Interviewed: Dr. Norman Fost, professor emeritus of pediatrics and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is also the director of the Bioethics Program.
Maria Sharapova And What Is Sports Doping?
On Point with Tom Ashbrook
Author: jplucas
Auto-focus contact lenses that help you see in the dark thanks to liquid film
Daily Mail (UK)
If you are one of a billion people who rely on glasses to read small print, a self-adjusting liquid contact lens could one day restore perfect vision.
Cramer: Here’s what Trump is telling resentful Americans (and Sanders is not)
Washington Post
John Kasich may be a favorite son in Ohio, but Donald Trump should still do well there today. Resentment in the Rust Belt is real, and Trump’s campaign capitalizes on that.
UW-Madison wins Snowmobile Challenge, MacLean-Fogg Cup
The Daily Mining Gazette
Perennial frontrunner University of Wisconsin-Madison took home the MacLean-Fogg Cup Saturday as winners of the ASE Clean Snowmobile Challenge 2016 Internal Combustion-class competition. UW-Madison topped a dozen other teams in the challenge’s most competitive class.
The Promise and Peril of Cluster Hiring
Chronicle of Higher Education
Perhaps the most scrutinized cluster-hiring program has been that at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Starting in 1998, the university has hired about 140 faculty members to fill nearly 50 clusters. Michael Bernard-Donals, vice provost for faculty and staff programs, says that early challenges, such as determining service loads or the best way to evaluate publication records, have largely been worked out. It helped, he says, that the campus rolled the program out over a five-year period, enabling leaders to iron out kinks along the way. (Subscription required.)
Ask Well: Can Naps Make Up for Sleep Deficits?
New York Times
Quoted: But it’s always a good idea to make up for lost sleep, regardless of the time of day, said Dr. Ruth Benca, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A Few More Words From Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes
Wall Street Journal
This sounds too good to be true, a little too convenient, but I promise you it happened: On the afternoon I went to go see Nigel Hayes at Wisconsin, the Official Word of the Day was “catawampus.”
University of Wisconsin, South Madison partnership ‘bridges gap’ between communities
The Badger Herald
A community space in South Madison enables University of Wisconsin affiliated programs to tackle issues of poverty and mental health through educational courses and informational meetings.
Even Well-Off Black Students Carry More Loan Debt: Study
NBC News
Quoted: “The wealthiest blacks — they’re doing well, but they’re also trying to secure their own financial standing,” said Fenaba R. Addo, assistant professor of consumer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and one of the study’s authors.
Hulk v Gawker: ‘bizarre case’ could have profound consequences for free speech
The Guardian
Quoted: The law, as University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism professor Robert Drechsel said, “tends to get hashed out in extreme cases, not easy cases” – and this, he said, “is a bizarre case” that could, eventually, affect the latitude generally afforded American publishers by the courts.
New survey effort seeks to uncover real reasons why faculty members leave their jobs
Inside Higher Education
Whether the separation is voluntary or not, losing a tenure-line or otherwise full-time faculty member is always a costly to an institution. The departing professor will take any external research grants with him or her, not to mention the sunk costs of hiring and training. Then there are additional costs that are harder to quantify, such as those to morale, mentorship, service and leadership in a department.
For a Vice Chancellor Embedded in Wisconsin Life, a Move South
Chronicle of Higher Education
For nearly 40 years, Darrell Bazzell has called Madison, Wis., home. That connection weighed heavily on his mind this fall as he contemplated whether to accept a new position as chief financial officer at the University of Texas in Austin.
Late Rapper To Be First Vietnamese American Honored With Street Name
CBS Chicago
A young rapper who drowned two years ago will become the first Vietnamese American to have a street named in his honor in Chicago.
Journalism Professor: Resentment Lingers 5 Years After Act 10 Was Signed Into Law | Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin Public Radio
A University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism professor says resentment still lingers among many Wisconsin voters and lawmakers half a decade after Gov. Scott Walker signed Act 10 into law.
Senate May Ignore Part Of Walker’s College Affordability Plan
Wisconsin Public Radio
A piece of Gov. Scott Walker’s college affordability plan may be on thin ice.
UW-Madison Professor Leaving UW After Tenure Policy Changes
Here and Now
Educational Policy Professor Sara Goldrick-Rab will start at Temple University in July. She cited the UW System’s new tenure policy changes as a motivation for leaving UW. The Board of Regents approved a policy Thursday that now allows faculty members to be laid off after their academic program is discontinued, rather than for just cause or financial reasons only.
Forget what the right says: Academia isn’t so bad for conservative professors
The Washington Post
In 1951, William F. Buckley declared the university to be a den of atheism and anti-capitalism in his book “God and Man at Yale,” launching a campaign against higher education that has helped define postwar conservatism. Judging from today’s political landscape, not much has changed. On the campaign trail, Marco Rubio called the university an “indoctrination camp,” while Ben Carson promised to deny federal funding to schools that show sharp political biases.
UW System President On Faculty Tenure Policy Changes
Here and Now
UW System President Ray Cross said the changes make UW tenure policies compatible with those at other universities across the country. He said faculty members’ concern that they will be laid off due to programs being discontinued for political or financial reasons is “very unlikely.” He said tenure is supposed to protect faculty with different views, but it does not guarantee a “job for life.”
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents has adopted policy changes that will weaken tenure protections
AP (via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
University of Wisconsin System officials signed off on new, weaker tenure protections Thursday despite warnings from faculty that the move will chill academic freedom in classrooms and lead to mass layoffs.
There’s Lots of Advice for Women on Fetal Health. What About Men?
Undark Magazine
Quoted: It was another sobering counterpoint to idea that women alone risk the health of their child the longer they wait to conceive them. But according to Maureen Durkin, an epidemiologist and professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, researchers have long understood that the age of both parents has an effect on a developing fetus.
Regents OK tenure policy despite faculty concerns
WisBusiness.com
UW System President Ray Cross dismissed concerns from faculty that tenure is now weaker in Wisconsin.
U of Wisconsin Board of Regents approves new tenure policies, despite faculty concerns
Inside Higher Education
Rejecting a set of amendments that faculty members argued would have preserved tenure as they know it, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved Thursday new tenure policies to fill a hole left by recent changes in state law.
U of Wisconsin Board of Regents approves new tenure policies, despite faculty concerns
Inside Higher Education
Rejecting a set of amendments that faculty members argued would have preserved tenure as they know it, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved Thursday new tenure policies to fill a hole left by recent changes in state law.
UW Board of Regents approves new tenure policies
Wisconsin Radio Network
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents has approved controversial changes to system tenure and layoff policies, even though faculty members have warned that it could make it harder to recruit or attract top talent to institutions statewide.
UW-Oshkosh Officials Hope More Research Grants Will Make Up For Budget Cuts
Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is looking to compensate for state budget cuts by increasing grant money for research.
Students Disrupt UW Regents Meeting Over Minority Treatment
AP (via Wisconsin Public Radio)
A group of about two dozen students has interrupted a University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents meeting to demand the panel improve how minority students are treated.
Source of blood infection linked to 15 deaths in Wisconsin unclear
AP
Quoted: Dr. Nasia Safdar, University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor of infectious disease, said she has seen sporadic cases of the infection since she began studying diseases in 2003, but nothing like this.
U of Wisconsin Regents Consider New Tenure Policies
Inside Higher Education
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents votes today on new tenure, posttenure review and faculty layoff policies to close gaps in tenure protections created by a new state law.
Wisconsin farmland prices down
Agri-View
The weighted average price of agricultural land sold in Wisconsin in 2015 was $3,833 per acre – down 3 percent from 2014. Lower milk and grain prices combined to drive farmland prices in the state lower, said Arlin Brannstrom, faculty associate in the Center for Dairy Profitability at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A Crash Course In Elizabethkingia, The Rare Bacterial Infection Spreading Across Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Radio
Dr. Nasia Safdar, director of infection control at UW Hospital and Clinics and faculty at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, answered a few questions about Elizabethkingia and why it’s leaving investigators puzzled.
UW–Madison Chancellor Talks Tuition, Diversity And Budget Cuts
Here & Now
As part of our View from the Top conversation series, Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson talks with Rebecca Blank, chancellor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, about the challenges she faces in leading the school.
Young and homeless
Isthmus
Quoted: June Paul, a doctoral student with UW-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty, says the statistics aren’t surprising.“I think that a lot of youth who end up on the streets either overtly came out and were displaced because their parents were not accepting, or they feel like they can find a community of people that understand them better, so they take the chance by running,” says Paul.
Madison’s “little” museums offer big ideas
Wisconsin Gazette
Gone are the days when museums were dusty archives of half-forgotten lore. Wisconsin is full of bright, interactive learning environments that stress teaching important lessons over merely archiving historical minutiae, and some of the most interesting and unique examples are tightly condensed into downtown Madison.
Nan Enstad: Attacking tenure harms Midwestern values
LaCrosse Tribune
In 2001, I landed my job as a history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I was overjoyed for many reasons, including that UW-Madison is one of the best public universities in the country. I was also glad because it placed me within driving distance of my father, then in his 70s, who lives in the Twin Cities.
UW Regents Take Up Controversial Tenure Policies
Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents is set to vote Thursday on a new tenure policy for the system, but professors and others are still lobbying for last-minute changes to the plan.
UW Formally Introduces Greg Gard As Men’s Basketball Coach
Wisconsin Public Radio
The new head coach of the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team, Greg Gard, was formally introduced at a news conference Tuesday at the Kohl Center.
Donald Trump Sells Labor a Bill of Goods, and Some Steaks
The Daily Beast
Quoted: Katherine Cramer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Trump’s rhetorical strategy has a lot in common with Governor Scott Walker.
Amid tenure debate, UW System campuses say faculty departures rise
wisbusiness.com
University of Wisconsin System faculty declared tenure all but dead this summer when GOP lawmakers removed it from state statutes. Months later, some say that’s still the case, even under a new policy the Board of Regents will vote on this week. Unless the policy sees some changes, critics say, it will continue to drive the UW System’s top researchers and professors away from its 27 institutions.
UW-Madison Spends Nearly $9M To Keep Faculty
Wisconsin Public Radio
An open records request by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that the University of Wisconsin-Madison spent $8.72 million in retention packages to keep faculty members from accepting outside job offers. The majority of that money took the form of research support, such as funding for research assistants or new lab equipment. Less than a million went to pay raises.
‘Here And Now’: Matthew Desmond Explores Milwaukee’s Eviction Epidemic
Wisconsin Public Radio
Evictions not only put poor families out on the streets, but simultaneously set off a cascade of consequences for both the people and neighborhoods affected. In his new book, “Evicted: Poverty And Profit In The American City,” University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate and Harvard University sociology professor Matthew Desmond examines how this process plays out for families and landlords in Milwaukee’s lowest-income neighborhoods.
Changes inevitable, says Extension chancellor: ‘We need to do something’
Portage Daily Register
The University of Wisconsin-Extension isn’t in danger of ceasing to exist, but it won’t function in the same way as it has operated for the last century.
Sara Goldrick-Rab to Depart U. of Wisconsin, Citing ‘#FakeTenure’ and ‘Terrified Sheep’
Chronicle of Higher Education
Sara Goldrick-Rab, the University of Wisconsin scholar-activist and sharp critic of Gov. Scott Walker’s repeal of state laws protecting tenure and shared governance, announced on her blog Monday night that she would move to Temple University as a professor of higher-education policy and sociology.
Gard has interim tag removed, named next head coach of the Badgers
Wisconsin Radio Network
The UW Board of Regents approved a new head coaching contract on Monday and Greg Gard was named the 16th head men’s basketball coach in the school’s history.
How To Keep Money From Messing Up Your Marriage
National Public Radio
Noted: “We know that these discussions or conflicts concerning money are difficult for couples to handle,” says Lauren Papp, a psychologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.Papp conducted a study of 100 married couples who kept diary entries about their arguments. During the 15-day period of the study, the spouses reported squabbling more often about issues other than money — for example, the kids or household chores.
Noah Williams: The Partisan Tax Policy Center
Wall Street Journal
For centuries discussions of tax policy centered on the collection of government revenues. As Louis XIV’s finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, famously wrote: “The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing.” This was the received wisdom until Adam Smith pointed out in 1776 that the wealth of nations—not the wealth of governments—is what really matters. The debate about the proper ends and means of taxes has raged ever since.
UWM’s commitment to research has far-reaching implications for Milwaukee
BizTimes Milwaukee
On Feb. 1, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee became a Tier 1 research institution, joining 114 other universities that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching saw fit to classify as the most active research universities in the country.
BTN LiveBIG: Wisconsin team takes on the Zika virus
Big Ten Network
Little is known about the Zika virus. First identified in 1947, the reach of the disease in both geographic and population terms was barely noticeable for decades. However, new cases have rapidly increased since May 2015, starting in Brazil and spreading as far as Mexico, Puerto Rico and even the continental United States.
Bo Ryan did not misuse Wisconsin hoops funds during affair
NY Daily News
Former University of Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan did not use any of the school’s money to fund an extramarital affair, a university investigation found.
Jeffrey S. Russell: UW South Madison Partnership a space for collaboration, opportunity and inspiration
Capital Times
On a recent Wednesday night, 30 University of Wisconsin-Madison students gathered to discuss Plato and Gandhi. They were not your typical UW undergrads, and their rich discussion did not occur in a traditional classroom.
Wisconsin fires women’s basketball coach
Wisconsin Radio Network
After five seasons and 100 defeats, the Bobbie Kelsey era as women’s head basketball coach at Wisconsin has come to an end.
Walker College Affordability Plan Gets Nod From Senate Committee
Wisconsin Public Radio
Four bills in Gov. Scott Walker’s college affordability plan got Senate committee approval on Thursday.
Wisconsin Life: Specimens From George Washington Carver Discovered At UW-Madison
Wisconsin Public Radio
On today’s Wisconsin Life we’ll be learning about a recent discovery at the Wisconsin State Herbarium: Century-old research specimens collected by the historically prominent scientist, George Washington Carver.
Lack of regulation hits higher education in RAK
The National
Quoted: Lee Rensimer, a doctoral scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studied the lack of regulation in the RAK Free Trade Zone and RAK Industrial Authority while at the Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research.
McClendon’s death creates complex financial picture
CNBC
Quoted: “The idea is that this is a person who brings something very special to the company, who is critical to the organization,” said Joan Schmit, a professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s business school.
Scientist George Washington Carver’s fungi found in Wisconsin
Reuters
U.S. inventor George Washington Carver, known for his creativity with the peanut, has excited modern scientists with an unexpected find: century-old specimens of fungus.
Field stations in a box
Isthmus
Never mind Punxsutawney Phil. The thirteen-lined ground squirrels that hibernate in plastic drawers in the UW-Madison Biotron take their cues from Hannah Carey.
UW-La Crosse Braces To Lose More Faculty
Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse could be cutting up to 10 teaching positions before the fall. University officials will decide which positions to eliminate in the next month. UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow said this is the first time the university will be eliminating teaching positions since last summer’s state budget cuts.
Tour for rock star lawyers
Isthmus
Unlikely international sex symbol Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, former defense lawyers for Steven Avery, the Manitowoc, Wis., man exonerated on a rape charge and subsequently convicted in 2005 for the murder of photographer Teresa Halback, announced this week they are launching a North American tour.
Marz focuses on next step after combine
New Ulm, Minn. Journal
Springfield High School graduate and University of Wisconsin lineman Tyler Marz is fresh off the NFL combine, a week-long job interview and skills test for NFL prospects hoping to impress the various NFL GMs.
Video: Heading a University System With Nervous Professors
Chronicle of Higher Education
Raymond W. Cross has faced some serious tests in his two years as president of the University of Wisconsin system. Last year he had to defend his system against a proposed budget cut of $300 million. More recently he has dealt with faculty unrest as the system has struggled to come up with new tenure policies to replace faculty job protections that were stripped from state law.