They helped give rise to the University of Wisconsin System. They shaped an important social theory. They challenged conventional thinking about retirement.
They confirmed that men and women have different views on sex, even later in life.
For 50 years, a third of the graduates from Wisconsin high schools in 1957 have answered questions on topics ranging from money to menopause. In doing so, they have served as a sociological Petri dish in one of the country ‘s longest-running studies.
Quoted: Steve Meili, a UW-Madison law professor and director of the Consumer Law Litigation Clinic.
The problem is that people take things too literally.
Take Assembly Republicans, for example.
One of their bright lights must have seen the plaque at the front of Bascom Hall that quotes an 1894 Board of Regents statement: “Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found. “
For Lynn Allen-Hoffmann, watching the painstaking and painful process of applying precious grafts of his own skin to farmer Ted Fink’s horribly burned body at UW Hospital in 2000 was an epiphany.
It gave the UW-Madison skin researcher a mission: to create a company that would make skin available for grafts on burn victims and others, on demand.
Quoted: Dr. Christopher Olsen, a professor of veterinary medicine and an influenza researcher at the University of Wisconsin
Catherine Murray
greenbush4@aol.com
Some things are just meant to be. Memories of the late Carson Gulley, whose Swiss Steak recipe appeared in the last column, continue when a Madison newcomer’s curiosity was tweaked by the mention of fudge bottom pie. So, consider this column Part Two about a master chef whose expertise benefited Madison and the University of Wisconsin.
Brent Moss never saw Johnny Clay carry a football for the Park High School football team, either in person or on television.
Considering Clay turned 6 years old three days after Moss led the University of Wisconsin to the January 1994 Rose Bowl championship, itâ??s a safe bet Clay never Moss play either.
And, yet, there is such a bond behind these two local legends, a bond Moss would like to fortify, if possible.
Both Moss and Clay led Park to WIAA Division 1 state championships as juniors â?? Moss in 1988 and Clay in 2005. Both were born in January. Both were multiple first-team Associated Press All-State selections â?? Moss twice and Clay three times.
Q: I’ve been told, and believe from observation, that liquid heated on top of the stove stays hotter longer than liquid heated in a microwave. Is there any justification for this?
A: Such an effect could result from how the liquids heat, says John Booske, a UW-Madison electrical and computer engineer who specializes in microwave research.
Quoted: UW law professor Alta Charo.
Authorities are not ruling out foul play in the disappearance of a 50-year-old town of Windsor woman who disappeared Tuesday night, but at the same time the investigator in the case stressed that the disappearance of Francine Tate is not similar to that of a 22-year-old UW-Whitewater student who was murdered earlier this month.
It started with college kids, spread to high schoolers and is now infiltrating communities across the country. It is Facebook and it has taken hold.
The Senate passed a bill early Friday to increase aid to college students. The bill would give more money to Pell grant recipients, who are among the poorest. They get a maximum award of $4,310 annually now, but that would be bumped up to $5,400 by 2011. To pay for the proposal, lawmakers would cut roughly $18 billion in federal subsidies to banks that issue government-backed student loans.
Public universities would be disproportionately subject to sanctions proposed in Congress for institutions that raise their tuition by more than twice the rate of inflation over a three-year period, according to a report released this week by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
That is the case even though the average tuition and fees charged at the four-year public institutions in the Wisconsin study was $5,383, nearly one-quarter of the average rate of $20,257 charged by the four-year private colleges that were analyzed.
The more exposure middle school students have to anti-smoking ads, the more likely they are to smoke, according to a new University of Georgia study.
Hye-Jin Paek, an assistant professor at UGA, found that many anti-smoking ad campaigns have the opposite effect on teenagers, backfiring because they actually encourage the rebellious nature of youth.
Paek and co-author Albert Gunther from the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined surveys from 1,700 middle school students about their exposure to anti-smoking ads and their intention to smoke
Quoted: Ann Hoyt, a professor of consumer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied cooperatives.
MADISON, Wis. — A new science camp in Madison is giving some students exposure to careers in stem cell research.
This week some high school seniors, most from rural areas, were granted special access at the world-renowned stem cell research institute WiCell.
Inside some lab rooms at University Research Park on Rosa Road a first-ever program is teaming University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and WiCell with curious high school students who have a passion for science.
Sophomore running back Lance Smith was suspended from the University of Wisconsin football team Wednesday in the wake of his arrest Saturday after a dispute with his girlfriend.
A new study suggests that lawmakersâ?? chosen way of dealing with the issue â?? trying through public embarrassment and other means to stop colleges from raising their tuitions by excessive rates â?? will do little to change the behavior of the most expensive institutions.
In a policy paper released by the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison analyzed how public and private, non-religious four year colleges and universities would have been affected by a system that imposed sanctions on institutions that raised their tuition by more than twice the rate of inflation over a three-year period, based on their tuition rates from 2004 to 2006.
By football season, Madison police hope to have eight wireless video surveillance cameras monitoring the lower State Street and University Avenue area near the UW-Madison campus to keep an eye on late-night revelers.
The Virginia Tech killings in April served as a grim reminder, not just to those in higher education but also to lawmakers, of what could happen on almost any college campus.
“You’re always thinking about how you can do things better,” said Jeffrey D. Duncan, a state representative in South Carolina. “So when I saw that, I wondered, ‘Could that happen here?'”
Mr. Duncan, a Republican, responded by drafting legislation designed to prevent a similar event. In doing so, he joined dozens of officials around the nation.
Federal privacy laws do not bar college administrators and staff members from sharing crucial information about troubled students, campus mental-health experts told an independent panel that is investigating this spring’s fatal shootings at Virginia Tech on Wednesday.
The daylong hearing, held at the University of Virginia, revealed the legal and ethical complexities of campus mental-health issues in the aftermath of an incident that one panelist called “the 9/11 for colleges and universities.”
Erin Hensel just finished her first year of college and is looking ahead to getting a master’s degree to become a middle school math teacher.
Hensel, a 28-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran from Milwaukee, said it was important to her that the state keep a benefit that provides full tuition reimbursement to all veterans for up to 128 credit hours.
Separate plans that have passed the state Senate and Assembly would limit the benefit to either undergraduate or graduate degrees, but not both. And the benefit would expire 10 years after a person left military service.
The Republican budget that passed the Assembly also removes $10.5 million in funding to help reimburse the state’s technical colleges and universities for the program.
MADISON â?? Sophomore tailback Lance Smith has been suspended from the University of Wisconsin football team for violating the school’s student-athlete discipline policy, athletics director Barry Alvarez announced Wednesday.
Is downtown Madison safe?
Madison Police Chief Noble Wray says, “From my perspective as chief police it’s a resounding yes.”
A review of the last 6 months shows a decrease in crime downtown. City leaders credit it to the downtown safety initiative.
“The results are that it’s working, the downtown safety initiative is working, the numbers bare that out, dramatic decreases,” says Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
Madison is one step closer to not having any new bars on the Isthmus, but it’ll be another month before the Alcohol Licensing Committee votes on the density plan
Wednesday night, Madison leaders debated the density plan and heard public comment.
The idea behind the plan – we’ll see less crime, if there are less liquor licenses…
Right now a third of Madison’s liquor licenses belong to downtown bars.
Quoted: John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
MADISON, Wis. — Madison police, business leaders and safety experts from University of Wisconsin-Madison announced a new safety initiative for downtown Madison on Wednesday.
As part of the initiative, surveillance cameras could be installed downtown to help detour crime, WISC-TV reported.
The safety effort is being renewed after the recent disappearance of Kelly Nolan. The UW-Whitewater student was last seen partying in downtown Madison and was later found slain.
(GREEN BAY) Governor Jim Doyle was in northeastern Wisconsin Tuesday (7/17) blasting a Republican budget plan. Doyle called the Assembly-backed budget an â??assault on higher education.â?
When it comes to the University of Wisconsin budget, thereâ??s a gulf of more than $100 million dollars between one passed by the Republican-controlled Assembly and the one from the Democratic-controlled state Senate. Republicans say their plan protects Wisconsin families from tax increases, but Doyle says Republicans also erased $44 million dollars in new financial aid that was previously endorsed by the bipartisan Joint Finance Committee. He says the Assembly â??took out every dimeâ? of that financial aid increase.
Most kids go to summer camp for swimming, hiking and crafts. One group of Wisconsin students is in camp for nanotechnology, stem cells and bioethics.
The WiCell Institute on the UW-Madison campus, is holding its first ever science camp. Eighteen high school students took a quiz to get there and are attending along with their teachers.
WiCell’s Director of Operations Sue Carlson says the campers are incoming seniors who have an interest in biology related careers.
While lawmakers debate over funding for the Wisconsin GI bill, some veterans take the heat.
Key lawmakers are trying to restore recent cuts to the Veterans Tuition Remission Program. In a four-city tour, certain Republicans and Democrats joined forces, they say, to “keep their promise” about the bill’s “original intent,” but one Iraq veteran isn’t buying it.
Madison community leaders are using crime statistics to try to dispel any notion of a dangerous downtown, in the wake of college student Kelly Nolan’s disappearance and murder.
Nolan, 22, a UW-Whitewater student, disappeared after a night of socializing downtown, and was murdered. Nolan was last heard from, around bar time. “Downtown Madison at bar time is a very different downtown Madison than many of the Madisonians and many of the UW-Madison community might know,” said UW Dean of Students Lori Berquam.
It’s time for Wisconsin to treat its Main Street businesses fairly by collecting a sales tax on more Internet and catalog purchases.
State budget negotiators should quickly accept the Senate’s proposal to do just that.
A head scan found no evidence of bleeding or fractures, but Anastasia was transferred to UW Children’s Hospital for further evaluation. A skeletal survey at UW Children’s Hospital found no sign of fractures.
The Dane County Human Services Department said it received a referral in the case from medical personnel the next day, June 27, and sent a Hmong social worker to the hospital June 28. The family is Hmong.
I’ve been reading with dismay about the state Legislature’s negotiations over the budget, particularly the appropriations for the University of Wisconsin, where I work.
The Assembly wants to reduce by $100 million the amount provided to the UW in the governor’s budget. This proposed reduction comes at a time when the university is already reeling from cuts it has suffered over the last two biennial budgets. I’m having a hard time understanding why the Assembly would want to do such a thing.
Quoted: Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, a University of Wisconsin anthropologist and author of “Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers,” said the pilots’ private writings and other evidence show that rather than stoic warriors, many were tortured souls, browbeaten and abused into flying to their deaths.
Quoted: Dr. Patrick E. McBride, professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
University of Wisconsin-Madison physicist Pupa Gilbert, who co-authored a nacre study published in the June 29 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. “We don’t know how to synthesize materials that are better than the sum of their parts.”
I tried to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison marching band concert in Kohler on July 5.
As a Kohler resident, but a native of Ohio, I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. I arrived at 7:35 p.m. only to find out that the band was done already.
A 30-minute performance? Pathetic.
Former Wisconsin Badger offensive lineman Joe Thomas is taking up the fight against a deadly fish virus that threatens game fish around the Great Lakes.
Thomas is starring in new Department of Natural Resources TV and radio ads that tell anglers and boaters how to contain VHS, a virus that causes fish to bleed to death.
Richard Gourse, a professor of bacteriology at UW-Madison and an expert on the early stages of gene expression, has received a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health.
Mother-of-pearl, known for its beautiful shine, also has enormous strength, which UW-Madison scientists studied using polarized light.
Piper Smith has had one recurring, frightening thought since the murdered body of Kelly Nolan was found Monday: That could have been me.
For most of last year, Smith, a 21-year-old UW-Madison senior, drank to excess almost every night on State Street, occasionally going home with strangers and sometimes waking up the next day not knowing where she was or what had happened, she said.
Quoted: Barry Orton, a professor of telecommunications at UW-Madison.
KATONAH, N.Y., July 15 â?? For musical instruments, and a lot of other industrial tools, the 18th century was an age of inventions. Restless tinkerers looked for new shapes and functions, building and designing in a spirit that we today have more or less turned over to electronic composers. Mozartâ??s famous clarinet pieces, for example, cannot be played exactly as written, because for him the instrument was less a single, identifiable device than a series of experiments in size and range.
Quoted: Kemal Karpat, Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin.
Friends and family of a missing University of Wisconsin-Green Bay student are putting together a reward fund for anyone who has information on her whereabouts.
Mahalia Xiong, 21, disappeared after a night out at a bowling alley early Friday.
Quoted: Harry Brighouse, a British political philosopher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has researched the relationship between education and liberalism, says schools have more pressing concerns than the promotion of patriotism.
Wisconsin got the sad news last week that it missed out on an opportunity to land a major national laboratory.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison wasnâ??t among the five finalists selected as possible sites for a $450 million lab that will study deadly animal illnesses such as bird flu and other dangerous contagions like anthrax.
The oil industry has committed more than $700 million to alternative energy research at three Northern California universities, prompting debate over how commercial interests might shape the direction and results of scientific advances.
Molly Jahn, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, said the key factor in the push for alternative research sponsors has been the drop in state funding for the university over the last 20 years.
Eastern Michigan University, still reeling from the apparent cover-up of a student’s murder in December, announced on Monday that it had fired its president, its vice president for student affairs, and its campus-police director. But the chairman of the university’s Board of Regents said, without elaborating, that the president’s dismissal was not related to the murder case.
The president, John A. Fallon III, was fired on Sunday afternoon by a unanimous vote of the regents, who informed him of the dismissal in a letter delivered by courier to his home that evening. The board re-enacted the vote before a crowd of 200 in the university’s main administrative building on Monday.
STEVENS POINT — While the state budget process is far from done, the Wisconsin Assembly’s version of the document, which calls for a $120 million cut from University of Wisconsin System campuses, is making students and administrators at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point nervous.
Quoted: UW-Madison Law School Professor Peter Carstensen.
(MADISON) A California botox maker is coming to Wisconsin. The anti-wrinkle product was discovered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and thatâ??s one reason the Mentor Corporation chose to build a new plant here.
The late Ed Schantz was a UW-Madison researcher in 1946 when he discovered the toxin that paralyzes muscles. The University of Wisconsin still holds the botox patent and licenses it out to different companies. One of them is the Mentor Corporation based in Santa Barbara, California. It is building a large production facility at the University Research Park on Madisonâ??s west side.
When Barry Alvarez began his first full year as University of Wisconsin athletic director in 2004, he and his staff penned a memorable document.
It was a mission statement outlining 12 priorities – from academic achievement and customer service to financial responsibility and commitment to diversity – that would serve as a guide to future decision-making.
The University Club is a century old this year. So may be its ghost.
The wildly disparate budgets crafted by the state Senate and the Assembly are more than spending plans. They’re blueprints for 2008 election campaigns, according to state party leaders.
The instrument could stump contestants on â??Jeopardy!â?: It has 164 keys and four pedals. Oh, and two keyboards.
The correct response is neither â??What is an organ?â? nor â??What is a harpsichord?â? No, the answer involves an almost one-of-a-kind piano from the late 1920â??s, which Christopher Taylor will play this afternoon at the Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah, N.Y. It is the only two-keyboard instrument Steinway ever made, and Mr. Taylor considers it the perfect piano for the piece he will perform there, Bachâ??s â??Goldbergâ? Variations.
For all of the bluster and showboating, the so-called budget deliberations by the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly were so much ado about nothing. Both houses rubber stamped meaningless documents by partisan votes. And thus we’ve wasted little time ourselves worrying about the extraordinarily senseless, destructive and mean-spirited actions of either party in either house.
In the two widely divergent state budget plans that emerged from Wisconsin’s Democrat-controlled Senate and Republican-run Assembly lurk some really bad ideas.
Message to the Wisconsin Assembly: You’re not supposed to let the lunatics be in charge of the asylum.
The “lunatic” in this case is Rep. Frank Lasee, who, I confess, is one of my favorite lawmakers.
