Charles Jefferson Hitt, age 72, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007. He served as a researcher in Library Science and Evaluation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Charles Jefferson Hitt
Madison.com
Author: jplucas
Of Uw And The Sports Anchor
Wisconsin State Journal
Is there some great meaning in the fact Scott Van Pelt, a moderately obscure cable TV anchorman, has been asked to deliver the UW-Madison commencement address Sunday?
After all, Van Pelt didn’t attend UW-Madison and has no real ties to the state.
Firefighters knew the drill at old Ogg Hall
Wisconsin State Journal
Madison firefighters not only trained for fighting fires like the one that briefly flared at the top of the old Ogg Hall Friday morning, you could say they prepared for this very fire.
Slated for demolition, the 42-year-old student dormitory was used this past summer by UW-Madison Police and the Madison Fire Department to practice responding to emergencies in high-rise buildings.
Conklin: UW grad’s film on Reilly draws rave reviews
Wisconsin State Journal
In 2001, UW-Madison graduate Barry Poltermann was living in Los Angeles and trying to find “something fun to do for our work Christmas party” at his company, Civilian Pictures.
Intelix gear helps deliver audio, video
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: UW-Madison alum Steve Cohan.
UW adds Hmong classes
Wisconsin State Journal
Ka Bao Lee has been waiting to take Hmong language classes pretty much her whole life.7
Born in a refugee camp in Thailand, Lee and her family came to the United States and Sheboygan when she was 3. Hmong is spoken at home, the UW-Madison senior said, but she didn ‘t have a clue how to read or write the language — and that bothered her.
Races could be short
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political science professor who studies elections.
DNA as art: Scientist offering cell portraits
Wisconsin State Journal
Phil Fisette is a scientist who’s creating art by offering customers a colorful photograph of their own DNA.
Fisette, 37, who has a doctorate in cell and molecular biology from UW-Madison, became intrigued by the beauty of the microscopic world. He started his company, Cell Portraits, in June.
U.S. War on Poverty Ignores One Group of Victims: Kevin Hassett (Bloomberg.com)
Bloomberg News
An important new study by University of Wisconsin economist John Karl Scholz, provides a chilling perspective on the real human costs of this oversight. With the after-tax return for working so low, it should be little surprise that many individuals simply choose not to get a job.
Do-It-Yourself Diagnosis on the Web (NPR)
National Public Radio
Quoted: Robert Hawkins of the University of Wisconsin. “It’s a very chaotic, tough world out there on the Internet on health.”
Suzanne Pingree, Hawkins’ colleague at the University of Wisconsin, says the cancer patients were overwhelmed by all the information they found.
Human evolution in fast forward mode (Minnesota Public Radio)
Minnesota Public Radio
St. Paul, Minn. â?? Human beings are evolving at an ever faster rate, according to a new study.
A group of anthropologists and geneticists tracked this change by looking a relatively new gene for digesting milk, which varies depending on where in the world you live.
Guest John Hawks, anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was part of a team that analyzed DNA sequences and skeletons to determine the pace of human evolution. He writes a blog on paleoanthropology, genetics, and evolution.
New Teachers Outdo Peers of Last Decade on Academic Scales (Education Week)
Douglas N. Harris, a professor of policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, took a different tack. Looking across occupations, he said, cognitive ability is the best predictor of worker effectiveness, especially in complex occupations such as teaching. Nonetheless, a recent study of his own failed to find a relationship between teachersâ?? college-entrance-exam scores and their ability to produce state test-score gains by their students.
Don’t get carried away with spending (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Quoted: Don’t touch – or don’t try it on. If you try it, you’re more likely to buy it, said Joann Peck, professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Relatively low pay seen as obstacle in search for next UW chancellor (AP)
Appleton Post-Crescent
MADISON â?? University of Wisconsin-Madison is the No. 1 public school for research spending, top-rated in many academic fields and often a winner in athletics.
But its next leader’s compensation will not be near the top of any chart.
The search for a chancellor to lead Wisconsin’s flagship university could be hindered by a relatively low salary at a time when compensation for higher education leaders is rising, experts say.
Social networks have risks (Deseret Morning News)
Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
Quoted: Thomas Reason, associate director of admissions at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told me that neither he nor his staff have time to research applicants using such sites, but that if information about an applicant “ended up in my face, it would be hard to ignore.” Reason also said that they would not make a decision based on something they saw on Facebook or MySpace, but instead would “inquire of the student to get a better understanding of the situation.”
Doctors: Liposuctioned Stem Cells Eliminate Need for Implants in Breast Reconstruction (AP)
Quoted: Dr. Karol Gutowski of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Letter: Field Pass — don ‘t follow Luther’s Blues example
Wisconsin State Journal
We wish to publicly welcome Field Pass as a new neighbor and restaurant in the University Square project. We look forward to its contributions to this exciting university-private partnership.
UW-Madison and the project developer signed a covenant that permits alcohol sales only in a business licensed as a restaurant in the University Square project. The Field Pass license is as a restaurant — at least 50 percent of its revenue must be generated through food sales. We hope Downtown patrons will respond and choose it as a restaurant destination.
However, we have experienced the creation of a large, expensive, mixed-use facility trying to succeed in a student and bar business area. We hope Field Pass, and the city of Madison, will learn from the Luther ‘s Blues experience and maintain the expectation that Field Pass be a “best practice ” alcohol-service establishment.
This includes training all staff to be responsible beverage servers, regularly and diligently using ID scanners, not using cheap alcohol as the “hook ” to bring in customers, and promoting itself primarily as a restaurant.
As we learned from the Luther ‘s experience, no amount of after-the-fact license negotiation can save an establishment that begins with inaccurate assumptions or a poorly conceived business plan. We hope, and trust, that Field Pass ‘s business plan will guide it towards becoming an exemplary restaurant establishment. We stand ready to help.
— Aaron M. Brower, principal investigator, PACE Project; and Susan Crowley, director, prevention services, PACE Project
Five Workers Escape Fire At Old UW-Madison Dorm
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis. — Five construction workers safely escaped a fire at an old University of Wisconsin-Madison residence hall Friday.
Madison Fire Department spokesman Eric Dahl said the workers were inside old Ogg Hall when fire broke out around 11 a.m. Friday. He said that smoke blocked the workers’ route to the stairs and that they climbed down scaffolding set up outside the building on West Dayton Street.
Fire at Old Ogg Hall
NBC-15
This morning, Madison firefighters battled a fire at Old Ogg Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
The first call came in at 11:08am to Madison Fire. According Eric Dahl with the Madison Fire Department, the fire burned in an elevator shaft and on the 13th floor.
There were workers in the building, but they weren’t hurt.
The residence hall is being torn down and no students live there. The university closed the 42-year-old building this past spring.
Dairy Science Enrollment on the Rise
WKOW-TV 27
In America’s Dairyland, 160,000 people are employed in the dairy industry. According to the UW’s department of agriculture, that’s almost half the agriculture jobs in the state. But the number of students studying to enter the field was dwindling – until the Dairy Science Department decided to do something about it.
Now, they’ve implemented a new strategy to attract students and it seems to be working. In the past three years, the number of students in the Dairy Science recruiting classes have more than tripled.
Ted Halbach, an extension Dairy Youth Specialist and Instructor in the Department of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin says, “In 2004 we had a recruiting class of 8 students”. With enrollment numbers so low, the dairy science program partnered with an unlikely source, a marketing firm.
UW Graduation
NBC-15
Years of hard work and dedication paid off Sunday at the Kohl Center for a couple of thousand U-W Madison Students. Sunday was graduation day.
ESPN Sportscenter anchor Scott Van Pelt, who has called Madison, America’s Best College Sports Town, delivered the commencement address.
Van Pelt stressed patience and the idea that the process of achieving a dream is just as important and the dream itself. But, overall, he emphasized the value of time.
More Colleges Offer ‘Amnesty’ for Drinking Violations
Chronicle of Higher Education
Under-age drinkers will do almost anything to stay out of trouble. Sometimes they won’t even call 911 in an emergency, says Meghan Hanrahan, a junior at Ohio University. That’s why she believes administrators should waive judicial punishments when intoxicated students seek medical help for themselves or their friends.
Ms. Hanrahan, a student at the university’s main campus, in Athens, and a member of Ohio’s Student Senate, helped establish a committee to study the feasibility of “medical amnesty.” “Punishments put fear into students,” she says. “But if you’re sick or in trouble, safety should be the No. 1 priority
Bell Labs Is Gone. Academia Steps In.
New York Times
Pay me now, and pay me later.
Thatâ??s the new mind-set at some leading research universities in dealing with business â?? and the essence of an emerging model for how corporations can tap big brains on campus without having to pay their salaries.
Corporations have long been able to license intellectual property from universities, but these deals are cumbersome to negotiate and tend to work best when corporate researchers know exactly what they need to create.
UWM pumps up research efforts
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Brookfield – He’s the pride of the Packers, Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year, and a nearly unavoidable celebrity.
On Thursday, Brett Favre’s image even joined the effort to build support for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and its ambitions to expand as a catalyst of research, technology innovation and risk-friendly start-up companies.
In a show of support, UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley drove in from Madison to attend the event at the Brookfield Suites Hotel and Convention Center.
Milwaukee cannot thrive without a research complex, Wiley said. UWM needs to expand “as fast as possible, to be the biggest and best research university that it possibly can be,” Wiley said.
Favre is the epitome of the “thoughtful risk taker,” said Colin Scanes, UWM’s vice chancellor for research and economic development.
What Was the Motive in Outing Watson’s DNA?
Chronicle of Higher Education
The University of Wisconsin anthropologist John Hawks canâ??t figure out why deCODEâ??s CEO publicized the companyâ??s analysis of James Watsonâ??s DNA. The analysis showed, in the words of the New York Times report, that Watsonâ??s DNA â??has 16 times the number of genes considered to be of African origin than the average white European does â?? about the same amount of African DNA that would show up if one great-grandparent were African, said Kari Stefansson, the chief executive of deCODE Genetics of Iceland, which did the analysis.â?
Still: Wiley legacy will extend beyond UW-Madison
Wisconsin Technology Network
Madison, Wis. – Ask the average Wisconsin citizen how the University of Wisconsin-Madison touches his or her life, and you’re likely to hear something about Badger football, perhaps a mention of the UW Hospital, and maybe a gripe about nephew Steve being turned down for admission even though he posted a 3.8 grade point average in high school.
During his tenure as chancellor of Wisconsin’s flagship public campus, John Wiley has done what he could to expand the list of commonly held (and positive) UW-Madison perceptions. He hasn’t always been successful, but he will leave a solid foundation for his successor when he retires in September 2008.
UW doc compares steroid report to Salem witch trials
Wisconsin Radio Network
A report on steroid use by pro baseball players is out, and you might be surprised what one UW Hospital doctor has to say about the subject. Dr. Norman Fost, a medical ethicist and physician at UW Hospital, compares the release of a report on steroid use in baseball to the Salem Witch Trials. Fost says if today’s players have an advantage over their predecessors, or competitors it’s not necessarily because of the dope. “New ballparks deliberately make the fences shorter, so there will be more home runs,” says Fost.
Harvard Disputes Faust Quotations in BusinessWeek Article (The Harvard Crimson)
Terry Devitt, a spokesman for the University of Wisconsin at Madisonâ??s research programs, said he saw no evidence that his school could not compete with the Ivies, citing the universityâ??s top-10 ranking as a recipient of federal funds for scientific research.
â??Take a look at the numbers,â? Devitt said. â??This is a first-class institution and is the equal or superior of Harvard in many areas.â?
University of Wisconsin at Madison ranked second in total research and development expenditures in 2006, while Harvard did not break the top 25, according to the National Science Foundation. Only four of the top 10 institutions listed were private.
Cable bill critic certain it will become law
Wisconsin Radio Network
A leading critic of a controversial cable TV bill is predicting Governor Doyle will sign the measure.
UW-Madison Telecommunications Professor Barry Orton says Governor Doyle has been supportive of the bill deregulating the cable industry by saying he likes the idea of the measure. Orton says Doyle has also received a large amount of campaign contributions from AT&T, the main proponent of the bill. Orton says he would be “shocked” if the Governor vetoed the measure
Kaplan: Teaching, Principles and the Role of the Professor
Inside Higher Education
On February 15 of this year, in a class in legal process at the University of Wisconsin Law School, I commented on problems encountered by Hmong people who have immigrated to Wisconsin. My comments were misreported in student e-mail correspondence which became public and was published in the local press. As a result, a distorted view of my February 15 class became international news.
Legislators Act to Curb Controversial Privilege
Wisconsin Public Radio
A UW political scientist says the state senateâ??s vote Tuesday night to limit the veto powers of the governor came as a strong message that the senate democrats count their role as lawmakers over their loyalty to Democratic Governor Jim Doyle. Steve Roisum reportsâ?¦(Audio.)
Curiosities: Plate tectonics dictate flow of the Mississippi
Wisconsin State Journal
Q. Why does the Mississippi River flow south?
Submitted by Eryn Bain, 7th grade,
Cherokee Middle School
A. A river’s path is primarily determined by the shape of the land, says Jim Knox, a UW-Madison geography professor who studies rivers.
S. Korean Officials Come Here To Learn Stem-cell Protocol
Wisconsin State Journal
South Korean officials trying to rebuild stem-cell research in their country after a scandal involving a top scientist are turning to top U.S. researchers for guidance.
Patricia Elizabeth Sullivan
Madison.com
Patricia Elizabeth Sullivan, age 81, of Monona, passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007. Patricia worked for the University of Wisconsin in continuing education from 1968 until her retirement in 1991.
Letter love
Isthmus
Like a lot of UW-Madison alums, I get a warm squeeze from the song “Varsity.” It didn’t mean a dang thing the year I earned my varsity letter in swimming three decades ago. In fact, I never even wore the jacket during the years I competed for UW. Wearing sports stuff just wasn’t my thing. It had nothing to do with the shame some on campus felt over how bad the UW football team was in the late ’70s.
How bad was the football program back then? Real bad. Not Veer offense bad. Worse. The team was so crappy they didn’t even have a name for their offense.
A clash over student fees
Isthmus
Rachel Butler, a junior at the UW-Madison, is worried that students are losing their right to decide how their money is used.
“Right now, the ability to use our student fees to support student life and our campus experience is being threatened,” says Butler, coordinator for the Student Rights Campaign, part of UW-Madison’s student government, Associated Students of Madison (ASM). “This presents a huge problem in students’ ability to provide the services we want for our university.”
Whose athletic department is it?
Isthmus
Last Friday’s UW athletic board meeting began on a gleeful note. Athletic Director Barry Alvarez reported that the Big Ten conference would allow football games to be played after Thanksgiving next season, which means the Badgers will be able to fit in a bye week and the state’s deer hunters will have a dilemma on their hands. The Finance Committee reported that the athletic department will pull in more than $70 million in 2007, a new record.
But then the meeting hit a snag. Jeremi Suri, an associate professor of history, turned up the heat on board chair Walter Dickey over a letter signed by Dickey, Alvarez and UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley on Nov. 2. The letter set forth the UW’s position on the Big Ten Network, which would broadcast the following day’s football game against Ohio State.
The Daily Page – Q & A with Prof. Jeremi Suri
Isthmus
Prof. Jeremi Suri was recently named one of America’s brightest young minds by the Smithsonian Institute and has recently published Henry Kissinger and the American Century with Harvard University Press. He also sits on the UW-Madison Athletic Board, where he has become a voice of dissent.
At a board meeting last Friday, Suri confronted UW Law Prof. Walter Dickey, chairman of the board, over a letter Dickey signed along with athletic director Barry Alvarez and Chancellor John Wiley which appeared to stake out the university’s position on the network and its bargaining stalemate with cable providers.
First Heart Transplant Accomplished 40 Years Ago
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis. — This month marks the 40th anniversary of the first human to human heart transplant, and University of Wisconsin Hospital doctors said researchers are working on even more revolutionary changes in the field.
WISC-TV and Channel 3000 previously reported on the story of Tina Adam, who was waiting for a heart transplant while using a ventricular assist device. She got that transplant last Wednesday and has been recovering at UW Hospital.
Researchers: Human evolution speeding up (AP)
WASHINGTON – Science fiction writers have suggested a future Earth populated by a blend of all races into a common human form. In real life, the reverse seems to be happening. People are evolving more rapidly than in the distant past, with residents of various continents becoming increasingly different from one another, researchers say.
“Our species is not static,” Harpending added in a telephone interview.
How women bend over backwards for baby (Nature)
Nature
Quoted: Aside from the more obvious biological factors, this makes women more suited to carrying a baby. “I would advise all of my male colleagues not to become pregnant,” jokes Karen Steudel, a biological anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Back (or Forward) to School
Inside Higher Education
During the first year of Grandparents University at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, for instance, more than 75 percent of the grandparents were graduates. Coming up on its eighth summer, roughly half of participants now are alumni. Wisconsin says its program is the first of its type in the country. Organized by the universityâ??s alumni association and its extension program, the two-day workshop is for children ages 7 to 14.
Foster freedom to hear views
Wisconsin State Journal
Of all the institutions in America, the university should be the last place where you would find policies that discourage the free exchange of ideas.
UW-Madison administrators should bear that in mind as they review fees charged to provide security for speakers invited to campus to deliver controversial views.
South Korean officials visit cell bank
CNN.com
South Korean officials trying to rebuild stem cell research in their country after a scandal involving a top scientist are turning to leading U.S. researchers for guidance.
A delegation of South Korean scientists and government officials spent two days at the National Stem Cell Bank here to learn best practices in the growth and distribution of stem cells.
Let ideas flourish on state campuses
Racine Journal Times
In the latest flap over university students and free speech, there is a claim that it is conservative speech which is threatened at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Liberals may gloat a bit because two years ago it was they who were in the crosshairs over a speech in Whitewater by a controversial Colorado professor.
The fundamental principle at stake supersedes political ideology, however, and both sides should unite on this issue. Conservatives have a point â?? not the whole point extending to the left-wing conspiracy claimed by one Republican senator â?? but enough of a point that there should be some serious reconsideration of UW System policy.
Student Lender to Stop Using College and Team Names in Marketing
New York Times
A student lender that paid students as much as $50 for referring classmates for loans and paid dozens of universities to use the institutionsâ?? names, athletic team names, logos and mascots on advertising material sent to student borrowers has agreed to stop these marketing tactics, the New York attorney general announced Tuesday.
UW-Madison may Accept Iraqi Students
Wisconsin Public Radio
A University of Wisconsin group wants administrators to open its doors to Iraqi students, to help them achieve their academic goals away from the war zone. Brian Bull reports.â?¦(Audio.)
A Closer Look at Enrollments of Veterans
Inside Higher Education
As states and the federal government continue to debate financial support for military personnel who want to attend (or return to) college, some states have taken their own initiative. Now, recently released enrollment data for the University of Wisconsin System could offer a preview of what states can expect in the coming years â?? despite new research documenting the persistent educational gaps between veterans and non-veterans.
The Team That Put the Net in Orbit
New York Times
Quoted: Lawrence H. Landweber, a computer scientist at the University of Wisconsin who in 1980 made the pioneering decision to use the basic TCP/IP Internet protocol for CSNET, an academic network that preceded NSFnet and laid the foundation for â??internetworking.â?
Culture Speeds Up Human Evolution
Scientific American
Quoted: anthropologist John Hawks of the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison.
Evolution getting faster by the millennium
Sydney Morning Herald
NATURE’S race to create the perfect person has shifted into top gear, with humans evolving 100 times faster than at any time since the rise of man some 6 million years ago.
That is the finding of researchers who have sifted through data collected by the international effort to map our genetic blueprint.
The pace of human evolution in the past 5000 years was “immense â?¦ something nobody expected”, John Hawks, a University of Wisconsin-Madison anthropologist, said yesterday.
New Evolution Findings About Humanity, not Races
Wired.com
Modern medicine and social safety nets haven’t slowed human evolution; instead, thanks to changes in diet, climate and lifestyle, evolution appears to be speeding up, and it’s happening in different ways in different groups of people.
So said a team of U.S. anthropologists earlier this week. Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, received widespread press coverage — some of it responsible, and some less so.
Study finds humans still evolving, and quickly
Los Angeles Times
The pace of human evolution has been increasing at a stunning rate since our ancestors began spreading through Europe, Asia and Africa 40,000 years ago, quickening to 100 times historical levels after agriculture became widespread, according to a study published today.
The advantage of all but about 100 of the genes remains a mystery, said University of Wisconsin-Madison anthropologist John Hawks, who led the study. But the research team was able to conclude that infectious diseases and the introduction of new foods were the primary reasons that some genes swept through populations with such speed.
A Bold Plan To Increase Wealth In Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Journal
We can all agree that Wisconsin is a great place to live, work and raise a family. Otherwise we probably wouldn’t be here.
We would also agree Wisconsin and Minnesota have many similarities. Both states have a similar climate, and roughly the same population. The residents of both states also have a strong Midwestern work ethic.
But Minnesota outperforms Wisconsin in a few key areas.
Flood In Dorm Blamed On Broken Radiator Coil
Wisconsin State Journal
With the fall semester winding down, room cleaning probably isn’t high on the agenda of most UW-Madison students. But some residents of Chadbourne Residential College weren’t given an option over the weekend.
A broken radiator coil in a seventh-floor dorm room Saturday morning led to partial flooding all the way down to the west wing’s main level, forcing dozens of students to scoop up belongings and temporarily evacuate their rooms.
Drinking Drama
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Dr. Richard Brown, assistant professor in UW’s Department of Family Medicine.
Third Wave Obtains $25 Million In Credit
Wisconsin State Journal
Third Wave Technologies, 502 S. Rosa Road, has secured a five-year, $25 million line of credit with Deerfield Management, a health-care investment fund based in New York.
Langdon Divers
Madison.com
Langdon Divers, age 105, died on Dec. 9, 2007. In the mid 1950s he joined the University of Wisconsin Department of Botany, where he was involved in the early use of the electron microscope and created some of the equipment for penicillin research and DNA studies.
Researchers: Human evolution speeding up
USA Today
By tracking the footprints of evolution along the human genome, a team of researchers on Monday reported for the first time that the pace of evolution is quickening with the passing generations.
Lead author is John Hawks, Depts. of Anthropology and Zoology
Nanotech schools rent labs to businesses
USA Today
Thirteen nano-level university laboratories across the country are hiring themselves out to businesses eager to make their mark in the millennium of the minuscule. The intimidatingly named National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, begun in 2004, is funded in part with $14 million a year from the National Science Foundation.
Participating business owners say the network allows them to do much more research than they would have without access to its resources. That research, to which the businesses retain all rights, will foster better products and industrial processes that will bolster the national economy, they say.