Whether it?s the start of a recovery or the calm before the storm can?t be known yet. Whichever is the case, college and university business officers and investment managers will take it. The 2010 survey of endowments, released today by Commonfund and the National Association of College and University Business Officers, shows a solid rebound (to 11.9 percent, up from -18.7 percent in 2009) in the average return for the 850 institutions surveyed.
** President Barack Obama named UW-Madison professor Douglass Henderson one of 15 recipients of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.
** Rosa Clemente, a hip-hop activist and the 2008 Green Party vice-presidential candidate, is speaking on the UW-Madison campus Thursday night.
** Washington State University has lured a professor from UW-Madison out west to take an endowed chair in small grains economics funded by the Washington Grain Commission, according to Washington Ag Today. The report notes UW-Madison economist Randy Fortenbery will start his new post at Washington State in August.
It?s always nice to hear a voice from Madison ? an unelected voice, at that ? tell us what?s wrong with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
A major donor to UConn?s athletic department, citing ?philosophical disagreements? with the university?s athletic director, is demanding that the program return $3-million in donations and has vowed to cease all future gifts to the Huskies, The Day reports.
In high school, he sang in the choir and played in the band and earned a B in advanced physics. At the University of Wisconsin, he got a bachelor?s degree in behavioral science ? good grounding for police work.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a trumpet player in the university?s marching band, Baitinger, 48, started his career working at two Wisconsin municipalities before moving to the Dane County Sheriff?s Office in Madison, Wis., where he worked from 1988 to 1995.
Continuing a proud tradition of high marks on dubious university ranking lists, UW-Madison came in fourth on Klout?s list of the most influential colleges on Twitter, with a Klout Score of 64, just decimal points behind Harvard. As to what the hell a Klout Score even means, Klout has a fairly detailed explanation of how it measures tweets, retweets, follows, follow backs, true reach, and other social media nonsense that only seems relevant because UW is apparently awesome at it. Expect the hashtag #UWSocialMediaHouseParty to surface over the weekend as students celebrate the new title.
You probably haven?t been lying awake at night wondering what university has the most influence on Twitter.
A recurring issue is back up for discussion in the city of Madison. The Alcohol Licensing Committee is once again talking about the controversial density ordinance.
Madison?s Alcohol License Review Committee met Wednesday to consider whether to extend what?s been called a “new bar ban.”
A recurring issue is back up for discussion in the city of Madison. The Alcohol Licensing Committee is once again talking about the controversial density ordinance.
Dear Editor: It is amazing to me how some people who know nothing can spew rhetoric in total disregard of the facts. Regarding the issue before the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission of whether some people classified as academic staff are improperly classified to deny union membership, several letter writers have found against the unions just because they are anti-union. So too have Rep. Steve Nass, R-town of La Grange, and other legislators who have chosen to step in with legislation before the issue is adjudicated.
President Obama should get high marks from Wisconsinites for his decision to renominate former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler to serve as chief federal judge for the Western District of Wisconsin.
This is the third time that Obama has sent Butler?s name to the Senate, where Southern Republicans have used parliamentary maneuvers to block approval of a highly qualified African-American who would bring a wide range of legal and judicial experience, a demeanor that has been hailed by conservative and liberal jurists, and needed diversity to the bench.
….The veteran adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School and the current justice-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin Law School has skills so widely regarded that he has for many years been a faculty member of the National Judicial College, where he has provided education for judges from across the nation and around the world.
Stanford University?s Twitter feed is the most influential among college and university accounts on that microblogging service, according to a new ranking. UW-Madison ranks fourth.
The often maligned Madison Trust for Historic Preservation has hired a full-time executive director, and he?s on a mission to let the community know that historic preservation and development don?t have to be enemies.
….one of the trust?s most popular activities is the hosting of walking architectural tours downtown and on the isthmus during the summer. Tours include State Street, the Mansion Hill District, King Street, the University Heights Historic District, Bascom Hill, Backstage at the Orpheum and the East Isthmus Bicycle Tour.
Ellen F. Buck, age 91, longtime contributor to Madison social support networks, passed away Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011, at Fair View Nursing Home in Mauston after a brief illness. Ellen once taught at UW Extension.
A former UW-Madison student who jammed Madison police radios seven years ago was found guilty Wednesday night of possessing child pornography found on his home computer after police decrypted files they were unable to access for years.
Over the last two months, three American universities have been mopping up from data breaches, the largest–at Ohio State University–affecting 760,000 people. The University of Wisconsin-Madison?s security incident involved 60,000 people; and a St. Louis University breach affected staff employed by the university for five years or longer.
Wisconsin Public Radio has named Mike Crane as its director of radio, the top position at WPR. Crane joined the network, which has more than 30 stations around the state, as chief operations officer in 2008 and has served as interim director of radio since July when Phil Corriveau stepped down due to health reasons.
University of Wisconsin-Madison students must be all atwitter with the news that theirs is the most buzzed about university, at least according to the Global Language Monitor.
Madison is the 15th drunkest city in the U.S. according to a survey released by Men?s Health magazine.
More than a dozen police officers were called to quell a disturbance that erupted early Saturday on Regent Street. At 1:38 a.m. Saturday, Madison police reported, several officers responded after more than 30 people exited a bar in the 1200 block of Regent Street. Several of the people started to fight nearby.
Among the issues of concern to candidates for Dane County executive and Madison mayor are UW-Madison?s Charter Street heating plant, which may be forced to abandon alternative fuels for natural gas; and education, as the state holds purse strings for 4-year-old kindergarten, schools and UW-Madison.
At least two Milwaukeeans have been chronicling the quake?s aftermath.
Jacob Kushner, a Shorewood native who graduated in May from the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s School of Journalism, has been living in Port-au-Prince and writing about the elections, education and other issues for The Associated Press, Newsweek magazine and his own website.
UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin also spoke on the impact the mass shooting may have on the political landscape.
“This reminds members of Congress that their opponents are their political opponents and not their enemies,” said Franklin. “There?s been a little recognition in the last 24 hours [since the shooting] of the common ground between members and I think that that is a perhaps a small positive thing to come from this, the notion that it will fundamentally change the nature of political debate and political discourse I think is a fantasy.”
If you?re an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, yesterday your social networks blew up with every old friend from college linking to this article on Time?s website. As the article states, the Global Language Monitor took it upon themselves to rank American universities by brand equity, or by what others? perceived value of the university is as represented on the Internet. As Time puts it, the formula used is a measurement of the universities? ?buzz? factor. Here are the top 10:
Dear Editor: On behalf of the city of Fort Worth and the TCU Horned Frog fans, I want to congratulate the Wisconsin Badgers on a good, hard-fought game on the Rose Bowl turf. I also want to thank Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, the city of Madison and the Badger fans for their graciousness. We express our deepest thanks to the Rose Bowl officials who made this an exciting and memorable occasion. It was a day like no other, and something my wife Rosie and I will never forget.
But aside from the game, I learned a lot about the people of Madison.
The Badgers may have lost the Rose Bowl Saturday, but they can still boast that they?re the coolest school in America. The University of Wisconsin at Madison beat out the University of Chicago and Harvard to be the top national university by internet brand equity, according to the Global Language Monitor?s 2011 TrendTopper MediaBuzz internet rankings.
As is the case with many great adventures, Matt Schwalbach?s nearly didn?t get off the ground. Fifteen minutes before the door was to close on the last flight from Minneapolis to Los Angeles that would make it possible to reach the Rose Bowl before kickoff, the University of Wisconsin graduate?s wife, Megan, checked her computer to gauge Matt?s likelihood of making it onto the plane.
UW-Madison ranks 4th in the number of Fortune 500 CEOs as graduates.
Wisconsin stood out among its state school peers, granting 17 degrees to the CEOs, which put the school fourth overall, despite having an average U.S. News rank of 33 for the school?s undergraduate, business, and law programs. In the Fortune analysis, Wisconsin finished ahead of highly ranked schools like Stanford University, Dartmouth College, and Northwestern University.Â
Madison police said a University of Wisconsin fan is facing charges after punching two Minnesota Golden Gophers fans in the face following Tuesday night?s basketball game between the two schools.
Branding is HUGE for universities. Attracts $ and students. UW-Madison is kicking major ass.
To the Editor: Yes, Shael Polakow-Suransky is right. One can design tests that are worth teaching to, but they are more expensive and harder to grade.When money is tight, cheaper tests will be multiple choice, teachers will teach test-taking skills, the curriculum will narrow to what is tested, and the risks of cheating will rise. Test-based reform has turned out the way critics anticipated, not the way the reformers intended.
Francis Schrag
Madison, Wis., Dec. 15, 2010
The writer is professor emeritus of educational policy studies, University of Wisconsin at Madison.
An opportunity for the university to shine!
How can you not like playing in the Rose Bowl? It?s one of the most recognized college football bowl games of all time with a great tradition in a great location. Short of a national championship it?s about as good as it gets in college football.
But even if you don?t like the sport, there?s a lot to like about Wisconsin playing in Pasadena. The spotlight all week will be on the university and its fans as much as on the team, and it’s an opportunity for the UW to shine.
I had the pleasure of attending my niece?s graduation from UW-Madison on Sunday. That?s a very special date for a young person. The sense of a major accomplishment and hope for the future are the hallmarks of this day.
Instead, she was subjected to a political speech in a forum that should not have any politics involved. Rather than hearing about optimism, dreams and hard work, she heard about dependency on oil, campaign finance reform and other agenda items.
The cost for Madison police to staff the city?s annual Halloween party has dropped dramatically since the first year.
Changes in strategy by the Madison Police Department on staffing the city?s annual Freakfest Halloween party on State Street has resulted in a dramatic drop in costs, according to figures released Tuesday.
Since the first year of Freakfest in 2006, city policing costs have dropped 58 percent, from $376,900 to $155,595 this year. These are just Madison Police Department costs; other law enforcement agencies working the State Street area for Freakfest also have their own costs.
The brother and sister of a mentally ill McFarland man filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Madison Friday alleging officials? inadequate care resulted in his suicide last year at a Portage prison. The suit charges that Jesse Miller, 21, was subjected to “wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain, suffering, embarrassment and death.” He hanged himself on June 23, 2009, at the Columbia Correctional Institution. Miller was serving time for crimes including phoning in a threat to police three years ago, disrupting classes at UW-Madison.
In September, before the Chazen Museum of Art began stashing some of its collection to make room for construction, I stopped in to see John Steuart Curry?s iconic paintings of the Midwestern countryside. The half-dozen paintings, largely executed during Curry?s groundbreaking tenure as artist in residence at the UW-Madison College of Agriculture (from 1936 to 1946), include his portrait of ag dean Chris Lauriths Christensen striding through an experimental cornfield, tie flapping in the wind. It?s a stunning painting.
The Associated Students of Madison approved a resolution to ensure the consideration of students? opinions in the development of the Badger Partnership at their meeting Wednesday.
A Madison attorney was convicted in an attack on a Badger football player.
Education scholar Diane Ravitch, once the darling of conservative critics of American public education, recanted her support of charter schools, standardized testing and test-based teacher culling last year. Now she?s coming to Madison in March to give her views on the future of public education in a talk co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, the UW-Madison School of Education and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, which is part of the School of Education.
Madison residents hoping to get ultra-high-speed broadband from Google will have to wait a few more weeks to see if their community wins the company?s contest.
Twenty-five years ago, when Steve Hilton was an entry-level guy working in the file room at his familys foundation, he sometimes had to explain his place within the family legacy. (Pictured, John & Tashia Morgridge.)
Faculty at three more University of Wisconsin System campuses want to vote to unionize. UW-River Falls, Stevens Point and Stout filed petitions to hold elections, with union representation through AFT-Wisconsin.
MADISON, Wis. — Frustrated state workers are calling on Wisconsin lawmakers to approve new contracts.Workers stood arm-in-arm at a news conference at the state Capitol on Tuesday and demanded the Legislature take action. Mike Senn, who teaches inmates at Redgranite Correctional Institution, says he works hard for taxpayers and he never thought he would have to stand up and demand lawmakers do their jobs.
Roughly 60,000 people with connections to the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been contacted after officials discovered a database, containing names and social security numbers, was compromised.
Madison police believe there may be a connection between the unsolved homicide of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann and an early morning break-in at a University Avenue tavern months later involving three Madison teenagers with gang ties, the State Journal has learned. Assistant City Attorney Roger Allen confirmed there is a “possible connection” between Zimmermann?s April 2, 2008, strangulation and stabbing death in her Downtown apartment and the July 9, 2008, break-in at the Blue Moon Bar and Grill, 2535 University Ave.
Last week my wife and I attended the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery open house. We were impressed with its design, the choice of materials and construction and the spaces for dedicated use. It reminded us of the Overture Center, with the latest and most beautiful use of glass, marble, ceramic, stainless steel and natural wood, built to the best of current standards. The institute is owned by several parties, including the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Wouldn?t it be a good idea for UW-Madison and the community – and a huge problem solved – if the university purchased the Overture Center for $1 and used it as a teaching facility and performance center, possibly using the current management and maintenance?
Despite having its vocal critics, the University of Wisconsin System must be doing something right. In a national survey of young alumni (ages 25 to 39), 94 percent of those who graduated from one of the UW System?s four-year campuses believe “that their college education was worth the time and money.” Ninety-two percent “think their institution charged them a fair price for their college education.”
housands of former University of Wisconsin-Madison students and staff are discovering their identities might have been compromised in a two-year-long data breach on campus.
Neither of the incoming Republican leaders of the Wisconsin legislature will rule out the prospect of stripping the state?s public employee unions of their bargaining rights.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A University of Wisconsin Board of Regents committee has approved a 2 percent pay increase for faculty and staff despite objections from a key Republican state lawmaker.
Governor-elect Scott Walker has picked a fight with Wisconsin?s public employee unions – even before his inauguration. But that?s not the surprising thing.
What?s surprising is that Walker is willing to consider what amounts to abolishing public unions. And with the news Wednesday that Walker?s Republican colleagues might introduce right-to-work legislation next year, the climate for labor is growing chillier by the day.
Tough talk. But when it comes to the public employee unions, it?s justified.
State workers are on a collision course with Governor-elect Scott Walker after his comments about decertifying state employee unions.
The two new leaders of the state legislature responded to Governor-elect Scott Walker?s proposal to essentially end state labor unions by saying the issue “needs to be on the table.”
Governor-elect Scott Walker says he hopes for no layoffs of state employees next year. But he also threatens to have no state employee unions.
UW-Madison?s athletic department continues to rank among the national leaders in revenue produced according to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The university?s athletic department ranked 10th nationally in 2009-10 by raking in $93.9 million. That figure marks a 4.5 percent increase over the previous year.
MADISON, Wis. — The incoming leader of state Assembly Democrats said it?s ?shocking? that Republican Gov.-elect Scott Walker would consider the possibility of essentially abolishing state employee unions. Walker suggested that possibility on Tuesday. He is seeking deeper concessions from public employee unions, who have reached tentative contract agreements with the state.
As the local spring primaries draw nearer, two new competitors entered the races Tuesday for Dane County executive and mayor of Madison.
