The story of NeuWave Medical, a medical therapy company that grew out of UW-Madison research before it was acquired a global health-care firm, shows how venture and angel capital often flows to suppliers and other businesses throughout the economy.
Category: Opinion
Black Balloons For The Lost Orphans
The protesters were mostly high school and university students. They carried black balloons, dozens of them – one for each teenaged orphaned girl who died while in police custody in a March 2017 schoolroom fire.
*Fr Gregory Jensen is the pastor of Sts. Cyril & Methodius Ukrainian Orthodox Mission and the Eastern Orthodox chaplain at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Editorial: Science is cool
Nobody does science like the Wisconsin Science Festival.
Debbie Ford: UW System: A positive investment
A new study from NorthStar Analytics found that each year the UW System has a $24 billion impact on the Wisconsin economy, almost 8 percent of the total economy of the state. Moreover, the study found that 167,000 jobs are generated or supported by the UW System each year.
Column: Religious observance should not be inconvenience for non-Christian students
UW’s Christian-centered calendar forces students of other faiths to choose between academics, religious observance.
“Student-athlete” is a lie
UW Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank made a statement last week that is either incredibly naïve or designed to deceive.
Plain Talk: Tackling diversity challenges at UW one step at a time
A perception exists that major academic institutions, the University of Wisconsin-Madison included, don’t do enough to attract and keep minority students and faculty on their campuses.
Voter ID tied to lower Wisconsin turnout; students, people of color, elderly most affected
With all of her necessary documentation, University of Wisconsin-Madison student Brooke Evans arrived at her polling place on Nov. 8, 2016, for the presidential election. For her, voting that day meant not only casting a ballot for the first female presidential candidate with a real shot of winning but having a voice in a society in which homeless people such as herself were marginalized.
Walters: Election Day going out of style, as more cast absentee ballots
But, even with those dramatic increases in Wisconsin, the state still lags the nation, said UW-Madison Political Science Professor Barry Burden, who has studied changes in voting patterns.
Plain Talk: Tackling diversity challenges at UW one step at a time
The UW will be the first to admit that more needs to be done to create a diverse educational community, including changing the attitudes of some students and faculty who make campus life uncomfortable for those who don’t look like them. But it isn’t as if many at the school aren’t trying. While the UW’s leadership is working to solve the perennial diversity problem with ambitious and expensive recruitment programs, there are many smaller efforts that go unnoticed, but might just turn out to be as effective in the long run.
Still: Partnerships between universities, private sector working across Wisconsin
There’s nothing surprising about the fact that UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone and Marquette University President Mike Lovell might work together. They’re friends, past academic colleagues and passionate about Milwaukee’s future as a technology hub.
Editorial: Waisman Whirl for all abilities
The Waisman Center at the UW Madison is such a special place doing such extraordinary research into human development and developmental disabilities that one could view its work as out of the reach of average citizens.
Arboretum program enhances community — Laura Green
We are very fortunate to have the UW-Madison Arboretum right here in Madison.
Column: Professors are right — taking notes by hand leads to greater comprehension, learning
Though banning laptops seems juvenile, taking notes by hand eliminates distractions, making lectures more conducive for learning.
Trump’s Irresponsible Denial of Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Deaths
President Trump provoked outrage on Twitter and in the media in mid-September with his tweets that denied the death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria in 2017 and blamed Democrats for artificially elevating it.
Plain Talk: Watch your step at Camp Randall
So when I saw the story the other day that the Athletic Department is contemplating another multimillion-dollar renovation of Camp Randall, I wondered if there were a few bucks in the package to install railings on the aisles. Most every other stadium has them.
Women silent on sexual assaults
When Christine Blasey Ford came forward to report that President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, sexually assaulted her in 1982, you could cue the response: Why didn’t she speak out then? Why didn’t she go to the police?
-OtherWords columnist Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in San Diego.
Column: UW protest guidelines too broad to be effective, may inhibit peaceful protest on campus
In short, the university is trying to make sure no one’s right to expression is infringed upon. But in doing so, does that not infringe upon the free speech of others?
Column: Diversifying UW faculty will create more effective, conducive learning environment for minority students
Fufilling faculty diversification initiative brings first hand experience without pressuring marginalized student populations.
Column: Why you should join UW College Democrats
It isn’t a secret that Democrats underperformed in 2016. Since then, however, progressives have been making a strong comeback.
Column: Why you should join UW College Republicans
On a campus in one of the most liberal cities in the nation, one might be surprised to find one of the most robust College Republican chapters in the nation.
Tim Nuckles: Walker’s $5K will do nothing to stem brain drain
Letter to the editor: The answer to why young, educated Wisconsin residents are leaving the state is right in front of his nose — because they are young and educated. It’s really that simple. And petty bribes in the form of income tax credits won’t change a thing because the roots of the mass exodus run deeper than this governor would ever allow himself to admit.
Column: University Housing offers overpriced options compared to other large universities
More than 2,000 students each year live in the infamous Sellery and Witte Residence Halls. Not only are these halls unsanitary and conventionally unattractive, they are in many ways unsafe.
Supreme elitism: What if we had a Badger on the big bench?
Noted: And University of Wisconsin political science professor Howard Schweber points out that this is the first court in history in which every member had been a judge and none has held elective office. He also says that the court hasn’t had a justice who had represented a criminal defendant since Thurgood Marshall, who died in 1991.
How will we feed 9 billion people expected by 2050? Soil health is key
I first met UW-Madison’s Soil Scientist Francisco Arriaga this summer at an Uplands Watershed Group Farm Tour in Spring Green. He demonstrated how to do a water infiltration test and, standing in a large pit, showed the difference in soils between a conventionally farmed plot and a no-tilled one with a cover crop.
Editorial: Keep Bucky on Parade going
MADISON, Wis. – Wednesday, one of Madison’s most successful public arts projects comes to an end with the conclusion of Bucky on Parade.
Column: In light of Nike’s Kaepernick ad campaign, students should be wary of ‘performative progressiveness’ coming from corporations
On a liberal campus like UW, students should be aware of implications of their support for corporations trying to save face.
Column: Influx of Foxconn workers may damage job quality for skilled Wisconsinites
Given that Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is so low, it’s time to discuss the quality of Foxconn’s jobs.
Column: Chryst’s punishment of Davis for involvement in sexual assault fails to meet moral standards
University’s suspension of Davis does not equate to moral, just punishment for his actions.
Column: While in ‘Red Zone,’ UW needs to reexamine their sexual assault prevention education
The beginning of a new semester marks the commencement of another “Red Zone”: The term some people use to refer to the first few weeks of school each year during which more cases of sexual assault are reported than any other period of the year.
Editorial: It was the summer of Bucky love
Even in the most contentious of times, when tumult rules and vitriol pushes harmony aside, some days all we need is a little Bucky love.
States’ decision to reduce support for higher education comes at a cost
It’s college rankings season, and if you look at the top of the listings from U.S. News & World Report to the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education, you’ll notice one thing missing: state universities. Despite the fact that 8 in 10 undergraduates attend a public college or university, very few of those schools crack the top 20 in many of the popular rankings.
Letter to the Editor: UW teaches terrorism through racist lens, narrow perspective
Backlash against syllabus for political science 347 shows need for teaching classes through wider perspective.
Column: The best way to change future is to understand history
An American history course requirement could foster a wider understanding of the present day in all its nuance
Letter to the editor: Your country needs your passion and your vote this November
Fall is here. School is back in session. The election — maybe your first, and maybe the most important of your life so far — is just weeks away. If you care about where your hometown, your state and your country are headed, this is your moment.
Editorial: Back to school
The University of Wisconsin-Madison last week sent out contact information for experts on issues related to the annual return to school, and the range of topics covered struck us as such a good checklist we thought we’d share it with you.
If Nike Is Serious About Oppression Against People of Color, They Should Pay Their Own Workers
Quoted: “by coining and investing in the Girl Effect, the Nike Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm, “gave it authority and made it catchy,” says Kathryn Moeller, an assistant professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is writing a book about the Girl Effect.
Inside Wisconsin: As Wisconsin’s corporate ‘new kid,’ Foxconn motivating right playmates
The Foxconn-led fund was one of two major announcements within two days, the first being its plan to invest $100-million in the UW-Madison College of Engineering for interdisciplinary research. The university will match that amount over time.
Paul Fanlund: Here’s the program — get tickets to Cap Times Idea Fest!
If you’re like me, Labor Day provides an impetus to start mapping a plan for fall weekends.
Brighouse: Tips from students to help improve your teaching
The first recommendation of the American Academy’s recent report “The Future of Undergraduate Education” is simple: we should work to improve undergraduate instruction.
UW donation a good deal for Foxconn — Richard Nawratil
Foxconn has donated $100 million to UW-Madison. Gov. Scott Walker and the rest of the GOP are so proud.
Here out west, ‘smoke season’ keeps getting worse
Right now, much of the west is affected by wildfires.An unlucky minority will have to evacuate their homes, and some will lose their homes altogether — or even their lives. But for millions more across the west, “smoke season” is a real thing.
—OtherWords columnist Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in San Diego. Distributed by www.OtherWords.org.
Foxconn ‘gift’ is really Trojan horse — Benjamin Olneck-Brown
Chancellor Blank and other university leaders should see the giant strings attached to this gift and proceed with tremendous caution. In fact, they would do well to consult with faculty and students in UW-Madison’s highly ranked classics department. The Trojan horse was presented as a gift as well.
Officials, scientists keep their eyes on lake levels as another rainstorm approaches
“(Even) if we get a little bit more rain,” said University of Wisconsin assistant research scientist and hydrologist Eric Booth, “It’s still going to add to this massive water that is slowly moving through the system and creating more problems.”
Editorial: Foxconn, UW-Madison pushing the boundaries of knowledge
In the midst of political squabbling over state subsidies for the Racine County plant, Foxconn has continued to press forward with strategic investments in some of Wisconsin’s most valuable assets, including collaborating with the UW in, as Chancellor Rebecca Blank put it, “pushing the boundaries of knowledge.” We welcome the partnership.
Editorial: Foxconn’s impact spreads all across Wisconsin
And now, Madison. Add it to the growing list of communities across Wisconsin that are sharing in the economic surge brought by Foxconn’s immense plans for its $10 billion Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park; construction is underway on the Mount Pleasant campus that will build ultra-high-definition display panels for use in medicine, self-driving vehicles, security and television sets.
Leckrone deserves Camp Randall statue — David Pagel
The day always comes. But UW-Madison Marching Band director Michael Leckrone’s announced retirement is cause for sadness.
Nada Elmikashfi: Youth vote will be out in force in November
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.
Fabu: African-Americans are still looking for R-E-S-P-E-C-T
The debate on renaming spaces in Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was fundamentally about respect for African-Americans. Memorial Union’s Porter Butts Gallery and Fredric March Play Circle were both named for 1920s alumni who belonged to the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK was a terrorist group that Confederate veterans created in 1865 during the Reconstruction of the South after the Civil War, to rescind all legal rights of African-Americans through fear, intimidation, murder and legal statutes. The KKK at its height of popularity had members in every echelon: governors, senators, mayors, law enforcement.
Kathleen Teschan Lueders: Porter Butts and the persecution of a dead man
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Union Council recently voted to remove the names of Porter Butts and Frederic March from spaces in Memorial Union after learning the two men “belonged” to the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. Raising the question of their association to the Klan was understandable and appropriate.
Yackee: The Trump administration might be deregulating more than you know (or could know)
Since President Trump took office last year, his administration has been working to undo many Obama-era regulations affecting clean water, national parks, energy production and more. Most recently, President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has proposed weakening Obama-era regulations on coal-fired power plants.
Better never than late
Every Badgers football season it’s the same. The student section fills up slowly for each game and older fans grumble about it. Players and coaches plead with them to get there on time. There are often even angry letters to the editor.
Journal Times editorial: Self-fertilizing corn potential game-changer
Chalk one up for Mother Nature.With an assist from the farmers of Oaxaca, Mexico; Mars candy company and researchers at the University of California-Davis and our own University of Wisconsin-Madison.We’re talking about growing corn. Something near and dear to Wisconsin farmers. And corn, of course, requires nitrogen — an essential ingredient for plant growth.
Tom Oates: UW has chance to show it truly does athletics the right way
No matter what happens, UW must send a strong message because there is more at stake here than the success of the football program.
University of Wisconsin researchers unearth nitrogen-fixing corn
When I was in graduate school in the early 1980s, I remember hearing Winston Brill, a professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on the radio. Brill was predicting that in the coming years we would develop corn capable of incorporating nitrogen from the air into its tissues, reducing this important crop’s hunger for soil-applied fertilizers.
University of Wisconsin researchers unearth nitrogen-fixing corn
In recent days, we learned that UW-Madison scientists in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, along with their colleagues at the University of California, Davis and Mars Inc., discovered indigenous varieties of corn capable of cooperating with bacteria to fix up to 80% of the nitrogen that the crop needs.
Joseph Ohler, Jr.: UW-Oshkosh Foundation holds UW System to double standard
It surprises me that the UW-Oshkosh Foundation would sue the UW System and its Regents for a poor business decision that the foundation itself had made.
The response of liberals to a left-wing poet should concern everyone in academe
Yet, from the public censure of left-wing poet Anders Carlson-Wee, you would think that the zombified corpses of Joseph McCarthy and his legion of followers have returned to roam Twitter in pantsuits and safety pins. The poet’s case is pretty straightforward. He wrote a poem told from the perspective of a homeless person. It was meant to highlight the intersectional plights of this marginalized demographic and how the homeless have to prostitute their afflictions to get attention from people on the street. The tidal wave of outrage that drowned Carlson-Wee rested on his use of African American Vernacular English and the word “crippled.”
Adam Szetela is a Ph.D. student in the sociology department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Wisconsin students need civics education now more than ever
The University of Wisconsin-Madison requires three orientation programs for all new students; an alcohol awareness seminar, a violence prevention program, and a diversity-inclusion program.
The response of liberals to a left-wing poet should concern everyone in academe
When I was a professor of American studies at Berklee College of Music, I taught courses on social problems. (Adam Szetela is a Ph.D. student in the sociology department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.)