Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the president?s decision to make Wisconsin his first stop after the State of the Union makes political sense because Wisconsin is the geographic epicenter of the ?Midwest battleground? for the 2012 presidential campaign.
Is it possible to train your Tabby? Explainer thanks Sandra Sawchuk of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.
Last week, two stories came out on successive days. First, Todd Finkelmeyer of The Capital Times noted that UW-Madison spent more than $1 billion on annual research for the first time this past fall.
Noted: There could also be legal problems with the bill, according to David Canon, professor of political science at UW-Madison.
Rice Lake native Steve Beguhn has appeared in several TV commercials promoting tonight?s “American Idol” episode featuring auditions in Milwaukee and also has his photo on the show?s official website. In college, he was a member of the acclaimed UW-Madison a cappella group the MadHatters.
Whether it?s the start of a recovery or the calm before the storm can?t be known yet. Whichever is the case, college and university business officers and investment managers will take it. The 2010 survey of endowments, released today by Commonfund and the National Association of College and University Business Officers, shows a solid rebound (to 11.9 percent, up from -18.7 percent in 2009) in the average return for the 850 institutions surveyed.
Ambitious and harried, pro-environment and pro-gay rights, waylaid by a bad economy: That?s the typical college freshman this year, according to an annual national survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles.
This week I had the pleasure of hosting long-time friend and Sconz commenter Patrick McEwen on the Sconzcast. McEwen, who studies nuclear engineering at UW, is a genuine energy policy geek, which makes him the perfect guest for a discussion on the UW?s Charter Street Heating Plant, a topic I addressed in a post on Monday.
The emotional health of college freshmen ? who feel buffeted by the recession and stressed by the pressures of high school ? has declined to the lowest level since an annual survey of incoming students started collecting data 25 years ago.
Wisconsin?s fourth- and eighth-grade students as a whole scored above average on a national science assessment in 2009, but results released Tuesday raise concerns about the state?s African-American student achievement and about scientific literacy in general.
Quoted: “I was surprised he wasn?t more specific,” said Charles Franklin, UW-Madison political science professor. “He stuck to some very broad conservative principles.”
The documentary ?Ride the Divide? chronicles the mountain bike riders who attempted the ?Tour Divide,? a 2,711-mile bike race that follows the Continental Divide through the Rocky Mountains. The film screens for one night only on Friday, Jan. 28, at 7:30 p.m., at the Barrymore Theatre, 2090 Atwood Ave and the event will raise money for the University of Wisconsin cycling club.
Quoted: “It seems like a pretty good link that more sexual activity, particularly oral sex, is associated with increased HPV infection,” said Dr. Greg Hartig, professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
Quoted: And at least one, Jeremi Suri, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, contends that Kissinger?s exile from Nazi Germany was central in shaping whatever decisions he made. You cannot understand Kissinger, Suri argues, without understanding his Jewish past. ?It was with him every day,? said Suri, referring to Kissinger?s escape from Germany to New York in 1938, when he was 15. ?How could it not be??
Researchers from the University of Oregon and the University of Wisconsin designed two studies looking at food preferences. In the first, mothers of 31 male and 36 female preschoolers completed a survey of their children?s preferences for foods high in sugar, fat and salt. Their children were shown cards featuring 11 natural foods (such as apples and green beans) and 11 flavor-added foods (such as cheese puffs, jelly beans and ketchup) and asked to rate them on a five-point scale of facial expressions: a big frown indicated a great dislike to something and a big smile indicated they really liked the taste. None of the pictures of food showed any packaging.
Quoted: “We don?t have big army bases. We don?t have a lot of defense contractors. So the flipside of that, if there are cuts in defense, we are fairly immune,” said Andrew Reschovsky, a University of Wisconsin economic expert.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said Obama likely won?t win Wisconsin by the margin he did in 2008.
Noted: Cornwell and co-author Anna McAlister, a consumer science researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, involved both developmental psychology and marketing for the two-part study. It appears online this month ahead of regular publication in the journal Appetite.
Quoted: “I think it?s the Democrats? nightmare, a state that Obama won quite handily has suddenly switched at all levels,” said Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “This really puts the fear of God in Democrats that Wisconsin might stay in Republican mode, in which case for the 2012 Obama reelection campaign is particularly frightening.”
With great fanfare, President Dmitry Medvedev has announced his intention to slash bureaucracy by 20 percent. It is a bold attempt to deal with an unmanageable government apparatus, perhaps the chief cause of the country?s persistent economic problems. It is also profoundly mistaken.
Hongtao Zhou requires temperatures below freezing through at least the end of this month. An MFA candidate at UW-Madison, he is accustomed to profound chill. He studied furniture design and wood science in Harbin, the northeast Chinese megalopolis renowned for its spectacular ice festival and brutal winters, with January high and low temperatures averaging nine degrees and -12°.
It?s always nice to hear a voice from Madison ? an unelected voice, at that ? tell us what?s wrong with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
More veterans are enrolling at the University of Wisconsin-Stout than at any other UW System School.
A major donor to UConn?s athletic department, citing ?philosophical disagreements? with the university?s athletic director, is demanding that the program return $3-million in donations and has vowed to cease all future gifts to the Huskies, The Day reports.
“Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine.”
In a State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama proposed a five-year freeze in discretionary spending on nondefense programs and vowed to veto any bill containing earmarks. But the president said he would spare education and research from the freeze and spending cuts, calling them vital to the nation?s long-term growth and competitiveness.
After officials from both the University of Wisconsin and the Beijing Sport University hailed the Chinese Champions Program a success, the decision to extend the program for an additional three years will coincide with the release of a film documenting the athletes? experiences.
Only weeks after Time Magazine named the University of Wisconsin the nation?s ?most buzzed about university,? another publication has ranked UW as the fourth most influential college on Twitter, closely following Stanford, Syracuse and Harvard.
Of course, a bill to require photo ID at the polls isn?t aimed at disenfranchising demographically Republican voters like me. It?s aimed at voters like 22-year-old Andrew Flowers, a UW-Madison senior from Denver, Colo.Flowers has voted in two elections while living in Madison. To register, he needed nothing more than a piece of mail to verify his address, he said. But under the bill, Flowers would almost certainly need a Wisconsin photo ID, something that itself would require his certified birth certificate and Social Security card and a trip to the DMV. Would Flowers be likely to go through all that just to vote? “If I had to go wait in the DMV line, no,” he said.
The item was tucked below the fold on an inside page of USA Today late last month, right before the Rose Bowl, so followers of the University of Wisconsin football program may have missed it. In a piece about TV ratings and bowl games it was outlined how ESPN constantly, scientifically monitors the likes and dislikes of its many viewers. According to the story, the latest data compiled by the network showed the Badgers were 10th on a list of the most favorite college football teams in the nation.
LILY?S FUND FELLOW: Lily?s Fund, a Madison-based epilepsy research foundation, announced it will provide half of the money to hire a UW-Madison scientist to focus solely on epilepsy research. The UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health will provide the other half of the funding.
CHINESE CHAMPIONS: A 30-minute program, “Beijing Badgers,” will feature a group of Olympic-caliber Chinese students, athletes and coaches who lived and studied at UW-Madison this fall. It will air on the Big Ten Network at noon Tuesday.
TWITTER INFLUENCE: UW-Madison was rated the fourth most influential college on Twitter, according to Klout, a company that rates social media influence. UW-Madison came in behind No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 3 Harvard. The survey rated how well the university?s Twitter account was managed, as well as engagement from professors, alumni and others.
In high school, he sang in the choir and played in the band and earned a B in advanced physics. At the University of Wisconsin, he got a bachelor?s degree in behavioral science ? good grounding for police work.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a trumpet player in the university?s marching band, Baitinger, 48, started his career working at two Wisconsin municipalities before moving to the Dane County Sheriff?s Office in Madison, Wis., where he worked from 1988 to 1995.
Quoted: Although many have lacked Camping?s down-to-the-minute surety, predictions of time?s end have been burbling up almost since time began, notes University of Wisconsin history professor Paul Boyer, a scholar of apocalypticism.
The item was tucked below the fold on an inside page of USA Today late last month, right before the Rose Bowl, so followers of the University of Wisconsin football program may have missed it.
David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, seconds the motive. “Paul Ryan is clearly viewed as one of the rising stars of the Republican Party,” Canon says.
Noted: Education is just beginning to develop curriculums that help people acquire these new skills and this new perspective. The University of Wisconsin launched an online bachelor of science in sustainable management last fall. It focuses on thinking in terms of natural, social, and economic systems.
A biomass power project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been nixed by new Republican Gov. Scott Walker, on account of the project?s high cost.
Six months after Wisconsin?s state-wide smoking ban went into effect, the debate continues about its impact. The latest squabble is over a report on the economic impact.
A new study released by the Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center at UW-Madison says going smoke-free has had no effect on bars and restaurants in Wisconsin.
A television show produced by the University of Wisconsin-Madison will air nationally Tuesday.
A new report says nationwide, retention at two-year public colleges is improving, but declining at four-year private schools. Meanwhile, Wisconsin colleges and universities overall are bucking the trend.
Noted: “I remember on a couple of occasions when he would return to Wisconsin, he would play in the alumni band during one of the football games. And I knew that because one of my duties was I worked security with (UW Band Director) Mike Leckrone at the football games,” Mahoney said. The director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison marching band said he remembers Baitinger as a young man dedicated to his craft. “We get to know the kids all pretty well, but Tom was one of those kids that was a doer, he was involved in everything. He was in the band at some great times,” Leckrone said. Leckrone said Baitinger was part of UW-Madison?s historic “100-year band” in the mid-1980s and was one of the first to march at a Badgers bowl game.
Governor Scott Walker?s recent decision to stop the conversion of a coal-fired power plant to renewable biomass is another in a string of actions by Walker which will kill jobs. That?s the view from Jennifer Feyerherm of the Sierra Club, on Walker?s decision to pull the plug on converting UW Madison?s Charter Street Power plant from coal to biomass.
In an up-and-coming podcast, I will be discussing the controversy surrounding the Charter Street Heating Plant with a guy who knows a little more about energy policy than I do. But until then, I will point you to one interesting fact: Biomass may be less environmentally beneficial than natural gas, which is the other option that the plant is pursuing.
Approximately 70 students gathered at a forum Monday as administrators explained the general goals of the New Badger Partnership and addressed students? concerns with the proposed state relationship model.
For the past several years, scientists who see limitless medical benefits from stem-cell research have battled through hard limits to their ability to pursue their work.
Chancellor Biddy Martin outlined her vision for the New Badger Partnership and addressed student concerns Monday night during a forum hosted by the Associated Students of Madison.
In 2004, scientists at the National Eye Institute predicted that as the population aged, the rate of macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease with no known cause, would increase substantially. They appear to have been wrong.
The nearly 1,000 paintings clinging to sliding metal racks create an unexpected collage of subjects and colors in an unassuming storage room on the UW-Madison campus. Then you?re told to look up and notice the giant canvas rolled and suspended from the ceiling ? an acrylic painting that stretches to 17 feet when framed. “You use everything available,” said Russell Panczenko, director of the Chazen Museum of Art, as he leads a private tour of this Secret Place ? the museum?s 4,500 square feet of on-site art storage. Chazen?s storage areas contain millions of dollars of artistic works not on display.
Once the addition to the Chazen Museum of Art is complete, the third floor in both buildings ? connected by a bridge ? will be dedicated to the museum?s permanent collection. The first floor will have two galleries for temporary exhibitions; and the gallery on the second floor will be dedicated to changing exhibitions ? about six a year ? of works on paper, said Russell Panczenko, the museum?s director. One of the new galleries will be dedicated to “21st Century International,” which will capture the way the art world has changed.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, UW-Madison political science professor, said Ryan?s reputation as an expert on the nation?s financial trouble makes him the obvious choice for the rebuttal.
James Thomson, a pioneer in stem cell research at UW-Madison, has been awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine.The prestigious award was established in 1977 by the King Faisal Foundation to recognize outstanding contributions to medical research. Award winners receive $200,000 and a 24-carat, 200-gram gold medal.
Quoted: Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
Thanks to the efforts of chief executive officer Trevor Twose and Venture Investors, Mithridion survived the potentially game-ending development and is now moving forward, with 12 employees and a total of $8.4 million in financing since 2005. Twose did post-doctoral research at UW-Madison in the early 1970s and, 30 years later, returned as a biotech consultant and helped UW-Madison professor Fred Blattner start Scarab Genomics, a Madison company that makes drug development tools, before creating Mithridion.
In a civil lawsuit filed 15 years ago and just now reaching a jury, Madison native Dr. Charles Johnson and his wife, Karen, allege therapists who treated their daughter Charlotte committed professional negligence by suggesting and encouraging implausible childhood memories, including that her father raped her, that her mother tried to drown her and that the family was involved in cults and infanticide. Dr. Johnson, a physician, is a former UW-Madison faculty member who also served as a hospital administrator in St. Louis, Smoler said.
Quoted: Mark Levenstein, an associate scientist in the department of chemistry at UW-Madison.
Among the priorities for the year: Create more jobs. Cheerleading is fine. Controlling taxes is great. But our new governor also needs to get solidly behind Wisconsin?s growing technology sector while working closely with UW.
Wisconsin embarrassed Northwestern Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Badgers moved the ball better and shot the ball better, which resulted in five players scoring in double figures. They displayed more poise and energy on defense and won the rebounding battle decisively, which resulted in a game that was over by halftime.
Oh, yeah. They also got the first triple-double in program history as freshman guard Josh Gasser contributed 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in UW?s ridiculously easy, 78-46 Big Ten Conference victory.
