The University of Wisconsin at Madison, $1.591-billion as of October 17 (increase of $21.4-million in the last month); the goal was $1.5-billion by 2007.
Updates on Billion-Dollar Campaigns at 24 Universities
Chronicle of Higher Education
Category: Business/Technology
Bright ideas at Quantum Devices
Wisconsin State Journal
Profile: Quantum Devices, a UW-Madison spinoff company based in Barneveld.
Guidelines Aim to Ease Accounting Costs for Small Companies
New York Times
A committee of accounting experts published new guidance yesterday that it hopes will reduce the cost for small companies to document that their internal financial controls are adequate.
“It was important for us to demonstrate how smaller public companies can implement effective internal control in a different manner than do their larger counterparts,” said Larry E. Rittenberg, the chairman of the group, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and an accounting professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Degrees go for specialist redesign
CNN.com
The new specialist degrees, however, have been designed from the ground up to be directly relevant to a particular business sector or industry.
One high-profile example is the MBA offerings at the University of Wisconsin’s Madison School of Business. Students entering the school’s course can choose from one of 14 different areas of specialisation. Areas range from arts administration and marketing research to supply chain management and real estate.
School dean, Michael Knetter, says the school has made a conscious effort to appeal to students who have a clear career objective.
More ventures than capital in state
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin’s abysmal record of venture funding activity continued in the third quarter, and state companies are on their way to having their worst year in a decade for raising venture capital.
Just three state companies – all in the Madison area – raised a total of $9.68 million, according to the MoneyTree Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association.
Student-Investors Get More Money
Wisconsin Public Radio
(MADISON) The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents recently voted to allow a group of students to handle more than 30 million dollars of investments on behalf of the University. Itââ?¬â?¢s a hands-on experiment that they hope will be a good — and profitable — learning experience.
WISC-TV Editorial: UW Business School – Doing Well & Doing Good
WISC-TV 3
10/24/05
Madison has a ways to go to live up to its full potential as model city for business philanthropy. We need to say for fear that we rest on the laurels on those shining examples of corporate citizenship we are so fortunate to have in our midst. But we have enough to give hope to the goal of creating such a model city. And right in the middle of the effort we are again reminded is the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business.
School on Cutting Edge of Socially-Minded Ethics (WPR)
Wisconsin Public Radio
(MADISON) The University of Wisconsin-Madison Business School ranks among the world�s top schools for offering classes on social and environmental issues. The newly- developed classes teach students about the human costs of doing business. (Second item.)
Editorial: Investigating ‘travelgate’
Capital Times
The latest Wisconsin Policy Research Institute poll tells us that Wisconsinites are rapidly losing confidence in their elected officials. In a state that once enjoyed a national reputation for clean politics, only 9 percent of those surveyed thought that the standard for ethics in state government was improving while 46 percent thought it was declining.
Even more disheartening were the answers to the question about whose interests elected officials serve. Only 6 percent of those surveyed thought that elected officials represented their interests.
The citizens of Wisconsin have reason to be concerned. Consider the growing controversy surrounding the awarding of a three-year contract – worth up to $240,000 annually – to make travel arrangements for the state.
State bioscience industry gains
Capital Times
Bioscience is one of the fastest growing industries in Wisconsin, a new report maintains, although it has a long way to go to surpass manufacturing, agriculture and tourism as the state’s top industry.
The report, Bioscience Wisconsin 2006, issued by the Wisconsin Association for Biomedical Research & Education, measures economic growth in bioscience research, development and industry in the state.
Bioscience betters beer
Wisconsin State Journal
Slide that beer down the counter and make way for the stem cells.
A report shows bioscience research and industry provide jobs for more than 26,000 people in Wisconsin and add more than $6.9 billion to the state’s economy.
Tankards give way to test tubes
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In the past two years, Wisconsin’s growing bioscience industry surpassed beer as an economic force in the state, according to a report to be released Wednesday in Madison.
Students manage a true ‘trust’ fund
Wisconsin State Journal
Twenty students at UW- Madison have more than $40 million in their hands.
It may sound like they won the lottery, but in truth, it’s just part of their education – to invest more money than most of us will ever see.
UW MBA 16th for social, enviro teaching
Capital Times
The UW-Madison School of Business has been ranked among the world’s top schools for its MBA offerings in social and environmental issues.
Wisconsin was 16th among U.S. business schools and 28th overall in the Beyond Grey Pinstripesranking by the World Resources Institute and the Aspen Institute. The rating measures how well MBA programs equip students with an understanding of the social, environmental and economic perspectives required for business success in a global economy.
Ag colleges shift focus off farms
Capital Times
ST. PAUL (AP) – It’s not just farm kids in the region’s agriculture colleges anymore.
It’s students like Jillian Rankins from Eau Claire, Wis., a sophomore at the University of Minnesota who hadn’t heard of the FFA future farmers group before she got to college. Her studies are in management and economics, not crops and livestock.
Rankins and her fellow students from urban backgrounds are welcomed by agriculture colleges as they reposition themselves to provide for a world that needs fewer dairy farmers and agronomists and more food scientists, veterinarians and nutritionists.
We could be ‘Saudi Arabia of ethanol’
Wisconsin State Journal
Richard Shaten sees both sides. Though ethanol carries its own problems, burning ethanol blends releases less soot and carbon monoxide into the air than gasoline, said Shaten, a faculty associate who teaches energy economics at UW-Madison’s Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
“I believe that every gallon of gasoline that is displaced by a gallon of ethanol lets us all breathe easier,” he said.
Walker, Green: Rebid travel contract (AP)
Capital Times
The campaigns of both of Gov. Jim Doyle’s potential Republican opponents in the 2006 election called Friday for the administration to rebid a state contract awarded to a travel agency whose executives donated money to his re-election campaign.
Doyle again rejected the calls to rebid the contract awarded to Glendale-based Adelman Travel Group.
Local, state and federal authorities are investigating the process for awarding the three-year contract to issue airline tickets for state employees. The probe announced Thursday will look into whether $20,000 in donations from Adelman executives played any role in the contract, which could be worth $250,000 a year.
Colleges add lessons on financial literacy
Milwaukee Business Journal
College senior Amy Block was stunned to learn in her recent personal finance class how much it costs her over the long run when she pays only the minimum required amount on her credit card bill.
Probe targets travel contract, Doyle donations
Capital Times
State, federal and Dane County law enforcement officials have launched a joint inquiry following media reports that Gov. Jim Doyle received $20,000 in campaign donations from executives of a travel agency around the time it won a state contract.
Doyle, a Democrat, has insisted the donations played no role in Milwaukee-based Adelman Travel Group winning the contract and reiterated it Thursday after the authorities announced their investigation. He said he had nothing to do with the selection process and the firm was picked because it was the cheapest bid, saving taxpayers money.
Travel agency bid process protested (AP)
Capital Times
A travel agency is now questioning why it lost a contract to sell airline tickets to state workers after reports that leaders at the winning company gave $20,000 to the governor’s campaign in the months surrounding the bidding process.
Gov. Jim Doyle and his administration have steadfastly maintained the contract was awarded to Milwaukee-based Adelman Travel Group fairly after the company’s final bid came in $30,000 cheaper.
(CALS Associate Dean Frank Kooistra, a member of the selection committee, is quoted.)
Big dreams scene
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison students Nick O’Brien and Mitch Nick want to start a company. So far, all they have in hand is an idea they’ve been researching for more than a year: a system to help firefighters find their way out of smoke-blinded buildings.
Hitting the target
Capital Times
There’s a new “E” in E-business: Engagement.
“Time is more precious than money,” eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey told the crowd attending the 8th annual UW E-Business Institute’s E-Business Best Practices & Emerging Technologies Conference Tuesday at the Monona Terrace Convention Center.
The conference aimed to get attendees to think about how to better understand the technologies their companies use.
State narrows high-tech job gap
Capital Times
Wisconsin is finally gaining some traction in the high-paying technology job world.
A report issued today by the Wisconsin Technology Council shows the state, while still lagging, is improving its standing among the 50 states when it comes to producing patents, creating high-tech jobs and investing in research and development.
State lags in high-tech jobs
Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin is inching forward in its effort to morph into a high-tech state, but it still lags the nation in technology jobs, a new report shows.
The report, to be presented today at the Early Stage Symposium at Monona Terrace, shows Wisconsin scientists and engineers are racking up more patents per capita than most other states, and research funding is steadily rising.
State makes high-tech progress
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin is doing a better job of nurturing the tools necessary for a vibrant, knowledge-based economy, according to a report to be presented today at the Wisconsin Technology Council’s Early Stage Symposium.
Sweatshop panel urges UW use of union labor
Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s official anti-sweatshop panel wants the university to require apparel companies that make UW logo clothing to use union labor.
The nine-member panel, made up of students, faculty and staff, voted without dissent Monday to send the recommendation to Chancellor John Wiley. Students, who packed the room, erupted with applause after the vote.
The proposal is designed to encourage large apparel companies like adidas, Nike and Reebok to pay their workers better wages, assign them shorter hours, and improve their working conditions.
Just one word: Manufacturing
Wisconsin State Journal
n the 1967 movie “The Graduate” Mr. McGuire gave new college grad Benjamin Braddock “just one word” of advice:
Plastics.
In a similar scene last week Bill Gates gave UW- Madison students his advice on the right future to pursue:
Software.
Group wants union labor to produce Bucky apparel
Wisconsin State Journal
A university committee wants UW-Madison to stop doing business with apparel companies unless those companies agree to buy at least a portion of their goods from union factories.
State has a way to go to be top in biotech
Wisconsin State Journal
OCONOMOWOC – Turning Wisconsin into a national biotechnology center may not be a pipe dream, but it is unlikely to happen any time soon, an official of the Milken Institute said Friday.
“It is unrealistic that in the next 10 years, Wisconsin would be in the top 10,” Ross DeVol, director of regional economics for the Santa Monica, Calif., economic think tank, said in an interview.
Flexible MBA programs provide boost
Wisconsin State Journal
For newly minted undergraduates to professionals already waist-deep in their careers, there’s no shortage of area MBA degree programs to suit a prospective student’s tastes or busy schedule.
And that’s as it should be, said UW-Madison Business School Dean Michael Knetter, who called occasional allusions to “the demise” of the MBA entirely “premature.”
Thinking outside the juice box
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Ed Jesse, professor and extension agriculture policy specialist for the Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ideas bubble up at biomedical meeting
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mentions the University of Wisconsin-Madison is among the leading licensing organizations in the United States, and will rank 10th or 11th in the world for the research quality of its biotechnology faculty in a yet-to-be-published Milken Institute study.
It’s so cool to be a geek
Capital Times
There are few people who can silence a crowd by the mere anticipation of their entrance.
The world’s richest man is one such person.
As 4 p.m. arrived Wednesday and his handlers’ actions made it clear that Bill Gates was about to enter Auditorium AB20 at UW-Madison’s Weeks Hall, a buzzing crowd of about 200 computer and biological sciences students and a dozen or so media types almost instantly went silent.
Gates’ focus on philanthropy
Capital Times
Even Bill Gates’ harshest detractors concede that he’s doing good in the world.
The $26.8 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focuses primarily on global health and the U.S. education system, and Gates does more than just give away his money: He gets involved, traveling to places like Africa, where AIDS is killing millions, and to the nation’s top universities, where he pumps computer science as a great career.
In a session with state media after his appearance at UW-Madison on Wednesday, Gates said his foundation has been getting involved in Avian flu, which some experts fear has the potential to become a pandemic similar to the flu of 1918 that killed 50 million people.
Students impressed by Gates’ ‘magic show’
Capital Times
Bill Gates’ visit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison was designed to fire up students for careers in computers. So how did they react?
The biggest buzz was over a device still in development that projects visual images onto a table top and allows them to be pulled into a mini-computer built into a cell phone or other small digital entity. After Gates’ talk, students clustered around the device as a Microsoft engineer explained it in more detail. Gates had done a quick demo of it during his talk, saying that it was still perhaps five years away from coming to the market.
Celebs at Reebok store party tonight
Capital Times
World renowned hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari and skateboarding sensation Stevie Williams are scheduled to appear here at tonight’s celebration of the opening of the first-ever Rbk concept store on a college campus.
Williams will kick off the party at 6 p.m. at Peace Park with a skateboard exhibition and Ben-Ari, the newest face of Reebok’s “I Am What I Am” campaign, will perform songs from her newly released debut album. Following the performances, students can check out more than 200 styles of footwear, Reebok performance gear and exclusive UW vintage inspired lifestyle apparel.
Bill Gates surprises UW computer class
Daily Cardinal
Students in Introduction to Programming started off their Wednesday discussion section with the usual exam review, but with a knock at the door, Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill Gates stepped into the room to give a surprise guest lecture.
Gates was met with awe from the class of 14 as he lectured about the future of the software industry, which was followed by a question-and-answer session from the students.
The surprise visit was orchestrated by mtvU’s popular “Stand In” series, where celebrities make surprise visits to college classrooms and stand in to teach.
Gates serves as surprise teacher
Badger Herald
A class of Introduction to Programming students was on its best behavior Wednesday after Microsoft founder Bill Gates unexpectedly stepped in as substitute teacher for the day.
As part of the broadband cable network mtvUââ?¬â?¢s ââ?¬Å?Stand Inââ?¬Â series, in which celebrities drop in to college classrooms unannounced and teach for a day, Gates spoke to Computer Science 302 students about the importance and versatility of pursuing a career in computer programming.
Gates� stop at the University of Wisconsin was also part of a week-long tour of six universities promoting information technology and engineering careers.
State at risk, manufacturing study says
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Donald Nichols, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor.
Lessuise: After 30 Years at Ford, New Dean Ready for Academia
www.wisbusiness.com
Gary Lessuise got his MBA from UW-Madison in 1972, but he always dreamed of coming back.
Lessuise, 58, went to work for Ford Motor Company and stayed for more than three decades.
On Sept. 6, he returned to his alma mater as assistant dean for master’s degree programs.
It takes money to make money
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Local leaders must do a better job leveraging government dollars to boost development such as the fast-growing biomedical research and business cluster at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Milwaukee County Research Park, an economic development advocate said Monday.
University Research Park gets high marks
www.wisbusiness.com
After being dubbed in recent months as a low-key hotspot for biotechnology development by The Scientist and the nation�s top research university by Washington Monthly, Madison has gained even more recognition as an emerging powerhouse in the life sciences.
Stop the shortsighted I-94 rivalry
Wisconsin State Journal
A high-tech business group is to meet this week in Oconomowoc. The location, between Madison and Milwaukee, is symbolic.
The goal is to emphasize the importance of linking the academic brainpower, entrepreneurial energy and industrial might of the state’s two largest cities to generate economic growth.
But the promise of synergy between Madison and Milwaukee has been long discussed and mostly unfulfilled. Last week, at a Board of Regents meeting, officials from Milwaukee demonstrated one of the reasons: petty rivalry.
Doyle wants conflict law exemption for UW researchers
Capital Times
Thomas Sutula wants to discover drugs that would treat epilepsy and a host of other brain diseases, except the University of Wisconsin-Madison neurologist says an arcane state law stands in his way.
Sutula, chairman of UW’s neurology department, is a founder of NeuroGenomeX, which hopes to develop research pioneered at UW. But a state law barring public employees who start private companies from signing contracts worth more than $15,000 with the university has slowed the company’s development, he said.
Gov. Jim Doyle and several state lawmakers want to change that by exempting UW System researchers from that law, which is designed to discourage state workers from privately benefiting at taxpayers’ expense.
Dave Zweifel: It shouldn’t cost bars to be good guys
Capital Times
It’s one of those lawsuits that produces guffaws from those who read or hear about it, but it is anything but funny to the people who must bear its brunt.
….It’s the suit that claims the bars near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus conspired to fix drink prices, thereby overcharging money-strapped college kids who wanted to relax with a few drinks now and then.
….The pity is that all the owners did was try to cooperate with the UW and Chancellor John Wiley’s campaign against binge drinking.
Madison rated No. 6 in U.S. for entrepreneurship
Capital Times
Entrepreneur magazine has rated Madison the sixth-best mid-sized city in the country for entrepreneurs.
“Wisconsin’s capital is the paradigm for the idea that quality of life attracts entrepreneurs,” the magazine wrote. “Numerous studies have ranked Madison tops for schools, politeness, friendliness to people from kids to retirees, internet usage, and now, capacity to foster and grow business startups.”
Universities argue for new school
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Milwaukee made an impassioned bid to be the site of a school of public health Thursday, while UW-Madison officials argued that it made more sense to integrate the offering within its School of Medicine and change the school’s name to reflect that growing focus.
“We have the buildings and we have the funds,” Medical School Dean Philip Farrell told the UW Board of Regents, adding later, “We have worked for a decade preparing for this.”
John Oncken: Expo is mosaic of dairy world
Capital Times
UW School of Veterinary Medicine and its students are mentioned.
Universities argue for new school
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Milwaukee made an impassioned bid to be the site of a school of public health Thursday, while UW-Madison officials argued that it made more sense to integrate the offering within its School of Medicine and change the school’s name to reflect that growing focus.
“We have the buildings and we have the funds,” Medical School Dean Philip Farrell told the UW Board of Regents, adding later, “We have worked for a decade preparing for this.”
Bar owners here hit with second price fix suit (AP)
Capital Times
Bar owners in Madison may want to throw back a few after hearing this news.
A Minneapolis law firm filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing 25 bars near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and their trade association of conspiring to inflate drink prices from 1990 until last year. The class action lawsuit seeks relief for revelers it claims were ripped off.
The lawsuit also names UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley and two city officials for pressuring bars to illegally raise their prices in an effort to cut down on alcohol-related problems involving students.
Tom Still: Stem Cell Bank Announcement Validates Quality of Wisconsin Research (WisOpinion)
Guess which news item is out of step with public opinion in the state, the nation and the world?
The state of Wisconsin grants $1 million and loans another $1 million to a company formed by Dr. James Thomson, a UW-Madison researcher so renowned that the words ââ?¬Å?Nobel Prizeââ?¬Â practically circle his head. The company has technology that could revolutionize drug discovery.
National stem cell bank awarded
USA Today
A Wisconsin-based research group will run the nation’s first federally financed embryonic stem cell bank, the National Institutes of Health said this week. The WiCell Research Institute, a non-profit set up in 1999 to support stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin, will store and distribute the cells under a federal plan to reduce the cost of using them. In 2001, President Bush limited federal funding to projects involving 78 lines of embryonic stem cells that already were in existence. He said taxpayer dollars should not pay for the destruction of human embryos. That policy has stifled the field, some researchers say, and only 22 lines are now available for use.
TDS gains SkyCable spectrum
Capital Times
UW-Madison professor of telecommunications Barry Orton is quoted.
SkyCable TV pulls plug on area viewers
Capital Times
SkyCable TV of Madison has ceased operations, leaving its local customers without service beyond local over-the-air channels.
SkyCable was a partner with America Online in the effort to install wireless Internet access in Madison; AOL pulled out of that venture in August. Barry Orton, a UW-Madison professor of telecommunications, said he didn’t believe the wireless situation was the reason for SkyCable going out of business.
“They were trying to do the niche between cable and (DISH and DirecTV), and the niche turned out to be too small,” Orton said.
Stem-Cell Bank to be housed at UW
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison will be home to the newly created National Stem Cell Bank, Gov. Jim Doyle’s office said Friday.
The nation’s first embryonic stem-cell bank, awarded in a competitive process by the National Institutes of Health, presumably will be at the WiCell Institute. WiCell is a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which holds a patent on stem-cell work by UW-Madison researcher James Thomson.
WARF controls five of the 22 available stem-cell lines eligible for federal funding under President Bush’s 2001 policy. According to the NIH, the new bank will consolidate the other lines in one location, maintain them and distribute them to researchers at a cost less than what researchers now pay to study them.
The other lines are housed in Athens, Ga.; San Francisco and labs in Australia, Israel, Korea and Sweden.
Battling Over B-School Rankings (Inside Higher Ed)
Inside Higher Education
When the Economist Intelligence Unit published its annual ranking of business schools late last month, readers may have been surprised by the absence of Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania�s Wharton School of Business.
More voices link UW to economy
Wisconsin State Journal
Washington Monthly named UW-Madison the nation’s top research university this month.
Such an honor isn’t new for the institution, because it consistently ranks high on several college rankings.
But this recognition is different and deserves extra attention.
Up, up and away nonstop to Atlanta
Wisconsin State Journal
While major airlines continue to nosedive into bankruptcy, the Dane County Regional Airport has steadily climbed to cruising altitude.
The airport just added another nonstop flight to a major city — Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world with 1,000 flights a day.
The airport on Madison’s North Side also has increased passengers and profits in recent years and soon will complete a $65 million terminal renovation.
That’s good news for business, UW-Madison and the local economy. It also justifies Dane County’s strong support for the airport that must continue.
madison.com
Wisconsin State Journal
Cellular Dynamics International – the young company founded by UW-Madison stem- cell research pioneer Jamie Thomson and his partners – is getting a $2 million jump-start from the state.
No gouging, says Big Oil spokesman
Wisconsin State Journal
But on the heels of Gov. Jim Doyle’s multi-front attack on the industry last week and a UW-Madison professor’s report saying that retail gas prices can’t be justified, Felmy spent most of his time explaining what he called a simple supply and demand imbalance made worse by hurricanes.