Category: UW-Madison Related

If I were to judge the University of Wisconsin-Madison vs. Brothers Bar case based solely on the ginormous sign recently hung on the side of the bar it would have me leaning toward the University. It seriously does the bar a disservice in the fight because it has the uninformed asking, “Why does Brothers Bar hate music education?”

It has been up for less than a day, but city of Madison officials are telling Brothers Bar and Grill owners that they need to take down the brassy “No UW Music School” sign draping the side of the building. Matt Tucker, city zoning administrator, said it violates city codes that restrict the size of signs to 32-square-feet in area and 15-feet in height.

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board approved a plan to add leverage to its investment strategy. Teachers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, pictured, could be beneficiaries of the tack if it works.

College administrators from Michigan and New York are among the finalists to be the next chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

The University of Wisconsin Athletic Department Tuesday sent out a release to Wisconsin football season-ticket holders informing them that the department is requesting a $3 per ticket increase for the 2010 season.

Many students had the day off for Presidentâ??s Day, and some families headed down to Discovery World Museum for Badger Day. FOX6 Reporter Kim Murphy shows you students got an up close look at how science works.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has agreed to settle a campus newspaperâ??s lawsuit demanding full access to the student union boardâ??s meeting records. The university agreed to turn over unredacted copies of the minutes and pay the UWM Post nearly $11,800 in attorney fees, according to the settlement attorneys for both sides signed Friday.

A former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater dean agreed Friday to pay $1,000 and drop his racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against university officials after days of trial testimony.

A former UW-Whitewater dean agreed Friday to pay $1,000 and drop his racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against university officials after days of trial testimony.

MADISON, Wis. — A former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater dean has agreed to pay $1,000 and dismiss his racial discrimination lawsuit against university officials.

Howard Ross dropped the case after days of trial testimony Friday. His attorney, Robert Kasieta, said it became clear he was likely to lose because the case had become too convoluted for the jury.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy has raised more than $22 million in a six-year campaign to bolster recruiting and retaining of top teachers and to establish new scholarships.

This much is clear: He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s communication arts program. He is making the gift with his wife through a family foundation. They have a son who recently graduated from the college. Based on that publicly available information, Internet sleuths may be able to guess the identity of the donors who promised $15 million to build a music performance facility at the university. But a judge has decided that their names can stay secret for now, a decision praised by university fundraisers.

This much is clear: He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s communication arts program. He is making the gift with his wife through a family foundation. They have a son who recently graduated from the college.

Based on that publicly available information, Internet sleuths may be able to guess the identity of the donors who promised $15 million to build a music performance facility at the university. But a judge has decided that their names can stay secret for now, a decision praised by university fundraisers.

A University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy fundraising campaign recently raised $22.6 million to support students, faculty and programs, exceeding expectations.

Jack Ohle tweets, something a few other college presidents find odd.”â??You do what?â?? they all say,” said Ohle. Ohle is president of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. But to his Twitter followers, heâ??s simply @GustiePrez.

In another blow to Googleâ??s plan to create a giant digital library and bookstore, the Justice Department on Thursday said that a class-action settlement between the company and groups representing authors and publishers had significant legal problems, even after recent revisions.

A former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater dean is expected to continue testifying at his civil trial against university officials Wednesday.

A former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater dean is expected to continue testifying at his civil trial against university officials Wednesday.

As Dean of Students, Iâ??m a regular consumer of newspapers, blogs and websites containing news and opinions about the state of our campus community. Iâ??m most proud of our students, faculty and staff when we engage in a thoughtful and productive exchange of ideas on even the most controversial topics. That is the foundation of our campus â?? the process of fearless sifting and winnowing.

Getting kids involved in gardening is a growing movement in Madison. To keep the momentum growing, gardening enthusiasts will gather at the Goodman Community Center on Feb. 20 for the Madison Youth Grow Local Conference.

As promised in November, the defendants in the civil lawsuit filed by the parents of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann have filed motions to dismiss the suit.

I agree with Journal sports columnist Andy Baggotâ??s Friday column about the Camp Randall Hockey Classic, but Iâ??d add one thing. A sellout would be much more likely if the Badgers played Minnesota or North Dakota.

The March issue of Menâ??s Health magazine will contain a ranking of â??Americaâ??s Drunkest Cities,â? and coming in at No. 15 is Madison, Wisconsin with a grade of D-.

On a cold, snowy day, when itâ??s no fun to wait outside for a bus that may be delayed, you could see on a map exactly where your Metro Transit bus is and find out when it will roll up to your bus stop, just by checking your mobile phone before you leave home. That is, if you have technology developed by UW-Madison professor Jignesh Patel and his company, Locomatix.

A trial expected to begin Monday will recall an ugly chapter at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, when two black administrators were each demoted within months for misusing university credit cards.

UW system President Kevin Reilly presented his new initiative to improve faculty compensation at a Board of Regents meeting Thursday.

A new $1.8 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will enable humanities departments at the University of Wisconsin to hire postdoctoral students and expand course offerings beginning next semester.

UW-Madison news roundup.

Jonny Hunter of Underground Catering will lead the Slow Food UW-Madison guest breakfast team Saturday at the â??Taste of the Marketâ? breakfast at the winter Dane County Farmersâ?? Market.

Tuition would spike by $1,200 at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the next four years under a proposal that cleared a key hurdle Thursday. A UW System Board of Regents committee approved the plan, known as the Blugold Commitment, despite concerns about a lack of specifics and the student body being divided over the proposal. The full regents board, which governs the UW System of 13 four-year universities and 13 two-year colleges, may give final approval Friday.

The state auditor is warning that the University of Wisconsin Systemâ??s aging payroll program could be compromised because of weak financial controls. State Auditor Jan Mueller says the program is “very old” and “very fragile” and errors could cause huge problems for tax processing and payroll payments for thousands of employees.

A key University of Wisconsin System regents committee is approving a four-year, $1,200 tuition increase at UW-Eau Claire.

Owners of a popular downtown bar that is slated to be demolished to make way for a University of Wisconsin-Madison expansion are not giving up their fight against the university.

In 2008, the UW System voted to use its eminent domain power and condemn Brothers Bar and Grill. It was a move to make room for a performance facility for the UW School of Music.

Some of the stateâ??s public two-year colleges may offer four-year degrees as early as next year, under a plan approved Wednesday (2/3) by the UW System.

The plan would have up to six of the thirteen UW Collegesâ?? campuses offer a four-year, bachelor of applied arts and sciences degree on a pilot basis.

The sluggish economy took its toll on the amount donors were willing to give to colleges across the United States during the 2009 fiscal year, with donations down 11.9 percent from the previous year according to the Voluntary Support of Education Survey.

The Souper Bowl XIV, a fundraiser for UW-Madison Habitat for Humanity, will be held Saturday, Feb. 6, at West High School, 30 Ash St., from 3 to 8 p.m.

Listening to the soft-spoken words of the Somali-born guest stood in stark contrast to the ferocious debate the campus visitor brought with her to the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Tuesday.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken feminist who is critical of Islam and its treatment of women, spoke to an overflowing crowd of 1,300 people as part of a lecture series.

The UW-Madison Faculty Senate voted Monday to support a state bill that would exempt non-state-funded university employees from state-imposed furloughs.

The University of Wisconsin Faculty Senate voted Monday to support a bill that aims to improve the amount saved through state-mandated furloughs.

The UW-Madison Faculty Senate will take up a resolution this afternoon to support a bill that would exempt state workers from furloughs if their positions are not funded by state dollars.

A trial date of April 8 and 9 has been set in the case of Brothers Bar and Grill versus the university.Brothersâ?? owners Eric and Marc Fortney sued the UW Board of Regents in October in an attempt to prevent UW-Madison from taking their bar, 704 University Ave. The university wants the land to build a new School of Music building.

Officers responded to a frantic call for help from a man who was being beaten in the Equinox apartment building at approximately 8 p.m. Thursday.

A 22-year-old woman who had been missing has been located on the University of Wisconsin campus. She is safe and has been taken to a local hospital for evaluation, according to Dane County officials.

A proposal to make the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus entirely smoke free is on hold because of enforcement questions.

A proposal to make the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus entirely smoke free is on hold because of enforcement questions.

A 22-year-old town of Westport woman who had been reported missing Friday morning was found in a UW-Madison campus building, authorities said.

Melanie Meyer was reported missing at 7 a.m. Friday, and was last seen at her residence at 5001 County M about midnight, authorities said.

Gabriela Farfan, 19, a West High School graduate and now a freshman geology major at Stanford University, will attend tonightâ??s State of the Union address as a guest of first lady Michelle Obama. While in high school, Farfan spent two years working with geology professor Huifang Xu in his UW-Madison lab and credits the universityâ??s geology museum for sparking her interest in minerals at age 7, according to UW-Madison.

Starting Monday, Dane County residents facing foreclosure will have a new mediation option that could help them keep their homes even as new filings continue to mount. The program, approved recently through an order by Dane County Circuit Court judges, will require lenders in a foreclosure action to provide the homeowner with a court-approved form informing them of the mediation programâ??s existence. UW-Madison Law School students will help families prepare for the mediation sessions.

A University of Wisconsin-Platteville sorority — Zeta Beta Chi — is on probation until Jan. 1, 2012, the result of hazing incidents that occurred in mid-November.

Richard Egley, Dean of Students, said the sorority is a local student organization not affiliated with an international or national Greek letter organization. It was founded in 1994 by 16 female UW-P students.

Reflecting the difficult financial environment for higher education, university endowments lost an average of 18.7 percent in the last fiscal year, the worst returns since the Great Depression, according to a study of hundreds of public and private institutions.

A UW-Madison center got a federal grant of nearly $9 million, which will help researchers prepare to conduct stem cell studies in humans.

I have wasted years smearing my bread with yellowing stick butter, left out on the kitchen counter to turn rancid. No more. Not after the butter I tasted Monday at Slow Food UWâ??s Family Dinner Night, prepared by Madison Club chefs Dan Fox and Jason Veal.

….More than 110 people turned out at a church basement on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus for the locally sourced feast, the kickoff to the semester of weekly Family Dinner Nights that Slow Food UW organizes.

Two bits of news in the past week should give disciples of academic cooperation some encouragement:

University of Wisconsin campuses in Madison and Milwaukee announced a $300,000 grant program designed to encourage intercampus research. Either campus could take the lead on a project, but at least 25% of the work would have to be done at the other school.

The Madison campus, meanwhile, is cooperating with two Wisconsin manufacturers to develop stronger and lighter metals using nanotechnology. Oshkosh Corp. and Eck Industries of Manitowoc are partners with UW-Madison in a five-year research project. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has given the project $5 million. According to an article by the Journal Sentinelâ??s Rick Barrett, the market for nanotech products will reach $1 trillion by 2015.

After the earthquake struck Haiti last week, a former Wisconsin Badgers football player quickly set about organizing a team to lead a medical effort in Haiti.

By now, almost everyone has seen images of the destruction and despair in Haiti following the massive earthquake that hit oPort-au-Prince on Jan. 12, but one University of Wisconsin-Whitewater professor witnessed the disaster firsthand.

As he watched the chaotic scenes from Haiti unfold on television, Jake Wood worried that large-scale relief efforts couldnâ??t move quickly enough to reach many of the earthquake victims in time. 

And Wood knew his leadership and survival skills put him in a unique position to help; Wood, 26, was a reserve offensive lineman for the University of Wisconsin before joining the Marines, where he served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A University of Wisconsin System official agreed Wednesday to take on the role of interim chancellor for UW-Colleges and UW-Extension, pending approval by the UW System Board of Regents next month.

Southeastern Wisconsin woodland owners plan to discuss stewardship, invasive species and coexisting with wildlife at their annual conference on Saturday, Feb. 6, in Waukesha. Conference sponsors include the University of Wisconsin Extension.

Noted: Perhaps the most damning endorsement of the proposed anti-scalping law came from the lobbyist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who said the Badgers havenâ??t had any problems with ticket scalping outside Camp Randall or the Kohl Center, but that UW would support the bill just in case it finds a need for it sometime in the future.

Jeffrey Henriques initially introduced a classroom response system–a “clicker”–into his courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during fall 2004 to encourage students to participate in the questions he would throw at them. The researcher and senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology adopted the technology as an alternative to asking students to raise their hands to answer questions in his classes. He found that a large number of students wouldnâ??t respond.”