Written by Susan Yackee, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs and a Collins-Bascom Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at UW-Madison.
Noted: Dr. Luke Funk is an associate professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Srividya Kidambi is an associate professor and chief in the Division of Endocrinology and Molecular Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin/Froedtert Hospital. Dr. Christopher Weber is an obesity medicine specialist practicing in Milwaukee.
When we hire graduate assistants at the University of Wisconsin at Madison Graduate School, we expect them to do a deep dive into graduate education administration — but what often surprises students is how much the experience prepares them for future careers.
Column by Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
In a welcome change, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway unveiled plans last week to “likely” remove city buses from the lower half of State Street in Downtown Madison. Doing so would make way for a true pedestrian mall with cafes, public art, live music, trees, kiosks and fun events — without any motorized vehicle traffic. The street is already off-limits to most cars and trucks, but not buses.
States around the country are gearing up for projects that could pair engineering schools and industry, but the dean of UW-Madison’s College of Engineering warned this week the state will be at a disadvantage unless there’s more investment in infrastructure needed to compete. “If we don’t act soon, we’re going to lose out,” said Ian Robertson, dean of Madison’s 4,500-student engineering college. “Others are going to get ahead of us. They’re all gearing up to go after the Endless Frontier money. It’s that simple.”
Noted: Rabbi Ben Herman is Rabbi of Bet Shira Congregation in Pinecrest, Florida. He received a BA in History, Hebrew and Jewish Studies with Comprehensive Honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Rabbinic Ordination with an MA in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Maybe now, half a century later, it’s finally time to end the war on drug users—repeal the heavy penalties for possession, pardon the millions of nonviolent offenders, replace mass incarceration with mandatory drug treatment, restore voting rights to convicts and ex-convicts alike, and, above all, purge those persistent stereotypes of the dangerous Black male from our public discourse and private thoughts.If only…
Alfred W. McCoy is the J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
As a former biosafety officer for UW-Madison, I am extremely interested in the debate about the origin of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
Written by Jordan Ellenberg, a math professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of “Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else.”
The Wisconsin Idea, a fundamental philosophical pillar of the University of Wisconsin, charges the system with serving all parts of the state.
But the system has fallen short in its most populous region — Milwaukee.
Written by Sarah Halpern-Meekin, an associate professor at La Follette School of Public Affairs and the School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Some in Madison are criticizing the UW athletic department for hiring the well-qualified Chris McIntosh as the new athletic director because he is white. This is an insult to both McIntosh and the selection committee.
When we learned last fall that Alvarez might be retiring, we were concerned that the University would again engage in a process that would result in another applicant being chosen for the AD position that would not be a person of color, regardless of how credentialed and experienced such applicants might be.
The university subjected their students to restrictive policies that had little room for flexibility based on the public health standards at the time.
The nurses at UW Hospitals and Clinics have been among the greatest heroes of the coronavirus pandemic that is finally beginning to ease after an often overwhelming year of infection and death, testing and treatment, recovery and vaccination. Nurses have been widely praised for their humanity, for their caring, for their sacrifices. We have no doubt about the sincerity of those words. But now it is time to honor these heroes with something more than words. They need a place at the bargaining table.
Knowing geometry protects you: Once you’ve experienced the sharp click of an honest-to-goodness proof, you’ll never fall for this trick again. Tell your “logical” opponent to go square a circle.—Mr. Ellenberg is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin. This essay is adapted from his new book “Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy and Everything Else,” which will be published May 25 by Penguin Press.
Alyssa Huglen’s May 17 story in the Journal Sentinel highlights a problem that has long concerned us at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Students with limited financial resources take longer to graduate and are less likely to graduate than their peers, and many struggle with debt from college loans. But what the story did not address are the extensive efforts UWM is making to help students from low-income families.
The driving question that launched my career in psychology nearly four decades ago feels especially salient in this moment: Why are some people more resilient to life’s slings and arrows than others?
Written by Dr. Richard J. Davidson, founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds.
Column by Kraus, UW-River Falls professor.
These measures make public investments in children’s economic well-being, adding to those made for them in health care and education. The nation and our state are sure to be better off.
Tim Smeeding is the Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the La Follette School of Public Affairs and former director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Column by Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and also holds master’s degrees in public health and children’s librarianship.
Column by Hesselbein, D-Middleton, who represents the 79th Assembly District and is ranking Democratic member on the Assembly Committee for Colleges and Universities.
Column by Theo, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Realtors Association, and O’Connell, executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association.
The skulls of living cats are drilled with holes to screw metal strainer posts into their heads, then steel coils are implanted into their eyes and finally, the cats are deafened in “sound localization” animal experiments. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals describes the horrific details of this inhumane experiment conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and adds that the lead experimenter did not expect to produce a clinical treatment or cure from their tests on animals.
Letter to the editor: Thompson is no “place holder.” He is a dynamic leader who is proving his value to UW System during these challenging times. Also, with Regent membership and leadership change underway, it seems advisable to retain Thompson’s steady hand and not dive into another national search now.
Written by Tim Smeeding, the Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the La Follette School of Public Affairs and former director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In March, The Washington Post reported that University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank sought to move a conversation around the COVID-19 pandemic and students returning to campus in the fall to a private portal used by presidents and chancellors of the 14 Big Ten universities.
Without this student newspaper, I probably would be on my way to finishing out a god-awful stats degree (sorry stats majors).
Is the Madison Police Department finally taking a step that all police departments should also take? The short answer is yes. The long answer is not so simple.
Column by Thompson, president of the University of Wisconsin System.
Professor Dietram Scheufele is an award-winning and nationally recognized expert on science communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and someone I’ve written about for years. He recently shared with me five thoughts about what could have been done differently to mitigate this stark divide over vaccine attitudes.
Mifflin party events shows double standard policing, failure of UW to protect students, enforce regulations.
Entering the school year, students and faculty alike were anxious for how the semester would look.
“Really interesting how a Black man gets a chance and y’all are rushing to take it away,” UW BIPOC Coalition says.
UW-Madison and Madison need a return of fans in stands this year to make money. May I humbly suggest the university immediately announce that only fully vaccinated fans will be allowed at its venues such as Camp Randall, the Kohl Center, the Field House and the LaBahn Arena.
New ISS director should represent international students, hear and voice their concerns.
Fighting for the rights of African American voters is a task that is both daunting and never-ending. Discriminatory redistricting creates a cyclical process that weakens political power for Black voters and political officials. This tactic is as discriminatory and as noxious as any other suppression legislation used during Jim Crow.
–Steven Wright served in the Voting Rights Section of the US Department of Justice for five years. He’s a clinical associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
Column by Kevin Reilly, former president of the University of Wisconsin System and a senior fellow at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.
Written by John B. Diamond, the Kellner Family Distinguished Chair in Urban Education and a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s education school, and Jennifer Cheatham, a senior lecturer on education and the co-chair of the Public Education Leadership Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and former superintendent of the Madison school district in Wisconsin.
As a history student at UW-Madison, I have seen many of these issues first-hand. Because of fears that the recent economic crisis would cause a new round of sweeping cuts to history departments, almost every major history PhD program in the country accepted almost no new graduate students, or far fewer than usual. Declining opportunities for history teachers have caused many bright and wonderful students to seek other career paths.
As we approach the end of this semester, many students are left burned out, exhausted and overwhelmed with the seemingly endless demands of college. Coupled with the increasingly demanding academics, the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated students’ existing feelings of continuous stress. In fact, 71% of college students have indicated increased anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, it is essential for students to find ways of dealing with these demanding stressors. This is where meditation comes into play!
Here’s something the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) won’t tell you when you donate to your alma mater — UW is strategically profiting off the destruction of our planet and its people. As of 2018, UW invested $124,785,961 in the fossil fuel industry through the WFAA.
Having graduated from UW a while back, I now have the perspective to look back and reflect on how my own career has progressed. The students I once worked with and gave my best as a leader to are now some of my current colleagues — and one is even my current boss.
Hub II proposal will inflate already high rental costs in Madison, which majority of students cannot afford.
Created in 1925, WARF handles patent and license issues for the UW-Madison, returning money to the campus research cycle and often making it possible for young companies to get a start. WiSys is doing much the same for four-year UW campuses outside Madison and Milwaukee while engaging students in research and entrepreneurism.
Diversifying demographics of teachers will help build deeper relationships with students, create more equitable society for future generations.
We believe that it is important to have a candidate that will stand with all members of the Madison and campus community.
UW must step up and support Asian international students, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Outside of loan options, students typically turn to financial aid and scholarships to finance their education. UW-Madison has multiple “Wisconsin Promises” in place for in-state students that qualify for financial aid, like Bucky’s Tuition Promise Plus, Badger Promise and the Financial Aid Security Track.
Students have long told UW-Madison that “it is not enough for the University of Wisconsin System to demonstrate optical allyship … by means of posting on social media, tokenizing students of color and providing resources for students and alumni to combat racism on an individual level.” Instead, they have called for the UW to make good on their promises and deconstruct the systems that “uphold racial inequalities.”
The bill makes huge strides for American democracy. No one should claim that dark money and large-scale statewide voting barriers aren’t noxious. Indeed, experts estimate that voter identification requirements may disenfranchise millions of Americans, and such laws disproportionately harm poor voters and voters of color. But no one, except the federal government, has the capacity to ensure fair federal elections at the local level. And sadly, For the People Act fails to do so.
Steven Wright served in the Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Department of Justice for five years. He currently teaches Law and English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This current version of the Suez syndrome is, nonetheless, anything but the usual. Thanks to longterm imperial development based on fossil fuels, planet Earth itself is now changing in ways dangerous to any power, no matter how imperial or ascendant. So, sooner or later, both Washington and Beijing will have to recognize that we are now in a distinctly dangerous new world where, in the decades to come, without some kind of coordination and global cooperation to curtail climate change, old imperial truths of any sort are likely to be left in the attic of history in a house coming down around all our ears.
–Alfred McCoyAlfred McCoy is the J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A TomDispatch regular, he is the author of In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power and Policing America’s Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State.
The intent of this statement is there, but the diluted semantics don’t provide much comfort. First and foremost, it’s clear they’re avoiding the word racism. When have you heard the term ‘bias crime’ before? It sounds like someone typed ‘hate crime’ but was told to substitute ‘hate’ for a more watered-down word. In this situation, who would that be serving?
With no spring break and burnout rampant among students, mental health support must come as policy-based, structural changes.
Column by Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and also holds master’s degrees in public health and children’s librarianship.
On March 1, the University of Wisconsin Faculty Senate passed a resolution urging the UW Foundation to divest from fossil fuel companies. But, before we take a victory lap, let’s flash back and remember that a similar effort failed in 2014 because it was too ‘divisive.’
Letter to the editor: As a former technical college instructor and wife of a 30-plus-year University of Wisconsin System branch campus instructor, I’ve had a long affiliation with both systems. Our three children attended the two-year UW System campus in our county.
UW System, Foundations must make financially, ethically smart decision to divest from fossil fuels.
