Scout, a golden retriever who was the family pet of WeatherTech CEO and founder David MacNeil, has died.
The world learned about Scout’s triumph over cancer thanks to the help of the University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine during the Super Bowl. On Sunday, Scout “crossed the rainbow bridge,” according to an Instagram post on a feed dedicated to his exploits.
Noted: Boswell bookseller Chris Lee recommends “The Coyotes of Carthage” (Ecco, out April 14), a novel by University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Steven Wright. Lee called it a “hilarious assessment of dark money campaigns for corporate clients. … Ironies abound in this thing.”
Quoted: A 2015 study of influenza and credit card and mortgage defaults in 83 metro areas found the largest effects were for 90-day defaults, suggesting a flu outbreak has a “disproportionate impact on vulnerable borrowers who are already behind on their payments.”
“And that’s just a regular flu, not a pandemic where you actually are having people sent home before they’re sick,” said J. Michael Collins, one of the study’s authors and professor and director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
As midterms came to an end at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, freshman psychology major Eleanor Johnston stood between the double doors of Sandburg Hall scanning the street for her mother’s car.
John Erickson, the men’s basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin from 1959-67 and the first general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks, has passed away.
Erickson died Wednesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was 92.
Noted: One in five Wisconsin workers holds “a poverty wage job with few benefits,” according to a 2018 report from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Social distancing would be a lot less inequality promoting if we had the infrastructure of strong medical care, insurance and housing supports for low-wage workers, but we don’t,” said Laura Dresser, a labor economist and the associate director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. “That means that this crisis tends to push the inequality along, instead of the crisis showing how connected we are and pulling us closer together.”
Noted: While at the University of Wisconsin, Brian met Mary while washing dishes at Barnard Residence Hall. The two were married for 62 years and have five children, 26 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.
Coronavirus is something kids are likely to be asking about a lot. When it comes up, Travis Wright, an associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he recommends allowing the kids’ questions and concerns to guide the conversation. That way, you won’t inadvertently introduce fears that they didn’t already have.
Also quoted: “They can take over-the-counter medications and they will do just fine,” said Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer for UW Health. “I know people are worried about our kids. If we’ve got anything going for us, it doesn’t appear that COVID makes children too sick.”
Numerous universities across the state are asking students in residence halls to come back and clear them out quickly, with at least one — the University of Wisconsin-Madison — saying it might need the space for hospital overflow.
Quoted: “I think it could be an interesting test case for the rest of the country to examine,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Barry Burden said of the “terrible trade-off” between holding the election as scheduled and putting it off.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank announced Tuesday that the campus will stay online for the rest of the spring semester, including finals.
Fitness centers are taking steps to combat the spread of coronavirus, but a UW Health doctor says that, for now, it’s safer to exercise outdoors or away from other people.
The virus isn’t found in sweat, so that’s not the problem. However, if someone in a gym has COVID-19, they could spread it through coughing, sneezing or touching a workout machine.
“There are so many surfaces they could contaminate,” said Jeff Pothof, safety officer for UW Health, which is an affiliate of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
The Sheboygan Lutheran boys basketball team’s coaches had the film already rolling for Randolph, its scheduled opponent in Saturday’s sectional final.
Quoted: Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted state laws do not explicitly say the governor can suspend most laws during health emergencies but also do not expressly prohibit doing so.
“This seems to be a gray area that is not spelled out fully in state law,” he said by email.
Noted: Wetselaar, who was 33 when he died in the Molson Coors shootings Feb. 26, grew up in the Milwaukee area. He graduated from Pius XI High School in 2005 and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009 with a degree in political science. He met his wife while at UW-Madison, where they both worked at a restaurant.
Noted: This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with scientists Dave O’Connor and Tom Friedrich, who research viral infections at the University of Wisconsin. O’Connor and Friedrich formed a Slack channel on Jan. 22 to coordinate coronavirus research with scientists worldwide.
Quoted: Peter Goff, an expert in educational administration at UW-Madison, read the 40-page report at WUWM’s request.
“What this [review] tells me is this is an HR department that’s bureaucratic, it’s about pushing things through,” Goff says. “It’s not about talent management. It’s not about teachers. It’s not about making sure our schools are staffed with the best people.”
Like many students, composer and pianist Becca May Grant was clueless about life beyond the UW-Madison campus when she arrived in Madison in 1994. After all, why should a young white girl from Lakeville, Minnesota, know anything about the city’s diverse south side neighborhoods and the people who live there? But then a service learning project at Fountain of Life Covenant Church introduced her to a new world, just down the road from the university. And she forged a connection with that new world through the power of gospel music.
Thursday was a night for celebrating accomplishments at UW-Madison. UW held its 12th annual reception honoring Outstanding Women of Color.
The percentage of students graduating from Wisconsin colleges within six years has improved. While the state fared better than most other states, administrators at public and private universities in Wisconsin say they are rolling out new initiatives to further boost graduation rates and shrink disparities between students of color and their white counterparts.
Quoted: A cache of Instagram posts captured by researchers showed that the Russians were “better at impersonating candidates” and that influence-mongers “have moved away from creating their own fake advocacy groups to mimicking and appropriating the names of actual American groups,” wrote Young Mie Kim, a University of Wisconsin professor who analyzed the material with her team.
Noted: Reared in Chicago, Ms. Gordon attended the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin. She moved to New York City when she was 19, to pursue a career in entertainment. She landed parts on radio and live television programs, including “Studio One” and “Robert Montgomery Presents.” She began doing mostly commercials in the mid-1950s.
In the depths of the Kohl Center, home of the University of Wisconsin’s Badgers men’s hockey team, another week has ended much like the one before it — and the one before that.
Quoted: People may be mistaken if they feel like a temporary drop in greenhouse gas emissions is good for the environment, Andrea Dutton, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told ABC News.
When pollution is released into the air, the particulates “actually have a shielding effect” from the sun, Dutton said.
“If you take that away, then it has the opposite effect,” and the planet could warm even faster, Dutton said.
Noted: Ryan J. Owens, J.D., Ph.D., is the George C. and Carmella P. Edwards Professor of American Politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and director of the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.
Noted: Rutgers University, Kent State University, the University of San Diego, Penn State University, Kennesaw State University, Fairfield University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Connecticut and the University of Georgia all told NBC News that they will not have any students self-quarantined on campus in dorms or other university housing.
Quoted: “He was more or less left for dead a few weeks ago,” University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications Professor Michael Wagner said of Joe Biden. “It’s really remarkable, Biden won states, where he did not advertise, did not show up, did not have a field office; it was all on the strength of endorsements over the last couple of days.”
In April 2015, University of Wisconsin star forward Frank Kaminsky was named Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year. Kaminsky, who had just led the Badgers to two straight Final Four appearances, became the first Wisconsin player to ever receive the award.
Quoted: COVID-19 is expected to have a major impact on the global economy. Projections have become increasingly pessimistic in recent weeks as the virus has continued to spread, said Ian Coxhead, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor. He noted some forecasts predict negative economic growth in the U.S. during the second quarter or even over the whole year.
“The fortunes of any company in the state or in the U.S. are going to be, first of all, determined by the macroeconomic health of the U.S. economy,” Coxhead said.
Citing enrollment declines, UWM Chancellor Mark Mone this week became the latest Wisconsin university leader to send a now-familiar message: The university workforce needs to get smaller.
Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday named Héctor Colón, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, the newest member of the University of Wisconsin System’s Board of Regents.
Quoted: Connie Flanagan, a professor in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, calls the decision “complicated” — one that requires thoughtful discussions ahead of time. “You can’t just put a sign in your child’s hand and be done with it. You have a responsibility to explain.”
Quoted: “In general, convention planners should be in touch with Milwaukee and state officials, particularly those in charge of preparedness, to assure the event maximizes safety for convention goers and prevention of any risks for disease transmission (airborne, food-borne, water-borne, etc.),” said Ajay K. Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “That communication between convention planners and local and state public health is already happening.”
Increasingly, radium in public water supplies has become a notable element for other municipalities in suburban Milwaukee — and much of the state, new research from a Wisconsin study has found.
One ironic twist is that the levels in Waukesha, a community which was forced to find a solution to meet federally mandated radium limits, may have actually improved, albeit marginally, in recent years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison study suggests.
Wisconsin is now conducting its own tests for the new coronavirus, but the state has yet to see its second case. As of Monday, 18 people in the state have tested negative and test results for two people remain pending.
The testing will be done at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and at the Milwaukee Health Department, health officials said. Test samples previously were sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Quoted: For children younger than 7, it might be possible to avoid the subject, said Karyn Riddle, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who examines how exposure to violence in the media affects children.
“News stories like this can be very frightening,” Riddle said. “Young kids this age, they’re not as likely to learn about it secondhand on the playground from other kids. Parents might want to shield them from a story like this altogether.”
Virgil Abloh, the founder of Off-White and the men’s wear designer of Louis Vuitton, is the kind of fashion figure that seems to demand comparison.
For most of February, the Black Cultural Center was hard at work with creating the University of Wisconsin’s Black History Month, and with the help of their student-run planning committee, this year was one for the books.
They were the longest five seconds of his life.
University of Wisconsin wide receiver Quintez Cephus stood inside a Madison, Wis., courtroom six months ago, on trial for two sexual assault charges. As Judge William Hanrahan prepared to read the verdict, a bevy of thoughts suddenly raced through Cephus’ mind.
As the coronavirus continues to spread, the University of Wisconsin canceled its study abroad program to South Korea for the coming Spring semester.
A UW spokesperson, John Lucas, told NBC15 the university’s Vice Provost and Dean of the International Division made the call after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its Warning Level to 3, which warns people to avoid nonessential travel to the Asian nation.
Quoted: Yang Sao Xiong, a professor of Asian-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says Hmong history as war allies of the U.S. military has long shaped the way the community sees itself. But the story of broader Hmong acceptance in the U.S. has never been simple.
“There are times when they are treated as citizens,” Xiong said. “And there are times when they’re treated as, clearly, outsiders. So this relationship fluctuates depending on this larger political context.”
We talk with a UW-Madison professor about his effort to take the political pulse of three battleground states, including Wisconsin. Then we chat with the producer of the Emmy-winning Beat Making Lab about Afrofuturism.
Appleton native and University of Wisconsin-Madison alumna Brenda Rae will be singing the role of Poppea in Handel’s opera “Agrippina” on Saturday at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The performance will be broadcast live over the NPR News and Classical Music Network of WPR beginning at 1 p.m. that day. It will also be live streamed at many movie theaters around Wisconsin.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has asked two students studying abroad in South Korea to return to the U.S. as a precaution due to the coronavirus outbreak there.
Noted: According to “The Dictionary of American Regional English,” the massive dialect dictionary produced over half a century at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,one of the first uses of “bubbler” in connection with a drinking fountain was in material from Kohler Co. in Sheboygan County in 1914, citing a Kohler fountain that was “fitted with … nickel-plated brass self-closing bubbling valve … adjustable for a continuous flow of water. … Can also furnish … continuous flow bubbler with above fountain.”
Note that it’s an adjective there, not a noun.
Joan Houston Hall, former chief editor of the dictionary, told Wisconsin Public Radio in 2015 that “bubbler” usage “mirrors the marketing area of the Kohler Company of 1918 or so,” chiefly in eastern Wisconsin, and especially in the southeastern corner of the state.
Noted: The clinic is a partnership between Gee’s Clippers and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and is supported by the city’s Health Department, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and others.
Quoted: Ajay K. Sethi, associate professor of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was more certain about the possibility.
“Right now there has been confirmed asymptomatic transmission,” he said. “We just don’t know how much of the spread is being driven by people who are asymptomatic.”
Noted: Holzman worked there after school and on weekends. When he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1953, Holzman’s career as a full-time furrier began. He took over the business from his dad in 1972.
Tight end Luke Benzschawel has played his final football game for the University of Wisconsin.
The graduate of Grafton High School announced via Twitter on Monday he has decided to quit playing because of lingering issues with his surgically repaired right knee.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Friday waived the last of a former student’s debt and announced plans to add staff training on how to help students with residency issues.
Noted: Heiden said afterward he didn’t relish the idea of being on cereal boxes or other forms of publicity. He did what he could to return to a quiet life and obtained his medical degree. He first attended the University of Wisconsin and then completed his undergrad work at Stanford University before completing his medical degree in 1991. He became an orthopedist like his father, Jack Heiden.
Noted: Assembly lawmakers early Friday also approved a bill that would require the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study dangerous long-lasting chemicals in groundwater and soil and mandates the Department of Natural Resources to develop standards to use to certify labratories to test for such chemicals.
Noted: In the UW-Madison survey, there was a lot less separation among the three states, with Trump essentially even or modestly behind in matchups with most Democrats. Of the three, Pennsylvania was the worst state for Trump in the Quinnipiac polls. Michigan was the worst for Trump in the UW-Madison polls.
“All three states are up for grabs in 2020,” said Barry Burden, political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of its Elections Research Center.
Noted: Enjoyiana Nururdin, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was upset that there weren’t any people of color on the university’s Homecoming committee, this year and the lack thereof showed. The committee released a promotional video for Homecoming with no black students featured. Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. – an African-American organization, were interviewed and tagged in the video, but their clip was not shown.
“We apologize that the video gave only a partial representation of the UW-Madison student body,” said Tod Pritchard, Director, Media and Public Relations for the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association, who currently sponsors the UW’s student Homecoming Committee. “We established new review and oversight protocols for marketing and communication pieces of student-sponsored work and we are committed to creating a workforce and culture in which all perspectives are reflected.”
Noted: Research for the project was done in partnership with the California-based Human Impact Partners and with UW-Madison professors Geoffrey Swain and Marah Curtis.
Noted: The late Cheryl Rosen Weston, a law professor at UW-Madison, made a significant donation to support the program, but the United Way did not disclose the amount.
Noted: Noah Williams is the founding director of the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He expects automation to have a more prominent role in Wisconsin manufacturing as companies continue to face worker shortages.
Quoted: Those rivals have increasingly moved into selling home furnishings and merchandise that were once virtually the exclusive domain of Pier 1, according to Hart Posen, a professor of management at the University of Wisconsin.
“You’d see something in someone’s house—a wicker-rattan chair or an elephant-themed umbrella holder—and know it came from Pier 1,” Mr. Posen said. “You could buy it at Pier 1 or nowhere, but that’s just not the case anymore.”
University of Wisconsin officials on Friday released ticket information for the Badgers’ non-conference football game against Notre Dame on Oct. 3 at Lambeau Field.
A former student of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee says the school inaccurately listed her as an out-of-state student, a decision that has crushed her financially and emotionally, and all but ended her goal of getting a degree.
