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Category: Chancellor

UW approves pay raises for Bielema, Chryst

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Wisconsin State Journal

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Paul Chryst were rewarded on Friday with pay raises and one-year extensions on their contracts, which should help keep in place two of the key components to the Badgers? recent success. The UW Board of Regents approved the amended employment agreements in a closed session.

A partnership fit for Wisconsin

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Daily Cardinal

The state of Wisconsin faces a $3.6 billion budget deficit in the coming 2011-13 biennium. Gov. Scott Walker will undoubtedly approve deep cuts across the board, including slashing education dollars for institutions like UW-Madison. To offset dwindling state funding, Chancellor Biddy Martin is taking steps to ensure the university remains nationally competitive while accommodating for tough economic circumstances.

Campus Connection: UW hiring consultant to examine efficiency

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Capital Times

UW-Madison is moving forward with plans to hire an outside consulting firm to determine if the university is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible, Chancellor Biddy Martin said at Monday night?s faculty senate meeting at Bascom Hall.

“I think we need to be able to assure the public that we?re doing what we can to be organized in the most effective way,” says Martin, who stresses the study will focus on “administrative functions” and not academic programs.

UW-Madison students turn Bascom Hill into scene of major snowball fight

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Wisconsin State Journal

With the snow light and fluffy ? not ideal for making snowballs ? Zach Sheridan resorted to what he called “the shovel technique.” “It?s like a free-for-all,” said the UW-Madison freshman as he loaded a cafeteria tray with snow, then charged into the fray with a primal yell of “Lakeshore!” In what is becoming an annual tradition at UW-Madison, students used a rare day of canceled classes to congregate on Bascom Hill for a massive snowball fight. Chancellor Biddy Martin stood at the top of Bascom Hill and looked on, as a steady stream of students thanked her for the snow day and asked to take her photo.

Badger Partnership step in rational direction

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Badger Herald

Have the inevitable discussion about rising tuition with one of your well-informed peers, and chances are they?ll read you a veritable riot act of legislative abuses that the state?s flagship school did nothing to deserve: prison spending now totals roughly three-quarters of education funding, and state support of UW-Madison, currently hovering around 18 percent, is at an all-time low.

Nominate the next Go Big Read book

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Capital Times

Even though it?s just past New Year?s Day, readers at UW-Madison are already thinking about books for the next academic year. UW-Madison?s common book program, Go Big Read, is accepting nominations for next year?s selection. Make suggestions quickly, though – the deadline is midnight on Thursday, Jan. 6. Nominations can be made at www.gobigread.wisc.edu/nominate.html.

Still: Holiday perks list includes naughty and nice in politics, business (wisbusiness.com)

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Noted: UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin: What do you give a Big Ten Conference chancellor whose football team is playing in the Rose Bowl? How about a new research building to rival anything on the East or West coasts? Nope, she?s already got that: It?s called the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. What Martin really needs is management flexibility for a campus unlikely to see a state budget increase. A gift certificate for yoga lessons will help her limber up.

Rose Bowl, ‘Teach Me How to Bucky’ play well at UW commencement

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Wisconsin State Journal

How big of a deal is the upcoming Rose Bowl on the UW-Madison campus? Almost every speech during the university?s commencement ceremonies on Sunday mentioned it ? as well as the song, dance and viral video ?Teach Me How To Bucky.? ?This is a place that sends its football teams to the Rose Bowl,? Chancellor Biddy Martin said to applause. ?This is a place where you can learn how to Bucky.?

Give University of Wisconsin the freedom to deal with cuts

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Wisconsin State Journal

State money is tight. But so are state mandates. That?s why incoming Gov. Scott Walker should accept UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin?s smart bid for greater flexibility. Martin understands the state is facing a more than $3 billion budget shortfall. She gets it that Walker doesn?t want to raise taxes. So she?s diligently preparing for flat or falling aid to University of Wisconsin System schools, including the flagship campus in Madison. Instead of whining about looming cuts like other local officials, Martin is highlighting ways the state can “help us help ourselves.”

UW football: Bielema, staff due bonuses topping $500,000

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Madison.com

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema and his assistants have secured some nice financial rewards for their quality work this season. All will get 20 percent of their salary as a bonus for leading the Badgers to a share of the Big Ten Conference title and a berth in the Rose Bowl. The total payout is $525,480 pending administrative approval.

Official university Rose Bowl party will be smaller than last time

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Wisconsin State Journal

Forty-three people will travel to the Rose Bowl as part of the UW-Madison official party, including Chancellor Biddy Martin, Gov. Jim Doyle, and members of the UW Board of Regents. It?s a smaller group than 11 years ago, the last time the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl. UW-Madison officials say that?s because they are aware of a tough economic climate and an incoming governor who is looking to cut costs.

Editorial: Focus on flexibility

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

University of Wisconsin officials think that a 2% raise in each of the next two years for faculty and academic staff is justified. University staff already is underpaid, they argue. Two percent is needed just to stay even. They?re probably right, especially since those covered by the pay plan didn?t get an increase in the current budget and had to take furlough days.

Biddy Martin discusses what UW has at stake amidst state government transition

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Wisconsin Public Radio

The University of Wisconsin is widely considered one of the state?s most valuable assets. But when adjusted for inflation, funding for the UW system has been in decline for the last decade. But Republican lawmakers who will lead the next session of the legislature are promising to push for funding cuts to the UW as well as caps on tuition and fee increases. (Audio.)

Biddy?s Badger Partnership may not be good for every-bucky

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Badger Herald

Like so many other issues, Chancellor Martin?s new Badger Partnership proposal all boils down to one thing: Money. Or, rather, a lack thereof. Over the past 10 years, the amount of UW Madison?s budget coming from the state has declined at least 10 percentage points. That translates to millions of dollars. Now throw in multiple years of economic woes and the overwhelming election of state government officials who do not place higher education funding high on their priority list and you have the perfect context for administrative turmoil and uncertainty about the future. Whatever happens, one thing is for sure: Tuition is going to increase. In an attempt purported to minimize that increase, Biddy has proposed the Badger Partnership, which would partially sever this great institution from the state. In almost any other context, this plan would have virtually no chance of being adopted. However, given the current environment, it could very well represent the best hope for the university.

UW-Madison chancellor ‘plays catch-up’ with China visit

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin took two trips to China this year, in part to play “catch-up” to other universities that had already established strong relationships with the growing superpower, she said. “We?re there to elevate the brand, not only of the university, but also of the state of Wisconsin itself,” Martin told the UW Board of Regents Thursday, during a presentation on UW-Madison?s connection to China. More so than other colleges, Martin said she wants the university?s relationship with China to extend beyond academic collaborations to include community and economic development. She wants to bring the Wisconsin Idea ? that the university?s borders extend beyond the classroom ? to China.

On Campus: ‘We’re Smelling Roses’ composer hopes it becomes Badgers Rose Bowl anthem

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Wisconsin State Journal

Once we got official word that the Badgers were headed to the Rose Bowl — could an anthem be far behind? Anthony Lamarr Brown wrote, “We?re Smelling Roses,” to fill that role. The catchy rap number celebrates the Badgers victorious season and pokes fun at their opponents (“We?re smelling roses/We treat the other teams like a pocketful of posers”). Directed by “Teach Me How to Bucky”?s Logan Cascia, the music video features UW-Madison notables such as Chancellor Biddy Martin, UW Marching Band Director Mike Leckrone, and former Rose Bowl standout Ron Dayne. It also features lyricist JDante and singer LaVar Jovan Charleston.

Campus Connection: ?We’re Smelling Roses’

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Capital Times

If you enjoyed “Teach Me How to Bucky,” we suggest you take a look at “We?re Smelling Roses. “The high-quality video is being promoted as the “2011 Rose Bowl Badger Anthem.” It?s directed by Madison?s Anthony Lamarr, who also directed “Teach Me How to Bucky.”

UW football: ‘We’re Smelling Roses’ puts a nice ‘rap’ on this Rose Bowl run

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Madison.com

The musical tributes to University of Wisconsin Rose Bowl berths have come a long way from the Torpedos? 1994 tribute cassette tape “The Big Red Badgers Go To Pasadena” played exclusively on WOLX (94.9 FM). On the heels of the regular-season smash “Teach Me How to Bucky,” Anthony Lamarr Music gives us a catchy rap tune “We?re Smelling Roses.” It includes appearances from UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin, UW Marching Band Director Mike Leckrone, former Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne and menbers of the UW Marching Band. It includes footage shot inside and around Camp Randall Stadium, on Bascom Hill, State Street Brats and at the UW Memorial Union.

Letters to the editor: Biddy’s real agenda

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Biddy?s real agendaIf there is any question what more authority for the UW-Madison would mean for working people (“Biddy?s Bold Agenda,” 11/12/10), the restaurants at the soon-to-open Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery provide an example. The UW has contracted with Food Fight to run these restaurants. Workers at Food Fight start around $8.50 an hour and, if they choose to have health insurance, pay almost $400 for a single plan.

Heinen: Now’s the Time

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Madison Magazine

Noted: It means still greater autonomy for the UW. It means divorcing the UW further from the useless meddling of the state legislature and much closer ties with the business community and business organizations, including economic development entities.

Chancellor recognizes power in global economy

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Daily Cardinal

On Wisconsin! Those words greeted me during my ascent of the Great Wall last summer while studying abroad in Tianjin, China. After I was mobbed by Chinese tourists eager to take a picture with me and get an autograph from a “real” American, those two words were as welcome as an Ian?s pizza on Friday night. What made me more ecstatic was this person, one of the few foreigners I saw outside of Beijing, was an alumnus of UW-Madison.

Biddy Martin’s bold agenda

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Isthmus

One can?t avoid the irony in Biddy Martin?s words as she speaks of her youth in rural Virginia some 50 years ago. She?s recalling the post-Jim Crow era of the South, a time when the shackles of segregation and separate-but-equal were loosening yet racism remained rampant. In her words, “virulent racism.”

Chancellor Martin returns to China

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Daily Cardinal

UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is visiting China for a second time this year to promote collaboration between the university and China with a new focus on economic development.

Nancy Currell: Primate research lab a blight on UW

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: Regarding your recent article in which UW primate researcher Michele Basso said ?I had right on my side?: She certainly did, seeing as how a UW faculty committee conducted its own investigation.

…This whole research lab is a blight on the UW and Wisconsin. Perhaps Basso would like to take a primate?s place for a month if it is so right.

On Campus: University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor returns to China

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Wisconsin State Journal

For the second time this year, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is traveling to China. She is scheduled to leave today, according to a news release from the university, stopping in Beijing, Taipei and Hong Kong. Her trip will focus on academic collaborations, raising UW-Madison?s public profile in China and economic development.

On Campus: University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor returns to China

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

For the second time this year, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is traveling to China. She is scheduled to leave today, according to a news release from the university, stopping in Beijing, Taipei and Hong Kong. Her trip will focus on academic collaborations, raising UW-Madison?s public profile in China and economic development.

Campus Connection: Jahn stepping down as head of CALS

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Capital Times

UW-Madison announced in a news release that Molly Jahn will step down as dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences on Jan. 1.In the release Chancellor Biddy Martin thanked Jahn — who has led the college since 2006 — for her work. But Martin stated that “now is the time for a change in leadership for the college.”

Don?t burn money at new plant

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Wisconsin State Journal

The Charter Street Heating Plant project is an exciting one. Instead of burning more than 100,000 tons each year of dirty coal ? which pollutes the air, contributes to climate change and sends money out of state ? the UW-Madison power plant is being converted to run on biomass including wood waste, corn stalks, switchgrass and other farm-grown fuels from Wisconsin. Yet the project?s huge price tag can?t be ignored or dismissed. It?s more than $250 million to provide enough power to heat and cool some 300 local buildings.

Author Skloot shares the human side of groundbreaking science

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Wisconsin State Journal

Scientists had no idea the cells they took from a Baltimore woman?s tumor in 1951 would be so valuable some day. Before she died of cervical cancer at age 30, the woman had no idea the cells were taken, and, until years later, neither did her family. Monday night at the Kohl Center, science writer Rebecca Skloot shared with hundreds of people the story about the woman whose family she spent 10 years working with to write her book, ?The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.? Skloot?s visit was part of UW-Madison?s Go Big Read program, a book program meant to engage students, faculty, staff and community members. It was initiated by Chancellor Biddy Martin.

Chancellor concludes budget forums

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Daily Cardinal

Chancellor Biddy Martin focused on the economic factors of her proposal in the final installment of her three-part “New Badger Partnership” discussion forum at the Waisman Center Wednesday.

Panel says UW-Madison animal researcher who was suspended did not receive due process

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Wisconsin State Journal

A UW-Madison professor did not get due process when the university suspended her animal research last year, according to a report from a faculty committee. The University Committee found that the university suspended professor Michele Basso from working with animals without a formal investigation. Further, the committee that suspended her, the All Campus Animal Care and Use Committee, did not have the authority to do so, according to the report. UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin declined to comment Tuesday night while she reviews the report.