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December 21, 2020

Top Stories

UW-Madison’s fall reopening: A story of success, failure or simply survival?

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

When COVID-19 cases skyrocketed in early September, Chancellor Rebecca Blank knew she had to try something. So on Sept. 9, the fifth day of classes, when the university reported 404 infections of the nearly 5,300 it would accumulate by the end of the semester, she announced a two-week lockdown for two large dorms and a campus-wide pause on face-to-face instruction. “A lot of people thought that we would never recover from that,” she said in an interview on Friday, the final day of the semester. “More than one person has come up to me and said, ‘I thought we’d never get back to in-person classes. I thought you’d have to send everyone home.’ And, you know, we did recover from that.”

Higher Education/System

Capital City Sunday: Nursing homes prepare for vaccinations, COVID-19 liability, and UW tuition freeze

Posted on
WKOW-TV 27

Since 2013, tuition for in-state undergraduate students at UW campuses has been frozen.It’s helped protect students from the rising costs of college tuition, but a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum found this incentive for students is threatening the UW’s ability to  be competitive against other universities. “The tuition freeze is a clear part of that, but you also see stagnant state funding, enrollment declines that are greater than other states nationally … all things that were adding up before COVID-19,” said Jason Stein, Research Director for the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Health

Q&A with UW immunization expert James Conway on Wisconsin’s COVID-19 vaccination processes

Posted on
Badger Herald

UW Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine & Public Health James Conway leads UW Health’s immunization efforts as the programs’ medical director. After serving as a scientific advisor for both Moderna and Pfizer this summer, Conway now works on a Wisconsin Disaster Medical Advisory Committee about the state’s COVID-19 vaccine allocation and distribution and also works in Dane County’s distribution efforts.

Five Tips for How to Actually Change an Anti-Masker’s Mind, According to Experts – Mother Jones

Posted on
Mother Jones

Our brains, generally speaking, operate qualitatively, not quantitatively, explains Dominique Brossard, a professor and chair in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who focuses on risk communication. In short, that means we tend to think in terms of emotion, not numbers.

Athletics

Opinion

Vaccinating the Prison Population Will Help Protect All of America

Posted on
Newsweek

By controlling COVID-19 cases in correctional facilities, we have a chance to reduce illness and death for everyone and signal to these particular communities that they, too, have a share in the modern-day miracle of COVID-19 vaccines.

–Brent Orrell is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on job training, workforce development, and criminal justice reform. He has worked for the United States government for 20 years, including senior roles at the Department of Labor and at the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Rashawn Ray is a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at The Brookings Institution and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland. He is on Twitter @SociologistRay. Dr. Howard Henderson is a non-resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, a Professor of Justice Administration at Texas Southern University, and director of the Center for Justice Research. John M. Eason is the Director of the UW Justice Lab and an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UW Experts in the News

You Can Get Through This Dark Pandemic Winter, Using Tips From Disaster Psychology

Posted on
Scientific American

One key benefit of therapy is the close relationship between the patient and the provider, which fosters a strong sense of belonging. “You’re meeting with somebody with whom you have a real relationship—this is a person who cares about you, seeks to understand you, is warm and accepting,” says Bruce Wampold, a professor emeritus of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “And for many people, this is particularly healing.”

Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson relishes role as contrarian of the Senate

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said Trump has clearly proven popular in the state, even though he lost this year. “There is a pretty big coalition of voters in Wisconsin who are attracted to Trump’s style and to his messages,” Burden said. “It looks like Johnson is kind of mimicking that style in pursuing these odd or peripheral stories, so maybe it’s possible to assemble that Trump coalition even after Trump’s out of office.”

Your employer could require you to get a COVID-19 vaccine

Posted on
Channel 3000

Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at UW-Madison, said it’s unusual for employers to mandate a vaccine. She thinks they should rely on voluntary compliance. “There’s going to be enough people who have some reason why they can’t necessarily take the vaccine that an employer who issues a mandate on pain of being dismissed from employment is going to wind up having to essentially negotiate with many individual employees about their particular circumstances and have to dance around these very confusing rules,” said Charo. “In many ways it’s much easier for an employer to simply say ‘I’m going to encourage it, I’m going to strongly recommend it. I’m going to make it easy for you’.”

Obituaries

Fish, Vincent H. K.

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

He taught and provided supervision for decades at the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Social Work and Department of Counseling Psychology.

Karweick, Betty J.

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Betty then decided to return to her first love of librarianship and served as a law librarian and later an instructor in legal research at several law schools, including Duke Law School and finally the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison.

Dolan, Terrence Raymond

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

In 1982, Terry and Mary Ann, along with their now four children, moved to Madison, Wis., where he assumed the Directorship of the Waisman Center for Mental Retardation and Human Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dibbell, David G., Sr.

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

(Ret. Col.) David G. Dibbell Sr., M.D., Professor Emeritus and past Division Chair, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Wisconsin Department of Surgery, passed away peacefully at home and on his terms on Nov. 19, 2020 .. One of his greatest accomplishments and the legacy he leaves is building the first program in reconstructive surgery at the UW Department of Surgery, where he created international outreach programs, providing plastic surgery and care in Central and South America.

Hipenbecker, Donna Jean

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

After graduation, Donna worked at the University Hospital in Madison as a Medical Technologist in the bone marrow lab until she retired in 2003.

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson dies at 87

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Abrahamson, a New York City native, graduated first in her class from Indiana University Law School in 1956, three years after her marriage to Seymour Abrahamson. The couple moved to Madison and her husband, a world-renowned geneticist, joined the UW-Madison faculty in 1961. He died in 2016. She earned a law degree from UW-Madison in 1962. Abrahamson worked as a professor and joined a Madison law firm, hired by the father of future Gov. Jim Doyle, in 1962.

UW-Madison Related

Longtime Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Abrahamson dies

Posted on
The Washington Post

The New York City native, with the accent to prove it, graduated first in her class from Indiana University Law School in 1956, three years after her marriage to Seymour Abrahamson. The couple moved to Madison and her husband, a world-renowned geneticist, joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty in 1961. He died in 2016.