Eric Hansen, who took the University of Wisconsin men?s and women?s swimming programs to uncharted heights, is moving on. Hansen has accepted a similar dual role at Arizona, where he worked as an assistant for three seasons prior to coming to Madison 12 years ago.
College basketball coaches often speak of their teams in terms of family. In that context, the University of Wisconsin women?s basketball players have been orphans for three weeks since Lisa Stone was fired as coach. Monday they were adopted when UW announced the hiring of Stanford assistant coach Bobbie Kelsey as the head of the Badgers basketball family.
UW-Green Bay?s Matt Bollant admitted that he was relieved Monday when University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez called to say the Badgers were going a different direction in their search for a new women?s basketball coach.
The University of Wisconsin will introduce Stanford assistant Bobbie Kelsey as its new women?s basketball coach on Monday, sources told Madison.com sports. The hire was first reported on the Green Bay Press-Gazette website. UW has called a press conference for 4 p.m. at which Kelsey will be introduced.
John Hawks, a UW-Madison associate professor of anthropology, was one of several scientists who disputed news reports that the “first homosexual caveman” was found in Prague.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin wants to see what William Cronon has been emailing about. Through an open records request, the state GOP is asking to see correspondence from Cronon, a professor of history, geography and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin, that includes the terms ?Republican,? ?Scott Walker? and ?collective bargaining,? among many other keywords and names.
(Naomi Schaefer Riley, a former editor at the Wall Street Journal, is the author of the forthcoming ?The Faculty Lounges … and Other Reasons Why You Won?t Get the College Education You Paid For.? This column appeared first in The Washington Post.)
Eric “Rick” James Schumacher, age 56, of the Town of Middleton, passed away on Thursday, April 7, 2011, after a long illness. Eric worked for 30 years for the University of Wisconsin and retired in 2009 as a maintenance supervisor at the UW Extension Pyle Center.
Robert Edward Baldwin, born in Buffalo, N.Y., on July 17, 1924, died in Madison on Thursday, April 7, 2011. He was Hilldale Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A lifelong academic, Baldwin was one of the world’s most influential thinkers on international trade, an adviser to governments and international organizations, and an inspiring teacher much beloved by generations of students who carry forward his light as renowned scholars in their own right.
Joseph Thomas “Tom” Shaw, age 91, UW-Madison professor emeritus of Slavic languages, died on Monday, April 4, 2011, at Oakwood Village Retirement Community, of a continuing illness. He was chairman of his department from 1962 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1985, and associate dean (Humanities) of the graduate school from 1965 to 1968.
The university that John Muir attended finally has an environmental studies major. The UW Board of Regents approved two new majors for UW-Madison on Friday: environmental studies and environmental sciences. UW-Madison has a strong history in the field of environmental studies.
A staff photographer at UW-Madison for six years and a former Associated Press photographer in Kazakhstan, former Madison resident Michael Forster Rothbart won a Fulbright scholarship to live for a year in Ukraine just outside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
When a little-known liberal challenged a conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, the once-sleepy race suddenly looked like a back-door way for Gov. Scott Walker?s opponents to sink his agenda.
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Ken Mayer
Monday?s article on the new Union South describes it all too accurately as an opulent playground. This $95 million extravaganza was approved by a slim percentage of the student body in an election so rigged by the administration it would have made Stalin blush. UW-Madison?s potentates have decreed that Memorial Union, which already qualifies as a palace by any reasonable standard, will also be “improved” to the tune of millions.
There may well be no stupid questions. But answers? Undoubtedly. Witness the standard partisan responses Wednesday to the question burning on the lips last week of just about every journalist, pundit and activist from Kenosha to Bayfield:
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden
In his inaugural budget address, Gov. Scott Walker stood before a joint session of the Legislature and delivered the somber news: We?re broke.”
Too many politicians have failed to tell the truth about our financial crisis,” he said. “The facts are clear: Wisconsin is broke and it?s time to start paying our bills today so our kids are not stuck with even bigger bills tomorrow.”
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a professor of public affairs and applied economics at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs
Q How does hail form? A Hail is precipitation in the form of large balls or lumps of ice.
It won?t come as a surprise to anyone who knows Christopher Taylor that the internationally acclaimed pianist and UW-Madison professor of music is now inventing a musical instrument.
Q: Is global warming evident in the temperature records of Wisconsin for the past 30 or 40 years? Winters seem to be getting a whole lot warmer.
A: Indeed, and winter is actually warming faster than summer in Wisconsin, says Ankur Desai, an assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison.
The specter of $4 gas prices has Shelly Raddatz, of Excelsior, Minn., re-evaluating her vehicle fuel economy and the frequency of her visits to see daughter Leah at UW-Madison.
Dear Editor: I am a student at UW-Madison concentrating on international studies and political science. While I do agree the federal government needs to focus more on domestic issues, the situation in Libya should not be compared to President Bush?s wars in Afghanistan or Iraq.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison project designed to unearth better ways of bringing fresh, local produce and other healthy foods to inner-city communities has earned a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The five-year project initially will focus on Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee, cities in which large portions of the population don?t have easy access to affordable and nutritious foods.
Speakers from Al Jazeera, National Public Radio and The New York Times will debate the role of a partisan press in a democracy at UW-Madison?s second annual journalism ethics conference.
MILWAUKEE — A student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls has been found dead in her dorm room. A fellow student found the woman?s body Thursday morning in Prucha Hall. Her name isn?t being released until her family is notified.
When The Capital Times reported recently that Wisconsin public employee retirements jumped 31 percent through Feb. 25 compared to the same period last year, the data did not begin to hint at the breakneck pace of a new phenomenon in the state?s public workplace.
….This is also an important time to be supportive of libraries in Wisconsin. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed budget for 2011-13 includes a 10 percent cut each year in state funding for public libraries, cuts of 11.6 percent in the first year and 6.6 percent in the second year in school library funding, as well as a provision that would eliminate a requirement that local funding for public libraries be maintained, at minimum, at the average of the prior three years.
To kick off National Library Week, the UW-Madison Libraries are again hosting the Edible Book Festival on Tuesday, April 12, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. in Room 460 at Memorial Library, 728 State St.
Cellular Dynamics International, the company started by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson, has raised another $30 million in private financing. Just last year, the company raised more than $40 million; the latest financing brings the total to $100 million since 2004. CDI makes human heart cells for use by medical researchers and drug development companies.
UW-Madison is ready to give you a healthy push into spring. The Division of Recreational Sports is hosting the UW-Madison Wellness Expo on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Southeast Recreational Facility, also known as SERF, on Dayton Street next to the Kohl Center. The free expo is open to the public.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is asking for back-up support on the plan to split the university from the rest of the UW System. She sent a letter for faculty, staff and students encouraging them to reach out to lawmakers in support of the proposal, called the New Badger Partnership. But the co-president of the Teaching Assistants? Association — which opposes the controversial plan — questioned the chancellor?s message.
A 23-year-old Madison man was mugged by a group of teen males Wednesday morning while walking on a downtown residential street, Madison police reported. Police said the mugging was reported at 11:31 a.m. on West Lake Lawn Place.
Madisonian Kirk Daubenspeck is making a startling recovery from a brain injury, but friends and family of the former University of Wisconsin men?s hockey goaltender are still trying to raise money to fund his rehabilitation. The latest effort will take place Saturday, April 9, at Village Lanes in Monona.
After a two-year hiatus, the University of Wisconsin football team will renew its rivalry with Iowa starting with the 2013 season. The Big Ten Conference released its conference football schedules for 2013 and 2014 on Wednesday and the return of the Hawkeyes highlights the Badgers? two schedules.
Anyone interested in learning more about the history of academic freedom in the University of Wisconsin System should check out this document. The six-page report outlines the various laws, institutional rules or policies, and Board of Regents history on this topic.
Chancellor Biddy Martin sent an email to members of the campus community on Wednesday urging those who support public authority status for UW-Madison — as outlined in Gov. Scott Walker?s 2011-13 budget proposal — to “speak out as individuals, citizens and taxpayers.”
At Monday?s UW-Madison Faculty Senate meeting at Bascom Hall, Martin said she was getting weary pressing for this proposal on her own, and asked for more backing from faculty. She added that if people on campus want no part of public authority status, they also need to let her know.
William Cronon still is struggling to make sense of the past few weeks.
?I feel like I went down a rabbit hole and I?m in Wonderland, or just a really strange world,? says the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor. In the span of 10 days last month, Cronon started a blog, penned an op-ed for the New York Times and let the world know his emails were the target of an open records request from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, a move roundly criticized as an attempt to intimidate a professor for offering his perspective on political issues.
WHITEWATER, Wis. — As part of a green initiative, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Instructional, Communications and Information Technology (iCIT) Department has launched a new recycling program to reduce technology “e-waste.”
The campus-wide program called TREE, which is short for “Technology Repurposing and Electronics E-cycling,” is designed to properly handle e-waste. E-waste is a term for electronic products, such as computers, printers and cell phones that are nearing the end of their useful life.
Thurston H. Davini, long time resident of Madison, and Rochester, Minn., died March 31 at Bethany Riverside Nursing Home in La Crosse. She was 89 years old. After completing a Master of Arts degree in library science from the University of Wisconsin in 1972, she accepted the position of head librarian at the University of Wisconsin School of Social Work Library and served until her retirement in 1985.
The administration of Gov. Scott Walker hired the 27-year-old son of a veteran lobbyist then promoted him to an $81,500-per-year job overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees, despite his having no college degree and little management experience, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday.
I suppose it was only a matter of time before the partisan throw-down at the Capitol reached Madison?s eminent institution of higher learning. A heretofore below-the-radar UW-Madison history professor named William Cronon writes a blog post saying that ? surprise! ? political parties sometimes take their cues from ideological organizations and seek to crush their opponents.
A University of Wisconsin professor is at the “head of his profession” with expertise “recognized both in academic circles and by the social and governmental leaders of the day.” But the times in which he teaches are tumultuous; the economy is severely depressed and organized labor is an electric issue. Against that backdrop, his allegedly pro-union comments bring a public counterattack and thrust him into an unwanted spotlight.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A student at Marquette University has been hospitalized with a possible case of bacterial meningitis. The school said on Sunday that the student lives off-campus. The student?s roommates have already received preventative treatment, and the university is contacting others who may have had direct contact with the student.
As they await the selection of Lisa Stone?s successor as University of Wisconsin women?s basketball coach, her three former assistant coaches are in the running for various head coaching positions.
It was the most volatile offseason in the history of the University of Wisconsin men?s hockey team. Seven seniors left. Four underclassmen turned pro. Two assistants took head coaching jobs elsewhere. As a result, the Badgers went from playing in the national title game to missing the NCAA tournament completely.
If Butler knocks off Connecticut for the NCAA men?s basketball title Monday night, it will provide an asterisk to University of Wisconsin followers. UW lost to the Bulldogs in the Sweet Sixteen, which would no doubt provide a measure of consolation if they cut down the nets in Houston.
Madison police are stepping up efforts this month to combat vehicle break-ins downtown, since April appears to be prime time for thieves hitting parked cars. The initiative, Project 403, started on April 1.
…Walker is mugging Wisconsin?s educational tradition. He has proposed cuts of nearly $1 billion in state aid to local school districts while capping their levels of taxation. Apparently he is supporting the idea of spinning the university off from the state system, largely because he now will include all university employees as part of his ?250,000 new jobs.? The state and municipalities have yet to see the impact of his program on recruiting and retaining good teachers. The outcome is all too apparent.
Life goes on. The grass is sprouting on the trampled grounds at the state Capitol, the Legislature is in recess and the governor wants nothing less than a do-over of the 20th century. Meanwhile, killing the bargaining rights of teachers, providing a one-sided grievance and disciplinary process and reducing their incomes apparently are vital parts of the governor?s plan to open the state for ?business.?
(Stanley Kutler, a UW-Madison professor emeritus. This column first appeared on Truthdig.com.)
Peggy Weaver loves the variety of movies that make up the Wisconsin Film Festival each year.
“It?s fabulous. I love seeing movies from other countries and cultures. I love the spirit of Madison when it?s in town,” she said. “I like seeing the lines going down the block and around the corner. There?s a lot of excitement in the air.” This year, for the 13th annual festival, there were 209 films in nine theaters.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin announced Friday that she will release some of the emails from a history professor requested by the Republican Party of Wisconsin, but she is withholding others that “fall within the orbit of academic freedom.”
UW-Madison received an open records request from Stephan Thompson, deputy executive director of the state?s Republican Party, for email records of history professor Bill Cronon two weeks ago. On Friday, Chancellor Biddy Martin revealed in a letter to the campus community that the university will release those emails.
University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema is off the market. Bielema mentioned last Saturday to a Wisconsin State Journal reporter he had become engaged, then announced it publicly on a radio show on WTSO (1070 AM) on Friday morning. Bielema, 41, who has never been married, offered no details, other than to say on April 9, he was holding an engagement party.
Xavier?s Kevin McGuff may yet coach a UW women?s basketball team, but it won?t be at the University of Wisconsin. McGuff, who interviewed for the vacant UW job earlier this week has withdrawn from consideration, according to a source who has spoken with McGuff.
MADISON, Wis. — A new analysis shows that as long as state lawmakers approve a budget fix bill proposed by Gov. Scott Walker, the state?s budget would be balanced even if the collective bargaining law currently on hold doesn?t take effect. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis released Friday shows that the bill expected to be passed Tuesday would balance the budget currently projected to be $137 million short by July 1.
Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point voted Thursday to form a union with collective bargaining rights through AFT-Wisconsin, a statewide labor federation affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. The vote was 283 to 15 in favor of union representation, AFT-Wisconsin said in a news release.
Katherine A. “Kit” O?Dell, 75, passed away in the arms of family at home on Thursday, March 17, 2011, St. Patrick?s Day. Kit retired from the UW Department of Hygiene. She was proud of being a part of the union and was appalled at the union workers rights being taken away.
Though its regulatory powers have been watered down over the past few decades, the Public Service Commission is still the body that provides a check on basic telephone rate increases and, among other things, makes sure that people?s heat is not turned off during cold Wisconsin winters because of unpaid utility bills. That?s why some find former state lawmaker Phil Montgomery?s appointment to chair the Public Service Commission hard to swallow.
Quoted: UW-Madison telecommunications professor Barry Orton
Having declared that Wisconsin?s divisive union law isn?t really a law yet, a judge was set to return to one of the underlying questions dogging the measure _ whether Republicans violated the state?s open meetings law during the frenzied run-up to passage.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker?s administration reluctantly suspended efforts to enact the law Thursday after Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi unexpectedly declared the measure hadn?t been properly published. The move marked another round in a messy legal fight over the law, which requires most public workers to pay more for their benefits and strips away most of their collective bargaining rights.
The first day of shooting a feature film, Justin Daering was saying Wednesday, is not when a young director freaks out. That happens the day before. “I was sitting there,” Daering said, recalling a day in Madison in the summer of 2009, “and thinking that tomorrow, supposedly, 40 people are going to show up and we?re going to start filming.”
What had he got himself into?
MADISON (WKOW) — More authority for all schools in the UW System. That?s what system president Kevin Reilly called for Thursday morning.
“This is not the time to break up a well-running UW System,” Reilly said. The UW System President renewed his call for greater control at the university level – proposed in the Wisconsin Ideas Partnership. Reilly is opposed to Walker?s plan — supported by UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin — to spin off the Madison campus from the rest of the system.
MILWAUKEE — Gov. Scott Walker said he?ll comply with a Dane County circuit judge?s order halting enactment of a law that would strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights. Walker said in an appearance in Milwaukee Thursday the reason he?ll comply with Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi?s order is because it?s in writing.
The state?s new law to dramatically limit collective bargaining for public workers has not been published and is not in effect, a judge said Thursday. An official in Republican Gov. Scott Walker?s administration said he plans to comply with that order and to suspend preparations for deducting money from workers? paychecks.
University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly unveiled more details about the Wisconsin Idea Partnership proposal in a meeting with the Join Finance Committee Thursday morning.
