Mike Leckrone knows how to make an entrance. Making an exit is much harder.
Thanks, Mike: Leckrone gives grand finale
WMTV/University Communications
April 15, 2019
Top Stories
Research
Foxconn lands another building — and vows to move people in — as the company continues its Wisconsin rollout
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Foxconn Technology Group added to its real estate portfolio across Wisconsin with Friday’s announcement that it has agreed to purchase a landmark office building near the state Capitol.
Scientists Look for the Genes That Determine Beauty
Healthline
In a study published this month in PLOS Genetics, lead author Qiongshi Lu, assistant professor in the department of statistics at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his colleagues used attractiveness scores to locate and identify several genes correlated to facial attractiveness in 4,383 individuals.
New Study Reveals the Dangers of Long Commutes During Pregnancy
Fortune
In a new study published earlier this year, researchers at Lehigh University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found a link between the distance a woman travels to work every day while pregnant and the health outcomes for her child, including low birth weight, the likelihood of a C-section, and intrauterine growth restriction, or when a baby doesn’t reach a normal size as measured throughout the pregnancy.
Ilhan Omar, Katie Bouman, Commute While Pregnant: Broadsheet April 15
Fortune
But there’s another link discovered by researchers at Lehigh University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison—between infant health and the distance a woman has to travel to get to her job every day.
Foxconn to buy BMO Harris Bank building on Capitol Square
Wisconsin State Journal
Foxconn Technology Group announced Friday it will soon buy a building on Capitol Square as its off-campus hub to collaborate closely with UW-Madison faculty and students on research in medical, material, computer and data sciences.
David Ward: Congress should invest more in ag research to keep US ahead of China
Wisconsin State Journal
Since 2014, Wisconsin universities have received 74 AFRI grants totaling $38 million. These grants have gone to projects such as studying the impact of climate change on dairy production at UW-Madison and research on improved food access for rural, low-income communities at Northland College in Ashland. Locally, this means we are improving an industry that is a cornerstone to our economy. Globally, this allows us to maintain food-supply chains and remain a world leader in agriculture.
Campus life
Bucky’s Classroom helps increase college opportunities for young students
NBC-15
Middle school students got a sneak peek at life on a college campus at UW-Madison. The UW-Madison’s Bucky’s Classroom program aims to increase college opportunities for young students.
Out of the Darkness campus walk raises suicide prevention awareness
WKOW-TV 27
Hundreds of students at UW-Madison put on their walking shoes Sunday afternoon to help bring people out of the darkness. The walk is one of several across the country raising suicide prevention awareness.
Q&A: First Wave fellow Natasha Oladokun teaches love poems as an act of political protest
The Cap Times
Natasha Oladokun is a poet, but she didn’t grow up reading much poetry. She wasn’t really aware contemporary poets existed or that poetry was a legitimate academic pursuit.
With a year to go to the Wisconsin presidential primary, Bernie Sanders rallies supporters in Madison
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Cory Dudka, a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wasn’t as sure about Sanders’ prospects.
“I don’t think he can win, but I think he can influence the debate,” said the 18-year-old from Arlington, Virginia.
First-year UW-Madison students Katie Andahl and Ekaterina Kabaee came to take in their first presidential rally as they get prepared to vote in a presidential election for the first time next year.
“I wish I knew more so I could be energized,” Andahl said.
UW-Madison Humorology students raise $405,000 for small, local non-profit
NBC-15
Tears streamed down Susannah Peterson’s cheeks as she thought about what she had just heard Saturday night. At the end of that evening’s Humorology variety show at Shannon Hall, UW-Madison students announced they were donating $405,000 dollars to the non-profit Peterson leads—The Badger Childhood Cancer Network (BCCN).
Agriculture
Passion pushes women to provide agricultural training around the globe
The Country Today
Quoted: “We make a great team,” added Karen Nielsen, who heads up Global Dairy Outreach in Madison. “Even though she’s in Vermont and I’m in Wisconsin, we’ve worked a lot to help those in the dairy industry.”
Community
Report seeks to highlight health needs, strengths of Madison Latino community
Members of the Madison Latino community and the health issues they face “tend to be invisible for many reasons,” according to Dr. Patricia Tellez-Giron, co-chair of the Latino Health Council and associate professor in the UW Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.
Arts & Humanities
‘On, Wisconsin’: Mike Leckrone gives grand finale
WKOW-TV 27
Mike Leckrone said goodbye Saturday night, after 50 years as director of the University of Wisconsin Marching Band and 45 years of spring concerts.
Spring concerts will not be UW Band Director Mike Leckrone’s final run
NBC-15
According to a spokesperson for UW-Madison, Leckrone will also take part in the annual free concert and reception April 28 at 2 p.m. on campus. Leckrone will also take part in the commencement ceremonies on May 10 and 11.
Big conversations in a small town in ‘Twilight Bowl’
Wisconsin State Journal
“It’s an amazing thing — this idea of commissioning playwrights to create work” for this age group, said Jessica Fisch, who teaches acting at the University of Illinois-Chicago and is directing “Twilight Bowl” for UW-Madison’s Department of Theatre and Drama.
Athletics
Wisconsin senior Ethan Happ named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award winner, given to the nation’s top center
Wisconsin State Journal
Ethan Happ added one more honor to his outstanding career with the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team on Friday.
Wisconsin Badgers’ Jake Bunz wins Hockey Humanitarian Award
Wisconsin State Journal
Jake Bunz accepted the Hockey Humanitarian Award on Friday, becoming the third player from the University of Wisconsin to be recognized for citizenship.
Opinion
Samuel Ropa: How the Center for Religion and Global Citizenry is bringing inclusive interfaith dialogue to Madison
Capital Times
Column by Samuel Ropa, Center for Religion and Global Citizenry interfaith student fellow.
UW Experts in the News
Just Ask Us: Why are elections held on Tuesdays?
Wisconsin State Journal
Although some states hold primaries or other local elections on Saturdays, Tuesdays are “far and away the norm,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center at UW-Madison. State and local governments held elections on different days of the week until the mid-1800s, when Congress mandated presidential and congressional elections be held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, he said.
Gene-edited babies: What a Chinese scientist told an American mentor
New York Times
“A lot of people wish that those who knew or suspected would have made more noise,” said R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who co-led a 2017 national committee on human embryo editing.
Nepali scientists record country’s first tornado
Nature
Quoted: In countries such as the United States, which is hit by some 1,200 tornadoes every year, these rotating columns of wind are identified using Doppler radar imagery, says Leigh Orf, an atmospheric scientist at University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Americans are having less sex and here’s why it matters
Today.com
Quoted: “The economic issues are real and significant,” Christine Whelan, director of Money, Relationships and Equality Initiative in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told TODAY. “Increasingly what both men and women are looking for it a good financial prospect.”
Wind turbines proposal whips up dispute in rural Wisconsin
AP
Quoted: Jennifer Van Os, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of dairy science, said she knows of no scientific research published on the effects of wind turbines on cattle
New Twitter account outs shoddy reporting in science stories
Quartz
Qutoed: “Let me start with an audacious assertion: A major problem confronting science journalists is that they have trouble communicating what’s true,” Sharon Dunwoody, an Evjue-Bascom professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison school of journalism, wrote in a 2014 article on Sci Dev Net.
A juggernaut of convenience: Kwik Trip continues its rapid expansion
Wisconsin State Journal
“The challenge for them is of growth, and many, many good companies have been felled by the challenge of growth,” said Hart Posen, who studies corporate strategy and strategic decision-making at the UW-Madison School of Business. “The key is understanding how to grow, but in the last 15 to 20 years, they’ve made a lot of very smart decisions.”
Proposal for 24 wind turbines whips up controversy in rural Wisconsin
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Noted: Jennifer Van Os, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of dairy science, said she knows of no scientific research published on the effects of wind turbines on cattle.
UW-Madison Related
Detroit News editor and publisher Jonathan Wolman dead at 68
The Detroit News
Bernie Barnstorms the Midwest
Progressive.org
There was also a strong labor theme to the event. Sara Trongone, the co-president of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Assistants Association, introduced Sanders, emphasizing how union-busting in Wisconsin and across the country contributed to the erosion of the middle class.
Students vie in state competition for National History Day
WISC-TV 3
More than 600 students from around Wisconsin convened at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Saturday to vie in the state competition for National History Day.