Mentions new research by Barry Burden and three University of Wisconsin-Madison colleagues, voting ahead of Election Day has more than quadrupled since the early 1990s, increasing from 7 percent of votes in 1992 to 30 percent in 2008.
Author: jplucas
Burish brings Stanley Cup to Verona
Even though Eagles Nest Ice Arena rink manager Peter Johnson had known Mark Burish for years, he was a little surprised at the voicemail he got last week.
Burish told Johnson that his son, Adam, a player on the 2010 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks and a former UW player, wanted to bring Lord Stanley?s Cup, aka. the Holy Grail, to Verona on Tuesday.
UW again seeks new conditioning center
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Officials from the University of Wisconsin athletic department are taking another run at seeing a multimillion athletic performance center built on campus.UW officials are seeking a $76.8 million facility to be included in the next two-year state budget. The UW System Board of Regents is scheduled to review the proposal during a meeting Thursday.
This story also discusses the proposed new deal with adidas.
UWEX gets broadband grants
Wisconsin Radio Network
The University of Wisconsin Extension System has received two federal grants totaling more than $32 million, to boost broadband deployment across Wisconsin.
Extension Provost and Vice Chancellor Christine Quinn led the grant application process. Quinn says broadband, high capacity Internet access is essential for Wisconsin communities. ?Many young families need high speed Internet simply to have educational opportunities for their youth,? says Quinn. ?We?re finding that many young families especially are looking to see what infrastructure these communities have.?
Wisconsin’s Adidas deal could get more lucrative (AP)
Associated Press
The University of Wisconsin-Madison athletic department?s licensing contract with Adidas America Inc. is about to get sweeter for both sides.
A proposal up for approval by the Board of Regents this week would extend the company?s contract to supply Wisconsin?s 23 athletic teams with equipment, apparel and footwear through 2016 and give Adidas added exclusivity.
Under the agreement, the wholesale price of goods provided by Adidas would increase from $950,000 this year to $1.3 million next year and nearly $1.38 million in 2015. The company?s annual cash payments to the department would jump from $450,000 to $850,000 next year, and to $900,000 in the final three years of the deal.
San Cristóbal De Rapaz Journal – High in the Andes, Guardians of an Inca Mystery
New York Times
Quoted: Frank Salomon, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin who led a recent project to help Rapaz protect its khipus in an earthquake-resistant casing.
ACT scores dip, but more students meet college benchmarks
USA Today
Average scores on the ACT college entrance exam inched downward this year, yet slightly more students who took the test proved to be prepared for college, according to a report released Wednesday. The findings sound contradictory. But the exam?s authors point to a growing and more diverse group of test-takers ? many are likely scoring lower overall, but more are also meeting benchmarks used to measure college readiness.
Panel begins review of Wis. financial aid programs
Madison.com
Wisconsin?s financial aid programs need more money and more clarity. That was the message that a special legislative committee heard Tuesday as it started a review of Wisconsin?s grant and loan programs for college students. UW-Madison financial aid researcher Sara Goldrick-Rab says there is so much uncertainty around aid programs that students can?t count on them.
Co-defendants plead guilty in large-scale pot growing case
Wisconsin State Journal
A Cross Plains teen is likely headed to federal prison after pleading guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to taking part in a sophisticated, large-scale marijuana growing operation. Zachary A. Czerkas, 19, said in court that he had taken a job with his co-defendant, Curtis J. Faustich, to earn money for school and help him move out of the home of his mother and step-father. Until his arrest on April 13, Faustich, 23, had been a horticulture major at UW-Madison.
Doyle helped lead UW System through tough times
Madison.com
When it comes to the University of Wisconsin System, Gov. Jim Doyle?s legacy includes increasing financial aid and access, supporting groundbreaking research and constructing new buildings, his colleagues say. But the governor will also be remembered for managing the university system through economic downturns, making deep budget cuts, allowing tuition to rise and furloughing faculty and staff while their compensation dipped. The Board of Regents, which governs the system of 13 two-year colleges and 13 four-year universities, on Thursday plans to salute Doyle?s commitment to higher education as he prepares to leave office after 8 years.
Science says wind power safe
Wisconsin State Journal
Noted: The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
Baggot: Stanley Cup’s in for a wild ride with Burish
Madison.com
A two-time captain of the Badgers who attended Madison Edgewood High School, Adam Burish has brought the Stanley Cup to his hometown and its many hockey fans.
Your universities: Doing less with more
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It?s no secret that university educations cost a lot more than they used to — the price has steadily risen faster than the increase of most other prices. It?s no secret why, either, suggests new research from University of Arkansas education policy guy Jay Greene: Administrative costs at major schools are out of control.
Other View: UW report raises interesting questions (Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune)
The questions University of Wisconsin System leaders are asking might pertain to how higher education is funded in our state, but the ramifications are much deeper than the dollars and cents ultimately approved. They get to the heart of who we are and how we plan to economically compete now and in the future.
U. of Wisc. plan would boost enrollment, retention (AP)
BusinessWeek
The University of Wisconsin System will ask lawmakers for $22.6 million to boost undergraduate enrollment by 5,900 over two years through better retention and recruitment, according to a budget document released Monday.
Damn lies and cat statistics
San Francisco Chronicle
Quoted: Deborah Blum, a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
North students study stem cells at hands-on summer science camp (Oshkosh Northwestern)
Wisconsin high school students eager to excel in science gained the opportunity to hone their laboratory skills while working alongside top researchers and faculty from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at a science camp focused on stem cells.
Experts Urge Meningitis Vaccinations For Students
WISC-TV 3
Mentions that UW-Madison Health Services recommends and offers a meningitis vaccine for $103. The vaccine could reduce an individual?s risk of meningitis by 65 percent, according to the Health Services department.
High price for low-demand tickets in Big Ten
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In a survey of the cost of single-game college football tickets for 2010, the Oregonian newspaper determined that of the major conferences, the Big Ten charges on average the most for its low-demand tickets.
Passing the torch
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Carlos Santiago may not have been from Wisconsin – he was born in an army hospital in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico – but as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he sometimes seemed to understand The Wisconsin Idea better than some native Badgers.
UW assistant Moore finalist for UIC head post
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Howard Moore, an assistant under Wisconsin men?s basketball coach Bo Ryan for the past five seasons, is among a group of finalists for the head coaching job at Illinois-Chicago.A UW source confirmed Monday night Moore remained in the running for the job.
UW welcomes Chinese Olympians
WKOW-TV 27
The University of Wisconsin welcomed a group of elite athletes from China on Monday.The nine athletes, many of whom have won Olympic medals, will be living and studying at the university this fall; working on their English and taking sports leadership classes.
Sterling Hall bombing: Seven men linked by a moment in history
Wisconsin State Journal
The bombing of Sterling Hall on the UW-Madison campus by anti-war radicals in the early morning hours of Aug. 24, 1970 has a peculiar hold on Madison even 40 years later, in part because of the many lives that were changed by the blast ? most notably the lives of Robert Fassnacht, the researcher killed in the explosion, and his family. Here?s a look at what has happened to others involved in that history-changing moment.
UW-Milwaukee chancellor to step down
Madison.com
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago is resigning. He is leaving as of Oct. 1 to take a job as the chief executive officer for the Hispanic College Fund, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.
Two charged with rape of 23-year-old woman near University of Wisconsin campus
Wisconsin State Journal
Two men arrested last week for the alleged rape of a Minneapolis woman were charged Monday with kidnapping in addition to several counts of first-degree sexual assault. In addition to kidnapping, Jose L. Bedolla-Calderon, 22, of Madison, was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual assault, strangulation and suffocation, and misdemeanor battery for the early Tuesday attack on the 23-year-old woman in the 400 block of West Dayton Street near the UW-Madison campus.
UW System plan would boost enrollment, retention
Wisconsin State Journal
The University of Wisconsin System will ask lawmakers for $22.6 million to boost undergraduate enrollment by 5,900 over two years through better retention and recruitment, according to a budget document released Monday. The plan calls for hiring additional instructors, academic advisers and others to teach and serve the extra students. But the money would also pay for programs proven to help retain students, such as first-year seminars and undergraduate research projects, UW System spokesman David Giroux said.
Baggot: Attention ? UW?s coach is getting it
Madison.com
Bret Bielema seems to have learned that it?s better to embrace, rather than stiff-arm, the media, and the result is more national publicity for him and his team.
Sterling Hall bombing: 40 years later, Robert Fassnacht’s family opens up
Wisconsin State Journal
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not a soldier or a radical, Robert Fassnacht happened to be working late the night four men bombed UW-Madison’s Sterling Hall in protest of the Vietnam War. He was killed in the blast 40 years ago. But since then, Fassnacht has become a headline, the unnamed researcher. Who was Robert Fassnacht? Intensely private, his family opens up about his life.
UW ranked 13th among nation’s public universities
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison ranked 13th among public institutions and tied for 45th among 262 national doctoral universities in rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News and World Report for this year?s edition of America?s Best Colleges.
Beloit Mindset List for class of 2012 notes GPS, IBM typewriters and caller I.D.
USA Today
For more than a decade, Beloit College has released the “Beloit College Mindset List” that looks at cultural touchstones shaping the lives of the years college-bound students. The List this year is aimed at the 2 million young people born around 1990. Beloit notes that the class of 2012 has grown up where computer and rapid communications are the norm and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired.”
Domain dominance
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Sandra Bradley, director of the University of Wisconsin E-Business Consortium?s Web and multichannel marketing area.
GardenFit program sprouts to tackle children?s summer weight gain
Wisconsin State Journal
You can plant broccoli. You don?t have to like it. Quincy Cage, a Sherman Middle School sixth-grader, has enjoyed UW-Madison?s GardenFit program, fighting off mosquitoes and unwanted extra pounds that pile on over a lazy summer, learning how to grow and cook good food, getting off the couch. Hoeing and harvesting at the East High School Youth Farm in Kennedy Park, he?s discovered he likes purple onions and other things he?s helped grow. Sarah Jacquart, a nutritional sciences graduate student who runs the program, said the approximately dozen middle school participants aren?t trying to lose weight. ?We?re trying to prevent that rapid three- or six-pound weight gain that others have seen,? Jacquart said.
Mother of toddler who died in heat in Sauk County is charged with child neglect
Wisconsin State Journal
Noted: Authorities took advice from UW-Madison experts in a case involving a 16-month-old Mauston toddler who died July 17 from the heat in a makeshift camper at a Sauk County park.
Deborah K. Hunt: Not all teachers are complaining about pay
Wisconsin State Journal
Regarding the article about teachers? pay, while the average pay increase for primary and secondary school teachers was 3.75 percent, professors at UW-Madison received no pay increase last year and are unlikely to receive anything this coming year. If they do, it will only be 2 percent, and they have also been put on furlough
40 years later, Robert Fassnacht’s family opens up
Wisconsin State Journal
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not a soldier or a radical, Robert Fassnacht happened to be working late the night four men bombed UW-Madison?s Sterling Hall in protest of the Vietnam War. He was killed in the blast 40 years ago. But since then, Fassnacht has become a headline, the unnamed researcher. Who was Robert Fassnacht? Intensely private, his family opens up about his life.
Gateways to Madison: Officials vow to spruce up city entryways
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: UW-Madison urban and regional planning professor James LaGro Jr.
Wearing IDs nixed at Verona High School
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Brad Brown, a professor of human development in the UW-Madison educational psychology department.
Applications jump at two-year UW colleges
Madison.com
The number of students applying to enroll at two-year University of Wisconsin Colleges is on the rise for the fall semester. The system of 13 two-year campuses is projecting that enrollment might jump by 1,000 students to 14,750 this fall.
Fair weather aids move-in scramble
Wisconsin State Journal
Saturday and Sunday were the two days of the year when U-Hauls might have outnumbered Priuses on the streets of Downtown Madison. The annual turnover of housing leases, which peaks each Aug. 14-15, was relatively seamless this weekend because of beautiful weather and many landlords who have relaxed restrictions on how early renters can move in.
Lawsuit against Hilldale Shopping Center alleges missed payments, fraud
Wisconsin State Journal
In another blow to the beleaguered owners of the Hilldale Shopping Center, the UW Foundation, which built and developed Hilldale, on Thursday sued a group that bought the Foundation?s stock in the shopping center for allegedly failing to make interest payments on two promissory notes.
‘Hippie Christmas’ hits as downtown leases end
Wisconsin State Journal
Christmas doesn?t just come once a year, at least as far as some Downtown Madison residents are concerned.”Hippie Christmas” accompanies the turnover of hundreds of housing leases, which will largely happen on Saturday and Sunday this year. This unusual festivity stems from people scooping up household items discarded by outgoing tenants on curbs and in trash cans.
Olympian Jessie Vetter to spearhead Athletic Republic’s hockey program in Verona
Madison.com
Olympic silver medalist Jessie Vetter, who won three NCAA women?s hockey championships at the University of Wisconsin, has been hired as director of hockey for Athletic Republic, a national training network with a facility at the MAC Center in Verona.
2 profs, 1 department win UW teaching honors
Madison.com
Two University of Wisconsin System professors and one academic department are being recognized for outstanding achievements in teaching. The UW System Board of Regents announced Thursday it has selected UW-Oshkosh professor Jennifer Szydlik, UW-Eau Claire professor Paul Thomas and the UW-Platteville biology department for its 18th annual Teaching Excellence Awards.
Online liquor delivery business says it might sue city over forfeited money
Wisconsin State Journal
The UW-Madison student whose liquor delivery business was shuttered by Madison officials in April says the city should return any forfeitures ? up to nearly $430,000 ? he would have to pay as a result of alleged city ordinance violations. Danny Haber maintains he was relying on advice given to him by Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th Dist., a member of the city Alcohol License Review Committee, when he opened Campus Drank, which allowed students to order liquor and beer for delivery.
When it’s hot, it’s hot, and on Thursday it will feel like it’s 100 degrees
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Phil Pellitteri, distinguished faculty associate at the UW-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, saying the volume of mosquitoes can differ at different sites.
Campus Connection: Time right for MATC to push for expansion?
Capital Times
Noted: A 2008 report by UW-Madison?s Applied Population Laboratory showing the number of students graduating from high school in the state?s South Central Region, which includes the MATC District, is projected to increase by more than 10 percent between 2010 and 2019
Plan aims to renew old University Avenue
Wisconsin State Journal
The mile-long corridor of University Avenue between Farley Avenue and Breese Terrace, once the main artery between Downtown, UW-Madison and the West Side, lacks an identity, is uninviting to pedestrians and bicyclists, and has lost businesses since the Campus Drive bypass opened to the north in 1968. The city, residents and others want to transform the street into a green, sustainable place with a strong identity, a ?walkable educational classroom? of best practices that could be a model for older, mixed-use corridors in the city and elsewhere.
Audience applauds end to coal at Charter plant
Wisconsin State Journal
Compliments far exceeded complaints at a hearing Wednesday night on a plan by the state and UW-Madison to rebuild the Charter Street Heating Plant, eliminating the use of coal and replacing it with natural gas and Wisconsin-grown alternative fuels such as wood chips and switch grass.
APNewsBreak: Probable cause in UW harassment case
Madison.com
A former employee at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s fertility clinic may have been sexually harassed by her supervisors and fired in retaliation for complaining, according to a state investigation. In a report dated Aug. 6 and obtained by The Associated Press, the Equal Rights Division found that former program assistant Julia Landrum was subjected to inappropriate sexual banter “on a regular basis and it affected her ability to perform her job.”
State conducts surprise inspection of UW Hospital after syringe incident
Wisconsin State Journal
The state Department of Health Services conducted an unannounced inspection of UW Hospital on Friday following media reports of a syringe being used on more than one patient. The patient, Vincent Stepter, said an infectious disease specialist at UW Hospital contacted him and told him he needed to be tested for hepatitis and HIV because of the reuse of a syringe, a breakdown of hospital policy.
Nancie Young: Mehta’s resignation a loss for Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Journal
I was dismayed to learn of the resignation of Dr. Minesh Mehta from the UW Hospital?s Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center because of a “possible” conflict of interest with Tomotherapy.
22-year-old Portage man is suspected in sexual assault spree
Wisconsin State Journal
A 22-year-old Portage man could be a suspect in nine sexual assaults on the UW-Madison campus and Downtown between Sunday night and Monday morning, police said. All of the female victims reported being groped by a man and gave similar descriptions of their assailant, said Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain. Many of the victims are college-age women, he said. UW-Madison Police Sgt. Ruth Ewing said one victim is a university employee.
Gary L. Kriewald: Save UW-Madison’s Humanities building
Wisconsin State Journal
I hope Doug Moe?s Aug. 2 column on the fate of the George L. Mosse Humanities Building will raise support for saving this valuable and beautiful part of our architectural heritage.
Study: rural communities suffer large soldier deaths
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Katherine Curtis, whose new study finds that a disproportionate number of U.S. soldiers killed in the Iraq war came from small towns in the Great Plains and the upper Midwest.
TV and film see Russians as villains again – JSOnline
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Robert Kaiser, chair of the department of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We?re not at cold war with each other any more. But we?re certainly not warming up.”
Patient is called back to UW Hospital for tests after syringe incident
Wisconsin State Journal
UW Hospital is investigating the reuse of a syringe, which a Madison patient said is requiring him to be tested for hepatitis and HIV. Federal health officials say syringes and needles should never be used more than once to reduce contamination from infected blood. UW Hospital says its policy is not to reuse either. The incident involves a “needleless” syringe reused ? against hospital policy ? when it was attached to an intravenous line, UW Hospital spokeswoman Toni Morrissey said Friday.
Chris Rickert: Experiences with teachers can run the gamut
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: “The consequences of not doing well at school has certainly risen in the last generation,” said UW-Madison education professor William Reese.
Ask the weather guys: What is the largest hailstone in the U.S.?
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Steven Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, who say a record-sized hailstone fell on July, 23, 2010, near Vivian, S.D. It was 8 inches in diameter and weighed 1.9375 pounds. And it melted a bit before it was officially measured.
Clean up the Wisconsin Department of Commerce
Wisconsin State Journal
Noted: A 50-page report, “Be Bold Wisconsin,” calls for a new state Department of Commerce purely devoted to business development and promotion. The deans of the business schools at UW-Madison and Marquette University helped write the report.
Forest Products Laboratory in Madison is ready for another 100 years
Wisconsin State Journal
Bill Nelson now has the space to crush a 20-foot-long section of a bridge and test the strength of a two-story wall, complete with windows and doors. Down the hall, engineer C.R. Boardman can create, with a few keystrokes, Seattle-like rain or the blistering heat found in Arizona. The Forest Products Laboratory in Madison is ready for the next 100 years of research with the recent opening of the $38 million Centennial Research Facility. The 87,000-square-foot center, nestled on the west side of the UW-Madison campus, is owned and operated by the USDA Forest Service and is a gleaming but functional tribute and improvement to the previous 100 years of research at the FPL.