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December 28, 2022

Research

Higher Education/System

Check the calendar: New policy asks state schools to minimize conflicts, designate an administrator for ‘accommodations’

The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

University of Wisconsin System schools have been asked to consult a central calendar and minimize conflicts with major religious holidays, under a new policy adopted in the wake of a conflict between Rosh Hashanah and the first day of school. 

The new University of Wisconsin System policy, approved Nov. 9, 2022, comes after two years of discussion between Jewish groups and university officials.  

Community

Most-loved PBS Wisconsin Education media of 2022

PBS Wisconsin

Noted: The Wisconsin First Nations website continues to be an educational favorite as well. PBS Wisconsin Education created the site in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education as an important space for educators to access authentic educational videos, lesson plans and learning tools.

This year was another big year for Meet the Lab, a digital collection of middle school learning resources developed in collaboration with research labs on the UW-Madison campus. Two new labs joined the lineup, showcasing the many topics and identities within scientific communities. Visual Communicators: Superpowered by Color explores how to use visual features to make sense of something through the Schloss Visual Reasoning Lab. They research human reactions to messages made with visual elements like color, shape and line. Learn why their research matters in a real-life mapmaking example.

Health

Booster rates fall short of health officials’ goals before holidays

Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Dr. Ajay Sethi, a professor of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said BQ.1 can be treated with Paxlovid, an antiviral drug. But in some cases, people with severe cases of COVID-19 may need to receive monoclonal antibodies, or injectable medical treatments at a hospital.

Sethi emphasized that masking remains one of the safest ways to protect yourself and the community against the virus.

“As people gather for the holidays, you know, getting a rapid test and verifying whether you could be infected is a good idea. And if you have any symptoms, stay home,” he said.

Athletics

UW Experts in the News

What Is a Bomb Cyclone? A Winter Storm Explained

WSJ

If traveling by vehicle, pack a winter survival kit, and in the event of getting stranded in the snow, stay with the vehicle. Laura Albert, an industrial engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies emergency response and preparedness, recommends packing such a kit with jumper cables, a small shovel, a flashlight, warm clothes, blankets, bottled water and nonperishable snacks, plus a bag of sand or cat litter to regain traction on snow or ice.

Drunken driving crashes are rising, and car safety features might be masking the real problem

Wisconsin State Journal

“The engineering of roads has gotten just tremendously better. We maybe can’t solve the problem of that person getting into that car and being impaired, but we can mitigate the consequences,” said Andrea Bill, a traffic safety research project manager at the Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory at UW-Madison.

“We’ve done more things with better roads, more things with better vehicles. We’ve done more things with people having to understand the consequences of their actions. With all of that, though, I think we lead people into a false sense of security.”

Obituaries

Thomas Stanley Stevens

Wisconsin State Journal

After a residency in Retina at the University of Iowa, they moved to Madison, where he worked as a Professor of Ophthalmology at UW Madison Hospital and Clinics for over 44 years.

Jean Dell Bieler Hastings

Wisconsin State Journal

After teaching 5th and 6th grade at Gompers Elementary School for four years, she taught Elementary Science at UW, inspiring teachers to confidently teach science in their classrooms. In 1993, Jean established the Science Teacher’s Scholarship Fund at UW. She also served three year terms on the UW Board of Visitors for the School of Education, and the Board of the Friends of the UW Arboretum.

UW-Madison Related

Tony Evers names Sheboygan County Administrator Adam Payne as the next leader of the Department of Natural Resources

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Raised in Stevens Point, Payne grew up learning how to fish, trap and hunt from his father along the Wisconsin River. He now lives in Plymouth with his family, and is still an avid outdoorsman and conservationist. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in communications and urban and regional planning.