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Author: gbump

Tom Still: With surging need for bandwidth, top public CIOs see urgent need for cooperation

State of Wisconsin CIO David Cagigal has a simple goal: To “never spend another dollar” on laying optical fiber cable for data projects involving state government and its partners. If that sounds unrealistic, consider that millions of miles of “dark fiber” — meaning, high-bandwidth fiber not in use — already exist in the United States. … Finding and lighting dark fiber will help Wisconsin prepare for the predicted bandwidth crunch brought on by the “Internet of Things” and the explosion in mobile devices, Cagigal and UW-Madison Chief Information Officer Bruce Maas told a July 28 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network.

Whitesell, Larry F.

Madison.com

hile at UW-Madison, Larry was instrumental in assisting faculty in their scientific endeavors as the Rennebohm Cardiovascular Research Laboratory delved into a host of different areas of investigations, including heart failure, vascular function and cell contraction mechanics. He also helped expand the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory into a University resource with involvement from a variety of departments and the medical school basic curriculum. Larry was also able to further broaden the focus of the Laboratory with collaboration for start-up companies from the University. He retired from UW-Madison in 2010.

UW-Madison professor receives lifetime achievement award

Madison.com

Dr. Ian Duncan received the 2015 Lifetime Excellence in Research Award from the American Veterinary Medical Association. Duncan, 67, is world-renowned for his work on the development and disease of myelin, a material that protects nerve fibers and is essential for proper nervous system function, according to university spokesman Nik Hawkins.

Admissions appeals process for athletic recruits may change

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Although Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez says that a change five years ago in the appeals process for prospective UW athletes has not hurt the Badgers’ ability to compete athletically, school officials are working to return to the previous process.

Don’t snicker — famed UW course chews over science of candy

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Babcock Hall is well-known as a mecca for ice cream and cheese making, but it’s also where candy makers from across the nation and even the world come for two weeks each summer for an intensive, hands-on education in the science of commercial candy making. The course that started last week include students who traveled from Germany, Chile, Mexico and Canada.

Paul Soglin proposes time limit on benches, sidewalks Downtown

Madison.com

At a press conference Thursday, Soglin said the proposal is needed because the city’s posture of compassion with no rules toward the homeless and drifters leads to behavior problems including violence, drunkenness, drug use and trading sex for drugs. The problems are interfering with the use of public space and straining emergency and other resources, Soglin said.

UW Health offers free sports physicals for uninsured high school students

Madison.com

Of the approximate 85,000 students in Wisconsin involved in high school athletics, it’s estimated that two to five percent don’t have health insurance to pay for the sports physicals required by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. To help those athletes out, the Dane County Sports Medicine Council is partnering with the UW Health Sports Medicine and UW School of Medicine and Public Health to offer free sports physicals from 6-9pm on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

UW-Madison, two-year campuses to increase associate degree holders

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A unique agreement between the state’s flagship university, its public two-year colleges and a Madison technical college aims to increase the number of residents who hold at least an associate degree. The new “reverse transfer” agreement will allow students who transfer to the flagship before completing an associate degree to complete the requirements and pick up that degree while also working toward a bachelor’s degree.

UW-Madison prof makes film ‘In the Shadow of Ebola’

Wisconsin State Journal

University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Gregg Mitman was in Liberia last summer to make a film about the African country’s past. And then the present erupted. Mitman is n is the curator of the UW-Madison’s Tales From Planet Earth Festival, a biennial festival that uses film to explore people’s relationship to the environment. This fall’s festival, which takes place Nov. 6 to 8, will explore the intersection of science and faith.

UW-Madison student, a Peace Corps alum, inspires his parents to suit up, too

Madison.com

After Jeff Shaver survived a devastating fall in 2010, he and his wife reevaluated their lives. They felt he’d been given a second chance, and they wanted to make the most of it by contributing something meaningful to the world. Their son Lee, 30,a UW-Madison graduate student in electrical engineering, had an idea. Years earlier, as a new college graduate seeking a purpose, he had joined the Peace Corps at his parents’ urging. He suggested they do the same.

Professor’s blunder hurts UW’s cause

Wisconsin State Journal

(Sara) Goldrick-Rab’s irresponsible expression of her concern for academic freedom and UW-Madison harmed the very causes she was trying to support. Her remarks about Gov. Walker and legislators allowed their supporters to take the offensive. But most damning of all, when the public should look to UW-Madison faculty for leadership in reasonable discussions of public policies, she offered little more than vitriol.

UW-Madison will continue to be great — Carolyn Heinrich

Madison.com

Letter to the editor from former UW and current University of Texas professor. “I have been at three of the best public universities in the country and believe that UW-Madison, with its deeply embedded shared governance approach, exceptionally strong research infrastructure, and its focus on serving the community beyond campus, is unparalleled in the opportunities it opens for student-faculty discovery and the impact it ultimately has on the public good.”

Bronson Koenig, Nigel Hayes deal with different chemistry, host of newcomers

Madison.com

The Badgers are midway through an eight-week session of summer workouts, a valuable stretch for a program that returns just 34.3 percent of its scoring and 38.1 percent of its rebounding from the 2014-15 team.Not to mention all the experience that is gone. Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker, Josh Gasser, Traevon Jackson and Duje Dukan combined to play 9,896 minutes over the past two seasons, both of which ended with trips to the Final Four.

UW Colleges to cut 83 jobs, consolidate campus administration

Madison.com

The University of Wisconsin Colleges will lay off more than 80 employees in a cost-cutting move that will see the network of two-year schools consolidate administration of its 13 campuses into four regions of the state, officials announced Tuesday.The move is one result of a $5 million cut to the college system’s funding — its share of a $250 million reduction in support for the University of Wisconsin System in the state budget Gov. Scott Walker signed last week.

Tom Oates: UW men’s basketball resurgence started in 1988-89 season

Madison.com

Did the UW hoops revival start with the hiring of coach Bo Ryan in 2001? With the surprise trip to the Final Four under coach Dick Bennett in 2000? With the first NCAA tournament bid since 1947 under coach Stu Jackson in 1994? The answer: None of the above. The Badgers’ slow but steady rise to relevance actually had its roots in the 1988-89 season, when a UW team led by scoring stars Trent Jackson and Danny Jones reached the NIT, the school’s first posteason bid of any kind in 42 years.

The SWAMP helps keep hackers at bay

The Homeland Security grant provides $23.4 million over five years for the SWAMP program, which is a collaborative effort, based here in the Midwest: Morgridge is the lead institution and is responsible for building and operating the SWAMP; UW-Madison selects the software security tools and brings them into the SWAMP; Indiana University makes sure the SWAMP itself is secure; and, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign manages and stores the identities of those who use the SWAMP.

More sunburst chairs stolen from UW Memorial Union Terrace

Madison.com

Sixteen of the yellow, orange and green metal chairs were stolen over a three-day period last month. Thefts of Terrace chairs are nothing new, but police called attention Wednesday to the chairs that were taken between June 11 and 13, saying the total value of the stolen seats was about $4,000.

Aylesworth, Audrey L.

Madison.com

Audrey worked as a divisional secretary and then also took over the Placement Office for the Chemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1965 until retiring in 1994.

Highlights of Wisconsin budget passed by Senate

Madison.com

Associated Press summary. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN— The university system’s budget would be cut by $250 million, it would be easier to fire tenured faculty, and faculty would have less of a role in making decisions under a weakening of the shared governance principle that national higher education experts say would make Wisconsin unique. In-state tuition would be frozen over the next two years.

School Spotlight: Young people from military families bond at camp

Wisconsin State Journal

Special camps coordinated by UW-Extension’s 4-H Youth Development program help military kids connect. “I like the sense of camaraderie with the other military families,” said Madelynn Newmann, 12, a seventh-grader from Whitewater. Madelynn was attending the weekend-long Wisconsin Military Kids University camp last month on the UW-Madison campus with her sister, Leah, her mother, Dana, and her father, Cory, who is serving in the Wisconsin Army National Guard.