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February 14, 2022

Research

Netflix ‘Tinder Swindler’ Simon Leviev isn’t the only dating app scammer

NBC News

A trio of professors from Michigan State University, Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison collected data from 37 online daters and found that describing yourself in profiles can be “ambiguous” because of lack of self-awareness, conscious efforts to disguise the self and the technical limitations of the online platform’s choices.

Higher Education/System

Tommy Thompson bids farewell as UW System president

Wisconsin Public Radio

In an emotional farewell speech to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, UW System President and former Gov. Tommy Thompson called on state lawmakers to direct part of a record budget surplus into public universities. He said UW System campuses shouldn’t be considered an expenditure but rather an investment in the future.

Wisconsin agencies and nonprofits working to address economic issues can start to do so with a new round of WEDC grants

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: According to the WEDC, the first round of projects included public-private partnerships to train and attract health care workers throughout rural Wisconsin; develop next-generation advanced manufacturing employees in west-central and southeast Wisconsin; expand affordable, high-quality child care in Door County, Green County, and south-central Wisconsin; create pipelines of young, educated workers in Milwaukee; train construction and skilled craft workers throughout the state; foster a culture of entrepreneurship in Kenosha; and enable incarcerated individuals to earn undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin System.

Tommy Thompson bids farewell as UW System president

Wisconsin Public Radio

In an emotional farewell speech to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, UW System President and former Gov. Tommy Thompson called on state lawmakers to direct part of a record budget surplus into public universities. He said UW System campuses shouldn’t be considered an expenditure but rather an investment in the future.

Campus life

State news

Large department stores like JC Penney have left behind Wisconsin small towns, but Kohl’s remains a vital community asset

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: What’s not good is to be the town that’s only a short ways from a retail hub because people will easily go there instead of shopping locally, according to Steven Deller, a professor and community development specialist with University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.

“You don’t try to compete head-on with a Walmart because they will chew you up and spit you out,” Deller said. However, businesses can gain customers from being in the same plaza as one of the big chains, or at least near it.

Health

Business/Technology

Early-stage companies had a record year in Wisconsin. Here’s how some of the top companies did.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Fetch Rewards has offered customers incentives for purchasing products from partner brands like General Mills, Frito Lay and Unilever. Points earned on purchases can be redeemed for gift cards from Amazon, Target and Starbucks.

“We see a huge opportunity in that there’s probably 100 million U.S. households we should be very well plugged into, but today we only have 13 million active monthly users,” said company founder and CEO Wes Schroll.

Schroll started the company in 2013 when he was a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It’s now valued at more than $1 billion, making it part of an elite group of startups called “unicorns.”

UW Experts in the News

How pandemic isolation is affecting young kids’ developing minds

National Geographic

Unless there are deficits in care or a stressful family environment, extra time at home may have benefitted the very young. For babies, caregivers are their whole world, and their greatest need is responsive, sensitive care. “There’s really no indication that their social development is going to be impacted at all,” says Seth Pollak, a psychologist and brain scientist who studies child development at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Obituaries

Galle, Victoria Fabian

Wisconsin State Journal

Vickie graduated from Madison West High School in 1953 and went to work for the University of Wisconsin business offices, until the age of 55 when she retired.

UW-Madison Related

Heather Morgan is Razzlekhan, the rapper accused of laundering billions of dollars in bitcoin

The Washington Post

Lichtenstein has a lower online profile than his wife; he described himself as a “tech entrepreneur, explorer, and occasional magician” in a 2018 blog post. According to court documents, the dual Russian and American citizen grew up in Glenview, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-founded MixRank, a sales firm initially funded by Y Combinator and investors including Mark Cuban, according to the company’s website.