From the moment UW-Madison Director of Tribal Relations Aaron Bird Bear arrived on campus in 2000, he had a mission.
Director of Tribal Relations Aaron Bird Bear leaves UW-Madison a changed campus
Wisconsin State Journal
December 27, 2022
Top Stories
UW-Madison researchers seek to understand how forever chemicals move through soil
Wisconsin State Journal
Scientists at UW-Madison are working to better understand how toxic “forever chemicals” move through the ground, which could help communities like Madison find and clean up the manufactured compounds before they contaminate drinking water.
Christy Remucal, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UW-Madison who specializes in PFAS but was not part of Gnesda’s study, said the research is a critical first step to being able to focus cleanup efforts.
Research
Arianna Huffington’s Word Of The Year And Why It Matters For Workplace Mental Health
Forbes
Quoted: Professor Richard Davidson, professor at the University of Wisconsin, has shown that we can actually train ourselves to be happier through practice in very tangible and measurable ways by giving ourselves the resources to deal with the ups-and-downs of life.”
‘I was throwing up with anxiety’: how Democrats fought back in America’s most gerrymandered state
The Guardian
Noted: Wisconsin has the most gerrymandered legislative map in the country, designed to ensure the GOP has as easy a path as possible to capture majorities in the legislature, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison study.
UW-Madison to receive millions of dollars in federal spending bill
The Capital Times
A massive spending plan to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year has been passed by Congress, including millions of dollars in investments for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Higher Education/System
Fave 5: Reporter Kimberly Wethal shares her favorite stories of 2022
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison has its own slate of issues. There, a growing population is pitted against on- and off-campus housing availability. I wrote about the tactics used to clear returning students out of the dorms to make room for freshmen, and the frenzy that ensued as students put their lives on hold to secure housing for next fall.
Campus life
Lake Mendota declared to be frozen over after storm system brings strong winds, bitter cold
Wisconsin State Journal
To be considered frozen over, lakes Wingra and Monona must have at least half ice cover. Mendota, the largest of Madison’s lakes, is subject to another rule developed by limnologists Edward Birge and Chancey Juday in the early 1900s: If you can’t row a boat between Picnic Point on UW-Madison’s northeast side to Maple Bluff, the lake is frozen.
Health
What older Americans need to know before undergoing major surgery
CNN.com
Quoted: Ask your surgeon, “How is this surgery going to make things better for me?” said Dr. Margaret “Gretchen” Schwarze, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Will it extend your life by removing a fast-growing tumor? Will your quality of life improve by making it easier to walk? Will it prevent you from becoming disabled, akin to a hip replacement?
Schwarze, a vascular surgeon, often cares for patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms, an enlargement in a major blood vessel that can be life-threatening if it bursts.
Here’s how she describes a “best case” surgical scenario for that condition: “Surgery will be about four to five hours. When it’s over, you’ll be in the ICU with a breathing tube overnight for a day or two. Then, you’ll be in the hospital for another week or so. Afterwards, you’ll probably have to go to rehab to get your strength back, but I think you can get back home in three to four weeks, and it’ll probably take you two to three months to feel like you did before surgery.”
Among other things people might ask their surgeon, according to a patient brochure Schwarze’s team has created: What will my daily life look like right after surgery? Three months later? One year later? Will I need help, and for how long? Will tubes or drains be inserted?
SOS: With UW Health signature, PA’s debt burden looking lighter
Wisconsin State Journal
The only thing standing between physician assistant Carrie Riley and the promise of some $5,000 in student debt relief was a monthslong overdue signature from her former employer.
Athletics
Wisconsin football players ready for last ride with DC Jim Leonhard
Wisconsin State Journal
Leonhard’s time at the University of Wisconsin is coming to an end soon. The former three-time All-American safety and UW hall of famer is not returning to the program after he was passed over as the team’s head coach in favor of Luke Fickell. His last game with the Badgers is set to be the Guaranteed Rate Bowl at 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, and the players he led as interim coach for two months this season sought to commemorate their time with him.
Wisconsin players and coaches to focus on bowl game after season of pain, change and growth
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The football players who chose to represent the University of Wisconsin in 2022 have been through hell during the last nine months.
Too strong for you?
Consider that the players lost two individuals who they considered part of their family, one a coach and one a player, and had to endure multiple coaching changes.
Wisconsin takes on Oklahoma State in Guaranteed Rate Bowl
Channel 3000
The Luke Fickell era at Wisconsin will have a soft opening. Fickell will be on the sideline against Oklahoma State on Tuesday night in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Most of the major decisions, like naming a starting quarterback, will be made by interim coach Jim Leonhard and the other current Badgers coaches.
UW Experts in the News
Judge rules against Kari Lake in bid to overturn Arizona election results
Washington Post
Noted: Olsen relied heavily on the testimony of Rich Baris, a conservative author and pollster who goes by the name “The People’s Pundit” on Twitter. Baris told the court that interviews he had conducted with 813 residents in Maricopa County proved that the printer problems were to blame for Lake’s loss. A defense witness, Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called the theory “pure speculation.”
In Memphis, the Phonics Movement Comes to High School
New York Times
Quoted: Mark Seidenberg, a cognitive scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied reading, described the program as “the legacy of balanced literacy” because it offers teachers many options, some more effective than others.
“There are things in there that would allow teachers to teach many different ways — and that is the problem,” he said.
Scientists: Atmospheric carbon might turn lakes more acidic
Wisconsin State Journal
But it’s unknown how big such problems will get, said Emily Stanley, a University of Wisconsin freshwater ecology professor.
“I honestly don’t see this as a thing that we as lake scientists should be freaking out about,” Stanley said. “There are so many other challenges facing lakes that are larger and more immediate,” such as invasive species and harmful algae.
Obituaries
Beverly Beatrice (Bannister) Fruth
Wisconsin State Journal
She was a retired Program Assistant at UW-Madison Women’s Studies Dept.
UW-Madison Related
What changed at UW-Madison in 2022?
The Capital Times
On the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the past year brought a new chancellor, a record-breaking class of students and the removal of a nearly two-year long mask mandate. Get the recap in this round-up of changes to the university in 2022.