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Author: jnweaver

Chazen offers big city vibe

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Wisconsin State Journal

If you haven?t been down to see the new and elaborate Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus, it?s well worth the visit. You?ll appreciate not only its diverse and impressive collections of paintings, sculptures and carvings ? including some contemporary Wisconsin art ? but also its contribution to the urban fabric of our great city. Step inside and you?ll think you?re in Chicago or even New York. The big city vibe is unmistakable and provides another engaging attraction for residents and visitors Downtown.

Campus Connection: Do promise scholarship programs help students earn college degrees?

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Capital Times

At first glance, a program launched last week that will provide college scholarships for up to 2,600 current ninth-graders attending public schools in Milwaukee looks similar to a growing number of initiatives across the country designed to give students the boost they need to pursue a college degree. But The Degree Project is different in one significant way: It was built from the ground up as a research project to collect data and to examine whether these so-called promise programs are a wise use of funds in an era of limited resources.

“What we want to look at is if there is clear evidence that these programs work,” says Douglas Harris, a UW-Madison associate professor of educational policy studies who helped design the project and is its evaluator.

UW football: Behavior of fans an issue as Penn State comes to town

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Madison.com

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema and athletic director Barry Alvarez have not had much success influencing students? behavior at Camp Randall Stadium. Bielema and Alvarez made an appeal earlier this season to stop an obscene chant by students, to no avail. So it was perhaps understandable that Bielema stopped short of telling the students how to act during the game against Penn State on Saturday. Bielema said at his Monday press conference that UW officials were going to meet to discuss anything that might happen before the game.

On Campus: UW-Eau Claire study: RateMyProfessors provides useful information

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Wisconsin State Journal

A UW-Eau Claire study has found that a popular website used to rate college professors is “providing useful feedback about instructor quality.” RateMyProfessors.com allows students to voluntarily rank their professors, but there is conflicting research on the validity of the website. Skeptics say students who use the site are not representative, tend to have extreme views, and give high ratings to easy instructors.

Obituary: Anton William Rajer

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Madison.com

Anton William Rajer, art conservator, teacher, humanitarian from Green Bay and Madison, passed away suddenly of a heart attack on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Rajer was a historic preservationist who helped restore murals and ceiling paintings at the State Capitol. He was 59. Rajer lived primarily in Green Bay but kept an apartment in Madison, where he taught throughout his career at UW-Madison in continuing education.

PAVE Column: On gameday, stay classy Madison

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Daily Cardinal

The scandal exposed at Penn State University earlier this month is nothing short of devastating. Weeks after its initial surfacing, it is still a highly discussed issue on campus, especially with this Saturday?s upcoming matchup. When the Nittany Lions come to Madison this weekend, emotions are sure to run high. Per usual, we want to win, but we?re also playing a team recently led by some detestable people, a reality that stirs up strong emotions in most. Around campus, I?ve heard students joke about chanting ?Pedo State? come gameday. Others have discussed switching out the ?asshole? chant with ?rapist.? One student even proposed shouting, ?You rape little boys! You rape little boys!?

SSFC passes Legal Info. Center budget

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Daily Cardinal

The Student Services Finance Committee approved a budget of over $35,000 for the UW-Madison Legal Information Center Monday but tabled its decision on the Associated Students of Madison internal budget until next week. According to the group?s website, the LIC is a campus group that provides free legal information to students and community members. The committee gave the group less money than it requested for salaries and increased funding for telephone services.

Students protest labor policies

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Daily Cardinal

Members of the Student Labor Action Coalition held a demonstration Monday protesting UW-Madison?s main licensing partner, saying it fails to give severance pay to recently unemployed factory workers. The demonstration was a response to an Indonesian factory contracted by Nike and UW partner Adidas that closed abruptly in January, leaving 2,800 workers jobless. Legally, the companies still owe 1.8 million of the original 3.3 million employees monetary compensation for the factory?s closure.

Campus Connection: UW researchers prove neurons grown from stem cells can send and receive signals

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Capital Times

Researchers working on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus have shown that neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells and implanted into the brains of mice can connect with the brain?s circuitry to both transmit and receive signals. The findings, which were reported Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team of scientists who work at the university?s Waisman Center, could help lead to new therapies for treating everything from strokes and traumatic brain injuries to Parkinson?s and Huntington?s disease.

Cricket Design Works a small studio with big gigs

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Wisconsin State Journal

Learning has been central to Kristin Redman?s success. It began at her childhood home in Holliston, Mass., about four miles from the start of the Boston Marathon….After high school, she studied biology, art and design and thought she was on a career track to learning how herbicides interact with wetland systems. Her course work brought her to UW-Madison to study limnology and oceanography, but Redman is no longer wearing hip boots and collecting water samples.

On Campus: UW-Madison unveils voter ID plan

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison has solved its ID crisis. University officials announced Monday they will issue free identification cards for voting purposes to those students who do not already have valid Wisconsin IDs. It will cost an estimated $100,000 over five years. The university?s ID cards do not currently comply with a new voting law, which requires all Wisconsin voters to provide a valid photo ID. The university had considered several options, including giving all students a new ID at an estimated cost of $700,000.

Campus Connection: UW-Madison to issue IDs valid for voting to students who need them

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Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will issue free, supplemental identification cards which comply with the state?s new voter ID law to students who need them. Darrell Bazzell, the university?s vice chancellor for administration, said the Government Accountability Board — a panel of six judges that oversees state elections — signed off late last week on a mock-up of a proposed student ID card that could be used for voting purposes.

UW-Madison steps up sales pitch to recruit new students

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Wisconsin State Journal

This fall, UW-Madison admissions counselors marched into the hallways, gyms and guidance offices of more high schools than ever before. The effort is two-fold: spread the gospel of Bucky Badger and lure the best and brightest for the freshman class. “Our goal is to make sure we are identifying the most talented young people who are appropriate for a UW-Madison education wherever we can find them,” said Adele Brumfield, director of undergraduate admissions.

Obituary: Mollie E. Buckley

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Madison.com

PRAIRIE DU SAC – Mollie Eileen Buckley, 72, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, at The Pines Assisted Living in Prairie du Sac. Mollie spent most of her adult life in Madison, where she held various positions including Public Information and Membership Director, Madison Arts Center; Director of Public Information, UW Center Systems; Publicity Director Wisconsin Union Theater and Wisconsin Union Membership Director. In 1984 she joined the UW Foundation staff as Director of Communications and in 2001 was named a vice president.

Farm checks to city folk highlight excess

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Wisconsin State Journal

More than 100 people who live in Madison cashed hundreds of thousands of dollars in farm subsidy checks from the federal government last year. The checks were sent straight to their urban homes ? some of them fancy places on the lake, in Maple Bluff and Shorewood Hills ? regardless of need, high prices for crops or whether the recipients are even farmers. It?s a system ripe for savings as Congress and its “supercommittee” try to stem the federal government?s chronic budget deficit and soaring debt.

The owner of a Shorewood Hills home valued at $1.1 million received several hundred dollars in farm subsidies last year. So did a retired UW-Madison physics professor and a former high-ranking local government bureaucrat, according to EWG data and State Journal research.

Campus Connection: UW-Madison student named Rhodes Scholar

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Capital Times

University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Alexis Brown was named to the American Rhodes Scholar Class of 2012. Brown, an English major from Algonquin, Ill., is the first person from UW-Madison to earn the prestigious scholarship since 2000. Brown will be invited to spend two to three years studying at Oxford University in England.

Veterans learn to use yoga and meditation exercises to reconnect with their emotions in a UW-Madison study

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Wisconsin State Journal

Rich Low of Madison served as an infantry officer in the Army in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, leading some 280 combat missions. When he came back from the service, he didn?t think his experience affected him in any major way. He had nightmares, and he startled easily, but he chalked that up to just something veterans live with. Then he enrolled in a study he initially wrote off as “just some hippie thing,” where he learned about yoga breathing and meditation. A year later, Low, 30, sums up his experience with two words: “It works.”

That?s the idea behind the study coming from The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center on the UW-Madison campus. Researchers there, including associate scientist Emma Seppala, believe something as simple as breathing can change the lives of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, even those who don’t think they have post-traumatic stress disorder.

Under legal pressure, Wisconsin’s coal-fired power plants reduce emissions

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Capital Times

A 2007 Sierra Club federal lawsuit against the state also compelled Wisconsin to reduce emissions or convert the UW-Madison?s Charter Street Power Plant and the state?s century-old Capitol Heat and Power Plant to cleaner options, such as natural gas. Former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle?s administration promised to study ways to lower emissions at the state?s 15 coal-burning plants at UW campuses, prisons and other state buildings, resulting in the retrofitting or shuttering of some of the facilities.

Roger Goppelt: Both tech school and UW students deserve right to vote without roadblocks from Legislature

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: I hope we treat our technical school students with the same respect as UW students. This possibility that the state Legislature will not allow the technical school students to use their current student IDs with a sticker to vote seems very demeaning to all the Wisconsin citizens who are working hard to improve their job prospects.I attended UW-Madison and MATC. The students at both schools are hardworking people who deserve the right to vote without additional problems.

UW-Madison senior selected as Rhodes Scholar

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison senior Alexis K. Brown is one of 32 American students chosen as Rhodes Scholars for 2012. The awards, announced early Sunday, provide all expenses for two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. The winners were selected from 830 applicants endorsed by 299 different colleges and universities. The scholars will enter Oxford next October.

Madison360: Is this GOP presidential spectacle the ‘new Iowa’?

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Capital Times

(Professor Charles) Franklin, the UW political scientist, thinks the plethora of GOP debates this fall has helped to make them, in a sense, the “new Iowa.” What he means is that by showcasing this assortment of political intellects, a roster cut of Republican candidates is happening now, before the much-trumpeted Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3.

“Those (GOP) debates have become shockingly ubiquitous,” Franklin says of the dozen debates thus far, with more to come. “They are talking about them as the new Iowa, that this is the first elimination round and that is wildly different.”

Hospitals locked in battle against C.diff, a stubborn deadly bacterium

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Wisconsin State Journal

Avoiding antibiotics when they aren?t needed. Disinfecting rooms with ultraviolet light. Installing sensors to make sure workers wash their hands. Hospitals in Madison and around the country are taking action against a superbug that appears to be on the rise.The bacterium is called Clostridium difficile, or C.diff. It may not be as well known as MRSA, a drug-resistant staph infection, but it has become more of a threat.

Doug Moe: Wisconsin author explores WWI anti-German bigotry in ‘Jingo Fever’

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Wisconsin State Journal

Death steals everything except our stories. Jim Harrison once used that line to end a poem. I thought of it last week when Stephanie Golightly Lowden told me how she got her mom on audio tape late in her life and at one point her mom said, “I remember when they burned all the German language books.”

While her mother’s memories inspired “Jingo Fever,” Lowden first learned about anti-German bigotry in Wisconsin when she came to Madison in 1970 with a work-study opportunity under E. David Cronon, a noted professor of history at UW-Madison and later dean of the College of Letters and Science.

Biz Beat: State losing tech, finance jobs

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Capital Times

When the monthly jobs numbers come out these days, the Internet comment boards heat up fast over whether Gov. Walker has the state on course — or not. Unfortunately for the governor, the numbers announced Thursday showed the state losing nearly 10,000 more non-farm positions in October, the fourth straight month of declines….Over the past year the state has lost 5,200 professional and business services positions, including nearly 3,800 science and tech jobs.

Chris Chung: Doctors’ fraud not punished enough

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Wisconsin State Journal

So, doctors caught lying and writing fraudulent sick notes are only “punished” with a slap on the wrist. Since honesty and honor obviously don?t matter to the state?s Medical Examining Board or the guilty individuals, what kind of message does that send to the rest of us?

Syracuse puts Fine on leave after police inquiry

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Madison.com

Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor says the school won?t turn a blind eye to child molesting allegations against longtime assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine. The school placed Fine on administrative leave Thursday night “in light of the new allegations” and an investigation by the Syracuse City Police. ESPN said the accusations were made by two former ball boys.

SSFC approves MEChA budget request

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Daily Cardinal

The student government finance committee unanimously approved a budget of over $150,000 for Movimento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) Thursday. According to the group?s website, MEChA is a student group that works to educate campus and the community about Chican@ culture and struggles.

UW releases guidelines describing limitations of political activity

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Daily Cardinal

In the midst of increased political activity around the state, UW-Madison posted guidelines Wednesday reminding faculty, students and staff of appropriate political activity on campus. The rules discourage students, faculty and staff from engaging in political activity in university buildings and housing. They also prohibit employees from using university resources for political advocacy or participating in political actions when they should be working.

Campus Connection: UW Law School plans to better connect with business world

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Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin Law School is launching a new initiative in an attempt to better connect with the business world. “At a state level, I think there is a misperception in a variety of communities that the law school is either indifferent to business law or is hostile to it, and that?s just not true,” says Jonathan Lipson, a UW-Madison professor of law and the director of the school?s new Business Law Initiative.

Obituary: Adrian Charles Vincent Pope

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Madison.com

Adrian Charles Vincent Pope passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, at the Pope family farm in Arena. Charlie was very proud of his work at the UW Hospital burn unit. Founder of the Madison Aids Support Network, Charlie was recently featured in the Isthmus for his contributions to the community.

Obituary: Helen Frances O?Brien

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Madison.com

Helen Frances O?Brien, age 91, passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, at St. Mary?s Care Center. Helen worked as a secretary for the Board of Regents at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 16 years.

UW’s ?starstruck’ show choir to perform 40 years of hits

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Wisconsin State Journal

The Wisconsin Singers will pack four decades of hits into just 90 minutes at this Friday?s concert in Overture Hall, entitled “Starstruck” for its tributes to Hollywood celebrities, teen idols and child stars. “It?s a fast-moving show filled with humor and lots of great singers,” said Robin Whitty-Novotny, who has directed the choir for 21 years and is a Wisconsin Singers alumna herself.

On the Aisle: Big names, few ideas at NEA panel

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Wisconsin State Journal

Rocco Landesman, the University of Wisconsin-Madison alum and former Broadway producer who now heads the National Endowment for the Arts, stopped in Madison on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 15. At the Goodman Center, he?d hoped for a “lively exchange” with around 200 artists, arts administrators and government types….The meeting was well-attended, but I left disappointed. I wanted to hear ideas that were specific and relevant to our city.

PAVE: Education vital to preventing domestic violence on campus

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Daily Cardinal

?Stop the problem before it starts.? This timeless adage has been offered as a solution to dilemmas both big and small, each time serving as valuable and effective words to live by. In the case of certain problems facing the UW-Madison campus, the situation is no different. Sexual assault, dating violence and stalking are already issues plaguing this community, but ones that need to be addressed before the number of victims gets even higher.

Gilles Bousquet: International education is critical

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Wisconsin State Journal

International education is more than learning a second language or becoming well-versed in world geography. In today?s new economy, it is all about preparing our young people to live, work, lead and compete in an interconnected, interdependent world. In a word, it is about employability. It also is about making sure that home-grown employers ? private, public and nonprofit alike ? can locally recruit the talent they need to fuel their growth in today?s increasingly global marketplace.

UW System grant programs threatened

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Daily Cardinal

In the face of more budget cuts, leaders of the UW System sent a report detailing the benefits of $1.4 million in-state funding for research grants to a legislative committee Wednesday. Facing a $65.7 million budget lapse that has left the UW System with less money to fund grant programs, University representatives from around the state have stressed the connection between higher education and a prosperous economy.

Removed ASM leaders not re-appointed

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Daily Cardinal

In an emotionally charged meeting Wednesday, UW-Madison student government representatives voted not to approve the Nominations Board?s recommendation to allow two formerly removed student leaders to return to their positions. Former Associated Students of Madison Vice Chair Beth Huang and Nominations Board Chair Niko Magallón were removed in September after the Student Judiciary ruled they did not complete required service hours for violating election rules.

Posted in Uncategorized

Controversial historian visits UW

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Daily Cardinal

Known in academia for his controversial work on Israel and Palestine, historian Ilan Pappé lectured on his perceived failures of the Middle East Peace Process Wednesday. Prefacing his perspective by affirming it to be strictly his own, Pappé focused on how the process is understood. To him, the lack of progress in negotiations stems from the continual portrayal of Palestine as an equal partner in peace.

Fines reduced for operator of Campusdrank.com

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Wisconsin State Journal

A former UW-Madison student who faced more than $400,000 in fines for operating an illegal liquor delivery business got his penalty reduced to about $3,000. The city of Madison filed a 575-count complaint against Danny Haber in May 2010 for operating Campusdrank.com, a website that sold and delivered alcohol to customers, mainly to UW-Madison students. The complaint charged Haber and fellow student Matthew Siegel for selling alcohol without a license and to underage customers.

Seven doctors who wrote sick notes for protesters get reprimands

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Wisconsin State Journal

Seven doctors who wrote sick notes for protesters at the state Capitol in February received reprimands Wednesday from the state Medical Examining Board. Two other doctors got administrative warnings, which aren?t considered disciplinary action as the reprimands are. Along with the reprimands, the seven doctors also have to pay to take four hours of continuing education in medical record keeping.

Half-man, half-bat, all good fun in University’s ‘Bat Boy’

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Wisconsin State Journal

With the abundance of Internet gossip, the golden age of tabloids is over. The National Enquirer hangs on with celebrity stories, while another ? the Weekly World News ? has gone online. Still, World News? most famous subject lives on in a musical opening Friday, Nov. 18, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Mitchell Theatre. ?Bat Boy: The Musical? stars the half-man, half-bat ?discovered? in a West Virginia cave in 1992, and follows a town?s attempts to civilize him.

UW football: Choosing between Wilson and Ball not easy

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Madison.com

It?s highly unlikely University of Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson or running back Montee Ball can make enough of a late-season push to be considered legitimate Heisman Trophy candidates. But both players should be in line for a number of other awards — including some in which they will compete against each other.

Board to decide Wednesday on doctor discipline for protester sick notes

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Wisconsin State Journal

The state Medical Examining Board will decide Wednesday if six doctors from UW-Madison and one from Dean Clinic should be disciplined for allegedly writing sick notes for protesters at the Capitol in February. Only one of the doctors ? Lou Sanner of the university?s family medicine department ? had been widely named before, though some websites and groups had named others.

UW-Madison looks to cover cuts

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Daily Cardinal

In light of recent budget cuts to the university, campus officials announced Tuesday they plan to use flexibility granted to UW-Madison in the state?s 2011-13 budget to restructure human resources at the university. UW-Madison director of human resources Bob Lavigna said the project aims to better incorporate and manage talent at the university.

Officials speak against lapses

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Daily Cardinal

UW System leaders spoke against additional system-wide funding cuts at a Senate committee meeting Tuesday. The one-time cuts, meant to address lapses in the current state budget, will increase existing gaps in higher education funding by an additional $65.8 million over the next two years, cutting $18 million from UW-Madison alone.

Doug Moe: Badgers – Penn State game will mark end of an era for Jim and Alice Wilcox

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Wisconsin State Journal

Jim and Alice Wilcox are going to the Penn State game at Camp Randall Stadium a week from Saturday, and bringing two love stories with them. One will end, in a fashion, when the game does. The other one? The other one goes on forever. Jim and Alice will celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary on Nov. 26 by attending the UW-Penn State game. It also marks the end of a 62-year run in which the Wilcoxes have had season tickets to the Badger games at Camp Randall.

Opponents begin massive effort to recall Gov. Walker

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Wisconsin State Journal

Charles Franklin, UW-Madison political science professor, said it?s pretty clear that the purpose of going after both the governor and a group of senators is to give Democrats two chances to stop Walker?s agenda. “This way, even if Walker survives, he will be greatly limited in what he and the Republicans can accomplish,” Franklin said.

UW vet works to save horse

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Wisconsin State Journal

An emaciated 4-year-old Thoroughbred named Sarahs Tiger needed a sling hung from a special scaffold to keep him upright when he was brought by equine ambulance to the UW Veterinary Medical Hospital on Tuesday. It wasn?t long ago when Tiger was a handsome gelding 16 hands high and presumably with a future as a race horse. But after he failed to win on the track, he was left to starve on an Illinois farm before rescuers stepped in late last month and tried to save him.

Dr. Sarah Jacob said Tiger?s condition was guarded to poor. ?The next 24 to 48 hours will tell the story of how he?s going to do,? she said.

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Obituary: Dr. Thomas G. Shanahan

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Madison.com

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.- Dr. Thomas G. Shanahan, age 54, of Springfield, died on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, at his residence. He served his residency at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, specializing in radiation oncology. He also developed the belly board while at the University of Wisconsin and it is still in use today.