The UW-Madison Athletic Board convened Friday to discuss a recently completed economic impact report and updated academic requirements for UW-Madison football players next year.
Athletic Board discusses economic impact
Daily Cardinal
Category: Business/Technology
Crazylegs participants bring in money for Badger Athletics
Daily Cardinal
While many UW-Madison students and Madison residents began early-morning festivities at the Mifflin Street Block Party, thousands of runners participated in the 30th Annual Crazylegs Classic run Saturday morning.
Athletics study says department helps build Wisconsin?s economy
Badger Herald
While the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department continues to draw name recognition for its sports programs, a new study found the body is also a major economic engine in the state.
Biz Beat: Milwaukee 2nd in U.S. for job growth; Madison 76th
Capital Times
….the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area — which includes Dane, Iowa and Columbia counties — added just 400 jobs in the past 12 months for a 0.1 percent increase, 76th out of the 100 largest metro areas. The jobs report received little coverage in the Madison media, not surprising given that job creation has been flat here.
Noel Radomski, who heads a UW-Madison think tank, says the region hasn?t had to aggressively pursue a pro-growth strategy because of all the public-sector jobs here. That has allowed policymakers to focus on other issues like social safety nets and environmental regulations, he says.
What It Really Takes To Succeed In Business (San Francisco Chronicle)
San Francisco Chronicle
Noted: At an undergraduate level, less than 20% of Fortune 500 CEOs get their degrees from Ivy League schools (including Ivy League-caliber schools like Stanford). While those numbers go up when graduate degrees are added into the mix (roughly 12% of CEOs have some degree from Harvard alone), the reality is that the University of Wisconsin produces just as many CEOs at the undergraduate level as Harvard.
The missing link in job growth chain
Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin families may wonder how the state can afford to create programs to boost business growth when the governor and lawmakers argue it is imperative to cut back on almost everything else. The answer is because we can?t afford not to invest in business growth, not only to create the jobs we need but also to bring in the tax revenue to support the government services we want. Wisconsin has come far in creating hotbeds for new-business formation. Atop the list is Dane County, where UW-Madison is spinning off the talent and ideas that are creating one of the Midwest?s largest collections of young biomedical businesses and other technology-related companies.
Trading the corporate world for the classroom
Capital Times
Physicist, neuroscience entrepreneur and businessman Jon Joseph traded the money and prestige of a flourishing career in corporate America for the opportunity to teach high level calculus, computer science and physics to high school kids. He?s doing his thing in the northern Green County community of New Glarus, teaching at a high school where there were exactly zero Advanced Placement courses less than 15 years ago.
David Berg: Code-filled statement shows danger of New Badger Partnership
Capital Times
Dear Editor: The danger of the New Badger Partnership can be found in the coded language of University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin. The NBP would literally make the UW ?open for business.?
Finalists named for Governor?s Business Plan Contest
Wisconsin State Journal
Nine Madison area applicants are among 21 finalists in the Wisconsin Governor?s Business Plan Contest, and their business proposals range from a new diabetes treatment to wireless Internet access on buses. The 21 finalists, and winners of the UW-Madison Burrill competition, Northeast Wisconsin Business Plan Contest, Marquette University Kohler competition and the BizStarts collegiate competition will all vie for a total of $150,000 in cash and in-kind prizes.
Finalists named for Governor?s Business Plan Contest
Wisconsin State Journal
Nine Madison area applicants are among 21 finalists in the Wisconsin Governor?s Business Plan Contest, and their business proposals range from a new diabetes treatment to wireless Internet access on buses.
Biz Beat: Green jobs success story
Capital Times
It?s taken a bit longer than planned but a fast-growing Madison-based solar energy company is finally settling into new digs. On Wednesday, Full Spectrum Solar will celebrate its move to 1240 E. Washington Ave., the former Quality Collision auto body repair shop.
….Founded in 2002, Full Spectrum Solar is owned and operated by Madison natives and UW-Madison engineering alumni, brothers Burke and Mark O’Neal.
Executive Q&A: Masood Akhtar’s work demands a lot of energy
Wisconsin State Journal
If you ask for a business card from Masood Akhtar, be prepared to get a handful. Akhtar wears many hats.
New Union South gathers large crowd for Friday grand opening
Badger Herald
After nearly two years of construction, $95 million in construction costs and the input of thousands of students, the University of Wisconsin finally has its new Union South.
Chamber group opposes UW System split (Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune)
A central Wisconsin economic development agency is taking a stand against Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to split the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus from the larger UW System.
Dietram A. Scheufele: Need to keep quality education affordable
Wisconsin State Journal
We have an affordable, public version of Stanford right here in Wisconsin. Not only is UW-Madison one of the best universities in the world but, similar to Stanford, it serves as a key economic driver for the region.
Biz Beat: State on pace to hit Walker jobs target
Capital Times
If you think Gov. Scott Walker is the devil incarnate, read no further. But Wisconsin is on pace to reach the governor?s goal of 250,000 more jobs in the state over the next four years — not that Walker is doing some magic tricks. The gains are most likely the result of the economic recovery that began in 2010.
New Union South opens doors today
Badger Herald
It?s here. Today the 21st century incarnation of Union South opens its doors and invites students, faculty and alumni to check out all it has to offer.
Kohl Center expansion plan will include luxury seat area
Badger Herald
The expansion project for new athletic practice facilities at the Kohl Center will now include new luxury seating area, a measure that is hoped to bring in revenue for the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department.
Madison drug company Cellectar to merge with Boston’s Novelos
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
With the merger, Novelos will shift its official headquarters from Newton, Mass., to Madison.There, a team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison radiology professor Jamey Weichert will continue research into three cancer-targeted compounds dubbed Cold, Hot and Light. Administrative offices will be in Massachusetts.
WisBusiness: The Show – Mark Bugher, director of University Research Park
www.wisbusiness.com
The first episode of the new year kicks off with an interview with Mark Bugher, the director of University Research Park, Tom Still?s commentary on hopes for 2011 and a new stock report.
Is Wisconsin ‘broke’? Answer is in the eye of the beholder, experts say
Wisconsin State Journal
In his inaugural budget address, Gov. Scott Walker stood before a joint session of the Legislature and delivered the somber news: We?re broke.”
Too many politicians have failed to tell the truth about our financial crisis,” he said. “The facts are clear: Wisconsin is broke and it?s time to start paying our bills today so our kids are not stuck with even bigger bills tomorrow.”
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a professor of public affairs and applied economics at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs
No end in sight to rising gas prices
Wisconsin State Journal
The specter of $4 gas prices has Shelly Raddatz, of Excelsior, Minn., re-evaluating her vehicle fuel economy and the frequency of her visits to see daughter Leah at UW-Madison.
Cellular Dynamics raises another $30 million
Wisconsin State Journal
Cellular Dynamics International, the company started by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson, has raised another $30 million in private financing. Just last year, the company raised more than $40 million; the latest financing brings the total to $100 million since 2004. CDI makes human heart cells for use by medical researchers and drug development companies.
Great Wolf redefines itself
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Deborah Mitchell, executive director of the Center for Brand and Product Management at the UW-Madison School of Business.
Stanley Kutler: Who says it?s not about destroying unions?
Capital Times
…Walker is mugging Wisconsin?s educational tradition. He has proposed cuts of nearly $1 billion in state aid to local school districts while capping their levels of taxation. Apparently he is supporting the idea of spinning the university off from the state system, largely because he now will include all university employees as part of his ?250,000 new jobs.? The state and municipalities have yet to see the impact of his program on recruiting and retaining good teachers. The outcome is all too apparent.
Life goes on. The grass is sprouting on the trampled grounds at the state Capitol, the Legislature is in recess and the governor wants nothing less than a do-over of the 20th century. Meanwhile, killing the bargaining rights of teachers, providing a one-sided grievance and disciplinary process and reducing their incomes apparently are vital parts of the governor?s plan to open the state for ?business.?
(Stanley Kutler, a UW-Madison professor emeritus. This column first appeared on Truthdig.com.)
Chris Rickert: Economic impact studies more marketing than science
Wisconsin State Journal
I?m guessing most people who heard about the study last week showing UW-Madison generates some $12.4 billion in state economic activity and supports 128,146 jobs annually didn?t exactly smack their foreheads in surprise. Likewise, they probably wouldn?t have done any head-smacking if the numbers were $5 billion or $20 billion, or if the (surprisingly specific) jobs numbers had been a few thousand higher or lower. Massive numbers about huge institutions and the complicated means by which they are arrived at tend to produce a numbing effect on the human brain.
On Topic: New Public Service Commission chairman no fan of regulation
Capital Times
Though its regulatory powers have been watered down over the past few decades, the Public Service Commission is still the body that provides a check on basic telephone rate increases and, among other things, makes sure that people?s heat is not turned off during cold Wisconsin winters because of unpaid utility bills. That?s why some find former state lawmaker Phil Montgomery?s appointment to chair the Public Service Commission hard to swallow.
Quoted: UW-Madison telecommunications professor Barry Orton
Report says UW-Madison generates billions of dollars for the state
Wisconsin Public Radio
A new report says that UW-Madison generates more than $12 billion a year in economic activity in Wisconsin and supports nearly 130,000 jobs across the state. The school?s chancellor says those numbers are a good reason for the campus to have more independence.
Union Warns Of Boycotts For Lack Of Support
WISC-TV 3
MILWAUKEE — Some members of the State Employees Union are warning businesses in Wisconsin to either support collective bargaining for public employees or face a boycott.A letter from Council 24 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees asks businesses to express support by displaying a sign in their window. The letter said failing to support the union will mean a public boycott of the business. It also said that neutral means ?no? to supporting the union.
UW-Madison adds $12.4 billion a year to economy, study finds
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison and affiliated organizations contribute $12.4 billion annually to Wisconsin?s economy, according to a new study, the first of its kind in eight years. The report, conducted by Madison-based NorthStar Economics Inc., found that the university, UW Hospital and Clinics and related groups support 128,146 jobs. The results come as UW-Madison officials seek to affirm the university?s importance to the state in the face of a $125 million budget cut under Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed two-year state budget.
Study: UW-Madison chips in $12B to Wis. economy (AP)
Madison.com
The University of Wisconsin-Madison released a report Wednesday claiming that the campus contributes $12.4 billion to the state economy, as officials argued for flexibility measures in the next state budget to preserve that impact. The NorthStar Economics study also credits the university for creating, directly or indirectly, some 128,000 jobs across the state.
Michael Olneck and James Beane: Vote ?yes? on April 5 referendums to begin to reclaim democracy
Capital Times
On April 5, voters in Madison and in Dane County will have a chance to begin reclaiming their democratic voice. In 2010, by the barest of majorities, the United States Supreme Court decided that private corporations could spend unlimited and unregulated amounts of their corporate funds to influence American elections. The case, ?Citizens United v. FEC,? was based on the ideas that corporations are just like real people when it comes to having constitutional rights, and that money is the equivalent of speech.
(Michael Olneck is a UW-Madison professor emeritus of educational policy studies)
Study: UW-Madison chips in $12 billion to state economy (AP)
Green Bay Press-Gazette
MADISON ? The University of Wisconsin-Madison released a report Wednesday claiming that the campus contributes $12.4 billion to the state economy, as officials argued for flexibility measures in the next state budget to preserve that impact.
Design Committee approves plans for Memorial Union reconstruction
Daily Cardinal
The Design Committee for the Memorial Union Reconstruction met Monday to approve designs and make recommendations to the team of two architectural firms selected for the project.
New UW center focuses on education products and services
Wisconsin State Journal
The Wisconsin Center for Education Products and Services is being established at UW-Madison to help license and market educational products and services created by faculty and staff that cannot be patented but may be copyrighted. The products may include testing programs, educational computer games and statistical processing. The center plans to play a role parallel to that of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which works to license and sell technology developed at UW-Madison.
Cross Country: Badger Invitational shows interest of young people in farming
Capital Times
For decades the theory that farmers are getting old and there are no young people taking over has been a popular subject of discussion presented by so-called ag experts. However, the line of young people waiting to take over the home farm or set out on their own career in farming or agribusiness is long and enthusiastic.
The recent 15th Badger Invitational Holstein heifer sale hosted by the UW-Madison Badger Dairy Club is a showcase of good dairy cattle and the 75 or so students who put the event together.
Laptop City Hall: Downtown council candidates stake out positions on budget, alcohol issues
Capital Times
City Council candidates from four downtown districts worked to distinguish themselves on key neighborhood and city issues, from the city budget to the downtown entertainment district, at a forum Thursday night.
Campus Connection: ?Big-Time Sports in American Universities’
Capital Times
The Chronicle of Higher Education posted a short Q & A with Duke professor Charles Clotfelter, who just published a new book titled “Big-Time Sports in American Universities.” The cover of the book features a packed Camp Randall Stadium on a Badgers football game day.
….In his book, Clotfelter said he tries to explain to readers what role commercial sports play at American universities, and what the costs and benefits associated with big-time athletics are.
On Campus: UW-Madison hires consultant to study efficiency
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison is embarking on an external study to look for areas where the university could function more cheaply, effectively and efficiently. There are no cost estimates yet for the contract that university leaders signed with Huron Consulting Group earlier this month. Instead, the company will bill the university on an hourly basis, giving the university flexibility on how much it wants to spend, said Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor for administration.
Campus Connection: UW hires consultants to conduct efficiency study
Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison signed off on a deal earlier this month which asks the Huron Consulting Group to study if the university is running as efficiently and effectively as possible. There is no estimate for how much this project might cost the university at this time, said Darrell Bazzell, UW-Madison?s vice chancellor for administration. However, university administrators told faculty leaders in September that such an endeavor could cost upwards of $3 million. Taxpayer dollars will not be used to pay for the project, said Bazzell.
Biz Beat: Upscale ‘Miffland’ apartment ready to go
Capital Times
All the city approvals are in place for a new four-story 44-unit apartment at 424 W. Mifflin St. Now, developer Pat McCaughey just needs to line up the financing.
Campus Connection: St. Paul’s may reduce scope of Catholic student center project
Capital Times
Leadership of St. Paul?s University Catholic Center announced Monday they are considering reducing the scope of their proposed 14-story, $45 million facility to be located on the State Street Mall.
Books without Borders: It’s hard times for booksellers
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Deborah Mitchell, executive director of the Center for Brand and Product Management at the UW-Madison School of Business.
Capital budget allocates funds for UW System buildings
Badger Herald
The State Building Commission approved the governor?s capital budget recommendations las Wednesday, which detail public building construction and maintenance funding to generate economic activity and jobs.
TomoTherapy sale raises questions
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
They went public within three months of each other, each with a host of eager investors buying into the promise of their radiation therapy systems.
Four years later, one is about to swallow the other.Accuray Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., said this month it will purchase TomoTherapy Inc. for about $277 million.
Walker guts farmland preservation efforts
Capital Times
Farmland will be less expensive to develop and harder for farm families to permanently protect under a series of proposals in Gov. Scott Walker?s budget. The governor?s plans to eliminate the farmland conversion fee and a farmland preservation program still in its infancy gut key components of the Working Lands Initiative. The moves hand developers a victory and deal conservationists and those who want to keep farmland in the family a blow.
Richard Reinke: The owners would like us to watch basketball, go back to sleep
Capital Times
….The WSJ promotes watching basketball as a means of ?pulling us together? is a case in point. A reminder that the owners (media included) are encouraging us to go back to sleep, believing in the American Dream — a euphemism for the American Nightmare. The busting of unions, the raiding (of the Employee Trust Fund) are problems we must confront — awake.
Stem cell researchers awarded $500K prize in NY
Madison.com
Three stem cell researchers have been awarded the annual Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for their pioneering work in human stem cells. The winners announced Wednesday are Elaine Fuchs of Rockefeller University in New York City; James A. Thomson of the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health; and Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan and Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco.
Wisconsin businesses deal with crises in Japan
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Paul D. Mitchell, associate professor in the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Amy Sherman Kortbein: Realtors group supports public employees who ensure state?s high quality of life
Capital Times
Dear Editor: For many of us the last month has been a surreal roller coaster ride. We?ve seen the highs of being part of historic protests surrounded by so many of Wisconsin?s hard-working citizens, followed by the lows of watching the governor and his followers strip the rights of those same citizens. We are so proud of the public employees of the state of Wisconsin. Many of them have had a significant portion of their income and dignity stripped from them in the past week and yet they responded by turning out in record numbers for a peaceful protest this weekend. We were proud to join them.
Gov. Jack Markell: Race to the bottom won?t lead to more jobs
Capital Times
WASHINGTON ? Two months ago, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker invited businesses in Illinois to ?escape to Wisconsin? as a result of the recently enacted tax increases in Illinois. Admittedly, I don?t know whether Walker?s offer has been effective. My own experience, though, as a business executive and as a governor, tells me that businesses are interested in a lot more than a low tax rate when they decide where to locate.
Biz Beat: Camp Randall hotel deal reached
Capital Times
New owners have surfaced for the long-dormant boutique hotel project across from Camp Randall Stadium. Red Hospitality LLC of Houston, Texas announced Monday that it would complete work on the 48-room “HotelRED” at the corner of Monroe and Regent streets. The goal is to open by this summer.
Kenneth Ragland & Peter Carstensen: Sale of state power plants not in the public interest
Capital Times
Dear Editor: The Wisconsin budget repair bill (AB 11) gives the secretary of the Department of Administration sole power to sell the state-owned power plants for any price without hearings, bids or oversight. Moreover, the bill would preclude the Public Service Commission from overseeing and approving the services and prices of the new owners. Such a sale exposes each of the 37 University of Wisconsin campuses, prisons, and health service facilities to great risk.
Biz Beat: TomoTherapy sale costs Madison a HQ
Capital Times
Once the darling of the Madison area high-tech scene, TomoTherapy has been sold to a Silicon Valley-based company in a deal both firms say will help them in the competitive medical devices space.
The new owner, subject to regulatory approval, is Accuray Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which trades under the ARAY symbol. The firm has about 450 employees and sells the “CyberKnife system,” an image-guided radiosurgery system used for the treatment of solid tumors. TomoTherapy, a UW-Madison spin-off which has been struggling to turn a profit, has about 350 employees at its headquarters off Old Sauk Road.
TomoTherapy to be sold to California company
Wisconsin State Journal
TomoTherapy is likely to keep making its radiation therapy machines in Madison even after Accuray buys the company, but there could be other staff cuts, the head of the Sunnyvale, Calif., company hinted Monday. ? TomoTherapy, established in 1997 based on technology with UW-Madison roots, has a Hi-Art system that spirals around a patient firing radiation beams at cancerous tissue.
TomoTherapy to be sold to California company
Madison-based TomoTherapy is being sold to Accuray in a deal valued at about $277 million, it was announced Monday. The companies signed a definitive agreement that calls for Accuray to buy TomoTherapy for $4.80 per share in cash and stock. The companies said the transaction will create a premier radiation oncology company.
(TomoTherapy was a university-based start-up company co-founded by UW-Madison researchers Rock Mackie and Paul Reckwerdt.)
TomoTherapy was
Ed Garvey: Don?t put UW under right-wing thumb
Capital Times
It is hard to know who is pulling the strings on the Walker/Fitzgerald puppet show, but someone other than Gov. Scott Walker and Family Fitzgerald has cooked up a radical agenda that just doesn?t seem like a ?Wisconsin idea.?
I would really like to know who drafted the manifesto. Seems more like the Koch brothers and the CATO Institute than Lee Dreyfus, Warren Knowles or Mike Ellis.It just doesn?t seem like it fits the definition of this ?special place? called Wisconsin as Bob La Follette described us. It isn?t John Muir, Aldo Leopold or John Bascom.
….Let us join together and declare they do not have the right to dispose of the great state university of Wisconsin. This is not a power plant ? it is the font of ideas and dreams. It is us. The real stakeholders are the people of this state and students of the future. Not David Koch.
Biz Beat: Energy programs get Walker ax
Capital Times
If you like burning fossil fuels – hey, aren?t those Koch brothers in the pipeline business? – then you?ll love Gov. Walker?s proposed budget. The 1,345-pager takes a whack at scores of environmental efforts, from nixing the state Office of Energy Independence to actually encouraging state vehicles to use more gasoline.
Seriously, you can?t make this stuff up. And with pump prices marching toward $4 a gallon, you wonder if any thought went into the long-term fiscal impacts.
Campus Connection: Proposal would stack MATC board with ?business persons’
Capital Times
Sen. Glenn Grothman is hoping to introduce legislation that would guarantee those from the private sector have a much stronger voice in how the state?s 16 Wisconsin Technical College System districts operate. A draft of the legislation, which is being circulated by the Republican from West Bend, mandates that six of the nine members appointed to each college?s district board be “business persons.”
Biz Beat: Arts funding to take major hit
Capital Times
Add support for the arts to the list of items getting slashed under Gov. Walker?s proposed budget. The budget unveiled Tuesday calls for a 68 percent cut in state funding for the Wisconsin Arts Board while rolling the agency into the Department of Tourism.
Walker also wants to eliminate the Percent for Arts Program, which provides $500,000 annually for public art in new state buildings. Among the projects funded by the Percent for Arts program is the “Nails Tails” sculpture in front of Camp Randall Stadium.