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How Trump cuts are driving 4 major challenges at UW-Madison this year

The Cap Times

Wisconsin’s flagship state university is under pressure on a variety of fronts this spring, making it difficult to keep up with developments in the news.

As the Trump administration reshapes the federal government and its relationship with higher education, authorities in courtrooms, the state Capitol and university administration are also tackling big decisions that could affect campus life for years to come.

Country music is dominating Wisconsin’s summer concert season like never before in 2025

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

28: Years it’s been since Camp Randall Stadium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has hosted a concert tour. Country superstar Morgan Wallen will end the drought June 28, then become the first artist ever to headline the stadium for two consecutive nights, with a second show on June 29.

Board needs to work with community to keep MPS Italian Immersion Program open

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

When I was a student at Rufus King, I took Spanish and Italian courses. Four years later, my younger brother Michael did the same.  After high school, I went on to study Italian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and studied abroad in Italy. After graduation, I used my Italian language skills and taught 4-year-old kindergarten at the Italian Immersion School during the 2008-2009 school year.

The internet is littered with advice. What’s it doing to your brain?

Vox

“Research has overwhelmingly found that advice is really beneficial, and that people tend to under-utilize advice, usually causing them to make lower quality decisions,” says Lyn van Swol, a professor of communication science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies advice and information-sharing in groups. The catch, she notes, is that most of that research looks at advice from one, two, or three other people, not dozens, hundreds, or thousands of strangers on TikTok: “It’s overwhelming — it’s like a fire hose of advice.”

Scientists have lost their jobs or grants in US cuts. Foreign universities want to hire them

Associated Press

Brandon Coventry never thought he would consider a scientific career outside the United States. But federal funding cuts and questions over whether new grants will materialize have left him unsure. While reluctant to leave his family and friends, he’s applied to faculty positions in Canada and France.

“I’ve never wanted to necessarily leave the United States, but this is a serious contender for me,” said Coventry, who is a postdoctoral fellow studying neural implants at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Everything you need to know about the ‘age-reversal’ supplement NAD+

Essence

According to Guarente, pellagra is characterized by what are known as the four Ds; dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia, and death. “Pellagra turned out to be a disease of NAD+ deficiency and the molecules that could prevent and/or cure it were termed vitamin B3s,” he says, which Conrad Elvehjem, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, proved in 1937.

‘It does kind of make me the breadwinner’: stay-at-home mom charges husband $2,700 a week for household labor — sparking a debate on TikTok

Moneywise

Of course, not every household follows the traditional gender roles. But data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds that women still spend twice as many hours doing physical housework as their male partners.

It doesn’t stop there. Allison Daminger, an assistant professor of sociology, found in her research that in 80% of opposite-sex couples, women shoulder most of the cognitive labor — things like managing family calendars, planning meals and checking on homework.

National Spelling Bee champions say it set them up for success: ‘You attain a level of mastery’

Associated Press

Joanne Lagatta arrived at the University of Wisconsin in 1995 with a flawless academic record and an achievement on her resumé that she didn’t like to talk about — but that no other undergrad on the sprawling Madison campus could claim: Scripps National Spelling Bee champion.

The bee winner in 1991 at age 13, Lagatta nonetheless struggled adjusting to life outside her rural hometown of Clintonville, Wisconsin — until she got a push from a professor who was a devoted spelling-bee fan.

Harvard revokes tenure of embattled dishonesty researcher

Inside Higher Ed

Harvard University has revoked the tenure of Francesca Gino, a dishonesty researcher in the business school who was accused of fabricating data, WGBH reported.

The move follows an internal investigation into allegations raised two years ago by the blog Data Colada that Gino had co-authored four academic papers that revealed “evidence of fraud.” Investigators determined that Gino had “engaged in multiple instances of research misconduct” in those papers, manipulating data to support her hypotheses, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Democratic troubles revive debate over left-wing buzzwords

The Washington Post

Honestly, Democrats trip over themselves in an attempt to say exactly the right thing,” said Allison Prasch, who teaches rhetoric, politics and culture at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “Republicans maybe aren’t so concerned about saying exactly the right thing, so it may appear more authentic to some voters.”

She added: “Republicans have a willingness to paint with very broad brushstrokes, where Democrats are more concerned with articulating multiple perspectives. And, because of that, they can be hampered by the words and phrases they utilize.”

The curse of Toumaï: an ancient skull, a disputed femur and a bitter feud over humanity’s origins

The Guardian

Macchiarelli now brokered the publication of two of them on the widely read blog of John Hawks, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and longtime Sahelanthropus sceptic. In principle, to print images of someone else’s unpublished fossil was a clear breach of ethics. But then, Macchiarelli, Bergeret and Hawks reasoned, after Beauvilain’s article, the femur was no longer unpublished.

A big Trump administration cutback went nearly unnoticed

The Washington Post

Aaron Perry, a former University of Wisconsin police officer and founder of the Perry Family Free Clinic, said he saw firsthand how Black men were being left behind by the health-care system.

“I would always ask them … what could be different?” Perry said. “And that’s when they would tell me, ‘I’m homeless. I haven’t eaten. I have a heart condition. I don’t have medication.’”

5 myths about food expiration dates and best-by labels

The Washington Post

Kathy Glass, who recently retired as associate director at the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said she respects “use-by” dates and other storage guidance (like an ideal fridge temperature) on refrigerated products, particularly those designed to be eaten cold.

“Many manufacturers have researched spoilage versus safety to determine those dates,” she said. On those keep-cold products, she said the phrase “use by” signals “they’ve done their studies to demonstrate that if you would use it by that particular date, and you kept it at a good refrigeration temperature, it should be safe.” Food should be refrigerated between 35 and 40 degrees, she said.

These world leaders went to Harvard before Trump’s foreign student ban

Bloomberg

Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who won his mandate to lead the city-state with the ruling People’s Action Party earlier this month, received a master’s in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2004. He also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Michigan, respectively.

Environment 4 hours ago The Paris Agreement Target for Warming Still Won’t Protect Polar Ice Sheets

Mother Jones

“Coastal communities that are adapting to and preparing for future sea-level rise are largely adapting to the amount of sea-level rise that has already occurred,” said co-author Andrea Dutton, a geoscientist and sea level expert at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In a best-case scenario, she added, they are preparing for sea level rise at the current rate of a few millimeters per year, while the research suggests that rate will double within decades.

Analysis finds summers are heating up nationwide, including in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Public Radio

The analysis is largely in line with the findings of Wisconsin’s Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, according to Jonathan Patz, a professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We’re seeing more nighttime warming than daytime warming, which is a problem for health,” Patz said. “Because if you don’t have cooling temperatures in the nighttime, it’s more dangerous, and there are more people at risk from heat waves.”

UW-Madison computer science prepares to relocate, meet ‘AI moment’

The Cap Times

When he looks at Morgridge Hall, though, he’s filled with excitement. The newly built facility will soon house UW-Madison’s School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences, or CDIS.

Arpaci-Dusseau recently took over as director of the rapidly growing school. Enrollment nearly doubled from the 2018-19 academic year to about 6,200 students in 2024-2025. The school also houses the university’s two largest majors: computer sciences, followed by data science.

51 new books for summer reading in 2025

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Saving Hearts and Killing Rats: Karl Paul Link and the Discovery of Warfarin” (HenschelHAUS Publishing), by Doug Moe. University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemist led the team that transformed spoiled sweet clover hay into both lifesaving medication and deadly rat poison. In his spare time, this man with strong opinions liked to spar with authority and rivals.

Lawmakers unveil bold plan to build game-changing energy device in unexpected location: ‘An incredible opportunity for the future’

The Cool Down

A group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been working with local Realta Fusion to make fusion energy a reality, but they’re not the only ones, according to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Three of the 45 companies working on fusion are already based in Wisconsin, and new bills supporting the advancement of this promising clean energy technology could draw even more to the area.

Erika Meitner reads Philip Levine with Kevin Young

The New Yorker

Erika Meitner joins Kevin Young to read “What Work Is,” by Philip Levine, and her own poem “To Gather Together.” Meitner’s books include “Useful Junk” and “Holy Moly Carry Me,” which won the 2018 National Jewish Book Award in Poetry. She is currently a Mandel Institute Cultural Leadership Program Fellow, and she’s the director of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Where does Wisconsin’s ‘Jump Around’ rank among top college football gameday traditions?

Badgers Wire -- USA Today

n 247Sports’ latest ranking of college football’s top 10 gameday traditions, the Badgers’ famous “Jump Around” landed at No. 2, falling behind only Virginia Tech’s “Enter Sandman” entrance theme. Past that top duo, Chief Osceola’s spear plant at Florida State secured the No. 3 spot, Ohio State’s “dotting the ‘I'” secured the No. 4 position and Auburn’s practice of rolling the oak trees at Toomer’s Corner took the No. 5 ranking.

Badger sports prepare for new era of paid college athletes

The Cap Times

Chris McIntosh, UW-Madison’s athletics director, has called revenue-sharing with the students long overdue. But the settlement would mark another seismic shift in college sports, said Matt Banker, who runs MB Sports Consulting, is a senior adviser to CCHA Sports Law, and teaches an NIL workshop at Marquette University Law School. 

Here’s what we know, and don’t know, about the shootings at UW-Platteville that left 2 students dead

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Two University of Wisconsin-Platteville female students died May 19 of gunshot wounds, the university announced May 20.

The university announced May 20 that Kelsie Martin, of Beloit, died from a gunshot wound, and Hallie Helms, of Baraboo, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at Wilgus Hall, a dormitory.

Community still processing UW-Platteville shooting that left two students dead

Wisconsin Examiner

More details are emerging about a shooting at UW-Platteville Monday which left two students dead. In a statement released Tuesday, the university said the UW-Platteville Police Department had responded to a call at Wilgus Hall, a student residence hall, for a “disturbance.” When officers arrived, they found two individuals with gunshot wounds.

Expert: Cellcom outage highlights infrastructure issues in rural areas

NBC 26

A University of Wisconsin–Madison professor says the recent Cellcom outage may be exposing a larger problem: insufficient investment in communication infrastructure, particularly in rural regions.

Professor Parmesh Ramanathan, who teaches electrical and computer engineering, says many networks lack backup systems to keep services running when critical lines go down.

Wisconsin speech and hearing clinic helps transgender clients find their voice

Wisconsin Public Radio

At a time when gender-affirming care in Wisconsin is under fire, providers at a speech clinic are helping transgender clients find their voice.

“Our voice is [an] external representation of us,” Maia Braden, a speech-language pathologist at the UW Speech and Hearing Clinic told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “Anytime our voice doesn’t match who we feel we are, it can be extremely distressing.”

Survey finds Wisconsin farmers value sustainable practices

Wisconsin Public Radio

A recent survey of Wisconsin’s farmers found that 56 percent of them believe climate change is happening. Another 26 percent think it isn’t happening, and 18 percent are unsure.

Michael Bell, the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who helped conduct the study, said attitudes and behaviors don’t always match up. Bell found encouragement in how the farmers are acting, not their beliefs. The same survey asked farmers if they are practicing any of 15 different sustainable agricultural practices.

Reagan admin official who helped America defeat communism dead at age 83

Fox News

Ledeen was born in Los Angeles in 1941 and authored numerous books on national security, including “Perilous Statecraft: An Insider’s Account of the Iran-Contra Affair.” He earned a Ph.D. in history and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His academic advisor at Wisconsin was the prominent historian George Mosse, who fled Nazi Germany because of antisemitism.

Wisconsin commemorates 50th anniversary of Hmong resettlement

Wisconsin Public Radio

Mai See Thao, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that these resolutions are “long overdue.”

“Recognizing Hmong-Lao veterans is really important because they have never received the kinds of recognition that they’ve needed, given the fact that they supported the U.S. as proxy soldiers,” she said.