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Author: gbump

The biggest cropland changes were near Ogallala Aquifer, study shows

The Washington Post

“A lot of the assumptions were that this former cropland had a lot of overlap with formal conservation programs,” Tyler Lark, an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment who co-authored the study, said in a news release. “But we saw that they’re almost entirely distinct pools.”

UW System’s Chief Diversity Officer resigns

Daily Cardinal

Smith’s resignation comes after a tumultuous year where diversity, equity and inclusion were repeatedly assailed by Republican lawmakers and the subject of a six-month budget standoff. During the standoff, instigated by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, about 35,000 UW System employees saw their pay raises put on pause.

UW-Madison announces new School of Education dean

WISC — CBS Channel 3

Dr. Marcelle Haddix was announced as the school’s new dean on Thursday. Haddix is currently the associate provost for strategic initiatives at Syracuse University and was previously chair of the Reading and Language Arts department at Syracuse’s School of Education.

Fewer UW campuses projecting deficits. But one university has exhausted its reserves

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

One university has completely depleted its unrestricted reserves — a first in UW System history — that will require the UW System to step in and loan some of its own reserves. And some of the universities projecting to close their deficits in the coming year still need to make “substantial” cuts to achieve that goal, UW officials told the UW Board of Regents at a Thursday meeting on the UW-Milwaukee campus.

The truth about ‘zombie cicadas’: ‘The fungus can do some nefarious things’

Fox News

P.J. Liesch, director of UW Insect Diagnostic Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explained that the fungus does “really interesting things” to the cicadas it infects. “The fungus can do some nefarious things,” he told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. “It can produce some amphetamine-like compounds, which end up affecting the behavior of these infected cicadas.”

In Wisconsin, college dreams grow dimmer for rural students

Wisconsin State Journal

In the last 18 months, the Universities of Wisconsin has effectively closed five of the system’s branch campuses, most of which predominantly served rural students. The UW system cites declining enrollment, not finances, as the reason, even as the system projects that 13 campuses would be a cumulative $60 million over budget by the end of fiscal 2024.

Technical colleges are filling rural education gap

Wisconsin State Journal

Several high school administrators told the Wisconsin State Journal that they are seeing increased interest in technical colleges from their students, both in dual enrollment classes, which allow students to earn college credit in high school, and overall interest in those colleges for their post-secondary plans.

New study finds Earth warming at record rate, but no evidence of climate change accelerating

The Associated Press

“Choosing to act on climate has become a political talking point but this report should be a reminder to people that in fact it is fundamentally a choice to save human lives,” said University of Wisconsin climate scientist Andrea Dutton, who wasn’t part of the international study team. “To me, that is something worth fighting for.”

University Protests: Why Agreements Got A Mere 1% Of The Headlines

Forbes

At least five universities–Brown, University of California at Riverside, Rutgers, Northwestern, and University of Minnesota struck agreements with student groups to end encampments during Apr 29-May 3. And in the weeks after May 3, Harvard, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Johns Hopkins, and Chapman also reached agreements with protesting students. Those agreements got another 11 headlines until May 22.

Oceans face ‘triple threat’ of extreme heat, oxygen loss and acidification

The Guardian

Climate scientists have been alarmed by the relentless onward rise of heat in the ocean, which has hit extraordinary heights in recent months. “The heat has been literally off the charts, it’s been astonishing to see,” said Andrea Dutton, a geologist and climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who was not involved in the new research. “We can’t fully explain the temperatures we are seeing in the Atlantic, for example, which is part of the reason why hurricane season is such a concern this year. It’s quite frightening.”

Earth warming at record rate, but no evidence of climate change accelerating

The Associated Press

“Choosing to act on climate has become a political talking point but this report should be a reminder to people that in fact it is fundamentally a choice to save human lives,” said University of Wisconsin climate scientist Andrea Dutton, who wasn’t part of the international study team. “To me, that is something worth fighting for.”

Did UNC System destroy DEI or save it from legislative meddling?

Inside Higher Ed

In other states, a lack of trust between those parties has led to chaotic results. In Wisconsin, the Republican-led state house held up millions of dollars in funding for the state university system over disagreements on DEI spending, kicking off a war of attrition that lasted over six months and nearly derailed the University of Wisconsin system budget.

The most pressing bird flu mysteries scientists want answered

STAT

Yoshihiro Kawaoka put into words a question that worries many scientists watching this situation, the worry that underscored Fouchier’s insistence that this outbreak must be stopped as quickly as possible. “We do not know whether the bovine H5N1 virus will become established in cattle,” wrote Kawaoka, a flu virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “If it does, will it evolve to adapt more towards ‘mammalian-like’ influenza viruses? … Will it pose a risk to human health?”

Ancient crystals reveal the earliest evidence of fresh water, scientists say

CNN

John Valley, a professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agreed that the conditions for life could have existed on Earth so long ago. Valley wasn’t involved in the new research but was among the first scientists to use zircons to show that Earth had ancient oceans and cooler temperatures more than 4 billion years ago, challenging the view that Hadean Earth was a hellish orb with fiery seas of magma.

Why Bird Flu Is Causing Eye Infections in Dairy Workers

Scientific American

“Given the amount of virus detected in milk from H5N1 virus-infected cows, I am concerned about its spillover to humans, poultry and other animals,”says Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor of virology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

College Alone Can’t Save Women

Chronicle of Higher Ed

In the fall of 2020, Jessica Calarco encapsulated what so many families were experiencing during the pandemic in a memorable phrase: “Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women. At the time, Calarco, now an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (her promotion to full professor takes effect later this summer), was studying how parents were navigating the pandemic, a project that included two national surveys and hundreds of hours of interviews

Sociologist: Lack of social safety net impacts students

Inside Higher Ed

Calarco, who’s previously published A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum (2020) and Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School (2018), began researching what became Holding it Together prior to the pandemic, while an associate professor of sociology at the University of Indiana at Bloomington. The pandemic changed the scope of her work somewhat (go figure), and she’s also switched institutions, to the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She agreed to chat about her process and findings, and their implications for student success.

What University Presidents Can Learn From Past Protests

TIME

This year, around 2,000 students were arrested on college campuses at the behest of their own institutions’ leaders. And it was not one or two leaders. Presidents and chancellors approved arrests of student protesters at UCLA, Columbia University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Texas at Austin, Pomona College, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Emory University, City University of New York, Yale University, and Washington University in St. Louis, among dozens of other campuses. At the University of Southern California, there were two police sweeps to remove students’ Gaza solidarity encampments from campus.

How 2 Wisconsin runners have continued a successful pipeline from Australia

Wisconsin State Journal

The University of Wisconsin men’s track and field team won a recruiting battle for Australian distance runner Morgan McDonald in 2014.

It’s not hard to draw the connection a decade later to Jackson Sharp and Adam Spencer wearing Badgers apparel as they head this week to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

‘Cicadapalooza’ party set for Saturday in Lake Geneva

Wisconsin State Journal

The 45-minute, mile-long walking tours are set to be led by UW faculty, starting at 12:30 p.m., and every hour after that up to 4:15 p.m.

Liesch also plans to join Dan Young, a UW-Madison entomologist, in a presentation at 3:30 p.m. at Library Park near the library which will cover cicada basics and feature an up-close look at periodical cicadas.

Proposed ‘alcohol density’ rule could stop new Madison liquor licenses by schools, parks and more

Wisconsin State Journal

Dane County has some of the highest levels of excessive drinking in Wisconsin and has a higher level of traffic deaths involving alcohol than the rest of the state and the country, according to the UW-Madison Population Health Institute. Across the state, alcohol-induced deaths have tripled since 1999, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.