For as long as high school seniors have been visiting colleges, it seems, there have been tour guides walking backward in front of them, breathlessly reciting statistics from a script while, hopefully, avoiding tree roots and other hazards.
H1N1 flu may have two surprising symptoms: innovation and empathy. At least thatâ??s the hope of University of Michigan officials, who are encouraging faculty to make broader use of technology to help sick students keep up with class work.
As faculty create syllabuses for the coming semester, Michigan officials want them to consider the possibility of an outbreak infecting large numbers of students in the coming months. That means finding ways to work with students who may be absent for days by putting greater emphasis on distance learning tools like listservs, e-mail and Web-based teaching platforms. To that end, the universityâ??s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching has laid out a series of guidelines to help faculty prepare for what could be a challenging year of illness.
A growing body of evidence suggests that doctors at some of the nationâ??s top medical schools have been attaching their names and lending their reputations to scientific papers that were drafted by ghostwriters working for drug companies â?? articles that were carefully calibrated to help the manufacturers sell more products.
Quoted: â??Just three days ago, I got a request to be the author of a ghostwritten article about the effectiveness of a cholesterol-lowering drug,â? Dr. James H. Stein, professor of cardiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, said this month. â??This happens all the time.â? He declined to attach his name to the paper.
Noted: Meanwhile, Wisconsin Badgers also weighed in on Favre’s return Tuesday.
James Ellis, the person behind @buckybadger, the Twitter handle for the Wisconsin Alumni Association, said that news of Favre joining the Vikings spread quickly on the social media Web site.
“When the Brett Favre story broke, it broke big,” Ellis said. “I saw it from at least 30 places (on Twitter) in the first two or three minutes, so I knew it was something definitely being talked about.”
The 18-year-olds entering college this fall have lived their entire lives with Iraq as an enemy, Russia as a friend and investment opportunity and Ozzy Osbourne as a perpetual comeback kid. These cultural touchstones, part of the annual Beloit College Mindset List, aim to remind adults that the incoming crop of freshmen brings to classrooms a very different frame of reference than their parents.
Wisconsin is launching an electronic transcript initiative that will allow high school and college students in the state to use Docufide, a secure transcript service, for a discount. The project is being sponsored by a group of higher education organizations, including the University of Wisconsin System, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Wisconsin Technical College System, the Department of Public Instruction, and Midwestern Higher Education Compact. So far, 13 schools have asked to be pilot schools to try the service.
Quoted: “Every dollar you give in compensation is a dollar you canâ??t spend on programs and curatorial work,” said Andrew Taylor, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin.
As thousands of downtown renters recover from move-in weekend, this year’s citywide turnover of tenants coincides with Madison’s smoke alarm ordinance going into effect.
One downtown landlord is on a mission to educate his tenants about the new rules.
Before University of Wisconsin-Madison student Josh Moss finishes unpacking a few essentials and settles into his new home away from home on Garfield Street in Madison’s downtown, he’s getting a lesson in safety.
People appear divided on how health care should be changed and whether the Obama administration is doing a good job on the issue. Recent polls suggest the heated town hall exchanges may have had an impact on people’s perception on how Congress and the president are doing on health care.
Audio: Charles Franklin: Professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s the co-founder of Pollster.com.
Extreme binge-drinking may be putting college students at significant risk of accidents and injuries, a new study suggests.
The fact that heavy drinking often leads to accidents and injuries is no secret, but the findings show that the risks continue to “grow rapidly” the more students drink, according to Dr. Marlon P. Mundt and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin -Madison have developed a synthetic protein that could prevent human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.
HIV and several other human viruses rely on interactions between proteins and the virus to infect a healthy cell. The new discovery could develop proteins that block a virus from hurting healthy cells.
Quoted: “With him out, it actually allows national forces to come play a bigger role,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison political Science professor Charles Franklin.
Quoted: Prof. Ann Hoyt, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has done extensive research on cooperatives in many industries, said they could serve a useful purpose in health care â?? just as credit unions compete effectively with banks, prompting them to offer higher interest rates on deposits and lower rates on loans.
Limnology is the study of inland waters. Itâ??s like the fresh-water version of oceanography.
Iâ??m in charge of the boat fleet for the Hasler Laboratory of Limnology on Lake Mendota, on the UW-Madison campus. The fleet includes a 25-foot research boat, Boston whalers, trailer boats, canoes and electro-fishing boats. The boats are provided to anyone on campus who needs a boat for research.
As fears were growing about the link between hormone therapy and breast cancer, a drug company paid the University of Wisconsin to sponsor ghostwritten medical education articles that downplayed the risks, records obtained by the Journal Sentinel show.
The five articles were funded by Wyeth, the company that made the top-selling hormone therapy products. The articles, published in 2001, appeared under the names of doctors who specialized in diseases common to menopausal women, but actually were written by professional writers paid by the company.
Video: The race for the next Governor is already on the minds of those in Wisconsin.
Professor Charles Franklin of the UW Political Science Department joined us on 27 news at 6 to put it all in perspective.
The University of Wisconsin – Madison is trying to make it easier for students to volunteer.
UW-Madison Morgridge Center civic engagement coordinator Anne Whisner wants to make it easier for students to give back to the community without the complications.
So last fall, Whisner launched Badger Volunteers at the Morgridge Center.
Video: University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Franklin discusses Gov. Jim Doyleâ??s decision not to run for another term.
A bill in the state Legislature would require UW-Madison to establish a program called â??career conversationsâ? that would introduce middle and high school students to high-tech jobs.
The bill doesnâ??t set aside any money for the project, but the universityâ??s Center on Education and Work has much of the infrastructure in place to conduct a pilot program, said Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point.
â??For us itâ??s a way to potentially reverse the brain drain that the state experiences,â? she said.
Gerhard “Gary” Schulz, age 87, of Fond du Lac, passed away Friday, Aug. 14, 2009. Gary covered the UW campus for 37 years for the News Service including research projects and all sports events. He also taught photography courses at UW-Whitewater and UW-Madison.
Helen M. Hull, age 97, of Madison, passed away peacefully on Friday, Aug. 14, 2009. She worked as a secretary for the University of Wisconsin retiring in 1976.
Last summer, University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Kiera Wiatrak and her roommate found themselves in a common predicament: The lease on their downtown apartment ended Aug. 14, but their new least didnâ??t start until Aug. 15.Fortunately, the residents of Wiatrakâ??s new apartment had moved out early, so apartment managers told Wiatrak she and her roommate could move in early if they were willing to pay $40 a night before their lease began.
Waukesha-based businessman Scott Acker admits he was warned about trying to get quick approval from the city of Madison for a giant new restaurant and sports bar inside University Square.”Now I know what everybody meant,” says Acker, who is pursuing a $4 million, three-floor development inside the mixed-use complex at the corner of West Johnson and Lake streets. It would include the Badger Hall of Fame Grill, a restaurant, banquet hall and bar with a 900-person capacity.
Quoted: “It used to be a big deal to see a million dollars a day spent in a presidential campaign, and we wouldnâ??t see that till after Labor Day,” said Ken Goldstein, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin who tracks advertising. To see many millions being spent each day in August, he said, underscores how high the stakes are.
It was in the delivery room on a cold Friday in December 1990, minutes before her triplets were born, that a doctor’s bellowing voice started the clock ticking to a day Betsy Tanner has dreaded ever since.
“You’ve got 18 years,” the doctor said, “till they all go to college.”
Now, in a Wilmette living room, the final hours have arrived. Plastic hampers fill up with mattress pads, laundry detergent, computers galore — the essentials of dorm life far, far from home. They’re in triplicate and, as always, in order of birth, one each for Geoff, Alex and Emily.
Noted: One of his sculptures, titled “Nightwater” and installed on the University of Wisconsin campus, is made of aluminum and depicts an abstract wave.
Quoted: Alfonso Morales, an “open air market” specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said more and more people are trying to turn bric-a-brac — miscellaneous small articles collected for sentimental or decorative interest — into cash to cope with the harsh new reality of lost jobs, slashed hours and dwindling incomes.
Noted: Also extensive (and organized by subject) are the lists at the Cooperative Childrenâ??s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (Just for the record, we know some 11 year olds who, forced to read â??The Hobbitâ? in between educational reruns of â??Star Trek,â? are by now thoroughly enjoying it. Hey, itâ??s a great book.)
At a busy bar near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Friday night, someone suddenly shouted: “Who’s homeless tonight?”
The assembled students erupted in cheers.
The city’s streets held the evidence: Students crashing on couches, sleeping in moving trucks and guarding piles of furniture. Dylan Loss, a 20-year-old junior, pitched a tent in his friend’s yard. Kristin Paul, of White Bear Lake, squatted in the cabin of her sailing club’s boat on Lake Mendota.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, professor of political science at University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted that Doyle had struggled with his approval rating, which Franklin said had fallen into the low 30s in the past few months.
“It’s not at all clear anybody could have been a very popular governor given the budget and economic crises he faced in both terms,” said Franklin, a co-developer of pollster.com.
And then there were four.
The provost search committee has narrowed down more than 60 candidates, and President Michael Adams is scheduled to choose the final person in September to replace Provost Arnett Mace.
During the next two weeks, the four candidates – Jere Morehead, vice president for instruction at the University; Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, dean of arts and sciences at University of South Carolina and formerly of the College of Letters & Sciences at UW-Madison; Robert Newman, dean of humanities and associate vice president for interdisciplinary studies at the University of Utah; and Sallie Keller-McNulty, dean of engineering at Rice University – will present information on their background in public sessions at the Chapel.
Quoted: Figure out your take-home pay after taxes and budget accordingly, said Michael Collins, a UW-Madison assistant professor of personal finance.
Many people know only their salary â?? an inflated number that gives you a false sense of wealth.
Mike Lucas, a UW-Madison junior, had a bad day on Friday.
It was moving day for him, just as it was for scores of other students in Madison, and he had already gotten two parking tickets, had his car battery die, and he clipped another car earlier that day with his trailer.
One thing he didnâ??t have to worry about was finding a place to sleep on Friday night.
Quoted: UW-Madison political expert Charles Franklin said, with no incumbent, Wisconsinâ??s race for governor will be one of the most closely-watched in the country.
â??Clearly, both sides will be able to raise lots of money for their primaries,â? Franklin said.
Quoted: â??This should be one of (the) three or four (most competitive) races in the country,â? said UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin. â??Itâ??s hard to say itâ??s the top one, but it certainly ought to be on the top of everybodyâ??s list.â?
Q: How big is space?
A: Space is probably infinite, but we can see only the part that contains stars or galaxies whose light has been able to reach us, says Francis Halzen, a professor of physics at UW-Madison. The universe originated about 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang, so light cannot have been traveling for more than 13.7 billion years. “Since we know how old the universe is,” Halzen says, “and the speed of light, we can calculate the size of space we can see.
West High School student Tulika Singh spent part of her summer studying epilepsy in rodents â?? an experience that made her feel like a contributor to research being conducted at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
Singh, who will be a senior this year, was one of 15 students in a Research Apprentice Program based at the school.
Sometimes the only difference between a really dumb question and an intriguing one is when you ask it.
Case in point: Who had the more challenging introduction as University of Wisconsin football coach, Barry Alvarez or Bret Bielema?
Had you posed this question as recently as 12 months ago, it would have brought a roll of the eyes and dismissive, â??Duh. Of course, the answer is Alvarez.â??
Wisconsin should learn two lessons from the courtroom combat pitting the state’s new domestic partner registry against its constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
At stake is a lawsuit filed by opponents of the domestic partner registry, which allows same-sex couples who qualify as domestic partners to be eligible for about 40 of the 200 or so benefits normally available to male-female married couples.
There’s a 24 time window for UW-Madison students moving out of one apartment: that typically leaves many with no place to call home.
It’s the annual move-out weekend downtown. Students who are not renewing their leases had to be out of their apartments by noon Friday. They can move back into their new units beginning at noon Saturday, august 15. The one-day lag gives landlords the opportunity to clean apartments between tenants.
The large-scale moving out of downtown Madison apartments has become a mainstay leaving thousands of rentals empty for 24 hours each August.
But, the annual event that leaves young renters scrambling and clogs sidewalks with possessions is leaving many to ask if there’s a reason behind it.
Near the Kohl Center on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, there’s one of three secured parking lots that are new this year. UW police are patrolling the lots that are packed with cars, moving vans and trailers packed with student belongings.
Noted: “We have a lot of students and staff and faculty who actually ask us how they can keep their laptops safe,” said Brian Rust, with the UW’s information technology group, Do IT.
Rust said security means more than just physicially locking the laptop up.
“You know, about all a cable lock will do is slow somebody down,” said Rust.
University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said that should Gov. Jim Doyle elect not to seek a third term, his decision could actually benefit Wisconsin voters in the upcoming gubernatorial race.
“Because if Doyle were running for re-election, it would inevitably be a referendum on him,” said Franklin. “With him out of the race, it can be a competition between Republican philosophies and Democratic philosophies.”
Wisconsin has suspended safeties Aubrey Pleasant and Shane Carter.
Head coach Bret Bielema did not say in his statement on Saturday why the two seniors were being suspended. Both players have been an integral part of the Badgers’ defense.
The 6-foot-1 Pleasant has made 80 career tackles over 14 starts and was listed beside safety Jay Valai for a starting slot on the most recent depth chart.
Quoted: “Democrats will say â??we did the best we could in tough times and we have a vision for the future.â?? Republicans will say â??we would have done a much better job and hereâ??s our alternative view of the future,â??” said Charles Franklin, UW Political Science professor.
It’s a rite of passage for UW students: move out day!
A rite of passage, but also a pain in the neck. Many students were up early Friday morning to clean up and move out. And most of them won’t be able to move in to their new place until Saturday, leaving many students homeless and their stuff in harm’s way.
“It’s scary because we’ve been chasing away like lots of people. My roommates mom tried to tackle somebody to get him away from her stuff,” says Melanie Most.
UW-Madison will be able to move ahead with a nearly $53 million addition and renovation to the School of Human Ecology following approval from a state committee Wednesday.
The project consists of renovation of the existing building, 1300 Linden Drive, and a 100,000 square-foot expansion to the west that includes an underground parking garage.
The single greatest part of U.S. News & World Reportâ??s formula for ranking undergraduate colleges is also the most controversial: the “peer rankings” in which college presidents rank all similar institutions.
Criticism of the system as unfair has grown, leading many liberal arts college presidents to boycott this part of the system. The rankings system was also the subject of much ribbing when Clemson University released records showing that its president ranked his university about every other one in the country.
Rankings will be much in the news in the weeks ahead, with the latest from U.S. News due out this week and the doctoral program rankings of the National Research Council, using a new methodology, due out some time soon.
Nancy Nan-hwa Wu passed away at the age of 89 on the morning of March 13, 2009. Nancy taught at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in Madison, and at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, until she retired in 1994.
Aletta “Polly” Harbort, age 91, passed away on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. She worked for Red Dot Foods and UW Hospital.
Josephine A. Cerro, age 86, passed away peacefully on Aug. 9, 2009. She worked at the UW – Madison Registrar’s office for 39 years until her retirement in 1986.
Verna Eleanor Smith, age 85, passed away on Friday, Aug. 7, 2009. Verna worked as a housekeeper for the UW-Madison dormitories for 17 years.
Ross B. Inman, age 77, died on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009, at HospiceCare, Madison. Ross was professor of biochemistry and molecular virology at UW-Madison from 1967 until his retirement in 2008.
Quoted: According to Joe Elder, a professor of sociology and a specialist on Pakistan at the University of Wisconsin, Mehsud has likely been under extreme surveillance for a long time now, whereas bin Laden has remained a moving target.
“With the assistance of Pakistani intelligence it’s much easier to track down and follow the head of the Pakistani Taliban. Many of them have been residing in the region for a long time,” said Elder. “It’s his home turf, so it’s an easier target.”
What is the best way to encourage science in Africa?
Some African scientists come to the United States to train and then return to their home countries to teach and perform research (read about two examples here).
James Ntambi took a different approach – after receiving his Ph.D. he remained in the United States and now leads a lab at the University of Wisconsin, where he trains African scientists and teaches Americans what life is like in Uganda.
Students who get drunk and rowdy at a University of Minnesota football game may be asked to make a special stop â?? at a breath-test machine â?? before entering the next time.
The new policy is aimed at curtailing unruly behavior at the U’s new on-campus stadium, which opens next month.
The stadium itself is dry, but there are bars nearby, and alcohol consumption is allowed in tailgating areas near the field.
The rule applies only to students and will target the most egregious behaviors, said Jerry Rinehart, vice provost of student affairs.
With the return of football to campus, the University of Minnesota is instituting a new policy to crack down on drunk and rowdy behavior at TCF Bank Stadium: breathalyzer tests for prior offenders. The policy is based on a similar program at the University of Wisconsin.
Guests: Ervin Cox: Director of student assistance and judicial affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Bioethics expert R. Alta Charo is joining the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a senior adviser to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. In an interview Wednesday, Hamburg said that Charo will be involved in many cutting-edge fields. “I expect that we will quickly make use of her as we think about strategies on how to address the review of products in the arena of personalized medicine, in-vitro diagnostics, stem-cell therapies, where she’s already done important work,” Hamburg said.
Jeff Gard has been the University of Wisconsin-Plattevilleâ??s head menâ??s basketball coach for less than two months, and his first game is almost three months away.
But the rookie head coach has showed that, at the very least, he knows how to make a splash of a hire.
UW-Platteville on Friday announced Gardâ??s first staff, and it includes former Wisconsin basketball star Sharif Chambliss, a member of the Badgersâ?? 2005 Elite Eight team.
A man suffered head injuries after falling 30 to 40 feet on the UW-Madison campus on Thursday night.
The UW-Madison Police Department and the Madison Fire Department responded to the Wendt Library around 11:30 p.m. for a report that a man had fallen.
