UW-Madison grad Ben Karlin, 36, faces one of the toughest encores in comedy history.
He left Madison almost 12 years ago, after helping lift The Onion toward its meteoric rise. In early 1999, he became head writer of the new Jon Stewart-hosted “Daily Show,” which raised the bar on contemporary humor.
Madison’s new economic development plan should be required reading for city officials.
It provides good recommendations and strategies for improving Madison ‘s economy, most of which are already underway but need follow-through.
The plan promotes job creation and growth. It emphasizes strong public-private partnerships. It seeks skilled, business-savvy leaders and employees to be effective champions for the city and region.
The company ‘s Wisconsin projects include the $12 million Institute for Influenza Viral Research under construction on the UW-Madison campus and a Kettle Foods manufacturing plant, completed last August in Beloit.
Daniel Resnick, M.D., professor of neurosurgery at UW Hospital, says, “Synesthesia tells us most about how different areas of the brain are related in anatomical, physiological, and functional ways. This may give us insight into how consciousness has developed through the interplay between areas of the brain associated with different senses — the mechanism by which we construct our virtual world inside our consciousness.”
Kyle Holen and Herbert Chen, doctors at UW Hospital, are studying an experimental drug that could someday give hope to patients with a rare form of cancer for which existing treatments rarely work.
The drug could treat neuroendocrine tumors, which involve cells that produce insulin, serotonin, thyroid and other hormones.
There was no spirited on-court celebration. There was no championship trophy presentation. There were no nets cut down.
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team did all of that in the wake of Wednesday’s victory that clinched at least a share of the Big Ten Conference regular-season title.
When Bo Ryan was coaching four NCAA Division III champions at UW-Platteville in the 1990s, his best teams had a balanced offense, an impenetrable defense, a total willingness to buy into his system and a one-for-all, all-for-one attitude that created an industrial-strength bond in the locker room and on the court.
Colleges and universities are anxiously taking steps to address a projected drop in the number of high school graduates in much of the nation starting next year and a dramatic change in the racial and ethnic makeup of the student population, a phenomenon expected to transform the country’s higher education landscape, educators and analysts said.
A key patent on human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is back from the dead – in a form that seems less likely to stifle research.
James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison isolated the first human ESCs in 1998. This work and earlier experiments with cells from monkeys was covered by three US patents granted to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
HAYWARD, Calif. â?? California State University, East Bay, has never had the cachet of nearby Berkeley. But it has a great location overlooking the San Francisco Bay and aspires to raise its profile and grow.
Mohammad H. Qayoumi, president of California State University, East Bay, sees the university as a microcosm of the world.
So starting this year it is trying something different to lure applicants: participating in a regional program resulting in lower tuition for students from Washington, Oregon, Montana and a dozen other Western states.
In some states, cuts in tuition for out-of-state students have led to political battles. After the University of Wisconsin system in 2006 reduced out-of-state tuition by an average of nearly $2,000 at all its campuses except the Madison flagship â?? a move that followed years of tuition increases â?? the issue became a hot topic in the governorâ??s race. The debate still percolates.
Quoted: Dr. James A. Stewart, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin, said it is “fairly common” to have mastectomies performed on an outpatient basis.
Proposed changes to the University of Wisconsin Systemâ??s non-academic misconduct policy would make it easier for university administrators to penalize students for misbehaving off campus.
According to a report recently released by a UW System policy revision committee, the proposed policy changes to Wisconsin Administrative Code UWS 17 would make explicitly clear that university officials can sanction students for off-campus misconduct, including municipal violations, if that misconduct adversely affects a substantial university interest.
MADISON â?? A bill that recently received final legislative approval is expected to boost the number of people who pledge to be organ donors, says a University of Wisconsin-Madison medical official.
“It allows people who make their wishes known to be honored and not overridden,” said Dr. Tony D’Alessandro, director of the UW Hospital’s organ recovery service.
MADISON, Wis. — Health officials said they are seeing a high level of flu activity in the area, and they said they don’t expect cases to taper off for three to four more weeks.
Clinics like University Health Services on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus have been busy in last couple of weeks as the number of people reporting flu-like symptoms increases.
Quoted: When to send a child to kindergarten is an issue many parents still grapple with, and researchers have yet to determine which children really benefit from redshirting, said Beth Graue, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on academic redshirting.
Milwaukee, Wis. – Private sector leaders in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin are trying to bridge the gap between universities and businesses through more effective use of computing and scientific resources, and their vehicle is the new Milwaukee Institute, a non-profit organization that is building a cyber infrastructure of shared, grid-based computing.
The genesis of the institute dates back to the interest of the Wisconsin Technology Council and individuals like Paul Peercy, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to combine educational and research activities in southeastern Wisconsin with the business community. John Byrnes said this has not been effectively done through existing channels, and the institute’s backers have devoted time to closing that gap during the past two years.
A status report on the Madison man who died after finishing an Arkansas marathon.
27-year-old Adam Nickel collapsed last Sunday at the finish line of the Little Rock Marathon.
Preliminary autopsy results do not show exactly how the UW graduate student died.
The coroner’s office is waiting for additional reports. That could take up to five weeks.
EVANSTON, Ill. — Brian Butch scored 20 points and matched his career-high with 14 rebounds as No. 10 Wisconsin clinched the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday.
The Badgers used a strong second half to beat Northwestern 65-52 at Evanston.
Jason Bohannon added 15 points, and Marcus Landry scored eight straight during a 10-0 second-half run to help Wisconsin pull away.
A decade ago, a 150 rhesus monkeys from the Henry Vilas Zoo were shipped to Tulane University in New Orleans.
And, that’s where they died.
At the zoo Saturday a group of animal rights activists returned to remember the monkeys.
Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
When you picture someone booking bands, you think of a hardened pro, wheeling and dealing and probably smoking a cigar.
But the people booking one of the state’s busiest music venues are in their teens and early 20s, with little to no business experience.
The student union at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosts more than 160 music programs, 35 weeks a year. At both Union South and the Memorial Union, students handle the nuts and bolts of concert promotion through the music committe
Now that they’re here, it’s fair to ask the question. How in the world did they get here?
Here, of course, is the Big Ten Conference championship.
There was no second-half run, no last-gasp effort to come to the rescue.
Not this time.
If Boston University wants to improve its standing dramatically among U.S. schools, the university must hire deans who not only keep their colleges afloat but steer them into uncharted territory — no institution of higher education achieves a reputation without innovation. In this spirit, the university search committee saw far ahead by hiring University of Wisconsin-Madison psychology professor Hardin Coleman to lead the School of Education.
Quoted: Professor Allan Odden of the University of Wisconsin-Madison told the panel that smaller class sizes in early grades have a statistically significant impact on student learning and an especially large impact on poor and minority students.
Quoted: Donald Downs, a First Amendment expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the memo may have violated employees’ free speech rights, if it could be proved their complaints were of public concern. For example, employee pay cuts wouldn’t qualify, he said, but an impact on services could.
Q. At what temperature does lake-effect snow happen?
— Submitted by Mason Rather, sixth grade, Jefferson Middle School
A. Lake-effect precipitation is driven by large temperature differences between cold air flowing over warm lake water, says Scott Bachmeier, a research meteorologist at the Space Science and Engineering Center at UW-Madison. The amount of precipitation depends mainly on the size of the water-to-air temperature difference and how far the wind blows across the lake.
The University Research Park and CUNA Mutual Group are working on a land swap that would be the first step for a mixed-use development between Mineral Point and Odana roads.
MADISON, Wis. — Milton McPike is stepping down from the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents after spending four years on the board.
McPike spent 28 years in the Madison Metropolitan School District.
Patricia Keely is fighting cancer on two fronts:
â?¢ In her lab, she and her colleagues at UW-Madison are discovering secrets of breast cancer, including why it occurs more often in dense breast tissue.
â?¢ In her life, she volunteered for a clinical trial at the Mayo Clinic of a new drug in hopes of surviving her own cancer of the esophagus.
Some UW Hospital patients will soon test an unusual treatment: They’ll drink a cocktail of worm eggs, which will hatch inside their bodies.
Doctors say the low-grade infection of worms, harvested from pigs, can help regulate faulty immune systems. The patients have multiple sclerosis, in which the immune system attacks nerve cells.
Boston University announced yesterday University of Wisconsin-Madison psychology professor and veteran educator Hardin Coleman will be the School of Education’s permanent dean.
Hereâ??s a place thatâ??s unlikely ever to be a vacation spot for Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain: Lake Myvatn, in Iceland.
Myvatn, translating from Icelandic to English, means Midge Lake.
During mating season, the air at Lake Myvatn can also be thick with male midges, each hovering, waiting for a female to join him. â??Itâ??s a like a fog, a brown dense fog that just rises around the lake,â? said Anthony R. Ives, a professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin.
Aided by satellite monitoring, scientists at the University of Wisconsinâ??s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies have updated their study of cyclone formation in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off of Africaâ??s west coast. Their findings, released last moevels (Voice of America)nth, appeared about the same time as tropical Cyclone Ivan struck Madagascar in the Indian Ocean east of the African continent.
MADISON â?? University of Wisconsin System officials are considering the merits of charging students from well-off families higher tuition to subsidize their lower-income peers.
The Board of Regents debated the issue Thursday as part of a wide-ranging discussion on tuition and financial aid.
When campus police got word that a masked student had a gun at his desk during class, armed officers immediately confronted him, confiscated it and found out others on campus were carrying weapons as well.
But instead of averting a real threat, University of Nebraska authorities found a toy gun that shoots foam darts being used for what amounted to an elaborate game of tag.
Thousands of players, mostly on college campuses, have participated for years in versions of the 24/7 battle to “eliminate” all other players. But some say the game â?? known widely as “Assassin” or “Assassins” â?? is ill-suited and possibly dangerous in times when campus shootings are fresh in people’s minds.
For all of last season’s achievements â?? a record number of victories, the first No. 1 ranking in program history, the highest NCAA tournament seed in school history â?? the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team had nothing tangible to take away from its efforts.
In later years, Kenneth Funmaker founded the Ho-Chunk language program and worked with UW-Madison linguists to develop computer programs to teach the language.
Quoted: David Gustafson of the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment.
If you think there are too many midges in Scotland, try visiting Iceland where blizzards of the bugs form.
In the journal Nature, a team of ecologists from the University of Wisconsin, The University of Iceland and Royal Holloway, University of London, report on the flighty behaviour of algae munching midges in Iceland’s Lake Myvatn, which means “midge lake” in Icelandic.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Assembly has approved a bill that would block financial aid for college students convicted of drug crimes.
The bill would change state law to mirror restrictions on federal financial aid for those who are convicted of manufacturing, distributing or delivering controlled substances.
Quoted: Ken Goldstein, director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The UW System Board of Regents is holding a session today to talk about issues related to college affordability and access to public higher education.
While no action will be taken during the meeting, David Giroux, spokesman for the System, said the meeting is an extension of the System’s overall strategic planning and will begin conversation regarding broad ideas such as tuition strategies. The discussion about the report will be mostly “blue sky thinking,” Giroux said, focusing on the realm of possibility regarding the issues.
MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Jim Doyle has called a special legislative session next week for lawmakers to deal with a projected $350 million budget shortfall.
Doyle is calling for lawmakers to take up the budget starting on March 13. Doyle has not yet introduced his plan for dealing with the shortfall. Spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said the governor expects to introduce his bill early next week.
Quoted: UW political scientist Charles Franklin.
Regarding the Wisconsin brand, Kelli Trumble pointed to examples of original thinkers like the employees at Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the late architect Frank Lloyd Wright, cheesemaker Sid Cook at Carr Valley Cheese, stem-cell researcher James Thomson at UW-Madison and environmentalist Aldo Leopold.
Adam Alexander Nickel, 27, Madison, WI, passed away suddenly Sunday, March 2nd, 2008, shortly after finishing the Little Rock Marathon, in Little Rock, Ark-ansas. Adam was born Feb. 3rd, 1981, the 3rd of five boys of Cindy and Ben Nickel (Kaukauna).
Quoted: Pollster is including American Researchâ??s numbers, Charles Franklin, co-developer of the site and a professor at the University of Wisconsin, told me: â??Lots of pollsters have shown volatility, not just ARG.â? Prof. Franklin added, â??The inclusion or exclusion of a pollster runs the perils of cherry-picking polls, something weâ??ve tried not to do.â?
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents is taking a closer look at how affordable a college education is at its schools.
A Regent spokesman says overall, a college degree at a UW college is affordable. However, he says the system doesn’t offer much financial aid to those who struggle to afford it. The Regents will discuss raising tuition for certain campuses or programs.
Quoted: Kenneth Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Quoted: Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Quoted: Study author Brent Valentine of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Rural Sociology says he wasnâ??t able to find out how many of the milkers are here legally, but he says the increasing number of immigration arrests has both farmers and workers worried, because they depend on each other.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison marketing professor Jack Nevin said the state was wise to promote its already proven tourism industry and the innovation that will be important for the stateâ??s economic development.
Quoted: Doctors in Argentina reported last year that MS patients who had intestinal parasites fared better than those who did not, and researchers at the University of Wisconsin are planning to launch another study as early as next month testing pig worms in 20 patients with the disease.
“We hope to show whether this treatment has promise and is worth exploring further in a larger study,” said John O. Fleming, a professor of neurology who is leading the effort.
The cause of death for a former Kaukauna man who died Sunday after running a marathon in Little Rock, Ark., remained unknown after an autopsy performed Monday.
Adam Nickel, 27, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, collapsed after crossing the finish line of the Little Rock Marathon and never regained consciousness.
Quoted: Doctors in Argentina reported last year that MS patients who had intestinal parasites fared better than those who did not, and researchers at the University of Wisconsin are planning to launch another study as early as next month testing pig worms in 20 patients with the disease.
“We hope to show whether this treatment has promise and is worth exploring further in a larger study,” said John O. Fleming, a professor of neurology who is leading the effort.
William Fey Huffman, the Wisconsin journalist and media owner known for his engagement in a broad range of community issues and organizations supporting the environment, Wisconsin history, and journalism, died Saturday, March 1, 2008. Bill graduated in 1950 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in agricultural journalism. During the 1950s he led a successful effort to establish a tough open public meetings law in Wisconsin, and helped to underwrite a new journalism school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1991, the School of Journalism awarded him the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service, describing Bill as “one of the most respected leaders of the Wisconsin newspaper and broadcast industries” because of his commitment to public affairs. In 1993, Bill received the Honorary Recognition Award from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences for facilitating news on “agriculture, family living and natural resources” in his media outlets. In lieu of flowers, the family would welcome contributions to the University of Wisconsin Foundation-William F. Huffman Fund, which supports environmental research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Limnology’s Trout Lake Station in northern Wisconsin.
Standing before the Faculty Senate, UW-Madison physics professor Dan McCammon said that supporting the faculty ‘s fundraising campaign to help keep the university ‘s doors open to lower-income students was really “a no-brainer. ”
“It ‘s what this university is all about, ” he said. “We help out what we care about. ”
It turns out plenty of others share McCammon ‘s view.
UW-Madison ‘s Faculty Senate on Monday overwhelmingly approved a faculty fundraising drive to raise money for need-based scholarships to the university.
Megan Severson needed to get in touch with her mother ASAP.
So she sent her a text message.
“This afternoon I sent my mom a text message to see if she put money in my account so i can pay my rent. I didn’t get out until about when the banks closed,” Severson says.
