Quoted: The Midwest union battles demonstrate labor?s erosion of influence in the past 30 years, said William Jones, a labor historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Wisconsin?s recall, in which Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will face Walker, is a bellwether for the November presidential election, he said.
?I don?t think there?s any other issue where there?s as big a difference in opinion between those under 30 and those over 65,? says University of Wisconsin pollster Charles Franklin, currently a visiting professor at Marquette Law School. In fact, despite aggressively pushing their agenda in many other policy arenas, state Republicans made no attempt during this past legislative session to pass anti-gay legislation. The domestic partnership registry that Democrats created in 2009 was left in tact. However, Franklin points to a serious problem with championing an issue that resonates most with the youth: ?Even if you motivate younger voters, you?re motivating the segment of the electorate that has the lowest voter turnout,? he said.
So how is Soglin doing on his plan to combat poverty? On the whole, he gets pretty good marks from Satya Rhodes-Conway, who has more expertise in the area than just her five years as a City Council member. In her day job, she is a policy analyst for the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a nonprofit, progressive think tank based at UW-Madison. At the center, she is in charge of the Mayors Innovation Project, a “learning network” of more than 100 mayors nationwide aimed at improving civic policy. Rhodes-Conway says she is aware that Soglin has been thinking about a number of things that fit into a “big-picture” view of poverty, something that is hard to do while actually doing the nitty-gritty work of getting programs off the ground.
Quoted: To Bradley Carl, an associate researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the MacIver Institute?s conclusions are more complex than the data shows.
Quoted: “It feels like all-new territory,” said Kathy Cramer Walsh, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and faculty investigator for the Badger Poll, which annually measures political leanings among other things in the state. “The rest of the nation senses that, too, which is why there is so much attention to our recall races.
Political observers say Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett?s Democratic gubernatorial primary win hands Mahlon Mitchell his best shot at ousting Republican Rebecca Kleefisch from the lieutenant governor?s office. “It seems to me a Barrett-Mitchell ticket is more balanced,” says UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden. “They come from different parts of the state. One is from Milwaukee and one is from Dane County. And Barrett has sometimes disagreed with the unions on key issues, whereas Mitchell is a union representative. So they have both sides of the divide.”
….According to Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political scientist who is currently a visiting professor at Marquette University Law School, lieutenant governor candidates and name recognition don’t typically go hand-in-hand. “I think it’s conceivable that people go into June knowing very little about the lieutenant governor’s part of the ballot,” he says. “But you have party as a guide, so that seems not to matter very much.”
Quoted: ?If you build a system to serve 100,000 people and you don?t do too much to change it, it?s going to continue to do that,? said lead author Victor Capoccia, a senior scientist at the Center for Health Enhancement System Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has held various roles in addiction services in Massachusetts.
UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam, who gained viral fame for telling students not to attend the Mifflin Street Block Party, said Monday this year?s party was safer than the last, though she is still concerned about the event.
This summer, University of Wisconsin researchers and engineers will use a unique NASA drone to conduct hurricane research.
Most University of Wisconsin students view education as their ticket into the job market, with a career beginning just after they obtain their degree. But others are choosing to get a head-start on life outside of college by taking advantage of opportunities found on campus ? by becoming student entrepreneurs.
Most University of Wisconsin students view education as their ticket into the job market, with a career beginning just after they obtain their degree. But others are choosing to get a head-start on life outside of college by taking advantage of opportunities found on campus ? by becoming student entrepreneurs.
University of Wisconsin faculty members debated recommendations to revise the campus human resources system in their last meeting of the academic year Monday, including a controversial provision that would eliminate bargaining rights for certain positions.
UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam, who gained viral fame for telling students not to attend the Mifflin Street Block Party, said Monday this year?s party was safer than the last, though she is still concerned about the event.
Quoted: Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A: The chicks (which can be viewed at go.madison.com/hawkcam) may leave the nest by the end of May, according to Mark Berres, a UW?Madison ornithologist. “About 45 days is all it takes for them to fledge ? to leave the nest for good,” said Berres, who has been glued to the streaming video.
With final exams less than a week away, UW-Madison?s Faculty Senate held its last meeting of the 2011-12 academic year Monday afternoon at Bascom Hall. Following are some highlights: Robert Lavigna, the university?s director of human resources, gave faculty senators an update on UW-Madison?s efforts to construct a new human resources system and personnel policies to govern the work lives of about 16,000 people.
Following Lavigna?s presentation, faculty senator John Sharpless expressed annoyance that few appear to be talking about ?education, instruction or teaching? in relation to the HR Design Project. The history professor says it?s important to find ways to financially reward and retain professors who are top-notch teachers. Sara Goldrick-Rab, an expert on educational policy studies, echoed those comments, adding that the proposed market-based approach to determining a professor’s value isn?t optimal because the current market doesn?t demand good teaching from faculty at top-notch research universities.
Noted: In a meta-analysis of studies based on more than 7 million children in kindergarten through 11th grade, Janet S. Hyde, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found small average gender differences in such areas as activity level (favoring boys) and ability to focus (favoring girls), but no significant differences in mathematics or reading comprehension and “no solid evidence that boys and girls actually learn differently.”
Noted: That?s exactly what Mark Berres, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is trying to do with WeBird. But Berres says identifying bird calls is much harder than identifying popular songs.”When I turned it onto bird songs, it just failed miserably,” he says. But, after a year of work, Berres expects the app to be ready next spring.
Quoted: There is plenty of evidence that students retain more information when they are able to relate their schoolwork to something that?s already familiar. In the field of cognitive psychology it?s known as “activating prior knowledge,” said Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor of curriculum and instruction and educational policy at the University of Wisconsin.
A UW-Madison study analyzing victimization found that lesbians, gays and bisexuals face higher rates of threats and assaults than heterosexuals.
A: The white condensation trails left behind jet aircraft are called contrails (condensation trails). Contrails usually form higher than 26,000 feet above the ground. Contrails form when hot, humid air from jet exhaust mixes with surrounding air of low water vapor content and low temperature. The clouds that form are similar to the cloud you see when you exhale in cold air and “see your breath.”
Katherine Cramer Walsh, a UW-Madison political science professor, said Walker?s jobs pledge, and any retreat from it, ?certainly seems to be a point of vulnerability? for his campaign. ?The economy is the issue and it was a very blatant claim.? But Walsh isn?t sure how much it will matter, given that this jobs pledge may have fallen from public awareness and few voters ?have not made up their mind about Walker.?
It?s not always easy to be ROTC on a campus with an anti-war history. UW-Madison?s Reserve Officer Training Corps made it through the tumultuous Vietnam War protests. They survived an effort by faculty in 1989 to kick the programs off campus because of their refusal to admit gay and lesbian cadets. But the latest question isn?t about whether ROTC programs belong, it?s about where to put them. ?We really could use a new facility,? said James Johannes, director of Officer Education Programs and a business professor. ?UW-Madison prides itself on doing everything well. I don?t see any reason why we shouldn?t do ROTC as well as we can.?
Quoted: Political scientist Charles Franklin.
Quoted: Steve Deller, a professor of applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said the discrepancy between the state?s job losses and the improved unemployment rate could be attributed to workers leaving the labor market and others commuting to jobs in neighboring states.
Quoted: ?I think Frank Wu?s take on the issue in the book ?Yellow? is the best I?ve seen,? says Timothy Yu, associate professor of English and Asian American Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison. ?He wrote, ?When someone asks, ?Do Asians eat dogs?,? the appropriate response is not to either defend or disown dog-eating, but to respond, ?Why are you asking???
A poll released Wednesday by the Marquette Law School offers a glimpse of just how divisive politics has become in the state. According to the poll, nearly one-third, or 29 percent of respondents, say they have stopped talking to someone about politics due to disagreements over the recall of the governor. There?s no baseline for that figure — pollster Charles Franklin says the question has never been asked before on a survey — but he argues the 29 percent figure is probably ?up from the norm.?
For the new 3D version of “Titanic” that?s now in theaters, director James Cameron marshaled an army of visual effects technicians who spent over a year converting the 1997 film, frame by frame, into 3D.And those technicians would probably buy the owners of a Madison-based software company a round of beers, to thank them for making that time-consuming job a little easier. If the rotoscopers are doing their jobs right, audiences won’t even notice their work, said Perry Kivolowitz, one of the four partners in SilhouetteFX and a computer science professor at UW-Madison.
A proposal to fold academic and classified staff into the same employee category is raising some eyebrows on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The pitch is contained in draft recommendations released in April by one of the 11 work teams helping UW-Madison design a new human resources structure that?s separate from the state and UW System. Among other concerns, such a move would eliminate collective bargaining rights from roughly 400 classified staff on campus.
?That?s the recommendation that?s gotten the most attention during the vetting process the last few weeks,? says Darrell Bazzell, UW-Madison?s vice chancellor for administration. ?Most of the feedback, at least anecdotally, tends to suggest collapsing these groups into one is not something staff would support.?
After a five-month-long debate, a study that shows how mutations in the H5N1 influenza virus, known as the avian flu, can be transmitted in the air was published Wednesday.
Quoted: Steve Deller, economist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.
After months of handwringing and heated debate between scientists and biosecurity experts, UW-Madison bird flu expert Yoshihiro Kawaoka finally had his controversial H5N1 influenza virus research published in full Tuesday by the journal Nature.
Four mutations in a bird flu virus enabled the virus to spread among ferrets in a lab, UW-Madison researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. The study, which identifies the mutations, was published after months of international controversy
After a five-month-long debate, a study that shows how mutations in the H5N1 influenza virus, known as the avian flu, can be transmitted in the air was published Wednesday. The study shows mutations to the natural avian flu virus spreads easily among ferrets, which suggests the virus is could also be airborne-transmissible among humans since both react similarly to flu viruses.
Four mutations in a bird flu virus enabled the virus to spread among ferrets in a lab, UW-Madison researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. The study, which identifies the mutations, was published after months of international controversy that delayed public release of the findings.
After months of handwringing and heated debate between scientists and biosecurity experts, UW-Madison bird flu expert Yoshihiro Kawaoka finally had his controversial H5N1 influenza virus research published in full Tuesday by the journal Nature.
Quoted: ?I think it?s overreacting and being overly secretive,? said Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin. ?You [journalists] shouldn?t be following the wishes of the White House unless there is a clear, present danger to the president in reporting it. I?m not a security expert, but I?d have to be persuaded that simply you reporting that he?s on his way, or even has landed, would jeopardize his safety.?
Katherine Walsh is an associate professor of political science at UW-Madison. Since 2007 she has gathered information about how the state perceives the university. Walsh?s research, published in her paper ?The Distance from Public Institutions of Higher Education,? has exposed a rift between Wisconsinites and the university and the university?s failure to live up to the high expectations of the Wisconsin idea. By taking an innovative approach to the problems Walsh has highlighted, Wisconsin could join the forefront of the national conversation on how to restructure higher education.
So what is the secret of Promega?s success? How has it blossomed from its beginnings as a small enzyme business in 1978 to become “the granddaddy of biotechnology” in the Madison area, as Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, has termed it? Good timing “Bill Linton had the idea of starting a research products company in the right place at the right time,” said Richard Burgess, emeritus professor of oncology at UW-Madison. “He?s done a marvelous job of guiding this company through the ups and downs of the economy and everything else.”
I asked three UW-Madison educators who know a lot more about alcohol abuse and teenage behavior than I do what they thought of social host ordinances. In general, they were fans, although they were not able to point me to any research on their effect on teen drinking and its consequences. Social host ordinances are aimed at “adults who allow a very large group of underage people to consume alcohol typically with no supervision at all, just no questions asked,” said Nina Emerson, director of the Law School?s Resource Center on Impaired Driving. Brad Brown, a professor of educational psychology, thought it was “naive to believe that an adult can adequately monitor the behavior of any more than a small group of teens at an event where the teens are drinking.”
Noted: As director of the bioethics program at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Norman Fost regularly deplores our national pastime of wasteful and unnecessary medical testing. Yet as a patient, he writes, he has personally benefited enormously from just such testing, with not one, not two but three separate serious illnesses diagnosed with entirely unwarranted tests, leaving him with a bad case of what he calls ?hypocrite?s guilt.?
Noted: Tim McGuine, a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told the Lower Extremity Review that his ongoing study saw no difference in the incidence of knee injuries between players who wore ankle braces?high-tops taken to the extreme?and those who didn?t.
Quoted: Another researcher who advised the newspaper, James Wollack, director of testing and evaluation services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said many schools credit their instructional strategies for overnight success. But no changes in teaching methods, he said, are enough to account for ?ridiculous, nonsensical gains.?
Noted: Steve Hahn, HEUG?s executive vice president for external relations, recently attended a conference of Oracle user groups that included a series of committees dealing with issues such as contracts, code-sharing among customers, and nondisclosure agreements. One question that came up: Is code developed under Oracle licenses the work product of Oracle or of universities? “We would like to get clarity on issues like that,” says Hahn, who doubles as assistant dean for admissions and academic services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “In general, there is a desire on the part of users for greater flexibility, so they could make changes around licensing without renegotiating the entire package.”
Quoted: Charles Franklin, pollster and visiting professor at Marquette University
If UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam didn?t know it last week, she sure knows it now: Presentation matters to people raised in an era of image management, “strategic communication” and social media posturing.
A: Many times after a rain, there is a distinctive odor in the air ? a sort of musky smell. This pleasant fragrance is most common in rains that follow a dry spell. If you are a gardener, you may find this smell similar to the smell you sense when you turn over your soil.
Noted: UW-Madison doesn?t keep track of placement rates for La Crosse graduates specifically, but about 85 percent of total program graduates find jobs within six months of graduation, said Mary Russell, the student service coordinator for the UW-Madison School of Nursing.
Who could have predicted at this time last year that Wisconsin would experience the nation?s largest percentage decrease in employment over this 12-month period? Um … actually, UW-Madison economist Steven Deller could have. And did. Last March, Deller, a professor of applied economics, studied the ripple effects of Gov. Scott Walker?s budget-repair bill and two-year budget proposal.
Wisconsin is doing a good job of providing a safety net for the state?s most vulnerable people, according to the fourth annual Wisconsin Poverty Report released this week. The study, conducted by UW-Madison?s Institute for Research on Poverty, is designed to measure poverty rates more accurately than the official federal numbers that are compiled using only pretax cash income figures.
?There?s no doubt we?d all like to see more people working and less dependent on government to help them not be poor,? says Tim Smeeding, the lead investigator for the study and the director of the Institute for Research on Poverty. ?And if the economy recovers and employment picks up, that is what we?ll see. But for now we?re doing a real good job of holding the line at the bottom end and Wisconsinites should be very proud about these results. These programs work. Government works.?
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden says such sentiments are a real concern for Democrats, who will have just one month between the May 8 primary and June 5 recall election to marshal forces to defeat Walker. “After many months of unity among Democratic activists, union members and other opponents of Scott Walker?s agenda, there is now some splintering as the Democratic primary heats up,” he says.
Noted: Carlos Sanchez, an Associate Veterinarian at the Chicago Zoological Society?s Brookfield Zoo and Randy Drees, a veterinary radiological oncologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have teamed up to answer these very questions.
Noted: In addition to looking at the live animals, the study will see Dr. Sanchez and Dr. Randi Drees, a veterinarian from the University of Wisconsin, put the preserved skulls of 175 Mexican gray wolves under the CAT scan as they are shipped to Brookfield in coming months.
Quoted: Nasia Safdar, infectious disease physician for the University of Wisconsin Hospital, says that molecular texts on neural tissue can distinguish between BSE cases caused by bovine cannibalism and those that arose spontaneously.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Franklin.
The main institution focused on environmental issues on the University of Wisconsin campus will have a new director in the fall.
When UW-Madison?s James Thomson in 1998 became the first scientist to grow human embryonic stem cells in a lab, it generated tremendous excitement about the medical possibilities. Thomson tried to downplay the breakthrough but talk spread about cures for Alzheimer?s or Parkinson?s disease, growing livers for cirrhosis suffers or producing healthy heart cells for cardiac patients. The miracle cures have been slow in coming, however.
….This notion of a disconnect between Wisconsinites and the state’s flagship institution of higher education may surprise some within the campus community, but those sentiments are broad-based and very real, according to a study released last month by UW-Madison political scientist Kathy Cramer Walsh. The paper gives an eye-opening account of state residents’ “pervasive sense of distance from UW-Madison,” and reveals a “widespread sense that the state’s flagship university is inattentive to the concerns of members of the public at large.”
The release of Walsh’s report is especially timely today, as UW-Madison is in the midst of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Wisconsin Idea ? the principle that the teaching and research taking place at the university should be felt beyond the borders of campus. “That’s the big, sad story of the paper ? we are putting so much effort on campus into promoting the Wisconsin Idea and reviving it and aligning it with our work, and yet it’s kind of invisible to a lot of people in this state,” says Walsh.
Quoted: “Breaking bad habits successfully depends on your readiness to act,” says Heidi Beckman, clinical health psychologist at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and speaker on financial behavior change.
Several months ago, attorneys general from 49 states settled with five of the country?s largest banks in regarding to allegations of foreclosure abuse.
