The University of Wisconsin-Madison will face $320 million in pandemic-related losses by the time the current fiscal year ends in June, Chancellor Rebecca Blank said Thursday.
Blank: UW-Madison Faces $320 Million Pandemic Loss by June
AP
Category: Top Stories
If approved, UW capital budget would allow new L&S building, Humanities demolition by 2030
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison hopes to remove two residence halls, relocate 10 departments and programs and ultimately tear down the obsolete Mosse Humanities Building by 2030.
UW applications up 17%, international interest reflecting national rebound
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison received a record 53,800 freshmen applications this year, with increases among in-state, domestic and international students.
Unbeaten Badgers volleyball team pauses all activities for 14 days due to COVID-19 cases within the program
Wisconsin State Journal
The Badgers, who have been ranked No. 1 throughout the season, announced the season has been put on pause for two weeks because of multiple exposures to COVID-19.
Gov. Tony Evers wants $2.4 billion for state building projects, nearly half for UW System
Wisconsin State Journal
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wants to spend about $2.4 billion over the next two years on state building projects, with about $1 billion of the proposed money going to the University of Wisconsin System.
With COVID-19 cases rising at UW-Madison, officials issue warning to students
Wisconsin State Journal
The first month of UW-Madison’s semester last fall saw nearly 1,900 on-campus student COVID-19 cases, two dorm quarantines, at least one hospitalization and a public rebuke by Dane County’s top leader.
Tommy Thompson: 75 Percent Of UW’s Fall Classes Will Be In-Person
Wisconsin Public Radio
At least three-fourths of all University of Wisconsin System classes will be in-person this fall according to system interim President Tommy Thompson.
As COVID-19 vaccines roll out, Thompson sets goal of 75% of courses in person on UW campuses in fall
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin System interim President Tommy Thompson told campus chancellors to aim to have at least 75% of their courses in person next fall, with the hope that COVID-19 vaccines will allow a return to some normalcy.
UW-Madison claims nearly $31 billion in annual economic impact to Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison and its affiliated entities are an economic engine contributing $30.8 billion a year to the Wisconsin economy, according to a new report commissioned by the university and funded by UW Foundation.
New CDC guidance on masks cites UW-Madison invention, research
The Capital Times
New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages Americans to make their masks work better by tightening their fit, including by using a simple, homemade tool designed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
‘Financial disaster’: UW System campuses show $317.7 million in lost revenue, added expenses from COVID-19 in 2020
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
New figures show the University of Wisconsin System saw $317.7 million in lost revenue and additional expenses between March and December as universities continue to weather the widespread budgetary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Facing ‘financial disaster’ from COVID-19, UW System pushes for borrowing ability
Wisconsin State Journal
COVID-19 has caused the “biggest financial disaster” the university has ever seen, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said. Through federal stimulus money, furloughs, pay cuts for leadership, travel restrictions and targeted budget cuts to different units, Blank said she’s optimistic the financial gap can be resolved over the next two years. But she also renewed her case for giving the university borrowing authority.
UW Arboretum designated as National Historic Landmark
Wisconsin State Journal
UW said the designation is based on the Arboretum’s “pioneering work in restoration ecology, its place in the history of conservation, and its commitment to Aldo Leopold’s land ethic.”
UW nursing, pharmacy students join effort to bring vaccines to rural areas
The Capital Times
Over 200 University of Wisconsin nursing and pharmacy students have volunteered to help administer COVID-19 vaccines at statewide mobile clinics in local high-need areas.
UW-Madison’s research rank, once among top 5 in US, remains in 8th place for 2nd year
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison ranked eighth in research spending among hundreds of institutions in the latest year — again falling outside the top echelon where it had perched for decades — according to the latest figures by the National Science Foundation.
UW online MBA program stays in national top ten, engineering improves ranking
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin MBA Consortium maintained its standing as the nation’s tenth-best online MBA program this year, while UW-Madison’s online master’s in engineering increased in rank, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2021 rankings.
UW-Madison asks for patience as new COVID-19 testing program comes with learning curve
Wisconsin State Journal
In one of the first campus-wide emails of the new year, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank shared some new, slightly odd wisdom for the semester ahead: “Pool your drool.”
Can universities manufacture a post-industrial future for the Midwest?
Times Higher Education
Rebecca Blank, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that Madison’s thriving industries, such as biotechnology, software and gaming, are “areas that are basically all very much rooted in both the students who graduate from here and the faculty and the research work that we do here”.
UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank: Up to 70,000 tests per week will help protect our campus and community
Wisconsin State Journal
As we prepare to resume classes, we’re going to continue doing our part to curb the spread of the virus. We learned from experience that a high degree of testing, followed by quickly isolating and quarantining those who test positive or were exposed, is key to limiting that spread.
UW-Madison student creates educational board game to ‘light the star’ in refugee children
Wisconsin State Journal
Shaped by his experience growing up and getting his education in a refugee camp in Uganda, UW-Madison student Joel Baraka spent years developing a way to help children back home learn in a fun and engaging way.
UW prepares to ramp up testing capacity with smartphone app, 12 new testing locations
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is gearing up to drastically expand testing for spring semester, with more rigorous requirements, 14 testing locations and a mandatory smartphone app.
First UW-Madison employees, students receive COVID-19 vaccine
WISC-TV 3
The University of Wisconsin-Madison administered its first round of COVID-19 vaccines to eligible employees and students on Tuesday. The vaccine was given to employees and students, such as Eden Charles, who work directly with COVID-19 patients and directly with the virus and virus samples.
UW-Madison receives its first COVID-19 vaccines
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison received its first COVID-19 vaccines on Monday and plans to begin inoculating some employees as soon as Tuesday.
It Spied on Soviet Atomic Bombs. Now It’s Solving Ecological Mysteries.
The New York Times
“They counted every rocket in the Soviet Union,” said Volker Radeloff, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison whose lab has used the images in its studies. “These images kept the Cold War cold.”
UW leader pledges return to in-person learning this spring
Associated Press
Atop University of Wisconsin System official said Monday that students will be allowed to return to campus for the spring semester and take more in-person courses, hoping that more robust COVID-19 testing will help stave off the outbreaks that forced the system to turn to online-only instruction a few weeks into the fall semester.
UW campuses may serve as COVID-19 vaccine distribution hubs
Wisconsin State Journal
UW Board of Regents President Drew Petersen said the idea is under discussion with the federal government, given how well he said the System rolled out free COVID-19 testing to the community through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
UW-Madison to use mandatory testing, phone app to keep campus safe in spring
WKOW-TV 27
Testing will be required at UW-Madison as students return to campus in January. Every student will have to be tested twice weekly. “The goal of this mandatory testing is to identify cases sooner, so folks can take precautions, stop the spread,” said UW-Madison spokesperson Meredith McGlone.
UW-Madison’s fall reopening: A story of success, failure or simply survival?
Wisconsin State Journal
When COVID-19 cases skyrocketed in early September, Chancellor Rebecca Blank knew she had to try something. So on Sept. 9, the fifth day of classes, when the university reported 404 infections of the nearly 5,300 it would accumulate by the end of the semester, she announced a two-week lockdown for two large dorms and a campus-wide pause on face-to-face instruction. “A lot of people thought that we would never recover from that,” she said in an interview on Friday, the final day of the semester. “More than one person has come up to me and said, ‘I thought we’d never get back to in-person classes. I thought you’d have to send everyone home.’ And, you know, we did recover from that.”
COVID-19 vaccination ramps up in Wisconsin but will take months
Wisconsin State Journal
UW Health expected to vaccinate 250 employees against COVID-19 by Wednesday and SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital anticipated immunizing about 500, as a weeks-long effort to inoculate Wisconsin’s 450,000 health care workers and nursing home residents against the coronavirus before others can get the injections started to ramp up.
COVID-19 drives surge in applications at UW medical school
The Capital Times
Medical school applications are at an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the University of Wisconsin is no exception. In fact, it’s exceeding national trends.
UW Health workers among first in state to get COVID-19 vaccine
Wisconsin State Journal
Ten UW Health employees on Monday were among the first people in Wisconsin to get the nation’s first approved vaccine against COVID-19, as 3,900 doses of Pfizer’s inoculation arrived at UW Hospital in ultra-cold freezers, offering a glimmer of hope against the pandemic.
Wisconsin’s tuition freeze squeezes its campuses tighter than other states have, report says
Wisconsin State Journal
Few states controlled tuition at their public universities as tightly as Wisconsin has done in recent years and the handful that did offset the squeeze with some additional state money, according to a new report released Tuesday.
UW Health receives first COVID-19 vaccine shipment; first employees get vaccinated
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
On the day U.S. deaths from COVID-19 surpassed 300,000, respiratory therapist Tina Schubert became the first UW Health employee and one of the first Wisconsinites to be inoculated with the vaccine made by Pfizer and the German biotechnology firm BioNTech.
Report: Wisconsin’s public colleges are falling behind as state funds lag and enrollment drops
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A new report on the financial health of Wisconsin’s state universities and technical colleges found lagging state investment, enrollment challenges and — for University of Wisconsin schools — an ongoing tuition freeze as some of several factors threatening their competitiveness.
UW Hospital receives first COVID-19 vaccine shipment
The Capital Times
UW Hospital began vaccinating frontline health care workers on Monday after the hospital received thousands of doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the beginning of an effort to tamp down the pandemic.
Wisconsin expects first batch of COVID-19 vaccines soon, general public may not see it until mid-2021
Wisconsin State Journal
St. Mary’s Hospital and UW Health, both in Madison, will operate as regional distribution hubs for the Pfizer vaccine. “These vaccines will be going to frontline healthcare workers first, and there are still uncertainties around the quantities we’ll get and the timing of their arrival,” Matt Anderson, senior medical director of ambulatory operations with UW Health, said in a statement. “The public must remain diligent as it will not be widely available anytime soon.”
UW-Madison has a new cutting edge home for sausage, bacon, steak and innovation
Wisconsin State Journal
No longer sequestered in an aging building in a space that was about equal to a garage with a few chest freezers, Bucky’s Varsity Meats, formally Bucky’s Butchery, has a shiny new home with a glistening meat counter, several glass doors for refrigerated and frozen products and bunkers filled with hot dogs, snack sticks and tubes of summer sausage.
Madison tops Money.com’s ‘Best Places to Retire’ rankings
Wisconsin State Journal
Money noted the benefits of UW-Madison, including that people 60 and older can audit courses for free; our “bustling restaurant scene and free events,” such as Concerts on the Square and the Dane County Farmers’ Market; the city’s art institutions, and attractions like the Madison’s Children Museum and Henry Vilas Zoo for entertaining young relatives.
Joe Biden’s pick for UN ambassador has ties to UW-Madison
Wisconsin State Journal
Linda Thomas-Greenfield earned a master’s degree in public administration from UW-Madison in 1975, has spoken at African Studies Program events and launched the university’s Young African Leaders Initiative, which brings two dozen African leaders to campus for several weeks.
UW encourages students to reduce travel, stay home until spring semester
The Capital Times
As students leave campus for Thanksgiving break, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is encouraging them to stay at their permanent residences through the remainder of the semester and winter break.
UW-Madison launches free rapid coronavirus testing for all community members
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will begin offering free rapid COVID-19 testing to all community members Thursday as part of a federally funded initiative.
Making a Difference: UW volunteers help locate and bring remains of America’s missing heroes home
NBC-15
Working in tandem with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the volunteers with the University of Wisconsin Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project (UW MIA RIP) work to locate and repatriate the remains of American military members unaccounted for.
‘We don’t want to repeat what happened’: CDC joins in probe of Badgers COVID-19 outbreak
Wisconsin State Journal
UW researchers are analyzing the viral samples to determine whether there was one point of introduction that led to the spread or if the outbreak included multiple clusters of the virus. That could take weeks to find out because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now involved in the analysis of the outbreak.
UW-Madison mandates testing for 2 dorms on Monday as campus COVID-19 cases rise
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison required residents of two large dorms to get tested Monday as the number of COVID-19 cases on campus rises to a level unseen since September.
Inside UW Hospital’s growing COVID-19 unit, patient fates are uncertain
Wisconsin State Journal
As of Friday, 57 COVID-19 patients were at the hospital, including 16 in intensive care, quadruple the volume from six weeks earlier. If Wisconsin’s coronavirus surge doesn’t turn around, the hospital may soon have to place infected patients in pre-op waiting areas or operating rooms, said Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer for UW Health.
UW System enrollment declines, but not as bad as many expected during COVID-19 pandemic
Wisconsin State Journal
Enrollment at most University of Wisconsin campuses dropped again from last school year, a reflection of both the declining number of traditional high school students for colleges to recruit and the pandemic’s effect on college students.
Free federal ‘surge’ testing coming to Wisconsin through UW campuses
Wisconsin State Journal
Testing sites will be set up at every University of Wisconsin System campus, including two-year campuses that are often located in more rural areas of the state. Most sites are scheduled to open up next week.
UW System to launch federal COVID-19 surge testing
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin System will pioneer a new, federally funded testing plan by providing 250,000 COVID-19 tests at on-campus sites as early as Thursday.
Why the Supreme Court probably won’t help Trump’s reelection fate
Politico
“I wouldn’t want to speculate on how the Court would rule, but the argument that voters relied on the rules in place on and before Election Day – and should therefore have their votes counted – is very strong,” said Dan Tokaji, dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School.
No. 10 Wisconsin football’s game against Purdue canceled; 27 active COVID-19 cases in program
Wisconsin State Journal
The program announced Tuesday it canceled this Saturday’s game against Purdue, marking its second straight cancellation after last week’s game at Nebraska also was wiped out due to the outbreak.
What went wrong at Wisconsin: Daily COVID-19 testing was supposed to protect Big Ten football from outbreaks
Wisconsin State Journal
University of Wisconsin football coach Paul Chryst had completed his daily testing for the COVID-19 virus by early afternoon Oct. 23. Chryst’s result came back negative that Friday, as did every other rapid-response antigen test from a group that included his staff, players and other game-day personnel.
UW campuses grapple with whether reopening led to community spread of COVID-19
Wisconsin State Journal
“It is impossible to think that anything that could happen in a school could happen without echoes in the larger community,” UW-Madison pathology professor David O’Connor said. “The question is: how large are those echoes?”
I’ll be back…with lunch: Rolling robots terminate hunger pangs
The Capital Times
Mason Crooks was hungry. As he does for lunch about three times a week, the University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman grabbed his phone in his room at Slichter Residence Hall and ordered lunch: rotini pasta with chicken and mushrooms and a can of iced tea.
No. 9 Badgers’ game at Nebraska canceled; 12 members of program, including Paul Chryst, tested positive in past 5 days
Wisconsin State Journal
The Badgers will pause football activities for at least seven days after a dozen people in the program, including coach Paul Chryst and starting quarterback Graham Mertz, tested positive for COVID-19 in the past five days.
UW–Madison named as finalist for Degree Completion Award
WISC-TV 3
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is one of four finalists for the Degree Completion Award which honors “institutions making critical strides in increasing their graduate numbers, improving their graduation rates and shortening the time to a degree.”
UW-Madison announces more furloughs, bracing for $320 million loss
Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison announced a second round of furloughs and expense reductions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic financial crisis in order to decrease the expected $320 million deficit this semester.
UW-Madison announces another round of furloughs for most employees in 2021
Wisconsin State Journal
Facing a coronavirus-induced “budget crisis” that exceeds $300 million, UW-Madison announced on Monday another round of furloughs and pay cuts for the first six months of 2021.
UW to start second round of furloughs, increase minimum wage in January
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will implement more furloughs for spring semester to help offset revenue losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. The first round of unpaid leave, announced in August, ends this month.
COVID-19 vaccine trial back on in the U.S., including UW Health and UW medical school
Wisconsin State Journal
ACOVID-19 vaccine trial is back on in the U.S., including at UW Health and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, after it was put on hold a week after starting in September, UW Health said.
UW poll: Joe Biden widens lead over Donald Trump in Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Journal
With the election just eight days away, Democratic candidate Joe Biden holds a 9-point lead over Republican President Donald Trump in Wisconsin, according to a new poll.