“What’s interesting are the age gaps,” says public communications expert Dominique Brossard, of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, by email. “It might be that relative to other age groups, higher proportions of millennials have no problem accepting science in some areas especially if it fits their life choices but rejecting it in others, such as vaccinations.”
Dominique Brossard, a professor in the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Department of Life Sciences Communication, said she is beginning to see some junior faculty include outreach activities in their tenure packages, and while the response to these efforts can vary depending on factors including discipline, the makeup of the committee, and the institution, “it’s regarded in a more positive light than it was a number of years ago. … Things are changing more slowly in some disciplines than others, but overall I think there is a trend.”
Dominique Brossard, a professor of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied commenting, cautioned against drawing too many conclusions about sexism from Dr. Moss-Racusin’s study.
Measles had been all but eradicated, but now we’re seeing an uptick in cases nationwide. One expert says people are opting against vaccinations because they seem to have forgotten just how dangerous the disease can be. Alta Charo is a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to slash $300 million in funding from the University of Wisconsin and in return for greater autonomy would make it make it harder for low-income and minority students to go to college there, said affiliates of WISCAPE Wisconsin Center on the Advancement of Post-Secondary Education, a UW-Madison think tank on post-secondary education.
Artists tend to be masters at multitasking and “can’t afford to be ivory tower,” according to flute professor Stephanie Jutt, the moderator of “Arts in Madison: An Economic Engine,” co-sponsored by the Advocacy Consortium for Entrepreneurs and the Arts Institute. Also quoted: Ben Reiser, coordinator of the Wisconsin Film Festival; Paula Panczenko, director of Tandem Press; Kurt Squire, professor of education and vice president of research at the UW Learning Games Network; Christopher Taylor, professor of piano.
Pianists Martha Fischer (professor of collaborative piano) and Bill Lutes want to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere at Friday’s “Schubertiade,” a “house party” celebrating music by the 19th-century Austrian composer Franz Schubert.
UW-Madison history professor William P. Jones, who wrote “The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights,” said it is a challenge to try and encapsulate all the nuances of the civil rights movement in a movie that takes place over two weeks. But he was impressed by how accurate it was.
Quoted: Dr. Michael Fiore, founder of the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, said the health effects of vaping are still unknown.
Dr. Jonathan Temte, professor of family medicine, helps make vaccine recommendations that affect nearly all Americans.
Quoted: Those moves are Walker’s efforts to build up his credentials on international affairs, “the most gaping limitation in his experience,” said UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden.
Quoted: There’s nothing wrong with Turner’s nine approaches “provided none are taken to extreme,” said Toby Campbell, assistant professor of medicine, oncology, palliative care medicine. “My concern is when people with definite advanced cancer shift entirely away from modern medicine in exchange for strategies like these,” he said.
Kari Wisinski, assistant professor of medicine and hematology/oncology, said the term “radical remission” presents challenges because expected responses can vary among cancer types and from different treatments. Also, for patients with incurable cancer, hope shouldn’t be associated only with “beating cancer,” Wisinski said.
Quoted: Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
Quoted: UW-Madison economics instructor Richard Shaten points to market speculators for their role in fluctuating oil prices, creating what some call a “crude oil casino.” He says, “You know, I read someplace recently that for every barrel of oil that gets delivered, people buy and sell 30 barrels of oil on paper.” He adds, “Many of these trades are computer programmed. Billions of dollars changing hands over speculation on the price of oil.”
Karma Chávez, an associate professor in the university’s department of communication arts, hosted a lively debate Thursday on whether body cameras can help prevent police violence.
Quoted: Barry Orton, professor of telecommunications, Professional Development and Applied Studies.
“Orton said he’s not quite as optimistic as Soglin that the FCC will have a ruling within a month — or that the ruling will pre-empt the 19 states’ barriers. If they do, he said, there’s going to be significant pushback, legally and politically, from service providers.”
Quoted: “There is strong Muslim cultural discomfort with images of any divinely connected creatures; these would include any of the prophets, as well as God and the angels,” said Asifa Quraishi-Landes, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who specializes in comparative Islamic and American constitutional law.
Byars-Winston, a UW–Madison professor and counseling psychologist, and her colleagues, Christine Pfund and Janet Branchaw, were recently awarded a four-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to assess how mentors and mentees define diversity awareness and how important it is to the mentoring relationship.
Sara Goldrick-Rab, UW-Madison professor and founding director of the Wisconsin Harvesting Opportunities for Postsecondary Education, or HOPE, Lab, thinks paying for college with need-based government aid is an antiquated model and supports Obama’s proposal. There is “clear evidence that most families are struggling to afford the cost of even community college today,” she said. Still, the existence of students who manage to pay for college without any government help isn’t proof that there isn’t enough help available.
As Governor Walker prepares his State of the State speech for tomorrow night, he’s also likely feeling a lot of pressure to announce whether he’ll get in next year’s presidential race. UW-Madison political science professor Ken Mayer says the governor would be in the running for the Republican nomination.
President Barack Obama’s proposal to make community college free is “both smart and bold,” says Sara Goldrick-Rab, the UW-Madison education policy analyst who has focused her research on making college affordable.
Two UW-Madison professors last spring proposed making the first two years of college free. “Students will not face any costs for tuition, fees, books or supplies, and will receive a stipend and guaranteed employment at a living wage to cover their living expenses,” wrote Sara Goldrick-Rab and Nancy Kendall, who study educational policy at the university. “Unsubsidized, dischargeable loans of a small amount will also be available for those who need them.”
The tenant’s attorney, who uses the single name of Mitch, runs the UW-Madison Law School’s Neighborhood Law Clinic.
In a four-part series running through Wednesday, the State Journal will look at how stress affects our lives and what it does to us, physically and emotionally. (Including the work of UW–Madison Prof. Richard Davidson.)
UW-Madison neuroscientist Richard Davidson is among the pioneers putting hard science behind the testimonials. His work shows mindfulness meditation can physically alter parts of the brain, and rather quickly at that.
John Magnuson, UW-Madison professor emeritus and the first director of the Center for Limnology, told the CLA in the last 30 years, Lake Mendota has frozen as early as Dec. 3 and as late as Jan. 20. Article also chronicles hockey playing exploits of some UW faculty and staff.
Quoted: “I think its going to be a gangbusters Saturday,” said Jerry OBrien, director of the Center for Retailing Excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Im very confident it will be bigger than Black Friday.”
Carnivores have also learned, in a sense, to live with people. According to Adrian Treves, a wildlife biologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, European brown bears, which are closely related to grizzlies, are shyer and more nocturnal than their American brethren.
Quoted: “There’s no definitive answer. I imagine that if you stacked up all 200 of these memoranda, some of them would be of great significance, and some of them would be extremely trivial,” said Mayer, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “So the upshot is just counting any particular instrument, or any particular type of instrument, doesn’t really tell you the whole story.”
Passed with bipartisan majorities in 1997-98, the law, according to UW-Madison law and bioethics professor R. Alta Charo, is also filled with “ambiguous language that gives authorities tremendous discretion.”
Quoted: “The bigger problem with the mumps vaccine is probably people were protected for most of their childhood, but as they get into adolescence and young adulthood their protection wears off,” said Craig Roberts, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin Health Services.
UW–Madison Associate Prof. Susannah Camic Tahk, an expert tax law and policy, comments.
William Jones, a UW-Madison history professor, cited comments Walker made to Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, a prominent GOP donor, in January 2011. Hendricks had asked Walker whether lawmakers could make Wisconsin a “completely red state” and “become a right-to-work state.” Walker replied that the “first step” was public employee unions, “because you use divide and conquer.” “I think it’s clear that he supports this type of thing,” Jones said.
Richard Brown, a physician and addictions specialist at UW-Madison, said he’s not aware of any sober bus regulations, but it does “raise an especially interesting set of ethical and legal questions if alcohol establishments are sponsoring the services.”
A leading researcher on the interface between science communications and politics is Dietram Scheufele of the UW-Madison’s Department of Life Sciences Communication. In a recent paper for the National Academy of Sciences, Scheufele said the “knowledge deficit model” of science communications misses the boat.
Quoted: “The silence is deafening,” said Thongchai Winichakul, a professor of Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is more free to discuss the issue because he is based outside Thailand. “This subject is forbidden from open and reasonable discussion. This fact tells a lot about Thai society today.”
Jerry O’Brien, executive director of the Kohl’s Center for Retailing Excellence at UW-Madison, said it’s unlikely retailers that open on Thanksgiving will retreat due to competition. But sales are about the same, regardless if a store is open or closed on the holiday, he said.
Stacy Taeuber, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and director of its Immigrant Justice Clinic, comments.
UW-Madison law professor Donald Downs, associate professor of political science and legal studies Howard Schweber comment.
Noted: research on Usher syndrome by Dr. David Gamm of ophthalmology; Mike Walsh is a social media specialist for UW Athletics.
A cure for Usher syndrome is far from reality. But Dr. David Gamm of UW-Madison’s Waisman Center is among those working on it. UW System Regent David Walsh, whose family is affected by the disease, helped raise more than $1 million for Gamm’s research. The money jump-started the ophthalmologist’s lab and brought in other grants.
The panel, “Ebola in Context: Emergency Response and Global Responsibility,” included Gregg Mitman, a history of science professor, who was finishing up a documentary in Liberia with graduate student Emmanuel Urey in June when the Ebola crisis erupted there. Also quoted: Tony Goldberg, associate director of the Global Health Institute, and research fellow Alhaji N’jai.
Aside from the influence of highs and lows, which can visit any location, proximity to a coast (whether it be the ocean or one of the Great Lakes) can also be a major influence on the windiness. The local topography also exerts a major influence on average wind speeds with sheltered valleys being less windy than the open plains, for instance.
Quoted: Richard Brown, professor of family medicine and director, Wisconsin Initiative to Promote Healthy Lifestyles
Michael Wagner, assistant professor at UW-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said the governor’s victory Tuesday was crucial for his political career, as he can now say he’s won three elections in a swing state that has backed Democrats in recent presidential races.
UW Poli Sci Prof. Barry Burden comments.
Linda Reivitz, a UW-Madison faculty associate and former secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, comments.
UW-Madison’s Constance Steinkuehler, an associate professor of education and an expert in digital media and gaming, and Janet Hyde, a UW-Madison psychology professor, comment.
“Habitat loss is a big issue with honeybees. So the ability to produce more resources for them will certainly help them out,” said Patrick Liesch, a UW-Madison entomologist.
When Sara Goldrick-Rab first began delving into college affordability for her graduate school research 15 years ago, she recalls, people said she was making too big a deal out of it. “I was told as an academic to pick a more important topic,” said Goldrick-Rab, a professor of educational policy studies and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. College affordability is a really big deal now.
Cronon on Tuesday will trace the changing meanings of wilderness in American history and make the case for its ongoing importance today. Cronon?s 7 p.m. talk in Shannon Hall in the Memorial Union is the third installment of the Jordahl Public Lands Lecture Series named after the late Wisconsin conservationist, Bud Jordahl.
Comment from John Witte, a professor emeritus at UW-Madison who served as the state-appointed evaluator of the Milwaukee voucher program in the 1990s.
Capital Times has pulled together a group of expert panelists , including Brad Jones, a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Political Science Department who has created a polling aggregation model for the paper to reflect the totality of polling in the gubernatorial race … and Michael Wagner, a professor in the university?s school of journalism who studies political communication.
Includes comments from Wisconsin Energy Institute research Gary Radloff.
Universities have been expecting the rules since last year, and depending on how much research they do, evaluating what meets the criteria “can be a lot more work,” said Rebecca Moritz, manager of select-agent research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A bigger question, she said, is whether the policy expands beyond the current 15 targeted agents.
UW-Madison won?t be turning anytime soon to ready-made online courses produced by big educational publishers, says Noel Radomski, director and associate researcher for the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE). But the situation may be different at the UW System?s smaller schools, where rising tuition and sometimes dropping enrollment has administrators searching for ways to cut costs.
Political Science Prof. Barry Burden comments.
Quoted: “We will likely see some modest declines in the uninsured rate for sure and maybe some substantial declines next year,” said Donna Friedsam, director of health policy programs at the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW-Madison professor Pamela Oliver, who has researched the impact of the criminal justice system on communities of color, said the harsher enforcement of drug laws in certain neighborhoods has been a by-product of the broader war on drugs.
