When Chancellor Biddy Martin announced in this month?s issue of Madison Magazine her initiative to revamp the University of Wisconsin?s financial model and related partnership with the state and Board of Regents, tuition increases were presented as an unavoidable part of the plan.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison professor of political science.
Prosecutors in Minnesota and Wisconsin are investigating dozens of cases in which voters may have illegally cast ballots in both states in the 2008 presidential election. The number in question is a tiny fraction of the 5.9 million ballots cast in the two states, which both have same-day voter registration. But it represents the first look at a practice that some activists feared was widespread, particularly among thousands of college students who live in one state and go to school in the other.
One day before Wisconsin?s primaries, Time Magazine?s political columnist and blogger Joe Klein will stop by UW-Madison to talk about the election season.
As Wisconsin seeks to join the legal battle over the injunction halting federal funding for stem cell research, it seems Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen will be sitting this decision out.
A constant complaint among Wisconsin state budget planners for the past several decades is how little the state gets back from the taxes its residents send to Washington.
Because it has only a couple of small military bases and a relatively small federal work force, the state has historically been locked into receiving about 80 to 85 cents back for every $1 that the taxpayers pay in federal taxes.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a UW-Madison economist
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political science professor and polling expert.
Noted: UW Madison?s Research Park.
Governor Doyle and UW officials are absolutely right to join the effort to appeal a recent federal court ruling that has stopped major stem cell research dead in its tracks. Sometimes you wonder if it?s worth the effort to devote resources to issues being decided at the federal level, but the impacts of this ruling on the state of Wisconsin, and the citizens of the state of Wisconsin are too significant to ignore.
Chancellor Biddy Martin emphasized the importance of the University of Wisconsin gaining more independence to decide important issues like tuition increases to a student government group Wednesday night.
Saying the U.S. Senate race should not be decided by television advertisements alone, Sen. Russ Feingold announced Wednesday that he?s accepted invitations to participate in six debates.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, UW-Madison professor of political science
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.
Gov. Jim Doyle came out in support of embryonic stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin Tuesday, vowing to fight a recent injunction halting federal funding for facilities across the country that perform stem cell research.
Gov. Jim Doyle said a court ruling blocking funding for embryonic stem cell research could be detrimental to Wisconsin?s growing biotechnology industry
Wisconsin will “move forward on every legal front we can” to overturn a court ruling that has blocked federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday.
Wisconsin will “move forward on every legal front we can” to overturn a court ruling that has blocked federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday.D oyle said the injunction entered by a federal judge in Washington last month could cripple Wisconsin?s growing bioscience industry and stop the search for cures for disease. Doyle spoke at the Waisman Center, where UW-Madison scientists using stem cells to study ways to treat eye disorders and Down syndrome expect to immediately lose grants totaling $400,000. UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin said two dozen university researchers have been affected by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth?s decision, and jobs and millions of dollars are at stake.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political science professor and polling expert.
With research grants on hold and dozens of scientists uncertain about ongoing experiments, Gov. Jim Doyle and UW-Madison officials said Tuesday that a recent federal court ruling that halts federally funded work with human embryonic stem cells is a serious threat that both the state and the university intend to fight. “There is an incredible amount of uncertainty,” Doyle said at a press conference at UW-Madison?s Waisman Center, where researchers are relying on stem cells to study maladies such as vision problems and Down syndrome. As they await the outcome of legal challenges, as many as two dozen UW-Madison stem cell researchers face costly disruptions in their efforts to test the cells? power to cure human ailments such as juvenile diabetes and spinal injuries, Chancellor Biddy Martin said at the news conference.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor and founder of pollster.com.
Governor Jim Doyle says Wisconsin will do anything it can to restore funding for embryonic stem cell research.
The state joins national efforts to ensure that federal funding is available for stem cell researchers in Wisconsin, so says Governor Jim Doyle at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Wisconsin is the only state that requires a buttermaker license, and it?s an arduous process to get one. It may soon get easier for would-be buttermakers throughout Wisconsin. In January, the state Agriculture Board approved a scope statement to propose revising the licensing of buttermakers. Such a change would provide more flexible training and education options for potential buttermakers. Current regulations require an apprenticeship of up to two years. Proposed rules would bring that down to 120 hours. Part of the new process would also involve a new Buttermakers Short Course, the first of which will be held Sept. 14-16 at UW-Madison through the Center for Dairy Research. The course is full.
When President Barack Obama arrives in Milwaukee for Monday?s Laborfest rally, he?ll be confronted by another troubling economic report that shows the toll the Great Recession has taken on America?s workers.
Only, this report isn?t national – it?s local.
Wisconsin has lost 155,200 jobs since the December 2007 start of the recession, according to a paper to be published Monday by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy.Researchers at the nonprofit think tank based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison document the recession?s impact, as well as longer-term job trends, in a biennial survey, “The State of Working Wisconsin 2010.”
Quoted: University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Franklin.
Noted: Researchers at UW-Madison are helping create what will ultimately be the most complete census of Wisconsin bats ever compiled.
More than 11% of Wisconsin?s residents – including one in seven children – lived in poverty in 2008, according to the second Wisconsin Poverty Report. Authors of the report, to be published Thursday, said they created a new Wisconsin-specific measure of poverty.
Wisconsinites, it turns out, have been paying attention to schools, except in one interesting way.
That we have been paying attention is heartening news out of that big survey this summer by University of Wisconsin-Madison political science guru Ken Goldstein. The headline from the survey was that a solid majority – 62% statewide, 68% in Milwaukee – believe the state?s “best and brightest” leave to find work. Presumably soured on who is left, a supermajority are either frustrated or angry at state government.
The meteor that lit up the sky of southern Wisconsin on April 14 and created an international buzz now has a name. The Meteoritical Society has aptly named it the Mifflin Meteorite, named after the town on which many of the pieces were found. The area is about 65 miles west of Madison in Iowa County just south of Montfort. The event drew meteorite hunters from around the country, national news organizations and researchers from UW-Madison and the Field Museum of Chicago.
A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court?s ruling that the University of Wisconsin-Madison must pay for student activities involving prayer, worship and proselytizing. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision Wednesday that the university?s policy of turning down funding requests from student groups for such activities violates their First Amendment right to free speech.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.
Noted: A recent UW-Madison study showing that of the roughly 5,000 immigrants working on dairy farms, about half are here illegally.
A court ruling earlier this week that throws federal funding for embryonic stem cell research into question could be devastating to UW-Madison researchers but may provide an unexpected boost for Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
Barrett pounced on the ruling, issuing a strongly worded statement on Tuesday in support of stem cell research while also ripping his Republican opponents, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former Congressman Mark Neumann, who oppose federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a professor of applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In a debate with his Republican primary opponent Scott Walker, Milwaukee County executive, former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann said he could add 250,000 jobs by having the University of Wisconsin System work more closely with businesses to create research hubs similar to what is being done in North Carolina.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett blasted his Republican challengers Wednesday for not supporting embryonic stem cell research, dusting off campaign rhetoric that resonated with voters four years ago. Barrett drew applause when he spoke out in support of the research at a biotech conference in Middleton, saying some of the best scientists in the world are doing such work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Dennis Dresang, professor of political science and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
With a final summer vacation out of the way and the start of the 2010-11 academic year quickly approaching, it?s time to catch up on a couple higher education-related items.
** UW-Madison was given the green light last week by the Board of Regents to ink a bigger and better deal with Adidas to outfit the university?s 23 sports teams. This new five-year contract is worth about $11 million.
** Biddy Martin states her case for a “new partnership between (UW-Madison) and the state” in a piece that appears in the September issue of Madison Magazine.
** You can bet UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez is paying attention to a creative fundraising tactic being promoted by the University of Nebraska.
One of the few benefits of the sluggish economy is that traffic death rates both nationwide and in Wisconsin have dropped to historic lows.
?People stay a little closer to home when times are tough,? says Maj. Dan Lonsdorf, director of the state Bureau of Transportation Safety. And that, he says, translates into fewer miles traveled, fewer crashes and fewer deaths.
Quoted: UW-Madison traffic specialist David Noyce, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents has adopted a new policy for hiring top-level officials on an interim basis following a controversy surrounding a Gov. Jim Doyle aide getting a $245,000 a year job.The board also has agreed to a new, more lucrative contract with adidas.
The state Department of Health Services cited the University of Wisconsin Hospital for four deficiencies after a syringe was reused on a second person, requiring at least one patient to undergo testing for infectious diseases.
Gov. Jim Doyle warned the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents on Thursday that more tough economic times are ahead, but encouraged board members to stay focused on making education affordable. Doyle spoke to regents after they passed a resolution honoring his commitment to higher education over his eight years as governor.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents has approved a budget request that includes more than $22 million targeted to boost undergraduate enrollment by 5,900. However, regents and Madison campus chancellor Biddy Martin expressed concerns that the budget proposal as passed Thursday does not include an estimate of how much it will cost to meet current expenses. New spending is more than $83 million.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents on Thursday approved a budget request that includes $77 million from a variety of sources to build an athletic performance center. The request, which comes just five years after a $109.5-million expansion of Camp Randall Stadium, does not involve any tax dollars. It must be approved by the Legislature next year before it takes effect.
A budget proposal for the University of Wisconsin System would spend more overall in the next two years, but some new students would enroll at UW campuses with less state money backing them.
The change in the cost-per-student formula is an attempt by UW System President Kevin Reilly to convince state lawmakers that his goal of producing 80,000 new degree holders in Wisconsin over the next 15 years can be done at a lower cost per student than UW has spent in the past. Some chancellors worry that if the cheaper cost-per-student doesn?t come with more flexibility for chancellors to spend the state dollars they?re getting, they might not be able to meet the goal of producing so many new degree holders.
“Quality of education is going to go down if you do this,” UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin said. “I think we?re setting ourselves up to make promises we can?t keep to the people of Wisconsin.”
A new ?Badger Partnership? would provide a world-class education to even more students, reduce the burden on the state budget and maintain UW?Madison?s status as one of the best public universities in the world. A column by UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin.
Gov. Jim Doyle warned the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents on Thursday that more tough economic times are ahead, but encouraged board members to stay focused on making education affordable.
Noted: Maria Alvarez-Stroud, a UW-Extension official who is directing the initiative.
Following some small but steady gains on the jobs front earlier this year, Wisconsin went the other way in June, losing another 8,200 jobs, according to the Center on Wisconsin Strategy?s monthly report. Wisconsin has added 34,000 non-farm positions since December 2009, welcome news for a state that had been hemorrhaging jobs for the better part of two years.
But the number of jobs fell again in the April to June period, erasing some of the earlier momentum. Wisconsin is now down 162,000 jobs since the recession began in 2007, with the state?s job base sitting 5.6 percent below its pre-recession level.
“The severity of this recession stands out when compared to the three most recent downturns of 2001, 1990, and even that of 1981,” says COWS, a liberal UW-Madison think tank. “Despite the increase in jobs starting at the beginning of this year, jobs fell yet again in June and we have a long way to climb to reach pre-recession levels.”
…as the Great Recession drags on, that is indeed the question: What can Madison really do to grow its economy and generate enough jobs to keep the region thriving? For an area formerly insulated from economic realities thanks to the University of Wisconsin and state government, it?s a critical discussion.
Over the past five years, the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises Dane, Columbia and Iowa counties, has lost nearly 11,000 private-sector jobs, or more than 4 percent of the area?s total non-government positions. From high-tech medical equipment maker TomoTherapy to high-end appliance maker Sub-Zero Freezer, few local companies have been spared the pain, whether it?s layoffs, pay freezes or threats to send jobs to other states.
And while there were still 84,400 government jobs here as of June 2010, roughly one-fourth of the total employment in the area, that may change too. With politicians of all stripes vowing to cut spending ? Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett even boasts about “putting Madison on a diet” ? the number of public jobs here could well drop.
Wisconsin?s financial aid programs need more money and more clarity. That was the message that a special legislative committee heard Tuesday as it started a review of Wisconsin?s grant and loan programs for college students. UW-Madison financial aid researcher Sara Goldrick-Rab says there is so much uncertainty around aid programs that students can?t count on them.
When it comes to the University of Wisconsin System, Gov. Jim Doyle?s legacy includes increasing financial aid and access, supporting groundbreaking research and constructing new buildings, his colleagues say. But the governor will also be remembered for managing the university system through economic downturns, making deep budget cuts, allowing tuition to rise and furloughing faculty and staff while their compensation dipped. The Board of Regents, which governs the system of 13 two-year colleges and 13 four-year universities, on Thursday plans to salute Doyle?s commitment to higher education as he prepares to leave office after 8 years.
The University of Wisconsin System will ask lawmakers for $22.6 million to boost undergraduate enrollment by 5,900 over two years through better retention and recruitment, according to a budget document released Monday.
When it comes to the University of Wisconsin System, Gov. Jim Doyle?s legacy includes increasing financial aid and access, supporting groundbreaking research and constructing new buildings, his colleagues say.
The University of Wisconsin System will ask lawmakers for $22.6 million to boost undergraduate enrollment by 5,900 over two years through better retention and recruitment, according to a budget document released Monday. The plan calls for hiring additional instructors, academic advisers and others to teach and serve the extra students. But the money would also pay for programs proven to help retain students, such as first-year seminars and undergraduate research projects, UW System spokesman David Giroux said.
The small woman in blue tennis shoes sat in her wheelchair and smiled as people leaned in to hug her. She smiled when the mayor of Madison and governor of Wisconsin saluted her. And she smiled as the cameras clicked while she held the wooden plaque signifying her induction into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Andy Reschovsky.
Forbes released its third annual list of “America?s Best Colleges” on Wednesday. In a nutshell, Wisconsin isn?t home to any of the best-of-the-best institutions according to these rankings, with Lawrence University in Appleton (No. 50) the only school cracking Forbes? Top 100. UW-Madison checked in at No. 212, meaning it didn?t rank among the top third of the 610 schools listed.
At Jacob Searls Cranberry Co. in Cranmoor, Barrett learned about the cranberry-growing process, witnessing firsthand the issues facing Wisconsin?s agricultural sector.
“Cranberries in particular are a huge part of the state?s economy,” said Tom Barrett, mayor of Milwaukee. “It?s very important for me to make sure this industry stays strong.”
He also pointed to Searls? partnerships with Rutgers University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to support industrywide research and development projects.
