Union South might be a thing of the past, but that doesnâ??t mean the same is true for Badger Bash. The popular tailgate party — which is held two hours before every Badger football home game — is typically located at Union South. But this year the UW Marching Band and Bucky Badger will be partying a block west in Engineering Mall.
No matter who is named the University of Wisconsinâ??s No. 1 quarterback – either junior Scott Tolzien or redshirt freshman Curt Phillips – UW fans should expect to see both play in the Sept. 5 opener against visiting Northern Illinois.
Three roads that have been closed for most of the summer due to construction on University Avenue are open, but the overall project will continue to clog traffic through mid-September, city of Madison officials announced.
BROOKLYN – On Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009, God placed a double rainbow over the skies of Green County to open the gateway for Karen to return to her Heavenly Father. How appropriate that was. Karen couldnâ??t read road maps, but she could read the beauty and see the “from here to eternity” qualities of a rainbow. She worked for 28 years as a policewoman/ detective for the University of Wisconsin Police Department, devoting much of her efforts to crime prevention, especially sexual assault awareness, and was the operational link between the campus administration and the law enforcement community. Frankly, she blazed the way for many women who now call law enforcement their chosen profession and she helped change the attitudes of many men in the then male dominated profession.
An official at Clemson University created a firestorm earlier this summer when, speaking candidly at an academic conference in Atlanta, she said nearly all policies at her institution were driven by how they would help the South Carolina school move up in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of Americaâ??s best colleges.
Education reporters who were at the June conference of the Association for Institutional Research reported that Clemson faculty member Catherine Watt said her university had doubled its tuition this decade to be able to significantly increase faculty salaries, manipulated class sizes and even attempted to downgrade the academic reputations of other institutions when answering peer assessment surveys — all in an attempt to propel the university onto the list of the top 20 public research institutions.
Though Clemson administrators denied Wattâ??s claims and said the accusations were “outrageous” examples of “urban legends,” Inside Higher Ed — an online higher education news source — decided to try to “gauge the extent to which Clemson was an anomaly or an example” when it came to giving low scores to rival universities on U.S. Newsâ?? “reputation” survey in an attempt to make its own institution look better.
This is where Aaron Brower, UW-Madisonâ??s vice provost for teaching and learning, got dragged into the debate.
MADISON (WKOW) — If you listen to Badger games on the radio you will hear less beer commercials for the first time in years. The university has ended a long-standing sponsorship agreements with MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev for Badgers sports broadcasts.
PLATTEVILLE/ VIROQUA – Laurel A. Skrede, age 54, of Platteville, formerly of Viroqua, died unexpectedly from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Grant County on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. She attended the University of Platteville where she received a B.S. degree in criminal justice and political science in 1982. Following graduation she served the university campus community through the department of protective services for more than 26 years. Her initial work was as a student security officer. She held progressively more responsible positions and served as chief from 1997 through her retirement at the end of 2008.
Badgers-themed Bud Light is not off the shelves in Wisconsin yet, despite a promise from Anheuser-Busch to UW-Madison that it would end the promotion â??in the near future.â?
The red-and-white colored cans are still being sold at the Woodmanâ??s West Side store, On Campus confirmed this morning. Readers have also reported seeing the 24-packs at the Woodmanâ??s East Side store and in other parts of the state.
Almost every student on the UW-Madison campus owns a laptop computer, according to a new survey. The annual survey on technology use, which is conducted by the universityâ??s Division of Information Technology, found that 93 percent of students own laptop computers, while 26 percent own desktop computers.
The American Chemical Society, the worldâ??s largest scientific organization, has named Wisconsin State Journal reporter Ron Seely as the recipient of its 2010 national science reporting award.
Seely was announced as the winner of the James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public at the ACS national meeting in Washington, D.C. One of the most prestigious prizes in science reporting, the award recognizes “outstanding reporting directly to the public, which materially increases the publicâ??s knowledge and understanding of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields.”
(Chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri, William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea and director of the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy, is quoted. Seely has been a senior lecturer in life sciences communication in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.)
Many believe that late summer and early fall is the best time of the year to play golf. The big problem is fitting a round of golf into a weekend schedule that includes watching your favorite football team.
Nobody knows that better than the folks over at the University of Wisconsin athletic department. They have created a package deal called the Badger Football Foursome where, for a reduced price, you can play 18 holes at University Ridge before heading over to Camp Randall Stadium to watch the Badgers play a nonconference game.
Itâ??s all part of the UW athletic departmentâ??s creative efforts to sell the remaining tickets to its football games this season.
The Big Ten Conferenceâ??s quest to put more womenâ??s basketball games on national TV this coming season has generated an interesting “sneak preview” experiment.
On Dec. 6, after the football season has concluded and before menâ??s basketball kicks into high gear, the University of Wisconsin will participate in a quadrupleheader of womenâ??s basketball games on the Big Ten Network, with the Badgers facing defending league champion Ohio State in Columbus.
MADISON — On the surface, Madison fire station number 12 looks like any new building in town. Solar panels, cisterns, and a green roof highlight the buildingâ??s appearance. The buildingâ??s coming out party on Monday, however, was less about the environment, more about emotion and honor.
This station, in effect a home to those who save lives, was dedicated to the late Dr. Darren Bean. Bean, along with nurse Mark Coyne and pilot Steve Lipperer, were killed in the May 2008 crash of a UW MedFlight helicopter near LaCrosse.
Stan Jaskolski said Monday he plans to retire as dean of Marquette Universityâ??s engineering school on June 30 or when a successor is named, whichever is later.
Jay Valai and Chris Maragos experienced a metamorphosis before preseason camp was one week old.
“I think they go from being in the competitive modes in their jobs,” University of Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Doeren said, “to being the mentors all of a sudden.”Valai, a redshirt junior, entered camp as UWâ??s No. 1 strong safety, with 12 starts on his résumé. His backup was fifth-year senior Aubrey Pleasant, who had 13 starts in 2007 and one last season.
Maragos, a fifth-year senior and converted wide receiver, entered camp as the No. 1 free safety, with only six starts. His backup was fifth-year senior Shane Carter, who had 13 starts in 2007 and seven last season. When coach Bret Bielema announced on Aug. 15 that Pleasant and Carter had been suspended indefinitely and subsequently clarified they would not return before the end of camp, the depth chart got much younger.
Quoted: Andrew Taylor, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Bolz Center for Arts Administration.
One possible treatment for people with neurological problems ranging from brain trauma to multiple sclerosis may lie on the tip of the tongue.In experiments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, neuroscientist Yuri Danilov and his colleagues have been studying for the past several years how electrical stimulation of the tongue can bring about dramatic improvements in people whose ability to balance, walk and stand has been damaged in ways that leave them virtually helpless without a walker or crutches.
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have reprogrammed skin cells and turned them into different kinds of retinal cells, a remarkable demonstration that mimicked the early development of a key part of the human eye and raised hopes for treating disorders that rob millions of their vision.
Want to ride out the recession? Think long-term.
That was Michael Kaiserâ??s advice to Wisconsin arts companies big and small Monday in the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center. Kaiser, head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., is 21 cities into his cross-country “Arts in Crisis” tour. Heâ??ll eventually visit at least 65 cities.
(Also participating in the conversation: Andrew Taylor, head of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at UW-Madison)
The new Loganâ??s, an upscale sports bar in the former Angelic Brew Pub space, 322 W. Johnson St., is beginning to take shape.
….Restaurant owner Jack Bendetti said he was hoping to open late this fall, in time to woo some of the University of Wisconsin football fans who flock to Madison on game days.
A UW-Madison faculty member has died as a result of a crash while biking at the Colorado National Monument, the National Park Service reported.
Stanley Dodson, 65, was riding down a road on Saturday afternoon when he lost control of his bike. He was taken to St. Maryâ??s Medical Center in Grand Junction and died Sunday, the Associated Press reported.
As college students head back to school in Madison this week, theyâ??ll be greeted at their campus dining halls by new ways to practice environmentally-friendly eating.
From greener packaging for carry-out meals to reducing plastic water bottles to finding more options for eating food thatâ??s raised in the area, they can enjoy options that didnâ??t exist even last year.
MADISON â?? Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler along with Madison attorneys William Conley and David Jones have been recommended for a federal judgeship. U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold forwarded the names of the finalists to President Barack Obama on Friday to replace U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb, who is taking senior status.
(Butler is Justice in Residence and a lecturer at the UW Law School. He and Conley are alumni of the school.)
As Paul Chryst met with reporters to discuss the underwhelming performance of the University of Wisconsin quarterbacks during an extended scrimmage session Saturday, he noted the offense was hamstrung.
Wide receiver Nick Toon (quadriceps) was held out as a precaution, wide receiver Isaac Anderson (hip pointer) was limited and the staff used the opportunity to look at some younger tight ends. UWâ??s offensive coordinator didnâ??t need to mention that three starters on the No.â??1 offensive line are sidelined because of injury.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the agency safeguarding American innovation, is impeding the nationâ??s economic recovery with its unprecedented delays and hurdles in issuing patents, said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.
Tim Flood thinks oakleaf hydrangeas are wonderful plants. He has seen them thrive in parts of Milwaukee, Chicago and Madison, and heâ??s tried three times to grow them at his home in Watertown – without success.
“I suppose if I were to plant one on the east side of a nice brick structure with just the right micro-climate, I might get it to survive,” says Flood, a self-described “plant nerd” who has a bachelorâ??s degree in ornamental horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is vice president of the McKay Nursery Co. in Waterloo. “So I am not giving up.”When it comes to growing trees, shrubs and perennials, most experts agree you shouldnâ??t throw in the trowel too quickly.
“Plants can fail for many reasons,” says Ed Lyon, director of UW-Madisonâ??s Allen Centennial Gardens. “And many of those reasons can be avoided.”
Wisconsin would be one of the top beneficiaries of a broad reform of the patent application process on the front end and the court system on the back end. We may need a special court for patent issues. This is a complex field of human endeavor, so reform will not be easy. It may need the talent of a Harvard lawyer, such as Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold. He surely understands that we canâ??t lead in an innovation economy with a broken innovation system.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.
Toni Gunnison of Mount Horeb was incredulous when she learned she was the United Statesâ?? winner in Ben & Jerryâ??s international ice cream flavor contest.
“My first thought was, â??It canâ??t possibly be true.â?? I â??ve never won anything in my life,” Gunnison said.
(Gunnison is a marketing manager at the University of Wisconsin Press)
The veterans made their moves last week.
The rookies (and their moms and dads) will hit the streets next week as thousands of fresh-faced frosh cram into dorm rooms on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, UW said in a news release.
Move-in days are scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (Aug. 25, 27 and 28) at the residence halls on campus, so traffic will be bollixed up more than it has been (due to road construction all over campus) as confused parents in SUVs, cars and an occasional U-Haul, try to find parking to unload the stuff thatâ??ll help little Jimmy become a Badger.
The stateâ??s wasp population seems to be down this year, possibly because of the wetter spring and cooler summer.
Phil Pellitteri is a bug expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He says every summer he gets calls about wasp problems from farmerâ??s markets or outdoor restaurants. He says this year he hasnâ??t gotten any complaints.
Over the years, the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the top of Bascom Hill has been painted red for a student protest of McCarthyism, surrounded with plastic pink flamingos and sat on by countless graduates asking for good luck.
Likely one of the most recognizable features of the UW-Madison campus, the bronzed statue of Lincoln peers east toward the state Capitol. When unveiled at commencement on June 22, 1909, according to a Wisconsin Historical Society write-up, the president of the Board of Regents called the statue “a sign to all future generations of the high ideals of American citizenship.” President Charles Van Hise apparently imagined thousands of future students silently absorbing the great manâ??s virtues as they walked past.
Quoted: Amanda J. Gevens, plant pathologist with University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin Extension.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison and several other Wisconsin schools lost ground in this yearâ??s installment of the U.S. News & World Report magazine college rankings.
According to this press release, attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the University of Wisconsin-Madison on behalf of a student group.
This organization is arguing that the group Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow on the UW-Madison campus was denied access to student fees because of the viewpoints it expresses.
MADISON – The University of Wisconsin-Madison ranked ninth among public institutions in annual rankings released today (Aug. 20) in the U.S. News and World Reportâ??s 2010 edition of Americaâ??s Best Colleges.
The university also tied for 39th out of 262 national doctoral universities. In 2008, UW-Madison ranked seventh among public universities and tied for 35th among national doctoral institutions.
“This national ranking report is one of several national instruments that provide potentially useful information to students and their families when considering the choice of an institution of higher education,” says UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca.
The annual U.S. News and World Report rankings are out today.
UW-Madison was ranked 39th in the “Best National Universities” category, tied with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Thatâ??s a drop of four spots from last year, when the school was ranked 35th.
An historic plant disease that wiped out the Irish potato crop generations ago has been found in two commercial potato fields in Wisconsin.
The disease, phytophthora infestans, or late blight, has been confined to tomato plants here, so the discovery of the disease in two potato fields in two separate Wisconsin counties is raising concerns from state agriculture officials who are recommending homeowners destroy any tomato plants in their garden that show signs of late blight.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison plant pathologist Amanda Gevens
When doctors asked how it started, all Donna Murphy could remember was that she went out to have a morning smoke in her pickup truck and that sheâ??d had a strange headache. It was around 9 — early enough to catch another hour or two of sleep before she had to get to her job captioning phone calls for the deaf and hard of hearing. So she went back to bed. Suddenly, she had to go to the bathroom again. Only she couldnâ??t get up. She couldnâ??t even roll her body from one side to the other.
Murphy was puzzled. She was 49 and had been in fine health. “Why am I too weak to get out of bed?” she remembers thinking.
Well known Madison golf professional Jim Thomas, head pro at the Bridges Golf Course on the east side, was found dead last night at his home in Middleton, authorities reported.
Thomas, 43, was a well liked and popular pro at the course and was also the golf coach at Madison Area Technical College, holding both jobs for the past several years.
Hereâ??s a mystery with a UW-Madison connection.
This man with amnesia canâ??t remember his name, but claims he attended UW-Madison many years ago.
When the Seattle Times contacted the State Journal this week looking for help on the story, we checked records and paged through archived newspapers from the mid-1980s, but found no record of him or his Wisconsin wife Tina, who he remembers dying.Update: A Seattle Times reader identified the man as Edward Lighthart, an English teacher he knew in China. Iâ??m checking to see if the UW-Madison connection holds up.
In the future, cars and trucks could run on a special cocktail of gasoline and diesel fuel, boosting fuel efficiency and cutting pollution.A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher has developed technology that takes advantage of the best attributes of both fuels to help engines run more efficiently.
Wisconsin maintained its third-place ranking on the ACT college admissions test, with this yearâ??s graduating high school seniors posting an average composite score of 22.3 for the third year in a row, according to data scheduled to be released Wednesday.
University of Wisconsin seniors Shane Carter and Aubrey Pleasant intend to fight their indefinite suspensions, which were announced Saturday by head football coach Bret Bielema. Neither player was available Sunday.
But Butch Carter, the older brother of Shane Carter, and Garner Pleasant, the father of Aubrey Pleasant, told the Journal Sentinel of their plans.
“Shane has called me, and we feel what was done was handled incorrectly,” said Butch Carter, who played six seasons in the National Basketball Association, served as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks from 1991-â??96 and lives in Florida. “Weâ??ve requested the university to allow Shane to have an expedited hearing, as he is allowed to in the student handbook.
The news that Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle would not seek a third term as governor touched off a political scramble Sunday, with his decision promising to rattle not only the race for governor but shake up the rest of the ticket as well. Also quotes UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Issued in 1995, U.S. Patent No. 5,443,036 is titled â??Method of Exercising a Cat.â? If you move the light from a laser pointer around on the floor, it says, your cat will chase it.Thatâ??s right â?? itâ??s patented.
Yet when medical professor Janet Mertz applied for a patent on a new diagnostic test for breast cancer in 2002, she waited five years for a ruling â?? and was rejected. The hormone-based test, developed and refined for more than a dozen years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was deemed too obvious to merit patent protection.
Just such a delay doomed MatriLab Inc., a Milwaukee biotech company formed to commercialize a wound-healing gel based on technology licensed from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Backed initially by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which works to commercialize UW technologies, MatriLab won the governorâ??s business plan contest in 2006. It went belly up in 2007, five years after a patent application was filed for the gel, because no new investors would come aboard as the application languished.
When thinking of things you can cook up in the kitchen microwave, soft plastic worms donâ??t usually leap to mind. Unless you are an inventor, angler and dreamer seeking to build a better fish bait.
Ben Hobbins is just that, and he is hoping the bait he has invented and patented with help from the University of Wisconsin System will capture at least a portion of the $45â??billion spent annually on fishing in the United States.
MADISON, Wis. — The piles of unwanted belongings lining the streets of Madison is a sure sign that Move Out Day is here again for downtown renters.
Itâ??s a lease loophole for renters. One rental lease ends on Friday while the other doesnâ??t start until Saturday, which leaves many without a roof over their heads for 24 hours. With that 24-hour window between moving out and moving in, some students are not only figuring out what to do with all their stuff scattered near sidewalks, but theyâ??ve got to figure out what to do with themselves.
Starting Saturday, the first half of Madisonâ??s new smoke alarm ordinance will go into effect, requiring all apartment buildings and rental properties to have smoke alarms in place.
UW-Madison will be able to move ahead with a nearly $53 million addition and renovation to the School of Human Ecology following approval from a state committee Wednesday.
As the chairman and CEO of independent film distributor Regent Releasing, Stephen Jarchow watches a lot of movies, trying to decide which ones his company should pick up and release in theaters.
He sees so many that he has a ritual â?? every morning, he gets on the treadmill for an hour and watches a movie while he exercises. His company specializes in foreign films, which is ideal; he can read the subtitles and not have to worry about the sound of the treadmill drowning anything out.
Madison Metro buses will be returning Monday to three streets that have been under construction this summer.
Routes 4, 6 and 29 will return to regular service on lower State Street and Lake Street, while Routes 4 and 44 will resume regular service on Mills Street between University Avenue and Erin Street. Route 13 will resume regular service on Lake Street and Mills Street.
Charles Plueddeman clings to the hope that the disease will be cured.
Until then, Plueddeman will continue to closely monitor research and keep tabs on medical breakthroughs that can improve the quality of life of those who are afflicted with diabetes. That includes his 10-year-old daughter, Mabel, a fifth-grader from Oshkosh who has been living with the disease since age 2. Plueddeman was encouraged to hear about a study that is under way at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
University Ridge really caught a break when the Wisconsin Glacier halted thousands of years ago just southwest of Madison. Otherwise, Barneveld would be home to one very fine golf course.
In a word, the course is amazing. University Ridge has been ranked among the â??Top 100 courses you can playâ? by Golf magazine and received a 4 1/2-star rating by Golf Digest.
John Clay acknowledges he remains hungry.
First is his affinity for momâ??s cooking back home in Racine.His favorite dish? “Anything,” the University of Wisconsinâ??s third-year sophomore tailback said after practice earlier this week. “I donâ??t get too many home-cooked meals.”
Second is his desire to handle the bulk of the workload among UWâ??s tailbacks in 2009.
In the 1960s, a University of Wisconsin graduate student named Thomas Crocker came up with a novel solution for environmental problems: cap emissions of pollutants and then let firms trade permits that allow them to pollute within those limits.
When he was a graduate student in the 1960s working to reduce pollutants, Thomas Crocker devised a cap-and-trade system similar to one being considered in Congress.Now legislation using cap-and-trade to limit greenhouse gases is working its way through Congress and could become the law of the land. But Mr. Crocker and other pioneers of the concept are doubtful about its chances of success. They arenâ??t abandoning efforts to curb emissions. But they are tiptoeing away from an idea they devised decades ago, doubting it can work on the grand scale now envisioned.
Rachel Kipp, a certified veterinary technician who works at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, recently attained specialty credentials in large animal internal medicine. Kipp, who lives in Brodhead, is now a Veterinary Technician Specialist, or VTS.
Technical colleges throughout the state are bracing for a fall enrollment boom, spurred by unemployed workers who need retraining and students looking for affordable alternatives to four-year universities.
