Madison, Wis. — Students are back on campus and the fall sports season is up and running at UW-Madison. While many of these student-athletes already have a lot on their plate between classes, practices, and games; some are adding another extra-curricular activity – community service.
University of Wisconsin-Madison students are back in class, but they won’t be able to unwind at the Memorial Union Terrace: The iconic lakeside spot is set to close Tuesday for renovations.
University of Wisconsin officials want the public’s help in crafting a new strategic plan for the universities and colleges around the state.
Opposition is growing to a bill that could effectively ban the use of fetal tissue in research in Wisconsin.
A few days after Wisconsin’s 68–63 loss to Duke in the NCAA championship game, the school’s athletic director, Barry Alvarez, walked into coach Bo Ryan’s office for what he thought would be a standard, end-of-season wrap-up meeting. Ryan, however, delivered a message that was far from standard: He was strongly considering retiring at the age of 67. “I was surprised,” Alvarez said in a telephone interview. “People have asked me how much longer he’s going to coach, and I always said you’re gonna have to wheel him out of here on a gurney.”
No one can blame Ty Majeski for taking a well-deserved mini-vacation from racing this weekend at his family’s cottage up north.
Respect for human dignity is essential in the performance of scientific research. As a University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate in the Medical Scholars Program, I heard a declaration from more than one professor that ethical questions about experimentation could be set aside and dealt with later as long as there was great potential for medical breakthroughs.
MADISON — A working group of Republican lawmakers in the Assembly is examining whether the state’s technical college system should be merged with the University of Wisconsin’s two-year campus network, mainly as a way to save money.
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay marks a major milestone as students head back to class: Its 50th anniversary is this week.
Noted: Chelsea White, a teaching assistant at University of Wisconsin-Madison, experienced the effects of this double standard firsthand, noting that even though she is “a hardworking, reliable and professional individual,” she has felt “unfairly judged or blown off” by potential employers because of her tattoos.
I will never forget the day, now 65 years ago, when my teammate on the Appleton High School basketball team was allowed to dribble the ball down the court and make a scoring shot.
Members of a state Senate committee are calling for details to be released about a possible plan to merge the two-year University of Wisconsin campuses and Technical College system.
If you’re from Wisconsin, the Friday night fish fry is a big deal, and the fish you want on your plate is a yellow perch you caught yourself. But for years, the population of yellow perch has been in serious decline. Now on the verge of collapse, the future of this iconic fish is looking grim. Kind of like what is happening right now with the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, under siege from a legislative agenda that has been steadily decimating its numbers while pretending that the loss doesn’t matter and hey, maybe it’s even a good thing! Why do you care, anyways? It’s just stupid fish. There are always more of them.
The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point is looking to a much different future, but the Chancellor is saying that isn’t all bad.
Further to my 9 August Inside Higher Ed post on unexpected leadership change at the University of British Columbia (UBC), I was recently asked by Lori Culbert of the Vancouver Sun to comment on the possible impacts of this type of change at a large public research university in North America.
Quoted: “Many say the insurance companies should be creating a moral hazard when they insure homes on the interface,” Sue Stewart, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was formerly with the Forest Service, told me. Homeowners in fire-prone zones should bear the costs of the added risk, not unlike those on flood plains.
Quoted: The impact of abrupt leadership shakeups at universities can vary, says expert Kris Olds, but often includes financial costs and fundraising losses; delays in filling other empty senior staff positions and in long-term strategic planning; debates about the quality of governance and distrust with decision making; and a lag in forming or maintaining key relationships with politicians or funders.
I’ve been to many places in Wisconsin in my two years as chancellor, but always with a singular purpose: to meet someone, to speak to a group, to visit a company. Vacation is a time for travel with less of a purpose.
Pollinators will be the focus of the next “Science On Tap” presentation at Minocqua Brewing Company. The first Wednesday of most months the public gathers to hear the latest from UW researchers who also listen to questions from the public about specific topics.
Noted: The University of Wisconsin – Madison committed to local purchasing in the late 1990s. The university’s dining halls have partnered with approximately 40 local growers and food distributors to serve meals to the 7000 undergraduates living in its residential housing.
Suzy Favor Hamilton said Wednesday that she will release a memoir next month that will touch on the mental health issues that compelled the former U.S. Olympian and University of Wisconsin track star to lead a double life as a Las Vegas call girl.
Noted: Another trend highlighted in the 93-page report, authored by Theodore P. Gerber, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is the decline in federal government funding for Russia-related research and graduate training.
Noted: Committees like this have seen a resurgence after a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended an overall limit on campaign contributions by a donor to political parties, candidates or PACs in a single calendar year, said Ken Mayer, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who studies campaign finance.
Noted: In their experiments, Moreau (John R. Nevin professor of marketing at the Wisconsin School of Business) and Engeset (associate professor of marketing at Buskerud and Vestfold University College in Kongsberg, Norway) gave 136 undergraduates a variety of LEGO-related building tasks. Some of the undergrads followed the instructions of a LEGO kit. Others were given a random assortment of LEGO bricks and were simply told to build something.
University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross is coming to La Crosse next week, and he wants to hear from you.
A law school professor is weighing in on a referendum, to legalize marijuana, on the Menominee Indian reservation.Tribal members voted in favor of allowing recreational and medicinal use, last week. UW-Madison Professor Richard Monette says tribal sovereignty is similar to that of the states. But he says it’s not clear whether the Menominee would be allowed to sell marijuana to non-members.
Quoted: “Part of it is confidence,” Chris Velden, a senior scientist and hurricane researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told CBS News.
The years between the ages of 3 and 6 are particularly precious. That’s the period kids begin school, start to establish their independence … and form their racial and ethnic prejudices. Attempting to counteract that last, problematic development has been a longtime goal of the creators of educational television series. Sadly, however, a research team led by Marie-Louise Mares of the University of Wisconsin–Madison reports the impact of such shows appears to be extremely limited.
At first glance, it often looks like a giant birdhouse on a post in someone’s yard.But upon closer examination, you will notice it’s a miniature library and it’s stocked with books. Children’s books, self-help books, novels, historical features — a variety of reads for a variety of ages.
Quoted: And yet, it’s likely longform television dramas like The Wire wouldn’t exist if soap operas hadn’t paved the way. “Daytime soap operas were the first instances of serialized narratives in television,” Elana Levine, associate professor of media studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told Quartz. “It was in daytime that TV writers, producers, and directors figured out how to create moving-image stories that had no set ending, that had characters that changed over time and had histories and memories.”
Quoted: Future robots could be more practical if they are able to reconfigure their arms without the need of moving parts. As such, understanding how to bend materials smoothly or snap them quickly could enable more efficient mechanical designs, said Arthur Evans, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
MADISON (WKOW) — Thanks to new funding at UW, doctors will be able to have some everyday wishes granted. Engineers and students are working on prototypes for medical innovations that doctors have said they are lacking in their practice. The UW Department of Emergency Medicine is teaming up with UW’s Morgridge Advanced Fabrication Lab or “Fab Lab” to improve these medical tools, which could improve your time in the hospital.
Quoted: UW-Madison professor Mike Wagner said Walker’s lower approval rating might impact his working relationships with state legislators.
Buried deep in the Antarctic ice, an observatory has spotted ghostly, nearly massless particles coming from inside our galaxy and points beyond the Milky Way.
MADISON – One of the central issues in an ongoing heated legislative debate is whether modern medical research has moved beyond the need for using tissue from new abortions.
A hefty biography of controversial Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. A sharp collection of Milwaukee-based stories that question the notion of a “post-racial” society. A cookbook featuring pies and other Dairy State delights derived from Scandinavian tradition. A moody murder mystery set in Door County. And a verse translation of Sophocles’ greatest Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex.
MADISON, Wis. — On the pristinely manicured grounds of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a guiding principle has informed the instruction of hundreds of thousands of students for over a century.
Antarctic scientists have confirmed the existence of cosmic neutrinos – ghostly particles that have traveled from the Milky Way and beyond. These particles carry messages from distant galaxies, and could potentially help solve several cosmic puzzles.
Buried deep in the Antarctic ice, an observatory has spotted ghostly, nearly massless particles coming from inside our galaxy and points beyond the Milky Way.
Madison – Robert Herbert “Bob” March, 81 of Madison, WI passed away on August 4, 2015 at Agrace Hospice in Fitchburg, WI. He was born on February 28, 1934 in Chicago, IL, the son of Herbert and Jane (Grbac) March. Bob had a long and fruitful career of more than 40 years as a professor of physics at UW-Madison, where he was a researcher on international high energy and astrophysics projects, taught a popular course called “Physics for Poets,” and authored a textbook with that title that has been published in seven languages and has been read worldwide.
Near the end of Alice Goffman’s acclaimed 2014 book, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, she interviews George Taylor, father of Linda, who is one of the central characters, and grandfather of Linda’s three sons, whose lives dominate the narrative. (George and Linda, like most of the names in the book, are pseudonyms.) Taylor’s parents had been Georgia sharecroppers, and like so many African-Americans of their generation, they had headed north in search of a better life. They settled in Philadelphia when George was 5.
Making good on a threat, a hacker group called Team Impact appears to have released the personal information of 37 million users of the site AshleyMadison.com. The information includes names, user names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and details of credit card transactions as well as sexual preferences. The site is run by Avid Life Media and is marketed for people interested in cheating on their spouses, with the slogan: “Life is short. Have an affair.” Interviewed: Catalina Toma.
It’s no secret that science courses, particularly at the first- and second-year levels, can be dry. The classes are big, the content is wide but typically shallow, and professors often resort to lectures. There’s a lot of talk among science educators about how to make these courses more interesting, to attract students and retain them as majors, but much of the conversation thus far has focused on improving individual faculty members’ teaching. And that’s not a bad thing: one innovative teacher in a department is better than none.
Quoted: Jill Boissonnault, an associate professor in the doctor of physical therapy program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said she doesn’t have a problem with parents balancing babies on their hips — so long as it’s only for a short period of time and they’re paying attention to their spines and posture while they’re doing it. They should focus on keeping their spines in a neutral position rather than bending to one side, forward or backward, she said.
The release of videos about Planned Parenthood is spurring state legislative efforts to ban or restrict use of fetal tissue for medical studies and treatments. (Subscription required.)
Noted: But if Aprecia does manage to move the drug-manufacturing process closer to the patient, it will buck more than a general trend toward centralization and mass production. Drug manufacturers have tended to consolidate not only over the past 100 years but also over the past couple decades, says Gregory Higby, a University of Wisconsin professor and the executive director of the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy. This corporate consolidation especially accelerated during the 1990s, he told me.
Various cities on the east and west coasts of the county have raised their minimum wages to $15 per hour. Amid calls for other cities and states to follow suit, an economist looks at what economic impact that raise would have in Wisconsin, a state with lower wages an a lower cost of living than cities like New York, Washington DC, and Seattle.
Perry Brunelli, who previously worked as director of network services at the Division of Information Technology, age 56, passed away from a brain tumor, gliosarcoma, on August 15, 2015. Husband of Sue Larsen. Father of Sam Brunelli. Further survived by father Ken Brunelli Sr., sister Sandy Brunelli-Kornkven (Tom Kornkven), brother Ken Brunelli Jr., half-sister Bonnie Mitchell (Robert Brock), nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Predeceased by mother Shirley Brunelli and half-sister Vickie Larson.
Quoted: But Leslie Bow, English and Asian-American studies professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, called the employee’s following “quite bizarre,” noting the fetishistic aspect of a fascination with a woman who looks like a doll.
When the University of Wisconsin asked businesses what they were looking for in employees, nearly all of them said, ‘data scientists.’ The university responded with an online data science master degree program to help bring more qualified data professionals to the job market..
CHAMPAIGN, Illinois — Appleton native Barbara Wilson has been named interim chancellor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The recent controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood has long been burdened with a serious flaw: the group is donating fetal tissue to scientists for medical research, which is perfectly legal. Indeed, the practice was specifically authorized by Congress, with broad and bipartisan support, decades ago.
A network of mysterious caves spotted on the surface of the Moon could be explored using camera technology that is capable of seeing around corners.
Quoted: Gary Green, professor of community and environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the six ICC counties experienced numerous changes what some scholars call “the Great Reset,” which started in about 2007 and is only now starting to show signs of waning.
Quoted: Kurt Squire, a professor in digital media at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said teachers who have designed lessons using games like World of Warcraft see students getting more excited about what they’re learning.
Noted: Professor Jerry Kaster of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his students are collecting mayfly eggs and putting them in the bay. The Green Bay Press Gazette reports the goal is to restore the ecosystem and help Green Bay become a world-class fishery.
Noted: Calling Donald Trump a “novelty candidate,” Barry Burden of the UW-Madison Elections Research Center said Walker is well positioned to gain support in Iowa, citing proximity to Wisconsin and the governor’s former residency in the Hawkeye State as likely contributors.
An online subscription to the Journal of Coordination Chemistry costs more than $12,000 a year. Multiply that by the hundreds of similarly expensive scholarly journals UW-Madison libraries subscribe to, and their budget disappears quite quickly.
Guinness stout and Bud Lite differ in, to be conservative, several ways, but one is that they’re brewed with very different types of yeast. Lager isn’t just a beer style, it’s a yeast lifestyle. Humans have been brewing with ale yeast—Saccharomyces cerevisiae—for thousands of years. But it was less than 600 years ago that European brewers stumbled on lager yeast, which behaves very differently and produces that distinctive lager flavor.
Koko has been called the “World’s Most Intelligent Gorilla.”
