Pre-proposals are now being solicited for a university endowment competition that aims to share knowledge that benefits the community and the state of Wisconsin.
Provost asks for endowment ideas
Badger Herald
Category: Business/Technology
UW-Madison needs to cut ties with the fossil fuel industry
Daily Cardinal
UW is now invested in climate change. Our professors? well-deserved pensions are paid partially from the revenues of the fossil fuel industry. Accordingly, any positive activism we do surrounding climate change, sustainability or environmentalism must be accompanied by a crucial push for divestment or else we?re simply betting against ourselves. We just opened an Office of Sustainability. We have a wide variety of departments, classes and programs which highlight the dangers and moral hazards of climate change. As an institution, we must put our money where our mouth is.
Bill McKibben: Fight against fossil fuels coming to Madison
Capital Times
….Of course, we?ll continue to fight the most egregious projects, from the Keystone XL pipeline to drilling in the Arctic, and we?ll continue to hope that the administration will take more than half-hearted moves to keep carbon in the ground. But we?re not counting on our politicians anymore. After 20 years of general inaction on climate change, while the world?s emissions and the planet?s temperature have continued to soar, it?s time to engage the real power: a reckless fossil fuel industry that has known for years the damage they?re doing. Until they cease exploring for new hydrocarbons and begin the rapid conversion to energy companies installing renewable energy on a vast scale, they don?t deserve the social license our silence grants them.
Tech and Biotech: Madison start-ups top Elevator Pitch contest
Wisconsin State Journal
One of the liveliest events at the Early Stage Symposium in Madison is traditionally the Elevator Pitch Olympics. It?s a chance for entrepreneurs to talk up their young companies to a panel of seasoned investors, squeezing the high points into a 90-second presentation, the time of a theoretical elevator ride. Novo was founded in August by brothers Scott and Matt Johanek, of Shawano. Scott lives in Madison and teaches prototype design at the UW-Madison; Matt lives in the San Francisco area. Novo features customized luggage and other bags.
A long time coming: Ceremony kicks off Edgewater renovation
Wisconsin State Journal
After a years-long fight to renovate the historic Edgewater hotel that saw countless revisions, legal challenges that reached the state?s highest court and city meetings that stretched well past midnight, there was a prevailing attitude at the project?s ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday morning: This was a long time coming. “We shouldn’t waste any time getting this project started,” project developer Robert Dunn said to open a program inside one of the hotel’s ballrooms. “Someone might change their mind.”
Ward addresses labor conflict
Badger Herald
University of Wisconsin Interim Chancellor David Ward issued a statement regarding the ongoing labor disagreement over the university?s ties with Palermo?s Pizza, saying UW does not currently have any plans to take action.
Ward says university is not taking action on Palermo?s
Daily Cardinal
Interim Chancellor David Ward released a statement Wednesday stating the University of Wisconsin-Madison will review its contracts with Palermo?s Pizza following a request by a university committee to cut ties with the pizza company….In the statement, Ward said he will review the committee?s request to cut ties, but the university currently has no plans to take action. Ward said while certain parties within the university, including the athletic department and the Wisconsin Union, have sponsorship agreements with Palermo?s, UW-Madison as an institution is not ?a party to this dispute.?
Lowest corn yield in 16 years seen in drought fallout
Wisconsin State Journal
In each of the last two Novembers, area grain operations piled towering mountains of corn on their lots ? lasting images of the two best corn yields on record. Those lots are empty this fall, symbols of a drought-ravaged growing season that has led the National Agricultural Statistics Service to predict that Wisconsin?s corn yield will be the lowest in 16 years and 20 percent lower than last year.
Quoted: UW-Madison agricultural economics professor Bruce Jones
University committee takes aim at Camp Randall?s controversial pizza provider
Capital Times
The muscle of Bucky Badger could possibly get behind striking workers at Palermo?s Pizza. The University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Labor Licensing Policy Committee is recommending that the university move toward terminating contracts valued at more than $200,000 annually with the Milwaukee frozen pizza maker, whose products are sold at Camp Randall and the Kohl Center. The contracts also allow for the use of the Bucky Badger logo on Palermo?s pizzas sold in grocery stores.
Analysis shows 2011 economic slump
Badger Herald
Growth in the U.S. gross domestic product has slowed from 2010 to 2011, according to an industry analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
UW attacks Palermo?s
Badger Herald
A University of Wisconsin committee is in the process of re-evaluating the university?s contract with Palermo Pizza as investigations of Milwaukee food company?s alleged labor violations continue.
Campus committee heads development projects
Badger Herald
The Joint Southeast Campus Area Committee met Monday night to consider future projects on campus and updates on existing projects.
Spectrum Brands buys majority interest in Boston company
Wisconsin State Journal
Spectrum Brands, Madison, said Monday it has paid $50 million cash to buy a majority 56 percent interest in Shaser Bioscience, a privately owned Boston company developing “energy-based, aesthetic dermatological technology for home use devices.”
Thomas O’Guinn, professor of marketing at the UW-Madison School of Business, questioned the diversity that will be added to Spectrum Brands’ already broad list of products. But he said the acquisition represents a growing market. “This is getting into a space that is almost medical device, but not exactly. That is not where I expected Spectrum to go,” O’Guinn said.
Longevity in Business: Kramer Printing going strong after 76 years
Wisconsin State Journal
In business for 76 years, Kramer Printing was opened by Mildred Gill Kramer, one of the first women to graduate from the UW-Madison Business School, on July 7, 1936, in the Gay Building on Capitol Square. Now owned by Todd and Liz Tiefenthaler, Kramer Printing has expanded over the years. The couple met at UW-Madison in 1970 and married just before their senior year.
University committee takes aim at Camp Randall?s controversial pizza provider
Capital Times
The muscle of Bucky Badger could possibly get behind striking workers at Palermo?s Pizza. The University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Labor Licensing Policy Committee is recommending that the university move toward terminating contracts valued at more than $200,000 annually with the Milwaukee frozen pizza maker, whose products are sold at Camp Randall and the Kohl Center. The contracts also allow for the use of the Bucky Badger logo on Palermo?s pizzas sold in grocery stores.
Boutique, inventory break mold at Good Style
Wisconsin State Journal
Putting things together in original ways is what Good Style Shop is about. The vintage clothing store is run by the same people who fill its racks with one-of-a-kind fashions from decades past ? so it?s easy to get advice about what shoes might work best, say, with that cocktail dress from the 1950s, or how to care for that leather jacket made circa 1974.
City approves student building
Badger Herald
Madison?s Urban Design Commission met Wednesday night to review plans for three new student-oriented apartment buildings located on campus.
LLPC urges Ward to take action on Palermo?s alleged labor violations
Daily Cardinal
A University of Wisconsin-Madison labor licensing committee plans to send a letter to Chancellor David Ward early next week urging him to give Palermo?s Pizza, a sponsor of UW-Madison athletics, a 30-day ultimatum to meet the requests of the company?s striking workers, which include union recognition and priority rehiring.
Startup with device for early sepsis detection hopes for new CEO and 2014 market launch
MedCity News
Isomark, a Wisconsin, Madison-based medical device company, was founded back in 2005 with a goal to commercialize a technology developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that could detect blood infections early.
Developer presents plans for student apartment buildings
Daily Cardinal
Downtown residents and community members met at a neighborhood meeting Thursday to discuss two proposed student-oriented apartment buildings on North Bassett Street and North Frances Street. Developer Scott Faust has proposed demolishing two existing houses at 313 and 315 N. Frances St. to make way for a 12-story student-oriented apartment complex. The building would include 42 apartments, 91 underground bike stalls and commercial space on the first floor for either a restaurant, bank or retail business.
Chris Rickert: Bill for UW-Madison chancellor search firm hard to swallow
Wisconsin State Journal
I know it?s common for major corporations and major universities to hire outside search firms to help them find top leaders. But corporations aren?t spending millions in tax dollars. And am I wrong to wonder why a tax-supported organization such as UW-Madison ? which has its own human resources department and thousands of learned people of sound judgment ? can?t find its own boss? UW-Madison history professor and search committee chairman David McDonald emphasized that “this is a really important position,” and the search firm, Storbeck/Pimentel and Associates, has expertise and connections “that none of us on the committee really has.”He also said hiring search firms to identify chancellor candidates is standard practice in the UW System.
City Council approves student-oriented housing
Badger Herald
Madison?s City Council unanimously approved plans to build two apartment buildings near the University of Wisconsin campus on West Johnson Street and Main Street at a meeting Tuesday night.
On Campus: UW to pay $167K to identify/recruit chancellor candidates
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison will pay a search firm about $167,000 plus additional expenses to help the university identify and recruit candidates to be its next chancellor, according to a contract obtained by the State Journal. The company, Storbeck/Pimentel and Associates, is a household name in recruiting top university executives nationally and touted its record in placing non-traditional candidates in top jobs.
UW business school honors alumni
Badger Herald
The University of Wisconsin School of Business hosted their annual awards ceremony, a celebration to honor the achievements of distinguished alumni on Friday.
Botham Vineyards banks on cottonseed cooking oil
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison animal science professor Mark Cook, who is an expert on lipids, said he thinks the fat levels in cottonseed oil are healthy and give it a unique cooking property that sets it apart from popular cooking oils like corn and canola. “It has superior cooking qualities,” Cook said.
UW business school to honor accomplished alumni Friday
Wisconsin State Journal
The UW School of Business will recognize some of its most accomplished alumni Friday night at its annual gala and awards ceremony at Grainger Hall.
Hyrax Energy, WARF reach licensing deal on biofuel technology
Wisconsin State Journal
Hyrax Energy has reached a licensing agreement with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation to move ahead with technology aimed at reducing the cost of processing waste agricultural products to turn them into biofuel or chemicals.
Second fire in 2 weeks hits UW Memorial Union
Capital Times
Burned popcorn in a popular bar at the UW-Madison Memorial Union brought firefighters to the facility for the second time in two weeks, authorities reported. The fire in the Rathskeller was reported at 2:47 p.m. Saturday, according to a news release from Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Lori Wirth. Staff of the Rathskeller met firefighters in the hallway and led them to the bar, where the popcorn cooker had been on fire before being extinguished by the bar?s general manager.
Plain Talk: Photos make case for burying power lines
Capital Times
The ?beauty? of overhead power lines has always been in the eye of the beholder. Many can overlook their ugliness as a necessary evil if cities and businesses are to develop and expand. Retired UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, a renowned research engineer, would joke that while others might see a transmission tower as a blight on the landscape, an engineer sees them as a work of art. They are, after all, what brings the power to make things go. Obviously, employees at the UW Arboretum don?t see them as art.
SLAC, TAA urge UW to sever ties with Palermo?s
In the midst of the controversy surrounding the Palermo?s Pizza workers? strike, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Assistants? Association and the Student Labor Action Coalition released a joint resolution calling for the university to cut all ties with Palermo?s.The issue began when workers at Palermo?s were fired from a Milwaukee factory after attempting to unionize. Workers also condemned poor working conditions and Palermo?s lack of effort to correct them.
UW-Madison administration is aware of the current dispute between the pizza company and its workers and will continue to monitor the situation, Vice Chancellor for University Relations Vince Sweeney said in an email. ?It appears to be a difficult and complicated issue and we are hopeful that the parties can reach a resolution in the immediate future,? Sweeney said.
Four Beltline power poles lowered for views inside Arboretum
Wisconsin State Journal
American Transmission Co. has lowered the height of four power poles along the Beltline so they don?t ruin the pastoral view inside the UW Arboretum. In the quiet of the Arboretum, where wild turkeys wander and bicyclists meander, there?s little sense of the hubbub of the city ? or the busy Beltline Highway ? just beyond.
Quoted: Donna Paulnock, the Arboretum’s interim director and associate dean for biological sciences in the UW Graduate School.
Report shows deficit in skilled laborers in Wis.
Badger Herald
A recent report showed Wisconsin is experiencing a severe shortfall of skilled laborers in the workforce, something that could be harmful to the state?s growth.
Labor group rejects adidas? summit plan
Daily Cardinal
University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Labor Licensing Policy Committee expressed concern Wednesday after adidas announced its plan to host a summit abroad to address the issue of companies? failure to pay severance in the global garment industry. Over the past year, LLPC has urged Chancellor Ward to cut licensing and sponsorship ties with adidas, the university?s primary licensing partner, after the company failed to pay more than 2,700 Indonesian workers due severance pay after a PT Kizone factory contracted by adidas abruptly shut down in January 2011.
UW System to join up with small businesses
Badger Herald
The University of Wisconsin System is taking aim at working in conjunction with local businesses in an effort to provide opportunities to students and faculty to promote economic development.
Reversing the slide: Iron County communities try to curb exodus of residents
Wisconsin State Journal
Until recently, a diverse constellation of industries ? farming, manufacturing, mining and tourism ? sustained these communities. But in many of them today, the population is aging, fewer babies are born, and fewer workers are left to support those left behind.
“When we think about the needs of the community and the tax base that?s required to support a community and all of its services, this is where it really starts to matter, not only for the current well-being of the community but for the future well-being for the community,” said Katherine Curtis, a UW-Madison assistant professor of community and environmental sociology.
Chris Rickert: Focus funds on manure, not milk
Wisconsin State Journal
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Madison for the World Dairy Expo last week when he raised the specter of $6-a-gallon milk should Congress fail to renew the federal farm bill.
….After all, America hasn’t “got milk” in quite a while, as milk consumption has been dropping since at least 1975, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Brian Gould, an agriculture economist at UW-Madison, says a variety of factors are to blame for the change, including the advent of bottled water and other beverages, an aging population that drinks less milk, and changes in taste and preference. “It’s a structural problem,” he said. “It’s something that’s not short-term.”
Seely on Science: Seeing, without sight, is believing
Wisconsin State Journal
Recently, at a unique fund-raising dinner for the Foundation Fighting Blindness and retinal research on the UW-Madison campus, I had the strange experience of eating a meal in the dark. It was an event designed to plunge participants into a sightless world. To say the least, the dinner was effective.
Two big apartment buildings proposed near Kohl Center, UW campus
Wisconsin State Journal
A Madison developer is proposing two large apartment buildings near the Kohl Center and UW-Madison, continuing a surge of residential construction in the Downtown area. Scott Faust is proposing to demolish two smaller residential buildings to build a 12-story tower at 313-315 N. Francis St. and to demolish four more residential buildings for a five-story apartment building at 202-222 N. Bassett and 510-520 W. Dayton streets. Both projects are targeted mainly to students but also would welcome young professionals.
Madison company Echometrix gets OK to sell ultrasound technology
Wisconsin State Journal
Echometrix, a Madison medical technology company, has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its EchoSoft ultrasound technology.”We?re very pleased to have reached this critical milestone,” said chief executive Sam Adams. The application was submitted in spring 2011. Founded in 2007 based on UW-Madison research, Echometrix has three employees. Adams said he plans to hire at least one more by the end of the year.
Company at Dairy Expo helps farmers turn manure into cash cow
Wisconsin State Journal
A Wisconsin company plying its wares in Madison this week at the World Dairy Expo is offering farmers a way to turn one of the dairy industry?s messiest problems ? manure ? into cash. With an assist from a team of UW-Madison scientists, Braun Electric Inc. of St. Nazianz makes equipment for the Trident “nutrient management system,” which processes manure that might otherwise pollute lakes and the air into animal bedding, dry fertilizer, mulch and biofuels that can be sold for profit.
….”Farmers will make more money off of manure than milk,” said Aicardo Roa, a chemist from Soil Net, a company which has operations in Madison, Belleville and China. He worked with a team from UW-Madison led by biochemistry professor John Markley to help Braun land a $7.5 million grant from the Department of Energy to make the system available to the public. “We are the first people to understand that manure is a resource. That water, protein, it’s all a resource,” Roa said.
Student group demands UW cut ties with Palermo?s
Badger Herald
The Student Labor Action Coalition delivered a letter to the University of Wisconsin Chancellor?s office on Monday, demanding the university cut ties with Palermo?s Villa, Inc. due to the company?s alleged mistreatment of workers.
Grass Roots: Students call on UW-Madison to stop selling Palermo’s pizza at Camp Randall and the Kohl Center
Capital Times
UW-Madison students visited the office of Chancellor David Ward Monday to ask the university to stop the sale of Palermo?s pizza ? the target of a national boycott by labor unions — at Camp Randall and the Kohl Center. The pizzas are sold with a Bucky logo and billed as ?the official pizza of the Badgers,? students say in a letter delivered to Ward by members of the Student Labor Action Coalition.
Student loans hurt economy
Badger Herald
According to a recent survey, the cost of a college education is adding pressure to Wisconsin?s economy.
Campus Connection: Report says student debt a drag on Wisconsin’s economy
Capital Times
There?s no question that many of the statistics associated with student loan debt are eye-opening….A report released Thursday by the Institute for One Wisconsin, a liberal think tank, argues that yes, it is something to be concerned about, because ?student loan debt is stealing the future of the middle class? and acts as a significant drag on the state?s economic recovery due to the fact that so many people continue paying for their education so long after they graduate. The analysis indicates middle-class households with student loan debt are significantly more likely to rent than own a house, while those paying off student loans also are more likely than those without such debt to buy used cars rather than new ones, potentially reducing new car purchasing in Wisconsin by more than $200 million each year.
Edgewater employees losing their jobs in November; rebuilt hotel to open in 2014
Capital Times
The Edgewater Hotel redevelopment could create up to 700 construction jobs, but it also is forcing 65 people out of work.
Arrests made after melee at downtown bar
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis.-Two people were arrested and two cited after a group of patrons began fighting with staff at Wondo?s Bar, at 602 University Ave., Sunday morning. Madison police said multiple officers were called to the bar at 1:46 a.m. Officers said the disturbance began when a patron fell off a bar stool and was asked to leave. A recycle bin filled with bottles was thrown down a flight of stairs at bouncers and a woman used a broomstick to hit a 34-year-old bouncer in the head multiple times, according to police.
Campus Connection: State University of New York chancellor to speak at UW
Capital Times
State University of New York SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher is giving a talk at UW-Madison on Tuesday that will focus on the issues of college affordability and the potential of higher education to bolster economic development. The event begins at noon in the Wisconsin Idea Room of UW-Madison?s Education Building, 1000 Bascom Mall.
City approves student housing
Badger Herald
A Madison design committee unanimously approved varying phases of several student housing developments set to be constructed near the University of Wisconsin campus.
Campus Connection: Ohio State is the latest Big Ten school to sign on with Coursera
Capital Times
On Wednesday, Coursera announced it has partnered with 17 new colleges to offer these massive open online courses, or MOOCs. To date, UW-Madison has not gotten involved with this new trend, and Provost Paul DeLuca reiterated to me on Wednesday afternoon that the university has no immediate plans to jump on the MOOCs bandwagon.
Epic Systems founder Judy Faulkner joins Forbes list of richest Americans
Wisconsin State Journal
One of the 20 newcomers on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans is from the Madison area. Judy Faulkner, 68, who founded medical software company Epic Systems Corp. in 1979, has a net worth of $1.7 billion and comes in at No. 285 on the annual list, which was released Wednesday. Forbes notes that 40 percent of the U.S. population will have its medical information stored with Epic software by next year. Faulkner is ranked No. 764 on the Forbes list of billionaires worldwide.
“It may seem like it’s, in some ways, an overnight success but they built it over the years,” said Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the UW-Madison School of Business. “They’ve had a great strategy of being very focused on customers that it targets and solving their customers’ problems.”
Healthy competition? Critics say consumers lose as providers build, bicker
Capital Times
As president of the Madison-based health insurance buying pool The Alliance, Cheryl DeMars spends her days haggling with providers over the cost of services. It’s a tough job, given that health care spending continues to skyrocket.
“I understand the public sees what appears to be overbuilding but you need to look at each project on an individual basis,” says Jeff Grossman, president and CEO of the UW Medical Foundation, the clinical practice organization for faculty physicians in the UW-Madison?s School of Medicine and Public Health. Still, critics wonder how adding new buildings can do anything other than increase how much is spent on health care. And that?s a lot.
UW admin on right track with recent Adidas lawsuit
Badger Herald
Cornell University just dropped its contract with sports apparel juggernaut Adidas amid allegations that after the closing of an Indonesian factory, the company neglected to compensate over 2,700 workers with the $1.8 million dollars they were due. The University of Wisconsin-Madison also contracts with Adidas, and has raised similar concerns over workers? rights in Asia, but has been reluctant to sever its contract. Instead, the university has filed a lawsuit with Dane County District Court, claiming that company violated a code of conduct.
Just Ask Us: How much will special Badgers football uniforms cost?
Wisconsin State Journal
A: The alternate uniforms won?t cost the university or taxpayers anything, according to Justin Doherty, an associate athletic director and spokesman for the Athletic Department. Adidas is footing the bill for the alternate threads both the Badgers and Cornhuskers will be sporting on Sept. 29. Adidas provides all the Badgers? uniforms that way, said Brian Lucas, director of athletic communications.
Tech and Biotech: PerBlue named to young entrepreneurs list
Wisconsin State Journal
Madison mobile game developer PerBlue has been named one of the 2012 Empact100, the only Wisconsin company to make the list, which honors outstanding entrepreneurs under age 30. Co-founded in 2008 by Dane County native and UW-Madison graduate Justin Beck ? who turned 25 in April ? PerBlue has 40 employees. The company had $1.5 million in revenues last year, all based on its flagship game, Parallel Kingdom….Beck and the other honorees have been invited to a luncheon at the White House on Sept. 28, and 15 of them will be chosen next week to make two-minute presentations about how they will give back to the entrepreneurial community.
Dish drops Big Ten Network
WISC-TV 3
Dish Network will no longer broadcast Big Ten games, including Saturday nights Badger game versus Utah State.
Cornell University drops adidas for violating workers’ rights
Daily Cardinal
Cornell University announced last Thursday it will cut business ties with adidas, a company the University of Wisconsin-Madison has recently had to consider its own relationship with. In a letter to the company Thursday, Cornell University President David Skorton said the university will stop doing business with adidas effective Oct. 1. Skorton called the apparel industry?s approach to workers? rights ?a critical issue that demands immediate attention.?
Dairy innovation center to shut down
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In addition to helping dairy plants with business plans and equipment or facility issues, the center also assisted them with product development, packaging and label development and marketplace penetration, working in tandem with the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
New imaging research center at UW School of Medicine
WKOW-TV 27
There?s a new research project at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health that could help doctors determine if certain medical treatments and drugs are working.
Speaker at biotech summit says pharmaceutical industry now has ‘flawed business model’
Wisconsin State Journal
Technology is changing the world, and the bioscience and health care industries are no exception, a biotechnology booster and venture capitalist told a conference in Madison on Wednesday. That means today?s biotechnology companies will have to find new ways to succeed, said G. Steven Burrill, a UW-Madison graduate and one of the featured speakers at the daylong 2012 Bioscience Vision Summit at Monona Terrace.
Potential Orpheum closure could harm UW, city events
Daily Cardinal
University of Wisconsin-Madison students and downtown residents may need to look for an alternative concert venue as the iconic Orpheum Theatre faces the possibility of closing its doors.Co-owners Henry Doane and Eric Fleming need to pay Monona State Bank a loan balance of $1.1 million to continue operating their restaurant, bar and theatre, located at 216 State St.