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Category: Opinion

Earth Day 2019: Find common ground on conserving our environment

USA Today

It’s kicking off at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which hosts an annual Earth Day Conference conducted in the spirit of the original 1970 “teach-in.” The event is called Imagine and Adapt: Possibilities in a Changing World.

Human viruses threaten the future of Uganda’s chimpanzees

My colleagues and I recently analysed two outbreaks of respiratory disease in two different chimpanzee groups, both located in Uganda’s Kibale National Park…Initially, we feared that the same virus caused both outbreaks, which would mean a single virus had been rapidly transmitted throughout the forest. But our team leader, Dr Tony Goldberg of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tested samples, and we learned that the outbreaks were caused by two different viruses commonly found in humans.

Reflecting on 30 Years of Forgiveness Science

Psychology Today

It was great to be able to share our knowledge on the science of forgiveness, which we began to examine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985, to aid in the advancement of this important area of research.

–Robert Enright, UW–Madison

Editorial Agenda 2019: Trees in the city

WISC-TV 3

A new study, co-authored by a UW Madison professor, finds trees play a big role in keeping towns and cities cool. That’s important for humans, but it’s also important for other organisms essential to life.

David Ward: Congress should invest more in ag research to keep US ahead of China

Wisconsin State Journal

Since 2014, Wisconsin universities have received 74 AFRI grants totaling $38 million. These grants have gone to projects such as studying the impact of climate change on dairy production at UW-Madison and research on improved food access for rural, low-income communities at Northland College in Ashland. Locally, this means we are improving an industry that is a cornerstone to our economy. Globally, this allows us to maintain food-supply chains and remain a world leader in agriculture.

Arboretum deserving of honor — Donna Silver

Wisconsin State Journal

Letter to the editor: Congratulations to the many people over the years who have created the UW Arboretum on Madison’s West Side. This Wisconsin treasure has recently been added to the National Register of Historical Places.

OP-ED: Black Studies becomes major factor in social advancement

Black Press USA

Noted: The University of Wisconsin-Madison offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Black Studies, much to the disappointment of Dr. Mayibuye Monanabela who is among the founders of the Africana Studies department at Tennessee State University. He said getting students to major in Black Studies is often difficult primarily because, outside of teaching, there are not many well-paying trades that would require such professional acumen.

Now is the time to invest in research for our dairy future

WI Farmer

UW System agricultural research, which Wisconsin farmers of the past relied on to help build America’s Dairyland, still focuses on nutrition, production efficiency, welfare and disease prevention in dairy cows. In addition, UW researchers are also developing new stress-reduction programs for farmers, formulating new dairy-based food products, and creating sustainable practices that benefit water, land, rural communities and farm workers.

How to cut child poverty in half

Brookings

Other countries have demonstrated that where there is a will, there is a way to accomplish this goal. Without strong action by policymakers, poverty and its inevitable consequences will continue to impose great costs on children, families, and the nation.

–Ron Haskins is the Cabot Family chair and a senior fellow in economics at the Brookings Institution. Timothy Smeeding is the Lee Rainwater professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Journal Times editorial: In wake of scandal elsewhere, good to see UW-Madison reviewing its admissions policies

Racine Journal Times

The college admissions scandal which broke earlier this month — federal prosecutors on March 12 charged 50 people with taking part in a scheme where unqualified students were admitted to prestigious universities, allegedly because their parents paid bribes and the students cheated on standardized tests — angers us because it seems unfair, other students’ hard work and ability taking second place to Mommy and Daddy’s bank balance.

The Admissions Scandal Is About Parental Narcissism—and the Schools’ Complicity

The Nation

The fact is that you can get an excellent education at hundreds of American colleges, many of which have fine reputations and are easier to get into. Take Bard, for instance, which accepts 49 percent of its applicants; Sarah Lawrence, whose acceptance rate is 43 percent; or the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which admits more than half of all students who apply.

Wisconsin proposed budget affects farmers

Ag Update

But the Wisconsin Farm Bureau would like to prioritize the positions of integrated specialist roles that would hold a joint appointment between UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and UW-Extension. Those specialists perform and teach the specialized research that is essential to Wisconsin farmers.

Say goodbye to Nails’ Tales sculpture

WISC-TV 3

The meeting last Wednesday afternoon had gone on for almost an hour when Gary Brown, director of campus planning and landscape architecture at University of Wisconsin–Madison, said, “Let me address the so-called elephant in the room.”

Industrial hemp may be agriculture’s next big thing

Kenosha News

The predecessors for today’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the UW-Madison were already on the scene, helping farmers transition. It happened again in the 1890s when Professor Stephen Babcock developed the first simple and practical test for measuring the butterfat content for milk and cream, which propelled the dairy industry. The state’s cranberry industry took off at the turn of the 20th century, again with the help of decades of UW research.

Out-of-state students need freeze, too — Karissa Niederkorn

Wisconsin State Journal

Letter to the editor: I support Gov. Tony Evers’ proposal to continue the in-state tuition freeze for UW students. Being a resident of Wisconsin attending UW, I am grateful that I can afford my tuition without going into debt. But nonresident students don’t have it as nice as I do. Most of my friends live out of state and are struggling with the amount of loans needed to achieve a degree.

Socialism Is Back

Wall Street Journal

Health care should be affordable for all. Education shouldn’t be followed by a debt hangover, decadeslong. The disenfranchised need to have the opportunity to succeed.That’s what young people mean by socialism.—Matthew Ingebritson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, finance, investment and banking

One number determines who gets an organ transplant. And it’s horribly unfair.

The Washington Post

We have a liver selection meeting every Wednesday to consider which patients will get transplants. Each patient is listed by name, age, weight, diagnosis and MELD score — a number, based entirely on lab values, that predicts how bad their liver is and correlates with how likely they are to die waiting for a transplant.

Joshua Mezrich is an associate professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is author of “When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon.”