Quoted: Dennis Dresang, a political science and public affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the tragedy prompted some officials in Minnesota to change their stand against spending and tax increases.
The International Society of Limnology has announced it will bestow its Naumann-Thienemann Medal on UW-Madison limnology Prof. Stephen Carpenter. As medals go, this is as prestigious as it gets for people who study lakes. It is the highest recognition in limnology, and rewards outstanding work across a career.
Santa Monica, Calif. – Faced with dwindling federal support for research, more and more states like Wisconsin are stepping up to fill the shortfall with state money. But as state commitments soar higher and higher, a basic question often is left unanswered.
Who should control, profit, and otherwise benefit from discoveries made in state-funded laboratories across Wisconsin? How you settle such matters are known as intellectual property policy, and like most states, Wisconsin apparently doesn’t have a coherent, across-the-board policy.
(MADISON) Madison officials are already planning for this yearâ??s annual Halloween celebration. While the weekend event typically draws thousands of revelers, this coming observance coincides with another huge celebration.
Security and safety officials note that this yearâ??s stakes are higher, because the Halloween celebration coincides with UW-Madisonâ??s homecoming activities, which means more partying. In past years, tens of thousands of costumed revelers have flooded State Street. This has often sparked brawls, vandalism, and rioting, such as in 2004, when Madison police dispersed a mob with pepper spray.
(EAU CLAIRE) Governorâ??s Task Force on Campus Safety held its second meeting at UW-Eau Claire yesterday (TH), where the focus was complex mental health issues on campuses.
The Task Force started its work after the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus. While shootings are rare, university officials say suicides, threats and serious mental health problems are not. Keynote presenter was Professor Gary Pavela, a nationally known expert on laws that affect students. He says often one part of a campus doesnâ??t know that another has already dealt with a problem student. He says a student may exhibit a pattern in the classroom, in the residence hall or the student union, or the campus police have had some interaction with the student, and often, no one ties it all together. He says thereâ??s nothing â??holisticâ? about the image of the student. (Fifth item.)
(MADISON) Legislative leaders have tossed aside a plan that would increase funding at the University of Wisconsin and cap tuition at four percent.
The proposal by Senate Democrats included most of the new funding that they want for the University of Wisconsin System. As a concession, it also included the tuition cap proposed and passed by Assembly Republicans. While GOP leaders called it a significant step forward, Democratic Senator Russ Decker made it clear the deal required some concessions from them, as well. He told them not to try to misrepresent this four percent tuition cap. He said itâ??s only going to function if the University gets enough cash to be able to make ends meet.
It’s that time of the year again. The streets of downtown Madison are filling up with anything from used sofas to unwanted stereos.
As leases end, UW students are clearing out their homes in preparation for the official move-out day on August 15.
And though all the discarded odds and ends don’t exactly make the best street decor they’re fair pickings for anyone who might find something worth taking home.
Some say it’s a Madison tradition to raid the mess during move-out time. The city has designated 3 days of trash pick-up. Work crews will clear the curbs on august 14th through the 16th.
Kevin Hinckley stood on Capitol Square last week, collecting signatures. The east-side Madison resident has started a petition asking the city to stop accepting alcohol and gambling advertising on Metro buses.
“I think it’s inappropriate,” says Hinckley. “It’s as bad as promoting cigarettes.”
As overseas study has become a prized credential of the undergraduate experience, a competitive, even cutthroat, industry has emerged, with an army of vendors vying for student money and universities moving to profit from the boom.
At many campuses, study abroad programs are run by multiple companies and nonprofit institutes that offer colleges generous perks to sign up students: free and subsidized travel overseas for officials, back-office services to defray operating expenses, stipends to market the programs to students, unpaid membership on advisory councils and boards, and even cash bonuses and commissions on student-paid fees. This money generally goes directly to colleges, not always to the students who take the trips.
ST. LOUIS â?? When Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment last November protecting human embryonic stem cell research, it was viewed as a key endorsement of the research even in states with deep religious roots and strong antiabortion forces like this one.
But the expected expansion of stem cell research in Missouri has since run into political and financial roadblocks, putting the future of the research in doubt.
State lawmakers who opposed the constitutional amendment continue to fight it, introducing new bills that would bar some types of the research and suggesting that a ballot initiative to that end may lie ahead.
University of Delaware student Michelle Rigney has stage-four malignant melanoma, and her biggest fear, next to dying, is losing her health insurance.
By federal law, students 19 to 24 are eligible to keep their parents’ health insurance only if they attend school full time, leaving a tough choice for those like Rigney.
If she stays in school, she may not be able to balance a full load of classes and the demands of treatment. If she’s too sick to go to school, she could lose her health insurance when she needs it most.
As the investigation into the murder of Kelly Nolan moves into its second month, police still need your help.
The body of Kelly Nolan was discovered one month ago. But, police want people to think 2 weeks prior to that.
It is during that time that police believe Nolan’s body was dumped in the woods. Also during the weekend of June 23rd, Oregon was holding its annual summerfest celebration.
Another contentious day demonstrates the gulf between Senate and Assembly versions of the state budget. Negotiators at the Capitol batted around education proposals Thursday, but the eight member budget conference committee failed to come to any consensus on funding for the University of Wisconsin System.
The University of Wisconsin votes for a 5.5% tuition hike, but lawmakers are discussing a 4% cap. So, which is it?
It’s a 5 ½-percent increase. That’s what UW System spokesman David Giroux says. In lieu of a state budget, the UW Board of Regents earlier this week voted to jack up tuition for the upcoming academic year, starting in September. Giroux says a tuition cap sounds good for students, but not if it means driving down the quality of their education.
UW-Madison officials are cautioning parents of in-coming students that using the website Facebook and other similar on-line sites to do background checks on the assigned dormitory roommates of their sons and daughters can backfire.
UW-Madison housing director Paul Evans told 27 News there’s been nearly a dozen situations this summer, where info on Facebook has caused the families of in-coming students to question a roommate pairing.
MADISON, Wis. — It was a month ago on Thursday that the body of Kelly Nolan was discovered in a wooded area near Schneider Drive in the Town of Dunn.
Madison detectives said that they are continuing to work the case full time. They said that they’re actively getting assistance from the FBI, the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation, the Dane County Sheriff’s Department and Fitchburg police, WISC-TV reported.
As a young boy helping his big brother work on cars for a living, Matt Young knew somehow, someway he was destined to get his hands dirty working in the automotive industry. â??Iâ??ve always enjoyed working on vehicles,â? Young tells Biodiesel Magazine. â??My brother was the big mechanic so I learned as much as I could when I was real young.â?
In the competition, MSU tallied 895.5 points out of a 1,000 total points while the runner-up University of Wisconsin, wasnâ??t far behind with 888.3 points.
MADISON, Wis. â?? Even though both sides agreed that a 4 percent cap on tuition at the University of Wisconsin was a good idea, Democrats and Republicans couldnâ??t reach a compromise on how much money the system should get from the state over the next two years.
Not that the stalemate should come as a surprise.
Over more than two weeks and five meetings, all a bipartisan committee of lawmakers trying to pass a budget have been able to agree to are 571 noncontroversial items already cleared by both the Senate and Assembly.
Quoted: Molly Jahn, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, moderated the panel of speakers.
JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) — The eight inches of rain that fell in some parts of central Wisconsin over the last three days will bring back an unwanted pest – mosquitoes.
So says University of Wisconsin Extension entomologist Phil Pellitteri.
Pellitteri says people will notice an increase in the biting insects.
Quoted: Amato Evan, a climate researcher at the University of Wisconsin.
They have to know how this looks, don’t they?
Shortly before the University of Wisconsin football team opened preseason camp Monday, suspended sophomore tailback Lance Smith was reinstated to active duty.
Followers of the program â?? cynics and season ticket holders alike â?? saw it coming. They pointed and laughed in a way that suggested some poor schlub’s fly was open.
At colleges around the country this summer, one topic has vaulted to the top of the agenda at freshman orientation: campus safety.
The nation’s first incoming freshmen since last spring’s shootings at Virginia Tech are heading to class soon, and colleges have been fielding more questions from parents and students about security and mental health issues.
As housing officials at colleges around the country send out roommate assignments to freshmen this summer, a growing number of schools say they’re getting more requests for changes â?? from parents who don’t like the roommates’ Facebook profiles.
“They were getting an impression â?? false or accurate â?? of what the student would be like to live with,” says Magda Manetas of The College of New Jersey in Ewing.
Housing officials say parents who cite Facebook most frequently mention party-related content and photos as their primary concerns.
But Robin Berkowitz-Smith of Syracuse University says race, religion and sexual orientation are the top three concerns from parents contacting officials there.
Experience has shown that even a few short discussions with a health professional can help a problem drinker. Now, a new study has found that counseling by telephone can be equally effective in curbing excessive drinking.
Writing in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, researchers suggested such counseling could be good for hard-to-reach patients. It also uses fewer resources than face-to-face meetings.
The researchers, led by Dr. Richard Brown of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, worked with almost 900 patients at 18 Wisconsin clinics, half of whom were given just pamphlets and the remainder receiving counseling.
Quoted: The downside of such a highly personalized approach to promotion and brand-building, says University of Wisconsin marketing expert Thomas O’Guinn, is that it leaves no room for failure, either by the individual or by the companies associated with the individual.
Quoted: Menzie D. Chinn, professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin.
Quoted: Susan Crowley, director of an anti-binge drinking program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said dangerous drinking and partying are on the rise.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering professor Michael Oliva said the inspections are public relations exercises but they may be helpful.
MADISON, Wis. â?? A day after University of Wisconsin System regents voted to raise tuition by 5.5 percent, Democratic lawmakers backed a Republican idea and proposed a 4 percent tuition increase cap.
The cap and the restoration of $127 million to the UW System budget were proposed at Wednesdayâ??s meeting of at a bipartisan committee of lawmakers working on a state budget compromise.
The committee was expected to debate the proposal Thursday.
UW Regents are studying new ideas for tuition and financial aid. Nothing in the pipeline will alter the tuition increase at all four year UW System campuses, which Board of Regents approved Tuesday. However UW System President Kevin Reilly said there is a study group looking at possible changes to tuition and financial aid.
UW students who will have to pay that five and a half per cent tuition hike are looking for a silver lining in the Board of Regents action.
The United Council of University of Wisconsin Students says it’s pleased a tuition freeze was put on the thirteen two-year campuses.
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin is known mostly for its cheese, but now state officials want to raise grapes to the same level.
The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has put up a $22,500 grant to find a variety of seedless, munch-able table grapes that can weather the harsh Wisconsin winters.
Some local growers have been growing grapes, but they have taken second to other fruits, WISC-TV reported.
“‘Oh, you do have grapes!’ Yeah, there’s a comment or two once in a while like that. ‘Oh, you have grapes too?'” said Lavern Forest, owner of Eplegaarden.
As August creeps towards its final days, university students across the state are already starting to turn their thoughts to returning to campuses, hitting the books and readying themselves for careers.
Some of those students will be minority students, as well they should be.
Just as the Wisconsin idea espouses the theme that the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state, we would like to think that the makeup of the student body on our campuses reflects the diversity of people within those boundaries if our colleges are to truly serve the interests of the state.
No one who knows anything about collegiate athletics would ever consider the Big Ten a niche conference. But in a way, that’s the argument being used by major cable providers to keep a new network devoted to Big Ten sporting events from being able to reach more viewers when it goes on the air later this month.
Quoted: Calvin B. DeWitt, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin.
Quoted: Jim Seward, professor of finance and the director of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The very weather that is scaring away pesky mosquitoes this summer is the same weather attracting other kinds of critters.
Phil Pellitteri, extension entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said much of the state has lucked out with weather conditions harmful to the blood-sucking insect.
As housing officials at colleges around the country send out roommate assignments to freshmen this summer, a growing number of schools say they’re getting more requests for changes â?? from parents who don’t like the roommates’ Facebook profiles.
“They were getting an impression â?? false or accurate â?? of what the student would be like to live with,” says Magda Manetas of The College of New Jersey in Ewing.
Administrators at some schools have begun to talk to students and parents in advance about the tendency to look up roommates online. Paul Evans of the University of Wisconsin-Madison now includes a statement about social-networking sites in orientation literature for first-year students.
“It can be a problem, and we’re just trying to warn people about taking everything that they see on there as fact,” he says.
Author: Richard Hartel is a professor of food engineering in the department of food science at UW-Madison. He may be contacted at rwhartel@wisc.edu.
MADISON, Wis. â?? University of Wisconsin System regents voted Tuesday to increase tuition by 5.5 percent at the stateâ??s four-year universities, the smallest boost in several years despite great uncertainty over their budget.
The Board of Regents voted 14-3 to approve the increases totaling $330 for the coming school year for in-state students at UW-Madison, $323 at UW-Milwaukee and $251 at the 11 other four-year universities.
There’s a way to perhaps slow down flooding and help the environment at the same time. A couple of projects in Madison feature porous pavement. It’s basically concrete or asphalt that has large spaces in it so water can fall through.
We looked at a test patch that was installed at UW-Madison about a year ago. The porous asphalt eats the water. Layers of gravel underneath eventally soak it up.
MADISON, Wis. — Madison cable customers might not get access to the new Big Ten Network.
It is set to debut in about three weeks, but so far there is no deal in place for Charter Cable.
University of Wisconsin-Madison officials said they are confident that a deal will happen eventually.
“We’d like it all to be settled in advance of the network launch on Aug. 30,” said Vince Sweeney, associate athletic director at UW-Madison. “If it’s not settled and deals aren’t done with Charter by that time, we’re hopeful it would happen shortly thereafter.”
Madison police are taking a proactive approach to curb alcohol-related problems. Officers are educating bar employees in an effort to get businesses to comply with laws. Police hosted a Tavern Safety Training class and about a dozen people showed up.
When you have lots of people and alcohol things can sometimes get out of hand. “Someone is pushing your trigger and you know they’re doing it on purpose because they’re intoxicated… what do you do?,” asked Officer Mark Allen.
The annual Films in the Field event has always been one of the more appealing benefit concepts going. Gather outside on a warm summer evening with hundreds of other families from around southern Wisconsin and watch a film together to support one of the world’s premier research facilities.
The UW tries a new strategy, to get the attention of state budget writers. The UW System’s Dave Giroux says they’ve sent a letter to every state legislator, explaining how UW students from every corner of the state would be impacted by cuts to the UW System budget.
Frank Lasee has a strong opinion about Wisconsin lawyers: There are too many.
He’s a state representative whose proposal to cut state funding to the University of Wisconsin Law School recently cleared the Wisconsin State Assembly.
His plan would cut the law school’s funding by $1 million this year and completely by 2010 — or about 10 percent of the school’s total funding, sparking fear of higher tuitions.
Quoted: James M. Raymo and Larry Bumpass, professors within the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Sociology,
MADISON, Wis. â?? After scientist Jamie Thomson isolated human embryonic stem cells in 1998, colleagues said he had opened the door to novel medical treatments that would transform science.
A leading journal called it one of the most important scientific achievements ever. The University of Wisconsin-Madison biologist appeared on Time Magazineâ??s cover under the headline: â??The man who brought you stem cells.â?
I’m writing about a story that says USDA reviews complaint alleging UW-Madison lab mistreated monkeys.
I think the fact that any animal is used in an experiment that involves attaching things to the spine and brain is absolutely disgusting.
The incompetence of the technicians baffles me. How could you knowingly let an animal of any kind suffer and die? That is cruel and unnecessary.
As far as I’m concerned, any benefit that may come out of the experiments does not outweigh the negatives involved. Some people may think that I am being oversensitive on the issue, but I think that more people need to be a little more sensitive.
Carrie Arthurs
Author: Theodore P. Gerber is a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Quoted: Theodore Gerber, a sociologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
With college enrollments mushrooming in many nations but public support generally unable to keep up, the world is seeing a historic swing from public to private financing of higher education, according to a report scheduled for release today by the Institute for Higher Education Policy.
That shift has become evident in a number of ways. First and foremost, more students and their families are paying their own way as countries impose tuition. And institutions themselves are looking for private cash in new ways, collaborating with businesses and starting up fund-raising departments.
Laptop theft, underage drinking and sexual assault are the typical crimes that are discussed at college orientations, but some institutions, hoping to answer questions before parents ask them, are adding detailed campus safety briefings â?? for both students and parents â?? to their introductory programs.
Since the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech, colleges have faced heightened concern about violence.
It’s been a month since the body of 22-year-old Kelly Nolan was found in a wooded area outside of Madison. Police say the death of the UW student was a homicide, but Madison public information officer Joel DeSpain isn’t saying much about a suspect. However, he says police believe any potential suspect is still in Wisconsin.
DEARBORN, Mich. â?? When pools of water began accumulating on the floor in some restrooms at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and the sinks pulling away from the walls, the problem was easy to pinpoint. On this campus, more than 10 percent of the students are Muslims, and as part of ritual ablutions required before their five-times-a-day prayers, some were washing their feet in the sinks.
Madison, Wis. – Years from now, when sports medicine, orthopedics, and perhaps even breast cancer treatment has advanced to the point where the extent of soft tissue damage can be precisely measured, the medical community may have a Wisconsin company to thank.
Echo Metrics, a medical software company that is being spun out of research at the University of Wisconsin Madison, already has a patent to its credit and it has brought Madison biotech executive Barb Israel into the fold.
Experience has shown that even a few short discussions with a health professional can help a problem drinker. But sometimes people who could benefit from the talks are unable to come in or reluctant to do so.
The researchers, led by Dr. Richard L. Brown of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, screened patients in waiting rooms at 18 Wisconsin clinics and contacted those who appeared to have a possible alcohol problem.
The three young men standing together in front of a busy bar on State Street at 1:30 a.m. are starting to irritate Madison police Sgt. Dave McCaw.
They’ve been drinking, though they aren’t falling-down drunk, and they aren’t doing anything criminal. As much as anything, it’s their tone – one of exaggerated politeness, with a hint of condescension – that seems about to set McCaw off.They just want to know , they say, over and over again, why their good friend had to be hustled into the back of that long police van parked nearby after they all left the bar a few moments earlier.
Chancellor Wiley of University of Wisconsin-Madison recently returned from an 11-day trip to China, South Korea and Japan, during which he visited Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo. As the chief executive officer of this distinguished public university in the United States, what is his vision of the future collaboration with Chinese institutions? How can UW distinguish itself from other top American universities? Recently, Ning Ma, a recent graduate from UW law school and Xing Zong, a rising fifth year Ph.D. student from Duke University took an exclusive interview with Chancellor Wiley.
