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Category: Top Stories

Olver looks to ‘foster interaction’ at a more urban URP

WisBusiness.com

Aaron Olver wants University Research Park to look more like a city. That, says URP’s managing director, includes bringing in restaurants, coffee shop and fitness centers, as well as adding more picnic tables and social events and expanding URP’s food carts program. It’s all part of an effort to attract more companies to URP and bring in talent that increasingly seeks urban spaces and collaboration.

Raised voices

Isthmus

Dr. Seth Dailey knows it’s hard to underestimate the power of  voice. “Think about the number of people you make judgments about based on their voice,” says Dailey, a UW-Madison surgeon who specializes in vocal disorders. “We do it all the time. It’s part of the perceptual package. It affects how people can do their jobs with altered voice production. Vocal issues are more important than ever before in human history.”

40 Under 40: Jake Wood: Deploying Veterans for a New Mission

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Jake Wood was fresh out of the U.S. Marines and weighing business school when a deadly earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010. He rallied some fellow military veterans and medical personnel, flew to the Dominican Republic, and rented trucks. The group made its way into Port-au-Prince, where for 20 days they provided emergency relief and treated people who had what Mr. Wood describes as “horrific wounds.”

Nycz: Why the Wisconsin Partnership Program works

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Twenty years ago, a friend approached me about a problem. Many of the youths in the small community were in a cycle of trouble: incarceration, release and repeat. Concerned parents, clergy and others came together to seek solutions. They felt as if they were spinning their wheels and getting nowhere.

Task force finalizes new UW tenure policy

AP (via Channel3000.com)

A University of Wisconsin System task force has finalized new tenure rules. The Wisconsin State Journal reported Thursday that the task force wrapped up work Wednesday. The task force is expected to forward the policy to the Board of Regents’ education committee by February. The full board is expected to vote on the plan in March.

Proposed UW System policies would govern faculty layoffs

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Proposed policies expected to clear a major hurdle Wednesday will pave the way for something that has never been done in the University of Wisconsin System’s 44-year existence. One would allow tenured and tenure-track faculty to be laid off if academic programs are discontinued for “educational considerations,” including financial or strategic planning reasons tied to “long-term student and market demand and societal needs.” The other, if adopted, would strengthen procedures for evaluating faculty performance at least once every five years after they have achieved tenure.

10 Best Music Books of 2015

Rolling Stone

Featured: Prof. Craig Werner, lecturer Doug Bradley and alumnus Charles L. Hughes

The year’s best music reads included open books on a roots-rocker, a dance icon, a punk poet and a rap pioneer; not to mention deep looks at everything from the Vietnam war to the current EDM explosion.

A legislative proposal wants to bring back shared governance to the UW System

WKOW TV

Representatives Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and Terese Berceau (D-Madison) held a news conference on Monday to announce a proposed piece of legislation that would bring back shared governance to the University of Wisconsin System. This proposed bill aims to improve the status of faculty, staff, and students within the UW System. If passed it would mean a return to students, faculty, and staff being decision makers on campus, not simply advisers to campus chancellors, as is now the case.

Shared governance in the UW System was removed by Wisconsin state legislators during the last passed budget.

Loneliness darkens twilight years

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted in story, part of series: “Social isolation is a huge issue,” said Art Walaszek, a professor in University of Wisconsin-Madison’s department of psychiatry. “The other huge issue is suicide in older adults. After age 65, the suicide rates just skyrocket. They’re much higher than for any other demographic group. And one of the top five risk factors for suicide in older adults is social isolation.”

Back to school for the public good

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

From Jeffrey Russell, Dean of Continuing Studies: A democracy requires government to function effectively, and public employees are the ones who make that happen.It’s easy to take government services for granted. Most of us don’t think twice about the clean water that comes from our faucets, the trash that’s picked up on schedule or the effort that goes into caring for our most vulnerable citizens.One key to doing these jobs well is lifelong learning. In a rapidly changing world, public employees must commit themselves to mastering the latest developments in their fields so that government runs as efficiently as possible.

Ryan retires at midseason, ending successful Wisconsin run

Channel3000.com

The methodical brand of basketball that Bo Ryan ran at Wisconsin rarely surprised opponents as it piled up wins and two trips to the Final Four over the last two seasons.

Ryan saved the biggest shocker of his career for his final game.

The 67-year-old coach abruptly retired on Tuesday night, 12 games into the season after his Badgers beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi two weeks before Big Ten play begins.

Wisconsin Regents Back Free Speech

AP

MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin has become the latest university system to officially affirm the right to free speech and academic freedom for all students amid concerns that academia is trying to protect students from being offended by classroom lectures and discussions.

After UW-Madison chancellor’s email stirred controversy, Regents prepare resolution on free speech

Wisconsin State Journal

The Regents will take up a proposed resolution reaffirming the board’s commitment to academic freedom and free speech when its education committee meets Thursday in Madison. The move comes weeks after UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank sent students and faculty a controversial message about speech, which critics said was contrary to First Amendment principles, and as colleges across the country weigh how to handle sensitive debates on campus.