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Robert Allen Rancourt

Wisconsin State Journal

Robert worked at Ray-O-Vac for 12 years; and later as an Administrator with the UW – School of Medicine and Public Health’s Center for Health Policy and Program Evaluation (CHPPE) and the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute. He retired from the University after more than 30 years in 2009.

Mary Alma Pankratz

Wisconsin State Journal

For more than 30 years, Mary worked for the State of Wisconsin finishing her career as a program assistant at the UW Carbone Cancer Center where she often joked that she started at the Cancer Center BC (before Carbone).

Albert “Al” Harlan Ellingboe

Wisconsin State Journal

In 1983, he joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as a Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology with a joint appointment in the Department of Genetics. Al was an international recognized authority on the genetics of host-pathogen interactions.

Demolished UW dorms honored strong women leaders — Lynne Watrous Eich

Wisconsin State Journal

Letter to the editor: Readers who travel east on Johnson Street toward North Park Street in Madison may be interested in this: On the south side of the corridor, two former residence halls built in 1962 adjacent to each other — Susan Burdick Davis House and Zoe Bayliss House — have recently been demolished.

David George Hinds

Wisconsin State Journal

He joined University of Wisconsin Madison-Extension as an Assistant Professor and Community Development Educator in Sauk, Kenosha and Racine counties.  He was promoted to Professor and named Director of UW-Extension Local Government Center in Madison, WI.

Soaring home prices, interest rates mean Wisconsinites aren’t moving

The Capital Times

High interest rates and soaring home prices are holding back Wisconsin’s housing supply and discouraging potential buyers, a University of Wisconsin-Madison real estate expert told an audience of bankers and business people at the Economic Forecast Luncheon on Wednesday at the Sheraton Madison Hotel. The annual event is hosted by news outlet WisPolitics-WisBusiness and the Wisconsin Bankers Association.

“We just don’t have product for sale,” said Mark Eppli, director of the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Business School, in a keynote address.

Madison kicking off $300M Triangle redevelopment with a $50M first phase

Wisconsin State Journal

The city’s Community Development Authority, which owns 336 housing units at five sites and a small Asian grocery store on 10.5 acres bounded by West Washington Avenue and South Park Street, on Monday submitted plans for the initial phase of the larger redevelopment that will triple the total, up to 1,216 units.

Madison Muslims gather to celebrate the end of Ramadan

Wisconsin State Journal

“I think having a place to go when we’re away at college is really making it feel like a second home for us,” UW-Madison student Dorsa Radvarzangeneh said. “It’s been difficult throughout Ramadan, going through it alone.”

Many college students have been grateful to find community during Ramadan, a time for reflection and fasting, Radvarzangeneh said.

Dance is dwindling in Wisconsin’s public schools. Chell Parkins is trying to fix that.

Wisconsin State Journal

As the inaugural director of dance education at UW-Madison, Parkins, 51, is aiming to get more dance education into the state’s school systems and training the next generation of dance teachers.

Although UW-Madison has been a hub for this work for decades, dance in Wisconsin’s public schools is dwindling. In the 2020-21 school year, just 1,066 students were enrolled in dance classes in Wisconsin schools, according to data from the Department of Public Instruction

Julius Adler

Wisconsin State Journal

In 1960, Julius returned to the University of Wisconsin as an assistant professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Genetics. There he discovered how bacteria sense attractants and repellants; this research, the study of “Chemotaxis,” was carried out for 40 years. Julius opened up this field; there are now over 1000 scientists, worldwide, studying it.

Defections in Wisconsin primary show Biden, Trump have ground to make up with their bases

Wisconsin State Journal

“At this point, Republicans are generally more enthusiastic about Trump than Democrats are about Biden, but Trump nonetheless failed to win over about one in five GOP primary voters,” UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said. “Some of those individuals are probably independents or Democrats who were enticed by Haley’s campaign, but he still has work to do bringing on board Republicans with higher levels of education and income, such as those in Dane and the WOW counties.”

Lois Jean (Raisbeck) Herrling

Wisconsin State Journal

Lois was employed at Springs Window Fashions, formerly Grabers of Middleton, for several years and later at UW Hospitals and the Physical Plant in Madison as a housekeeper and janitor for almost 23 years. She often spoke with kindness of all the caring people she came in contact with and enjoyed her work very much.

UW grad’s documentary finds hope in Cambodian immigrant’s story

The Capital Times

Solomon was working in video production for StoryBridge after graduating from UW-Madison when he happened to mention to one of the other tenants in the building that he was traveling to Thailand. The neighbor suggested he stop over in Cambodia to see the school projects that Garms and Ou were working on through their organization, the Cambodian School Project.

UW-Oshkosh faculty rebuke chancellor with a vote of no confidence

Wisconsin State Journal

The UW-Oshkosh Faculty Senate released results of the no-confidence vote Friday, which had an 81% participation rate. Out of all 281 faculty members, 58%, or 164 faculty members, indicated they had no confidence in Leavitt’s leadership. Approximately 23% of faculty, or 65 people, voted in favor of Leavitt’s leadership. The remaining 18.5% did not vote.

Universities of Wisconsin overhauls website as it tries to reverse declining enrollment

Wisconsin State Journal

“(With the old website) you find out about the Board of Regents, you may find out a little bit about me, but you don’t find out how you apply to a school or what schools are available to you,” UW system President Jay Rothman said. “The best analogy I’ve figured out is that … when you go to a bank’s website, you don’t find out about the board of directors, you find out how to open a checking account. And that’s the same kind of consumer-friendly focus that we want to have for our students.”

State Bar of Wisconsin agrees to change diversity definition in lawsuit settlement

The Associated Press

On its website, the bar association says the program is for University of Wisconsin and Marquette University law school students “with backgrounds that have been historically excluded from the legal field.” But the lawsuit alleged that is a new focus and that the program has historically been touted as a way to increase racial diversity among attorneys at law firms, private companies and in government.

Total solar eclipse: What to know if you’re viewing from Madison

The Capital Times

The total eclipse — which occurs when the moon aligns entirely in its orbit between the sun and the Earth — will begin to be visible in Madison at 12:50 p.m. but will be at maximum coverage at 2:05 p.m., said James Lattis, the director of the University of Wisconsin Space Place.

“The basic astronomy of the eclipse is that the moon comes between us and the sun, and blocks part of the disk or all of the disk of the sun,” Lattis explained. “So if you’re at the right place, that path of totality where the alignment is right for the moon to completely cover the disk of the sun, you get the sight of the total eclipse.”

How sheep could be a key to Wisconsin’s solar energy future

The Capital Times

This spring Alliant Energy and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will break ground on a 2.25 megawatt, roughly 15-acre solar array that will be used to study agrivoltaics at the university’s Kegonsa Research Campus 10 miles southeast of Madison.

Researchers will study the soil and water quality of the solar site, its effect on wildlife, and the feasibility of grazing animals and growing crops among the array, said Josh Arnold, UW-Madison campus energy adviser.

Voting hours extended on UW campus due to poll site issue

The Capital Times

Voting hours have been extended from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus due to a management issue at the polling place earlier Tuesday. The extension was opposed by a lawyer who represents the Wisconsin Republican Party, according to court filing.

Letter | GOP lawmakers aim to deny opportunities at UW

The Capital Times

Letter to the editor: Wisconsin Republican legislators, with one exception, deny the University of Wisconsin staff and programs that help individuals whose economic, cultural, historical and educational backgrounds did not give them the preparations for higher education (“DEI deal votes lead senators to reject two Evers Regent appointees,” March 12).

Universities of Wisconsin, UW-Madison to offer paid parental leave

The Capital Times

The new policies give eligible employees six weeks of paid time off following the birth or adoption of a child. The change comes after UW-Madison faculty and staff lobbied administrators to implement such a policy.

“I’m really happy that we’re in a position to be able to announce this,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin told faculty at a meeting Monday. “This has been something I’ve wanted to bring to conclusion, and there’s been interest in this for a very long time.”

UW-Madison, UW system propose 6-week paid parental leave policies

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison and the Universities of Wisconsin are each proposing a paid parental leave policy granting six weeks of leave for the birth or adoption of a child, following more than a decade of studying its feasibility and increasing pressure from faculty and staff.

UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said Monday that adding paid parental leave allows the university to stay competitive in recruiting graduate students and employees, and catch up to other local private businesses and governmental agencies that already offer it.