Skip to main content

Author: jnweaver

Campus Connection: Law school dean, regents bill and illegal immigrants

Posted on
Capital Times

Catching up on a couple higher education-related items …

** One of three finalists has withdrawn from consideration to be the next dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School, the Wisconsin Law Journal reports. Gene Nichol, professor and director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina School of Law, told the university of his decision earlier this week, the website reports. It?s not clear why he pulled his name. The two finalists still in the running are Nicholas Allard and Margaret Raymond.

** The Senate voted 25-7 to ensure each region of the state has a representative on the University of Wisconsin System’s Board of Regents, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The measure next goes to the Assembly.

** States allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition — instead of charging more costly out-of-state fees — have witnessed a 31-percent increase in that population’s college-going rate and a 14-percent drop in high-school dropouts among undocumented Latino students, according to a report out of Roger Williams University’s Latino Policy Institute.

Larry Retzack: For older workers, degrees may not matter

Posted on
Capital Times

….I?ve been job hunting like crazy for four years. I?ve submitted thousands of applications, have had probably 25 interviews but no offers, despite holding two current teaching licenses. Most school districts are so strapped for funds that they can no longer afford to hire teachers with advanced degrees and decades of experience.

UW women’s basketball: Kelsey names Rechlicz, Cantley and Bond to staff

Posted on
Madison.com

Bobbie Kelsey is bringing in a couple of familiar faces in her University of Wisconsin women?s basketball coaching staff. One is familiar to Badgers fans, another to Kelsey. Kyle Black Rechlicz, who played for the Badgers from 1998-2002 will join Kelsey?s staff, as will Stacy Cantley, who coached along with Kelsey at Virginia Tech. Also named to the new staff is Alysiah Bond, a former point guard at Ohio State who most recently was on the staff at Arizona.

UW women’s basketball: Epps to be named head coach at Evansville

Posted on
Madison.com

Oties Epps wasn?t sure where his coaching path would lead after he lost his job when the University of Wisconsin fired women?s basketball coach Lisa Stone. But he was eager to find out. Despite some initial pain and several weeks of uncertainty, Epps said he never lost faith that there was an appealing basketball destination in his future.

Obituary: Edward F. Acker

Posted on

Edward F. Acker, age 82, of Waunakee, died on Saturday, May 14, 2011, at Fort Atkinson Hospital in Fort Atkinson following a brief illness. Ed was employed at the University of Wisconsin and retired in 1991.

Obituary: Gail Jeanne Irwin Petersen

Posted on

Gail Jeanne Irwin Petersen died on Sunday, May 15, 2011, after a courageous battle with cancer. She received her M.A. in 1988 and her Ph.D. in 1995 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in comparative literature and was later on the faculty of the Department of Comparative Literature for four years.

Thank Democrats, unions for revenue boost

Posted on
Capital Times

Gov. Scott Walker has yet to implement any of his major economic initiatives. Thankfully. Yet the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau announced May 11 that, because of improved tax collection projections, Wisconsin has an extra $636 million for budgeting purposes. That?s a 1.6 percent increase in tax revenue over the next two years.

Tenant Resource Center Opens Office On UW Campus

Posted on

The Tenant Resource Center has been awarded a contract with Associated Students of Madison to provide housing counseling services and outreach to University of Wisconsin-Madison students for the upcoming academic year. In addition to services currently available at TRC?s Williamson Street office, TRC will have an office in the Student Activity Center. The room will be in the ASM Office, Room 4301 at 333 East Campus Mall.

Doug Moe: Domestic abuse victims to get new safe house

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The journal starts with this: “The first night I was here, I didn?t sleep well.” They are the words of a young Dane County woman, a victim of domestic violence.

“I felt intimidated,” she continued. “I was ashamed that I ended up here.” The woman writing in her journal was staying at the emergency safe house of Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS), which since 1977 in Dane County has been providing support services to victims of domestic violence and their children.

Arguments for autonomy: UW proposals make the case for taking control

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

This story appeared first in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper.

UW-Oshkosh leaders argue they could save $20,000 a year by buying cheaper trash bags. UW-Madison officials say they could complete a $400,000 remodeling job in Sterling Hall in four months, rather than a year-and-a-half. And the UW-Parkside chancellor contends she would have an extra $50,000 each year in tuition revenue.

These are examples offered by University of Wisconsin System leaders of ways they could save money and time ? if only they had more freedom from state bureaucracy.

Madison to host nation’s best science students for renowned competition

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

This week, catapults will storm the walls of UW-Madison buildings. Robots will wrestle at the Field House. Rubber-band helicopters and bottle rockets will zoom into the university?s airspace. And there will be about 6,000 extra people on campus.

Starting Wednesday, students, parents, and teachers will stream into Madison from all over the country for the Science Olympiad National Tournament, the Olympic Games of middle and high school science.

On Topic: Walker budget cuts will lead to cervical cancer deaths, hygiene lab doctor predicts

Posted on
Capital Times

The medical director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene says women will likely die of cervical cancer if Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposal eliminating $266,400 for cervical cancer screening prevails.

“I see at least 1 – 2 high-grade lesions every day during cytologic evaluations,” Dr. Daniel Kurtycz says in prepared remarks to be given Wednesday to the Joint Finance Committee, which will consider Walker?s budget request.

Dave Zweifel’s Madison: Big names at aging groups’ convo and CapTimes’ readers can get deal

Posted on
Capital Times

The 34th annual state convention of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, entitled “Moving Wisconsin Forward,” takes place this weekend in Madison, and readers of The Capital Times can get a special registration discount to attend. The two-day convention will include addresses by U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin, former Gov. Patrick J. Lucey and Elizabeth Warren, head of the new U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Obituary: Laura Ann Fraser

Posted on

Laura Ann Fraser, 48, passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends in hospice on Saturday, May 14, 2011. In 1991, Laura became an alumni housing board member for the Chi Omega sorority, where she remodeled and preserved the chapter house on Langdon Street.

Fitchburg development Nine Springs: ?A paradigm shift?

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

This story appeared first in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper.

Fitchburg city officials say a 383-acre expanse now open for development could change the way people think of Dane County?s business hubs. They are ready to move forward with Nine Springs of Fitchburg ? a plan for a technology campus with housing, stores, restaurants and hotels that could be an express bus ride from Downtown and UW-Madison, built under terms of Fitchburg?s new SmartCode regulations.

Quoted: UW-Madison School of Business associate professor Morris Davis

Madison360: Barrett steps up, but for another shot at Walker?

Posted on

“What I saw early this year (in Madison) was not our Wisconsin. You clearly had ideological forces trying to divide rather than bring us together.”

Another example of dividing people is Walker?s effort to try to split the “flagship university” from the rest of the system, a reference to the plan Walker developed with UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin to separate the UW-Madison campus from the rest of the UW System. Walker is acting more as a king than a governor, according to a Barrett speech line.

Lake Street construction starts Monday

Posted on
Capital Times

The reconstruction of Lake Street from University Avenue north to Lake Mendota on the UW-Madison campus could cause traffic delays during peak commuter times, city officials said. The Madison Traffic Engineering Division said work is scheduled to begin Monday, May 16 on the project, with construction expected to continue until the end of August.

Campus Connection: UW student government ‘neutral’ on New Badger Partnership

Posted on
Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison?s student government voted Saturday to stress it neither supports nor opposes Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to grant Wisconsin?s flagship institution public authority status and break it away from the rest of the UW System.

The 18th session of the Associated Students of Madison?s Student Council passed a resolution which reads, in part, that it “remains neutral on the New Badger Partnership until the 18th session feels sufficient dialogue with (the) student body has been accomplished.”

Ted Voth Jr.: Don?t let Walker destroy the UW we love

Posted on
Capital Times

Dear Editor: I did a Jericho march on Sunday ? seven times around the Capitol Square. Many UW-Madison graduates were out being photographed by their proud parents. I congratulated them, the grads and their parents. Also congratulated them on possibly being the last class to graduate from the UW. All but a very few of the grads knew exactly what I meant.

Harry Peterson: Proposed UW System split is bad for UW-Madison

Posted on
Capital Times

….the chancellor is pushing a new argument, insisting that the only way to save UW-Madison from certain peril is to split from the UW System, creating an independent governing structure for the flagship campus. This is a major departure from the earlier argument, and many people think it is a bad idea ? both for UW-Madison and the other UW campuses.

I write as a longtime administrator at the UW-Madison and former chief of staff to Chancellor Donna Shalala. For eight of those years, I spent a great deal of time lobbying in the state Capitol for the university. I strongly agree that the restrictions on construction, hiring and budgeting should be changed. A separate governing board for the UW-Madison, however, would be harmful to my university.

Stoughton struggles to keep Norwegian heritage alive

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

It?s easy to claim some Norwegian pride this weekend when up to 30,000 people flood Stoughton streets to sample lutefisk and admire rosemaling during the annual Syttende Mai celebration. But maintaining that heritage the other 51 weeks of the year has been difficult as fewer people in this city south of Madison identify with Norwegian ancestry and local Norwegian groups face declining and aging membership.

….Part of the challenge could be that young people with European ancestry are less likely than their parents or grandparents to immediately associate with their ethnicity – a trend Jim Leary, who teaches folklore and Scandinavian studies at UW-Madison, has noticed in his classroom over the last decade.

Chancellor: No concealed carry on UW campus

Posted on
Capital Times

UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is urging state lawmakers to exempt university property from any legislation allowing residents to legally carry concealed weapons.

“All grounds and facilities are already off-limits to the open carry law currently in effect,” Martin said in a news release Thursday. “It is a long-held tradition that no weapons should be allowed on campus.”

Property Trax: Obama assistant Elizabeth Warren invited to keynote UW-Madison conference on housing, economy in June

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Elizabeth Warren, the creator and presumptive head of President Barack Obama?s controversial new consumer finance protection agency, has been invited to headline UW-Madison?s annual spring conference on housing and the economy. If she can make it — she?s been invited, and by now must be expected, but hasn?t yet formally agreed — Warren will discuss how her agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will affect the housing industry, according to the agenda for the June 9 event, dubbed “New Partnerships: Government and Real Estate.”

Big union rally planned on Capitol Square on Saturday

Posted on
Capital Times

Families in town for college graduation ceremonies this weekend can check out or join protests at the State Capitol, where a big “We Are Wisconsin” rally is set for Saturday afternoon. The Wisconsin AFL-CIO is calling on its union members to rally again against Gov. Scott Walker, the Republican-dominated Legislature and legislation drastically limiting collective bargaining for public workers.

UW athletics: LaBahn Arena donations show dedication

Posted on
Madison.com

After nine years on task, Sharon Cole will graduate Friday from the University of Wisconsin.

?Just insane,?? she said with a laugh. ?Just shy of a decade.??

Four years after getting her undergraduate degree in biology, a 3.8 grade-point average to boot, Cole will get her doctorate from the school of pharmacy and start making a living as a pharmacist with a Walgreens outlet in Madison. Cole isn?t out the door and already she?s giving back generously to her alma mater in a way that might surprise you.

UW women?s hockey: Johnson says there was no job offer

Posted on
Madison.com

Mark Johnson is glad he looked into the opportunity of becoming the first men?s hockey coach at Penn State and is content with how the process played out. Contrary to a report last last month, Johnson said he wasn?t offered the job to take over in Happy Valley, where brand-new men?s and women?s programs will debut in 2012-13.

?It never got to the point where, ?Yes, I want the job? or ?No, I don?t want the job,? ? Johnson said Wednesday after taking part in a ground-breaking ceremony for LaBahn Arena, the $34.09 million hockey and swimming facility being built adjacent to the Kohl Center.

Campus Connection: Leaders of UW System, UW-Madison remain divided

Posted on
Capital Times

Catching up on a couple higher education-related items …

** Leaders from across the University of Wisconsin System — at least those not affiliated with UW-Madison — continue to push hard for statutory changes which would allow all UW campuses some long-sought freedoms from state oversight.

** UW-Madison is closing in on hiring a new dean of its Law School.

** Song Jin, an associate professor in UW-Madison’s department of chemistry, was honored as a Scialog Fellow and awarded a $100,000 grant for “enabling solar energy conversion using rational and scalable growth of 1D nanomaterials made of inexpensive semiconductors.” According to a news release, these solar energy grants are designed to fund innovative research that can be quickly applied and developed by business and industry.

** It’s hard to believe it’s graduation time once again. Philanthropists John and Tashia Morgridge will deliver the charge to the graduates at UW-Madison’s four undergraduate commencement ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday at the Kohl Center.

Campus Connection: Funding hit won’t sink Greater Madison Writing Project

Posted on
Capital Times

After learning in March that the National Writing Project had lost its federal funding, Melissa Tedrowe remembers feeling “fear” and “uncertainty.”

“I just wondered, what does this all mean?” she says. “It was a bit of a dark time.” That was a stark contrast from January, when Tedrowe enthusiastically explained how she?d spent the past 18 months spearheading an effort to secure funding and pull together a range of educators from around the area to get the Greater Madison Writing Project up and running as the newest member of the National Writing Project.

Wheelchair, walking cast of missing OWI homicide suspect found, police say

Posted on
Capital Times

The wheelchair and walking cast of Omar Tavizon-Ramos were found Tuesday night on a Madison street, but the man accused of killing two people while driving drunk in Janesville on Easter morning remains missing, authorities reported.

Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain told madison.com the wheelchair and cast were found by someone on Hancock Street, with the find reported to police at 6:37 p.m. DeSpain couldn?t confirm the items were the same ones used by Tavizon-Ramos, but Janesville Deputy Chief Danny Davis told madison.com the items found were those used by the suspect.

St. Francis House wants to sell some land for 12-story redevelopment

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Another faith-based student center at UW-Madison has plans for a major redevelopment project, although this time the result would be less square footage for the student center, not more.

St. Francis House Episcopal Student Center wants to redevelop its property near UW-Madison?s Grainger Hall by selling off part of the site and downsizing itself to make way for a privately owned, 12-story student apartment building. The apartment building would be unconnected to the student center and have no religious orientation, said attorney Bill White, who is representing developer LZ Ventures of Madison.

Madison360: Biddy Martin has right diagnosis but the wrong remedy

Posted on
Capital Times

First, let?s pause to celebrate. Over the past two decades, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has come to deserve the descriptor ?world-class research institution,? one that attracts more than $1 billion per year in grants.

And let?s stipulate to this: Really smart people agree that to protect and extend UW?s top-tier stature, its chancellor and other campus leaders need to have operational flexibility to compete in the global arena. And, further, let?s agree that other UW System schools would benefit from freedoms scaled to their situations.

….Martin clearly believes in her cause, that only through her version of change can UW-Madison succeed as an international player, but it appears to be time to punt.

UW?s players should let bygones be bygones and hope that the university?s brain trust ? which aptly describes the intellect and energy on campus ? can reunite to effectively confront the grave threat posed by dwindling state financial support and Capitol meddling.

So let?s applaud Martin for placing the issue in the brightest of lights and then turn quickly to achieving greater flexibility not only for UW-Madison but for the entire system, keenly mindful that Madison is vastly different from other schools.

Quoted: Former UW-Madison chancellor John Wiley.

Campus Connection: Did Florida State sell academic soul for Koch money?

Posted on
Capital Times

Public universities across the nation continue to be hit hard by budget woes. And in an effort to retain quality, many institutions are focusing more time and energy on partnering with the private sector and wealthy philanthropists. But as desperate as some are to land these additional dollars, doesn?t a university owe it to its faculty, staff and students to say “no thanks” if too many strings are attached to these funds?

Quoted: Brad Barham, UW-Madison professor of agricultural and applied economics and incoming chair of the University Committee; Ananth Seshadri, chair of UW-Madison’s economics department; Dean of Letters and Science Gary Sandefur. Also mentioned: Richard Avramenko, an assistant professor of political science.

Plain Talk: Walker needs national economy to soar

Posted on
Capital Times

Scott Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs during his four years as governor providing he makes it that far and so he?s got his staff trumpeting every small sign that he may be on his way to that goal. Trouble is, in his zealousness to pat himself on the back at every uptick in the economy, he?s making himself look foolish ? even more so than he?s already done in just four months in office.

Mentioned: Professor emeritus of economics Don Nichols

UW swimming: Arizona assistant Hite hired to coach men’s and women’s programs

Posted on
Madison.com

After hiring away the University of Wisconsin men?s and women?s swimming and diving coach, Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne called and offered support in the Badgers? search for a replacement. As it turns out, the Wildcats also provided the new coach. In what amounted to a swap between programs, the Badgers on Monday announced the hiring of former Arizona assistant Whitney Hite as the replacement for Eric Hansen, who left a month ago to become the Wildcats? coach.

UW women?s tennis: Coach gets Alvarez’s support in face of allegations

Posted on
Madison.com

University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez released a statement Monday night pledging support for women?s tennis coach Brian Fleishman after questions were raised about his treatment of players. Alvarez?s vote of confidence came in the wake of a report in Thursday?s Badger Herald in which four unnamed members of the team alleged Fleishman subjected players to unhealthy eating habits and psychological abuse.

Obituary: Lucille A. Alt

Posted on

Lucille A. Alt, age 95, of Madison, passed away on Monday, May 9, 2011. She worked for many years for the State of Wisconsin, retiring in 1981 from the University of Wisconsin Library School.

Suspect leaves hospital, accused of two drunken driving deaths

Posted on
Capital Times

A 21-year-old man accused of killing two people on Easter morning when his vehicle hit a van in Janesville left UW Hospital in Madison on Monday night to get some fresh air and never came back. Police are looking for Omar Tavizon-Ramos, the suspect in the crash on April 24 in Janesville that killed Jeffery Bauer, 19, at the scene. Bauer?s grandmother, Margaret Worden, 61, died on May 6 of injuries from the crash, according to a news release from the Janesville Police Department.

Momentum building for state wolf hunt

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

(This story first appeared in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal.)

With the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the verge of removing the gray wolf from endangered status, more calls are being heard in Wisconsin for a hunting season on the once rare animal.

Adrian Treves, a researcher with UW-Madison who surveys public opinion on wolves, said his work shows growing concern about the number of wolves and their presence in populated areas.

“There is a dramatic increase in the number of people who have heard or seen wolves on their lands,” Treves said. “That’s feeding their fears.”

Campus Connection: Should universities pay property taxes?

Posted on
Capital Times

If a city is facing a major budget problem, should it start forcing tax-exempt entities such as universities, colleges and hospitals to start paying property taxes? Providence, R.I., Mayor Angel Taveras thinks so.

The Providence Journal reports the city faces a $110 million deficit and enormous pension problems as the recession continues to take its toll. To help fix these problems, Taveras unveiled a plan earlier this month to tax nine tax-exempt hospitals, colleges and universities, including Brown University, Providence College, Johnson & Wales University, and the Rhode Island School of Design.

….Like Madison, Providence is a capital city. Its population is about 175,000, although the Providence metro area is home to 1.6 million.

Delany: Nebraska the Green Bay Packers of Big Ten

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Jim Delany calls the Nebraska Cornhuskers the Green Bay Packers of the Big Ten. The Big Ten commissioner said Wednesday that the Big Ten?s attraction to Nebraska went beyond geography and a shared culture with member schools.

Madison360: Regent Loftus wants UW to ‘step back’ on China

Posted on
Capital Times

Tom Loftus turned to international affairs in a commencement speech Friday. Loftus, a member of the UW Board of Regents, suggested that UW institutions reconsider their increasing involvement with China because of that country?s human rights record. Loftus, a former ambassador to Norway and former speaker of the state Assembly, made the comments to graduates at UW-Richland.

?Buy Local? state grants are on the chopping block

Posted on
Capital Times

….The Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grant program was part of former Gov. Jim Doyle?s 2008 budget and was designed to connect local food producers with local buyers. It has awarded about $220,000 annually in development grants over the past three years. Recipients in 2010 included the Bayfield Apple Co., Perfect Pasture in Ashland, the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition and Green & Green Distribution in Mineral Point.

Quoted: Steve Deller, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison

But the grant program is on Gov. Scott Walker?s budget chopping block and was not included in his proposed 2011-2013 budget ? a development that some are calling short-sighted and contrary to Walker?s goal of growing the private-sector economy.

Editorial: Tech colleges shouldn’t be immune from cuts

Posted on
Appleton Post-Crescent

Wisconsin?s technical colleges help keep the economy humming. They are responsive to business leaders? needs and provide students with bang for their buck. They?re so popular, in fact, that enrollment is up 40 percent statewide in the last decade.

There?s only one problem. The state is in a budget crisis, and technical colleges are facing cuts just like many other state agencies, communities and schools.

As voter ID bill heads toward passage, the only certainty is a high price tag

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

….Wisconsin?s bill, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, would cost more than $5.7 million to implement. The measure would require voters to use a driver?s license, state ID, military ID, passport, naturalization papers or tribal ID at the polls. Student IDs would be allowed, but would have to include a current address, birthdate, signature and expiration date. Currently no college or university ID used in the state, including UW-Madison, meets those standards.