Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: Howard Schweber, a UW- Madison political science professor and affiliate member of the Law School.

UW-Madison political science professor Howard Schweber correctly warned that the proposed anti-oath would allow officials to “come perilously close to saying (that) in their duties they will ignore the law or alter the law when it conflicts with their personal principles.

“That is a fundamental breach of the duty of office.”

Businesses created more jobs and paid employees more at the end of 2006. Menzie Chinn, UW-Madison professor of public affairs and economics is interviewed.

Quoted: Dr. Norman Fost, professor of pediatrics and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

Quoted: Frank Tuerkheimer, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who studies polling.

Quoted: R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin, questioned whether such major surgery and the risk of anti-rejection drugs is justified.

Quoted: Byron Shafer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Quoted: Willie Ney, executive director at the University Of Wisconsin Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives.

Quoted: Dr. Bill Cayley, from the University of Wisconsin department of family medicine in Madison.

Mathematics, science and video games? A U.S. university professor is urging schools to consider using video games as tools to better prepare children for the work force.

For although many educators scoff at the idea of video games in schools, the U.S. military has titles that train soldiers, teenagers with cancer use a game to battle their illness virtually and physically and some surgeons use video games to keep their hands nimble.

David Williamson Shaffer, an education science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says schools should use games to prepare children to compete in the work force, where juggling technology is a daily requirement.

Quoted: Jon Pevehouse, political science.

Quoted: Mason Carpenter, Business School.

Quoted: David Williamson Shaffer, an education science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says schools should use games to prepare children to compete in the work force, where juggling technology is a daily requirement.

For many scholars and activists in Madison, President Bush’s expected call to deploy 20,000 more troops only reinforces doubts over the Iraq war.

Others, though, see it as fulfilling a moral obligation to see the war through.

Quoted: Samer Alatout, assistant professor of rural sociology, and Jon Pevehouse, associate professor of political science.

The city of Madison may provide people elected to public office or who serve on city boards and commissions with a way to officially protest Wisconsin’s new constitutional ban against gay marriage through their oath of office.
But the proposal raises questions of whether it is the City Council’s place to decide which laws should be followed, said a UW-Madison political science professor. And one alderman said it could open the door for people who disagree with other constitutional provisions.

Quoted: Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, a medical sociologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, said it’s an important study that shows that giving children access to healthy foods can also benefit their parents’ health.

Quoted: UW political science professor Benjamin Marquez, who studies Latino politics.

Quoted: Thaddeus G. Golos, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said that researchers working on human cells could benefit directly from successful monkey experiments that efficiently yielded lines of stem cells from cloned embryos. “It would be a very important experimental tool,” he said.

Quoted: Thaddeus G. Golos, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said that researchers working on human cells could benefit directly from successful monkey experiments that efficiently yielded lines of stem cells from cloned embryos. “It would be a very important experimental tool,” he said.

Hours spent huddled over a computer game might not be as wasted as some have feared.
In his just-released book, “How Computer Games Help Children Learn” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), UW-Madison educational psychologist David Williamson Shaffer contends that certain kinds of computer games have the potential to give children necessary practical skills by encouraging creative and innovative thinking.

Quoted: Dr. Kristin Seaborg, a pediatrician at University of Wisconsin Health.

Quoted: Norman Fost, MD, MPH, is a professor of pediatrics and bioethics as well as director of the program in bioethics and vice chair of the Department of Medical History and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

Quoted: Dr. Jonathan Patz, a University of Wisconsin expert on climate-disease links.

Quoted: Irwin Goldman, professor of horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Joe Lauer, an agronomist at UW-Madison.

Bipartisanship in the new Congress? A UW political scientist expects that can only go so far. Professor John Coleman expects the new Democratic majorities and GOP minorities in the House and Senate will have “some easy things” that they can accomplish together, but the parties remain far apart on more contentious issues like entitlement reform, tax cuts and Iraq. “The solutions are going to be hard to come by,” says Coleman.

Quoted: UW business professor Tom Eggert.

Quoted: Emeritus Professor of Limnology John Magnuson.

Could this be the winter when lakes Mendota and Monona don’t totally freeze?

“It could be a Ripley’s Believe It or Not year for the lakes,” said John Magnuson, an emeritus professor of limnology, or the study of inland waters, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There is a chance that Mendota and Monona may not freeze.”

A report due in 2007 could suggest changes at schools – from eliminating funding for electives to putting teachers on merit-based pay – by proposing where schools could best allocate funds toward doubling academic performance.

Allan R. Odden, a professor in the department of educational leadership and policy analysis at University of Wisconsin-Madison, organized the Finance Adequacy Task Force.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Ben Marquez.

The execution of Saddam Hussein comes too late to have much real political impact in Iraq, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison emeritus history professor whose specialty is the Middle East.

Kemal Karpat, whose book “The Politicization of Islam” was publishedÃ? in 2003, said in an interview justÃ? after Saddam was put to death that he believes Iraq is now so fragmented that the former dictator’s execution will have little significant impact on Iraq or on any of the groups currently jockeying for power.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, political science.

Steady sweets, appetizers and social drinking can pack on holiday pounds, said Dale Schoeller, UW-Madison professor of nutritional sciences.

Peter Fissel, who works in the binding preparation department in Memorial Library on the UW-Madison campus, spotted the owl about 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday from a fourth-floor lounge.

For more than a decade, professor David Williamson Shaffer has been trying to change the world, one video game at a time.

And he has his work cut for him. Shaffer is not just trying to change kids, but the very school system that teaches them.

“The fundamental premise of school is that there are these disciplines–math, science, history–and these are the building blocks of anything we have to do later on,” Shaffer said. “Kids’ jobs are to master these basics.”

But Shaffer has a problem with this premise, and it’s a bombshell: Using this approach, our schools are not preparing our kids to be successful in today’s high-charged, high-tech world.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: John Milton Cooper, a presidential scholar and professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Gerald Ford did exactly the right thing in pardoning former President Richard Nixon, says Stanley Kutler, the retired UW-Madison history professor who is a renowned expert on the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s downfall.

“My position on this is very clear and unshakable. Ford did the nation a favor with the pardon,” Kutler said this morning.

Quoted: Jonathan Martin, professor of atmospheric sciences.

Quoted: Mary Metz, a UW-Madison professor of educational policy.

Quoted: Charles O. Jones, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Peter Carstensen, a University of Wisconsin law professor specializing in antitrust issues,

Quoted: Margaret McFall-Ngai, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Quoted: Gerald Thain, a professor of consumer law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in e-mail issues.

Quoted: John Rudolph, associate professor in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Quoted: Richard Barrows, professor emeritus in the University of Wisconsin-Madison department of agriculture.

Quoted: Economist Menzie Chinn, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Charles Franklin, a UW- Madison political science professor, said Thompson’s innovations on welfare reform and school vouchers as governor give him a track record to appeal to Republicans. But Franklin said Thompson is virtually unknown outside of the Midwest – even after serving in Bush’s cabinet – and doesn’t have experience competing on the national stage.