Noted: Coincidentally, the switch from film to digital was one of the themes of the play “The Flick,” which was staged earlier this month by Forward Theater Company. Forward and the UW-Cinematheque are presenting a free screening of the documentary “The Dying of the Light,” which looks at the transition from film to digital, at 2 p.m. Saturday at 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave. The film’s director, Kevin Flynn, will chat with UW film professor and author David Bordwell after the screening. (Ironically, the documentary will be shown on digital, not film.)
Author: knutson4
Poll: Sanders outperforms Clinton against Republican candidates in Wisconsin
Quoted: But as the race continues and Sanders earns more exposure, his standing may change, said University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden.
Salud! California wines crafted by local palates define Madison’s Cambridge Winery
Noted: Eventually, Greg Bothwell, Cambridge’s young vineyard manager and a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s horticulture program, plans to help with winemaking too.
Keeping up with the kashrut: At ‘Kosher Chopped,’ three chefs prepare mystery boxes with a Jewish twist | Dining | host.madison.com
Noted: UW Hillel, which is part of a worldwide Jewish campus organization, offers programming for Jewish students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with film festivals, workshops, a fitness center and opportunities for volunteer work.
University Theatre’s intentionally polarizing ‘Smart People’ takes on race and biology
Lydia Diamond wouldn’t mind seeing a brawl break out during a talkback of one of her plays.
UW-Madison’s Washburn Observatory reopens next week after long hiatus
Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies Wednesday night, because UW-Madison’s Washburn observatory will be open for public stargazing for the first time in nearly two years.
Q&A: Malia Jones digs into data to find a counterintuitive trend on poverty
An analysis of Census data by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Applied Population Laboratory showed some troubling trends on poverty in the state.
Couple offers 5,000 reasons to support the Read Up! Madison Fund
Noted: Doughty called the Read Up! funding project “fantastic” and said she and her husband were quickly motivated when they read about the first two years of the Madison summer school program. Wood is a computer science professor at UW-Madison, and Doughty is a former computer database specialist who is “effectively retired” after stepping out of the work world to raise the two boys.
The Soap Opera has new owners but remains true to its brand
Noted: Sean, 32, and Stacey, 29, are both UW-Madison graduates. They met in 2011 and married in 2014, and have taken over a business with a dedicated customer base and a strong stable of employees, one of which has been with the company since 1979. They had been contemplating buying a business for years but when Sean, who works as a broker connecting business owners with potential buyers, began talking with Bauer about the future of the business, the talks ultimately led to the Scannells making an offer.
Drugged driving project to get a fix on extent of problem in Dane County, officials say
Noted: Agencies involved in the project include the Sheriff’s Office, State Patrol, District Attorney’s Office, Wisconsin Hygiene Lab, state Department of Justice and police departments of Madison, Verona, Fitchburg, Stoughton, DeForest, Oregon, Middleton and UW-Madison.
Rathskeller dining room at Memorial Union closing on Sunday
The popular Rathskeller dining room at UW-Madison’s Memorial Union will close for several months Sunday, as crews continue their work on a major renovation project that has shut down much of the campus hang-out spot.
‘WisCajun’ finds the spice of life
Noted: For more than 20 years, Cook was a research scientist at UW-Madison, specializing in allergic and infectious eye diseases. Cook, 59, retired in late 2013 and was awarded emeritus status in 2014, which allowed her to continue her affiliation with the university.
Report: Former New York Times reporter took her own life
A former New York Times reporter and UW-Madison graduate living in the Dominican Republic committed suicide, The New York Times reported Friday.
Madison Style: Love of place and plants combine with creativity for business owner
Retired UW-Madison plant pathologist Vaughan James probably did not realize he was planting seeds for a small business when he put in gardens at his home in 2000. The 1,100 perennials provide a profusion of inspiration and photography subjects for his silk screening and sublimation printing business, R.V. James Designs.
Tom Still: Why basic research matters at Wisconsin’s colleges and universities | Madison Wisconsin Business News | host.madison.com
There are 115 universities in the United States that can lay claim to an “R1” rating from the national organization that ranks research institutions, and Wisconsin is now home to two of them: UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, which joined the elite Research Level 1 list in February.
Chris Rickert: Really expensive cheese is only one cost of legal dairy workforce
Quoted: “If the document a worker presents ‘reasonably’ appears valid, they have to accept it,” said Stacy Taeuber, a law professor and director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the UW-Madison Law School.
Republicans and Democrats push for college affordability, with many voters listening | Higher education | host.madison.com
Republicans in Wisconsin have frozen tuition at University of Wisconsin System schools and pushed legislation to increase financial aid and give a tax break to some borrowers paying back their student loans.
Art from Oakhill for all to witness
Noted: Humanities courses taught by volunteers at Oakhill Correctional Institution in Oregon form the core of the project. The classes are taught mostly by UW-Madison graduate students and faculty members. And like the teachers, inmates choose whether to participate.
Ask the Weather Guys: What is ‘sea smoke’?
Noted: Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, are guests on WHA radio (970 AM) at 11:45 a.m. the last Monday of each month.
Venturing to the Arctic for art
Noted: Zanichkowsky will be among the some 200 artists, scientists, architects and educators who have taken the trip since 2009. Those alumni include artist Stephen Hilyard, professor of digital arts at UW-Madison, who did the Arctic residency in 2012.
Blue Sky Science: What’s the science behind leap year?
Noted: Jim Lattis is the director of the UW Space Place, which is part of the astronomy department at UW-Madison.
DNR might allow some firms to draft own environmental permits
Noted: Among the changes, the DNR would transfer management of some properties to other organizations and turn over work to others. One example would be to transfer genetics forest work to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It might also merge some duties with the state Department of Transportation. DOT handles registration of trailers; DNR registers boats, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.
Sociologist opens door on devastating effects of evictions
Noted: Manhattan-based Crown Publishers, which also is publishing a mass-market edition for British readers, chose Milwaukee for the national book launch, which takes place Tuesday. Desmond will speak at Marquette University Law School and Boswell Book Co., followed Wednesday by an appearance at his grad-school alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Engineering: more than math and science
Noted: Julie Olson is an engineer at GRAEF, a Milwaukee-based engineering, planning and design firm. She received her degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin Poverty – State Senate must focus on bills that improve economy
Noted: Even as the nation’s economy was recovering from the Great Recession, the number of Wisconsin residents living in poverty averaged 13% — the highest since 1984, according to a trend analysis by UW-Madison’s Applied Population Laboratory.
Gloria Steinem flap gives Lands’ End a hard PR lesson
Quoted: “It’s just been a bad decision to associate your fantastic brand with something that was polarizing,” said Neeraj Arora, marketing professor at UW-Madison and executive director of the A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research. “From a marketing standpoint, I think it’s fair to say that there was a misstep.”
Also: But Hart Posen, a UW-Madison professor of management and human resources and a Lands’ End observer, said by email that the Steinem episode suggests “a substantial gap in the top management team’s understanding of the current Lands’ End customer base.”
Badgers women’s hockey: Leading goal-scorer Sarah Nurse another in athletic family
Shake Sarah Nurse’s family tree and an elite athlete will fall off of most every branch.
Badgers men’s hockey: Large freshman class not down despite losing season
The freshman season in any sport generally is a trying experience even in the best of circumstances. But when it is accompanied by persistent and painful losses, it can become overwhelming.
SHINE Medical wins NRC’s OK to build medical isotope plant
Noted: Piefer was in the UW-Madison’s nuclear engineering Ph.D program, and after getting his degree, he developed the technology, he said, and forged a partnership with the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research on the UW campus.
Badgers men’s basketball: UW officially posts head coaching job
The University of Wisconsin athletic department has officially posted a job opening for the men’s basketball head coaching position.
In Vietnam, troops connected through diverse music
Noted: Bradley teaches a course on the war at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Werner, a professor and chairman of the university’s Afro-American Studies Department. A decade ago, they began talking about music at a Christmas party at the Vet Center in Madison and were quickly surrounded by a group of guys sharing stories of the music they listened to in Vietnam.
North Milwaukee State Bank posts another annual loss
Quoted: James Johannes, a University of Wisconsin-Madison business professor with expertise in banking, said he didn’t know enough about North Milwaukee State to say why it is struggling years after the recession. But speaking generally, he said, “The one thing we can say for sure is that some of the fallout from the Great Recession has been very much localized. Certain banks in certain areas of the country have just not done well. Certain areas of counties have not done well. But most of that has been flushed out of the system by now.”
In good sign for Gard, UW posts basketball coach position
University of Wisconsin officials on Friday officially posted the opening for the position of men’s basketball coach.
Poverty across Wisconsin reaches highest level in 30 years
Poverty in Wisconsin hit its highest level in 30 years during the five-year period ending in 2014, even as the nation’s economy was recovering from the Great Recession, according to a trend analysis of U.S. census data just released by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
Subprime gets bad rap in ‘Big Short’ but is key to easing affordability crisis
Op-ed by Jaime Luque, Assistant Professor, Real Estate & Urban Land Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
UW-Madison students say pay increases not enough to make a difference
UW-Madison students who also work for the university say pay raises announced Tuesday won’t help them make ends meet.
UW professors win prestigious research fellowships
Three UW-Madison professors have been selected as Sloan Research Fellows, one of the top awards given to young researchers.
Know Your Madisonian: Mary Clare Murphy is a cookie gatekeeper for Madison Girl Scouts
Noted: A UW-Madison School of Nursing graduate, Murphy worked as a nurse for many years at the old Methodist Hospital and in the emergency room at its descendant, Meriter Hospital.
Tom Oates: NCAA-bound UW shows it can play with anyone in win over Iowa
At one point in the season, repeating as champion of the Big Ten Conference would have been out of the question for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team.
UW-Madison team helping to develop system for thwarting cyberattacks
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of three schools working with non-profit research institute SRI International under a $5.3 million federal grant to develop technology to thwart particularly costly cyberattacks.
Bradley, Kloppenburg to debate March 18
Noted: The debate will be held at Wisconsin Public Television’s studio on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
Alverno College names St. Catherine University leader as next president
The longtime president of a university with the nation’s largest Catholic college for women has been tapped to become the eighth president of Alverno College.
Kitchen becomes science lab for curious cooks
Noted: She received her master’s degree in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and as a parent came to see food as a great way to get people involved in science.
UW-Madison to raise minimum wage for student employees
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is raising the minimum wage for student employees and the pay rate for graduate assistants.
Milwaukee Institute, UWM engineering school announce alliance
The Milwaukee Institute, a nonprofit provider of high-speed computing services, said it has partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s engineering school to expand the application of computational science and engineering in the region’s industrial companies.
Membership woodworking shop opens in Brookfield
Noted: Meissner went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and forge a 20-year career at General Motors and Harley-Davidson analyzing the complexities of pickup trucks and heavy motorcycles.
Fixed-wireless Internet aimed at bridging the rural digital divide
Quoted: It’s probably fine for watching a Netflix movie, but the service could struggle if other people in the home were online at the same time, said Barry Orton, a recently retired telecommunications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s a Band-Aid approach, at best, and it’s an awfully expensive Band-Aid,” Orton said.
Wisconsin 69, Illinois 60 – Big comeback enhances Badgers’ credentials for NCAA Tournament
If Wisconsin goes on to secure a berth in the NCAA Tournament field next month, the Badgers’ improbable come-from-behind victory over Illinois Sunday night at the Kohl Center no doubt will have played a huge role.
Specimens in State Herbarium linked back to George Washington Carver
They were just tiny black dots on sesame stalks, unnoticed except to the trained eye.
UW-Whitewater addressing reaction to ‘blackface’ and ‘n’ word video posts on Facebook
Was it a racial slur or an innocent cosmetic facial posted on Facebook by two University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students?
Seth Davis likes UW’s NCAA chances; Doug Gottlieb not so much
CBS analysts Doug Gottlieb and Seth Davis went head-to-head Sunday debating which of three Big Ten bubble teams – Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan – has the best chance of securing an NCAA tournament berth.
Railroad crossing bill moves down track
Noted: Coyote meeting, chat: A public meeting on the Milwaukee County coyote trapping and tracking project will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at Wil-O-Way Underwood, 10602 Underwood Parkway, Wauwatosa. Researchers from the UW-Madison Urban Canid Project will discuss coyote ecology, coyote-human conflict and behavior modification as well as ongoing monitoring and management efforts. Representatives of the Milwaukee County Parks Department and DNR also will be on hand.
And the Cheesehead goes to … : Wisconsin at the Oscars
Noted, several UW-Madison grads, including: Walter Mirisch: A UW-Madison grad, Mirisch, one of Hollywood’s most progressive and prolific producers in the 1960s, took home the Oscar for best picture for “In the Heat of the Night” (1967). He also was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1983 and the Irving Thalberg Award in 1978.
Former UW Hospital nurse convicted of four drug felonies
Court records show a former UW-Hospital nurse was convicted of four felony crimes after diverting drugs from patients for her own use.
Victim of anti-Semitic dorm incident satisfied
A UW-Madison student whose dorm room door was targeted with anti-Semitic images says he’s surprised to see how much attention the incident has gotten online this week.
10-bill dementia research, funding package passes Assembly
Noted: The 10-bill package includes proposals to spend $50,000 for virtual dementia tours, in which participants wear goggles to simulate dementia effects, and give the University of Wisconsin-Madison an additional $50,000 for Alzheimer’s research.
UW officials say swastikas taped to dorm room door was prank gone wrong
A student was disciplined by the University of Wisconsin Division of Student Life after he taped swastikas and a picture of Adolf Hitler to the door of a student in Sellery Hall Jan. 26, according to the University of Wisconsin.
UPDATE: Students react to anti-Semitism on UW campus
Some UW Madison students are outraged after an anti-Semitic incident on campus is shared on social media.
Luther grad’s first novel earns high praise
Noted: Currently in law school at UW-Madison, Hefti is clearly not the kind of person to let spare time go to waste. He has always liked to write and while serving overseas he completed an online bachelor’s degree in English and a master of fine arts degree in fiction.
Scott Walker appoints 2 Milwaukee County circuit judges
Noted: According to his law firm bio, Hanrahan has extensive experience in commercial litigation and has done work in employment law, shareholder rights, personal injury and divorce. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin Law School.