met with university officials last week and found she had not completed the foreign language requirements.