The University of Wisconsin System regents’ leader has picked Republican darling Tommy Thompson as the system’s interim president, delivering another twist in what has become a messy search to replace outgoing President Ray Cross.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents appointed former Gov. Tommy Thompson as the interim system president during a closed session meeting Thursday.
Quoted: It’s not unusual for men to struggle after the birth of a child, says Tova Walsh, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied fathers and parent-child relationships. There are financial pressures, expectations to try to meet and lifestyle adjustments to make.
In the history of family services, fathers have been overlooked and neglected, Walsh says, with sometimes clinical consequences. “Paternal depression is underrecognized,” she says.
Quoted: For the time being, researchers say cats should be a focus, because studies have found they are highly susceptible to the coronavirus and because they are common pets and roam freely in many places. In a study published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists infected cats with the virus and found that those cats could infect other cats. No felines showed symptoms, but the amount of virus they shed in nasal swabs was similar to that shed by some humans, said co-author Peter Halfmann, a University of Wisconsin virologist.
“If a human can transmit to a human with this amount of virus being shed, it’s definitely possible for a cat to transmit to a human,” Halfmann said.
Noted: A new study published in PLoS ONE by David Lovelace and team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison used a series of climate models and predictions of body temperature to investigate the biology of some Late Triassic dinosaurs. They investigated the small theropod Coelophysis bauri and large prosauropod Plateosaurus engelhardti during the hot, dry global greenhouse conditions that prevailed at that time.
Noted: The study shows a decent representation of minorities,” said William Hartman, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at UW Health. “That’s an important point given that the minority communities have been hit so, so hard by COVID-19.”
Hartman is leading survivor plasma trials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was not involved with this study.
Author Jordan Nutting is a AAAS Mass Media Fellow writing about science at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this summer. She’s working on a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “This is just a sliver of the nearly 6 million people in Wisconsin,” said Patrick Remington, an epidemiologist and a professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “These were highly visible and they could be high risk, but in reality, these were isolated events.”
“It is really hard to isolate one thing when so many things are going,” said Ajay Sethi, an epidemiologist and associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“We cannot deny such an impact because of people on the street in public, standing close and shouting out and not wearing masks. That is ideal to spread the virus,” said Song Gao, assistant professor at the UW-Madison Geospatial Data Science Lab.
Oguzhan Alagoz, a professor of industrial engineering and infectious disease modeling expert at the UW-Madison, said his work shows social distancing adherence plays a major factor in the spread of coronavirus.
“Me and my family are also tired of being careful,” Alagoz said. “But unfortunately we cannot get super comfortable. … People should still be careful. Wearing masks, I think, is important, especially indoors.”
Almost three years later Matt is now using his voice to help prevent other families from going through the same suffering by promoting UW Health’s research toward a solution for the disease as the voice of memoriesmatteruw.org.
Current UW System President Ray Cross announced plans to retire back in October, which led to a months-long search for a successor.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson has agreed to serve as UW System Interim President effective July 1, the UW Board of Regents announced Friday.
In its announcement, the Board described Thompson as a champion of public universities.
The University of Alaska faculty union has called for the immediate resignation of the system’s president, who withdrew last week as the lone finalist to succeed University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross.
Wednesday brought news about UW-Madison and its plans for the 2020 fall semester. In a press release, the university unveiled its “Smart Start” initiative.
The Memorial Union Terrace on UW-Madison’s lakefront will begin a phased reopening on Monday.
Ultimately the group raised $341,000 for Blessings in a Backpack — enough money for the national nonprofit to open up a program in Madison.
The Wisconsin Union’s Memorial Union Terrace will begin a phased reopening on June 22 with new protocols to ensure patrons and team members can practice physical distancing and follow other health guidance related to COVID-19.
The Wisconsin Union’s Memorial Union Terrace, the largest outdoor restaurant in Madison, will start a phased reopening on June 22 with new protocols in place to practice physical distancing and other COVID-19 health guidelines.
Terrace will only have 25% capacity, visitors must stay 6 feet apart.
Summer nights on the Terrace at Memorial Union will return, but they will be much less crowded than in the past.
Quoted: Robert Yablon, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who specializes in election law, called the case “a true outlier.”
“Seventh Circuit cases rarely sit for even one year after oral argument, much less three,” he said by email.
“The judges’ internal deliberations are confidential, so it’s impossible to know for sure what’s happening behind the scenes. The judges may have disagreements that they’re truly struggling to resolve. It’s also conceivable that they’re waiting to see if Wisconsin law changes in ways that moot the appeal or hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court eventually decides another voting-related case that offers further guidance on the relevant legal standards.”
Quoted: “Wisconsin has the most roundabouts of any state on its state highway system,” said Andrea Bill, a traffic safety engineer and researcher at the University of Wisconsin’s Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory.
According to a letter sent to students, faculty and staff in the Wisconsin School of Business, the university was alerted of the graffiti at the entrance at University Avenue and Park Street on Thursday.
It was on a column at the entrance of University Avenue and Park Street.
“The Wisconsin School of Business and University of Wisconsin–Madison condemn the use of this hateful symbol. We value a diverse community where all members are able to participate fully as students and employees. This includes feeling safe, welcomed, valued, and supported,” according to a release.
Quoted: UW-Health Doctor Tiffany Green studies the causes and consequences of racial disparities in health.
“We see across the country that Black Americans are dying disproportionately relative to our share of our population, and that is especially true here in Wisconsin unfortunately,” Green said.
“Currently we’re talking about what can we do about the police, but the police are not the only issue, every other social system was built on the same inequities,” Alvin Thomas, UW-Madison Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies, said.
The noise and the colorful glow sticks lighting up the crowd were intentional, according to youth organizer and University of Wisconsin sophomore Ayomi Obuseh. “This is not just for show, we are trying to be loud, we are trying to be disruptive,” Obuseh said.
Although the presence of COVID-19 means no one can guarantee college football games will be played in 2020, University of Wisconsin officials continue to plan for the season-opener on Sept. 4 against visiting Indiana.
Quoted: NBC15 also reached out to Nasia Safdar, the Director of Infection Prevention at UW-Heath, and asked if a second wave of COVID-19 is likely to happen this fall. “I think with a new virus, it’s difficult to predict if it’s going to behave exactly like other viruses that are in the same family,” Safdar said.
