The choice of Flad and Associates to design UW-Madison’s 750,000 square foot Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, unveiled by Gov. Jim Doyle last week, wasn’t surprising. Flad and Associates has designed many of the city’s landmark buildings, such as the 1.3 million square foot American Family Insurance headquarters and UW-Madison’s chemistry and biochemistry buildings.
Category: Business/Technology
Panel votes for research institute
Wisconsin State Journal
The state Building Commission Friday voted 7-1 to finance a proposed $381 million biotechnology research institute at UW-Madison.
The 450,000-square-foot Wisconsin Institute for Discovery would be built on a wedge of land bordered by University and North Randall avenues and West Johnson and North Charter streets, just north of Union South.
The commission also approved $137.5 million in new bonds for the project that will become available over the next 10 years and reallocated to the institute $50 million of previously approved bonding, said Rob Kramer, secretary of the commission.
UW research center plans met with hope
Wisconsin State Journal
There were many important people at the unveiling Wednesday of the proposed $375 million Institute of Discovery, from college deans to a beaming governor.
But few in attendance may have more to gain from the ambitious research center than three children who stood quietly next to the architectural drawings as the important people spoke.
Center to help employers, low-wage workers thrive together
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In two decades in venture capital and investment banking, John Hoffmire developed a specialty in employee stock ownership. From that vantage point, he observed the interplay between worker wealth and business growth. Now Hoffmire is committed to apply those lessons on low-wage employees at businesses in Wisconsin and beyond. As director of the new Center on Business and Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hoffmire is on a mission to study and demonstrate how employers and their low-wage workers can prosper together when workers make the most of the benefits they’re offered.
Lands’ End may be sold
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Charles Krueger, associate professor of executive education at the UW-Madison School of Business.
Doyle: State will shop smart
Wisconsin State Journal
For those worried about how the state spends their tax dollars came this less-than- reassuring bit of information Tuesday: It’s apparently news when the state uses its vast purchasing power to get the best deal on goods and services.
March Madne$$ (AP)
Capital Times
Up and down the glittering Las Vegas Strip, the story is the same. Hotels will be packed and so will the sports books, where many fans will spend the entire weekend watching and betting the games. But betting on the NCAA tournament is one thing that doesn’t stay in Vegas.
In dorm rooms, offices, and homes across the country, people can make a few clicks of the mouse and bet up to $10,000 or so on their favorite team.
Best, brightest leaving county
Capital Times
Young people are fleeing Dane County in record numbers, despite the area’s ranking as one of the top places to live, work and play in the nation.
A report issued today details the county’s “brain drain” problem and urges community leaders to focus efforts on retaining and attracting talented individuals.
UW Business Dean Gets A Raise
Wisconsin State Journal
To keep him from being hired away by competitors, the UW Board of Regents on Friday approved a $50,000 raise for UW-Madison Business School Dean Michael Knetter.
Economic benchmarks help measure progress
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
When Katherine Lyall, the University of Wisconsin System president then, launched the four Economic Summits, she set forth the goal of closing the state’s gap in per capita income as the most important.
Stem cell limits have states scrambling
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Federal restrictions on stem cell funding are forcing states to choose between pursuing such research on their own or risking the loss of jobs, revenue and highly sought-after scientists, state biotechnology leaders said Wednesday.
State economy above average
Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin’s economy and business climate eked out an above average grade on an annual report card released Wednesday.
Networks press Nielsen to count campus viewers
…Television networks have been pressing Nielsen Media Research, Inc., the company that measures TV audiences, to quantify college campus viewing for years, without success…. Meanwhile, colleges, wary of opening the gates to outsiders conducting research on their students, have been leery of providing access….
(From The Wall Street Journal, reprinted in the 3/9/05 Capital Times print edition)
Downtown boosters get political
Capital Times
Madison’s principal downtown advocacy group is stepping into the political arena and endorsing City Council candidates for the first time.
….Downtown Madison Inc.’s 460 members include representatives from the business community as well as such entities as the city of Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Doyle meets with Mexican officials to discuss state exports
Badger Herald
Gov. Jim Doyle met with top environmental officials in Mexico City Monday to discuss water standards and to survey opportunities for Wisconsin businesses.
Baggot: Generous Goodmans great men
Wisconsin State Journal
I wish I had more friends like Bob and Irwin Goodman.
I wish you did, too.
If there were more people like the Goodmans in this world, our present would offer a greater source of optimism and our future would be easier to embrace.
UW says job market for MBAs improving
Capital Times
Job prospects are improving for students earning master’s of business administration degrees, said Blair Sanford, director of MBA career services at the UW-Madison School of Business.
Sanford cited UW-Madison employment data, along with a new survey of 57 business schools conducted by the MBA Career Services Council, the association for MBA career services professionals.
What comes next (WSJ 3/6/05)
Quoted: Ray Aldag, UW-Madison professor of management and human resources.
“This is Dorothy’s house going up in the tornado — so it’s hard to say where it will land.”
Rob Zaleski: Wind farm, bats may not be good match
Capital Times
Just so nobody gets the wrong idea, Evelyn Howell is a big supporter of wind farms and the push for alternative forms of energy. She is, after all, an ecologist in the Department of Landscape Architecture at UW-Madison.
Experts See Same Pretty Picture
Wisconsin State Journal
Economically speaking, 2004 was the best year since the collapse of the dot-com bubble. Peering into the future, experts gathered at UW-Madison for a semiannual economic briefing Friday agreed that the regional and national economic outlook continues to be sunny.
Gift To Help Build UW Research Center
Wisconsin State Journal
Gov. Jim Doyle and UW-Madison officials on Friday announced a $15 million gift — the fifth biggest in university history — from the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation to help build the planned Interdisciplinary Research Complex.
IT is critical for economic growth, says UW business dean (WTN)
Wisconsin Technology Network
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? To find the catalyst for the United States’ economic growth over the past 10 years ââ?¬â?? including the nation’s astounding 26 percent gain in productivity ââ?¬â?? look no further than market flexibility and incentives, says University of Wisconsin Business School Dean Michael Knetter.
Tear down those outdated walls, Madison and Milwaukee!
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The I-94 corridor connecting Madison and Milwaukee is not only 70 miles of concrete enabling us to get back and forth in just a little over an hour but a main artery along the “IQ Corridor” that stretches through Wisconsin from the Twin Cities to Chicago. Wisconsin’s ability to flourish and grow depends in part on our ability to remove any old blockages in this artery and cooperatively leverage the strengths of our two cities.
UW likely to renew adidas contract
Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is expected to renew its apparel contract with adidas, giving the company six more years to outfit Badger athletic teams.
The proposal, which comes before the Board of Regents next week, would provide the teams with $900,000 worth of shoes, equipment and apparel in the first year of the contract. It would increase incrementally to a value of $950,000 in the sixth year. The current annual value of merchandise from adidas is $825,000.
Hoping to harness technology talents
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee area in particular, host a patchwork of medical technology researchers and companies. A key challenge facing the region’s array of emerging biomedical industries, some of them argue, is the disjointed way they pursue new technologies.
Camp Randall Renovation Millions Over Budget
NBC-15
(AP) The UW-Madison athletic department wants to spend two-million dollars more to finish the Camp Randall Stadium renovation.
The University says the additional money will come from donations to the athletic department, not taxpayer funding.
UW Business News Wire
By Charles Hoslet
I was driving along I-94 from Madison to Milwaukee the other day and crashed right through a large brick wall. I noticed that other drivers were also getting through�in both directions.
The brick wall, of course, was just a figment of my imagination, one of those old “truths” we are taught to believe, but just aren’t true any more. The old idea is that Madison and Milwaukee are very different places, have little in common, and frankly don’t much like each other. We pick on each other almost as much as we do those Bears fans to the south.
IT is critical for economic growth, says UW business dean | WTN
Wisconsin Technology Network
To find the catalyst for the United States’ economic growth over the past 10 years ââ?¬â?? including the nation’s astounding 26 percent gain in productivity ââ?¬â?? look no further than market flexibility and incentives, says University of Wisconsin Business School Dean Michael Knetter.
Conference explores productivity (WSJ 3/3/05)
Small companies and public sector agencies still have a ways to go before they can match the technology-fueled productivity gains of their corporate peers, agreed experts gathered in Madison for an information technology conference Wednesday.
Madison wi-fi plans move ahead | WTN
Wisconsin Technology Network
Web addicts, take heart: A public-private effort is moving toward making downtown Madison one giant wi-fi hotspot.
AOL-SkyCable has been chosen to enter negotiations for the right to provide a wireless Internet service for the general public. The “Wireless Wisconsin” service would create a publicly accessible wireless fidelity (wi-fi) network covering Madison and the Dane County Regional Airport. The project also has provisions for future expansion to other communities. AOL-SkyCable will now negotiate with the city, county and state to develop specific contract language. If negotiations are not successful, another vendor will be chosen.
State Wants Premium Payback
Wisconsin State Journal
The state has spent between $8 million and $9 million in the last 15 months, paying the employees’ share of health insurance premiums for about 24,000 unionized state workers who are working without labor contracts.
STATE: Consortium aimed at research money (WSJ 2/26/05)
Represenatatives of the UW System, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Marshfield Clinic have agreed to form a consortium in an effort to attract classified and sensitive federal research funds to the state.
Athletics Employees Have High Cell Phone Expenses
Wisconsin State Journal
In September 2004, the five highest cell phone bills in state government were rung up by three sports staffers, one dean of a two-year college and one military commander in Wisconsin’s Army National Guard.
In Store: Lands’ End, Sears/Kmart a matter of fit?
Capital Times
While everyone – from people on the street to analysts in Timbuktu – ponders the fate of Lands’ End as its parent Sears prepares to join with Kmart next month, one question remains. With an expanded market for their goods in Sears stores, why aren’t people buying from stores or directly from the Dodgeville-based division?
Quoted: UW-Madison consumer science professor Cynthia Jasper
Bucky Budget teaches Money 101
Wisconsin State Journal
For David Stuart, the joy and satisfaction of finishing college in December was tempered by one pesky detail.
“When I graduated, my father stopped paying all my bills, so my budget was a little bit tighter,” said Stuart, 22, who earned a degree in sociology from UW-Madison. “I decided I needed to do something.”
Developers urge UW involvement
Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin should direct some of its large dollar donations into subsidizing affordable housing in the central city, local business leaders were told today.
While there’s no shortage of luxury condominiums going up downtown, local developers said the public sector needs to play a larger role in providing homes working people can afford.
Recycling firm owners aid UW biz students
Capital Times
Neil and Jessica Peters-Michaud, owners of Madison electronics recycling firm Cascade Asset Management, have given the UW-Madison School of Business $100,000 to help students learn about entrepreneurship.
UW-Madison plans economic forum (WSJ 2/24/05)
Four economists will present projections and insights March 4 as part of the UW-Madison’s Economic Outlook at the Fluno Center, 601 University Avenue.
Bush plan ripped for cuts for farm research (WSJ 2/23/05)
A UW-Madison official criticized President Bush’s proposed federal budget for cutting a more than 100-year-old program that provides millions of dollars for research for Wisconsin farming.
Training program helps workers (WSJ 2/22/05)
The UW-Madison Center on Wisconsin Strategy has trained nearly 1,000 workers through a two-year job training program, aimed at advancing careers in health care and manufacturing.
UW-Madison trying to keep its sweatshirts out of sweatshops (WSJ 2/22/05)
A university committee on labor licensing policies is trying to stamp out sweatshop-like worker abuses by asking UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley to place tighter controls on the companies that manufacture apparel using the university’s name or logo.
FYI: UW scoops up Culver’s as sponsor
Capital Times
FYI: On Todd Drive there’s a Culver’s restaurant billboard that has Bucky Badger on it. Does Culver’s pay a fee to use Bucky’s image or is it part of a sponsorship package? Since Bucky is trademarked or copyrighted, how does the arrangement work?
(Another question relates to the recent protest at a U.S. Navy recruiting booth at a campus recruitment fair.)
Guest Column: Savings of tax deferral won’t grant lasting relief (WSJ 2/21/05)
In the Jan. 16 Wisconsin State Journal, guest columnist Don Nichols offered a solution to the state’s property tax dilemma, but it is not good policy.
Wisconsin may reap stem cell royalties
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
California may be the state ready to spend $3 billion on stem cell research, but Wisconsin is in line to get a piece of that action. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation may be positioned to play a big role in, and perhaps even profit from, the huge cash infusion California is making in stem cell research.
California scrambles to launch program to pay for stem cell research
USA Today
The clock counts down to May for California’s audacious $3 billion experiment in funding stem cell research. That’s when Robert Klein, the architect of the program and acting president of the newly organized California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, hopes to begin cutting the first checks.
Stem cells’ promise pits jobs vs. values: States want biotech business
USA Today
States have long worried about how far to go in attracting jobs, with the debate focused mainly on tax incentives and other corporate giveaways. Now, as states gamble billions on controversial stem cell research to attract coveted biotech jobs, they’re confronting an issue rare in job development: moral values.
A new kind of brain drain
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
When software maker Intuit Inc. decided to create a Web site to help young people use its Turbo Tax program, the company turned to two University of Wisconsin-Madison students for ideas on how to appeal to Generation Y.
A Struggling Science Experiment
Washington Post
SAN FRANCISCO — Last fall, a group of pioneering scientists, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs sold Californians on the ultimate startup, one with shoot-for-the-moon ambitions. The men and women pitched the state’s residents on a new science that they said might one day lead to cures for humankind’s worst diseases. “Save Lives with Stem Cells!” campaign posters urged.
UW student team wins tax competition
Capital Times
For the second time in three years, a team of accounting students from the UW-Madison School of Business has won the national xTAX competition aimed at finding the best solution to a real-world tax policy problem.
Clearly focused: UW MBA program changes direction
Capital Times
Michael Knetter, dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Business, is a strong believer in the good old Midwestern work ethic.
He believes bright and able MBA students from Wisconsin need to work both harder and smarter than their counterparts at big name business schools to land the kind of challenging, high paying jobs that are a primary goal of an advanced degree in business.
Regent St. tavern sold
Capital Times
The Oakcrest Tavern at 1421 Regent St. – site of an ongoing dispute with neighbors over noise on football Saturdays – has been sold out of bankruptcy for $620,000 to an ownership group that includes former University of Wisconsin basketball player Rod Ripley (1983-87).
The bar has changed its name to Lucky’s Bar & Grille and will use a red clover leaf on its signage.
High rise student housing OK’d
Capital Times
Despite concerns about tearing down five 19th century homes and blocking views of the Capitol, the city Plan Commission approved a 12-story student apartment tower at the corner of West Gorham and Broom streets.
The $14 million project from Karl Madsen and Mike Fisher of Great Dane Development is the latest in a series of high-rises near where West Gorham turns into University Avenue.
Stem-cell research gets grant from M.J. Fox Foundation (WTN)
Wisconsin Technology Network
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? Su-Chun Zhang received another boost to his stem-cell research from a grant awarded on Monday by the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Dry ice firm opens branch
Capital Times
Landing a UW-Madison contract has prompted an Illinois-based dry ice company to open a Madison distribution center. Continental Carbonic Products of Decatur is leasing the facility at 2843 Progress Road after it was the winning bidder for the UW contract, which started last month.
Upbeat Doyle gets financial big chill
Capital Times
While Gov. Jim Doyle was touting Wisconsin’s amazing job growth turnaround, a Wall Street analyst was warning about the state living on borrowed money.
Richard Raphael, executive managing director of Fitch Ratings, said that Wisconsin faces “structural imbalances” in its government operations that cannot be solved through economic growth alone. The current state deficit stands at $1.6 billion.
Doug Moe: A national toast to State St. Brats
Capital Times
THE FEB. 7 Sports Illustrated, in mailboxes around the country today, picks the 25 best sports bars in the United States, and coming in at No. 13 is State Street Brats in Madison.
“Simply the best sports bar in the nation’s best college sports town. This is where the Grateful Red and alums have been gathering since 1953 to do what Wisconsinites do so well: drink and root….
“State Street also boasts the best drink special in the land….”
Ads demean women, speaker says
Capital Times
“And today it’s far more extreme, far more ubiquitous and far more pornographic,” media critic Jean Kilbourne told a crowd of UW-Madison students Wednesday night during her Distinguished Lecture Series presentation at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
….The models portrayed in ads have a body type that only 5 percent of women have. They are genetically thin for the most part, but still often starve themselves, Kilbourne said.
“Attempting to achieve this ideal causes a lot of suffering,” she added.
Epic maintains mystique on road to prosperity
Capital Times
It’s arguably the greatest high-tech success story in Wisconsin, with a new $150 million headquarters rising from the snow-covered rolling countryside of western Dane County. Some 2,000 employees could soon call it home, with hundreds more expected to join the payroll in coming years.
…Epic Systems has its roots in the UW-Madison computer science department, where a group of graduate students decided to form a company to put their expertise to use. Their philosophy: Do Good, Have Fun, Make Money.
University system should be retooled
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley’s offer to sell the local college campus for a buck may tee up a needed debate about the structure and future of the whole University of Wisconsin System.
County, city use auction sites (WSJ 1/31/05)
Dan County is experimenting with selling surplus equipment online.