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Category: Campus life

What NSF’s new diversity grants say about attempts to help minority students

Science

Noted: In addition to Hodapp’s project, NSF gave $10 million to the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, based in Washington, D.C., and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. They are pursuing a three-pronged attempt to improve the skills of STEM faculty members at dozens of universities in mentoring minority students, grow the ranks of minority STEM faculty, and promote diversity throughout academia. Another $10 million Alliance award, based at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California, will help community college students in California and three other states overcome deficits in math as the first step into a STEM major. A fourth $10 million Alliance grant, based at the University of Texas in El Paso, will support expansion of a 12-year-old computing alliance among academic institutions that serve a large number of Hispanic students.

The Bucky we’ll miss

Tone Madison

It was all worth it. That is, the recently concluded Bucky On Parade program, aka a giant gauntlet of latter-day Hummel figurines, aka let’s decorate different versions of the same sculpture 85 whole times and place most of them within a few blocks of each other, but also put a real scary one all by its lonesome in Sun Prarie, was worth it because it gave us Visible Bucky.

University of Wisconsin-Madison launches Babcock Hall construction project

Feedstuffs

On Sept. 7, the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural & Life Sciences (CALS) hosted a celebration to mark the launch of a major construction project for Babcock Hall on the Madison, Wis., campus. The $47 million project involves the renovation of the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant, as well as a new three-story addition for the Center for Dairy Research (CDR).

The reason behind Bucky on Parade

NBC-15

Bucky on Parade ends on Wednesday, September 12th. After that, the statues will be auctioned off at a grand finale party. The money raised will go towards local non-profits. One of those non-profits is Garding Against Cancer. It’s a non-profit, started by UW Men’s Basketball coach Greg Gard. The organization supports cancer research.

ASM unleashes movement to encourage inclusive ice cream options for all

Daily Cardinal

Babcock ice cream contains beef gelatin, which is used as a stabilizing agent. Because of this gelatin, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and vegetarian individuals are unable to enjoy it without it being a violation of their beliefs. ASM called it a “gross act of discrimination” for minority students if the ice cream were to remain the same.

Finding your place on campus

Daily Cardinal

“Students often have the impression that everyone else is loving college and finding friends, which isn’t always the case,” said Communications Director for the Division of Student Life, Darcy Wittberger.  “As with any major life transition, people experience ups and downs.”

Two new cultural student centers to open this fall

Daily Cardinal

Tsang and members of the APIDA committee were not discouraged when their proposal was initially rejected by the university. They formed a coalition with members of the Latinx, Native American, and African American cultural centers on campus and ultimately negotiated that the mezzanine space in the Red Gym would be used for APIDA and Latinx Cultural Student Centers.

$30 Million Poured Into Effort to Energize Young Voters

AP

Students returning to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus this summer were greeted by therapy dogs for petting. Those lured by the chance to ruffle a dog’s ears were then asked to register to vote — a “Pups to the Polls” gimmick that was just one of several similar events being staged in 11 battleground states by the liberal group NextGen America.

Are States Trying to Stop Students From Voting?

Sierra Club

I thought about this story recently while talking with Beth Alleman, a nursing student who coordinates student voter outreach for the student government at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The first time Alleman voted, she was an undergraduate in her home state of Illinois. She’d been told—probably inaccurately—that registering to vote at a new location could jeopardize her health insurance, since she was still on her parents’ health-care plan. So on Election Day she took two different trains back to her home district, got someone to pick her up at the station and drive her to her polling place, voted, then drove back and took another two trains to return to Chicago.

$30 million poured into effort to energize young voters in Wisconsin, elsewhere

Wisconsin State Journal

Students returning to the UW-Madison campus this summer were greeted by therapy dogs for petting. Those lured by the chance to ruffle a dog’s ears were then asked to register to vote — a “Pups to the Polls” gimmick that was just one of several similar events being staged in 11 battleground states by the liberal group NextGen America.

The perils and pitfalls of higher ed social media management

Inside Higher Ed

Social media managers need to be sensitive to the environment they are in, said Liz Gross, director of Campus Sonar, a social media and marketing consultancy for higher education institutions. The University of Wisconsin Madison, for example, used to have a pretty cheeky social media persona. “They wanted to be ‘the smartest person in the room,’”

Rochester Simon Becomes First B-School With STEM-Certified MBA

Poets & Quants

Noted: Last year, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business added to its full-time MBA program a certificate in management science and technology management that allows students to be STEM-certified (see Fuqua Hikes MBA Appeal To Internationals). Two years ago, the University of Wisconsin School of Business gained STEM certification for two specializations–supply chain management and operations and technology management–in its MBA program. And many more schools, including Rochester, boast specialty master’s programs in quant heavy business disciplines that also are STEM certified.

The Closers: Business Schools That Get The Students They Want

Poets & Quants

Noted: Then, there is Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business. Smeal boasts a 62.8% yield – a percentage that’s 10 points or better than Northwestern Kellogg, Chicago Booth, Dartmouth Tuck, and Michigan Ross. Smeal’s secret? High standards and consistency. Although the program received 62 fewer applications during the 2016-2017 cycle, it managed to enroll two more students. Even more, it raised average GMAT by two points and lowered its acceptance rate by a point to 17.1% – two points better than Wharton, the pride-of-Pennsylvania. The Wisconsin School of Business performed a nearly identical feat. Despite collecting 174 few applications during the last cycle, it still manage to raise yield by 10 points to 61.6%. At the same time, it raised average GMAT by nine points, while maintaining a respectable 30.4% acceptance rate – just four points higher than the previous year.

Nada Elmikashfi: Youth vote will be out in force in November

The Capital Times

Noted: What this new tide of voters has also realized is that the remedy for such a regressive regime lies within our capacity. We can fight back by encouraging our peers to become civically engaged alongside us. Particularly at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we are working to make sure that during welcome week, registering to vote is as routine as buying textbooks. Engaging students in activities that mobilize them to participate in the civic process is the key to translating our generation’s immense energy into real change — we know that when we vote, we win.