University of Wisconsin System regents are considering plans to build a rehabilitation center for injured wildlife in Oconomowoc.A proposal in front of the regents would allow the Wildlife In Need Center, a nonprofit group, to build the facility on land owned by UW-Waukesha.
UW-Madison scientists plan to build a plasma dynamo to explore magnetic fields.
To be constructed over three years, with the help of $2.4 million in stimulus funding from the National Science Foundation, UW-Madisonâ??s Plasma Dynamo Facility will allow scientists to explore the self-generation of magnetic fields.
The first of its kind in the world, the facility will be located in Sterling Hall, and it will contain the same kind of plasmas observed in space.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison received a “B” on the College Sustainability Report Card 2010, which is to be released Wednesday by the Sustainable Endowments Institute. The report card includes data, profiles and grades for 332 schools.
“Surprising the skeptics, most schools we surveyed did not let financial reversals undermine their green commitments,” Mark Orlowski, executive director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute, said in a press release. “New financial realities encouraged saving money by adopting environmentally friendly innovations.”
State legislators grilled UW System officials this morning during a hearing on the progress of an $81 million payroll system, asking how the System will prevent cost overruns and calling for the removal of top administrators if the project fails.”Will you get fired if this project does not work?” asked Phil Montgomery, R-Green Bay, to Tom Anderes, UW System senior vice president for administrative and fiscal affairs.
A couple notes, quotes and observations from Monday nightâ??s University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate meeting — the first such gathering of the 2009-10 academic year at Bascom Hall.
Somewhat surprisingly, few faculty senators appeared to have a burning desire to openly discuss the pros and cons of unionizing.
UW System faculty and academic staff were given the right to form unions under the state budget signed by Gov. Jim Doyle in late June. This provision doesnâ??t mean unions must be formed — simply that both faculty and staff at each UW System institution can vote to form bargaining units if they so choose.
A Madison area icon closed for good this weekend as the cityâ??s only Greyhound Bus station is moving eastward.The last bus out of the old Badger Bus Depot left on Sunday night at 7:15 p.m., with the door closed and locked at the old building. The buildingâ??s new location will have some riders traveling further to get where theyâ??re going.
We will exchange our editorial outrage for wonderment today at the breaking news out of Madison that the University of Wisconsin deemed a professorâ??s use of a state credit card to purchase a DVDs of television situation comedies as appropriate.
Wisconsinâ??s first doses of the H1N1 vaccine are starting to show up.Local health departments and medical facilities across Wisconsin began receiving their first shipments of the vaccine on Monday. The early doses are being used to vaccinate health care professionals and those who care for sick individuals at high risk for the H1N1 flu virus.
Disappointment rocked Madison Friday after the morning announcement Chicago would not be the site of the 2016 Olympic games.
Sara Radulovicâ??s blonde hair falls in her face as she peers at the image coming to life on the table in front of her. She gently uses a brown, colored pencil to shade in the forehead of a portrait of Moses, a Ugandan orphan who lost both parents to AIDS.
The program is the brainchild of Ben Schumaker, a graduate student from the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was inspired to start the Memory Project while volunteering in Guatemala in 2003.
It came as no great surprise that President Obama turned to former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis B. Butler as his choice to serve as chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Butler is uniquely qualified to replace Judge John Shabazz. While others who applied had significant legal skills and important areas of specialization in the law, Butler brings remarkably broad experience to a courthouse that has not seen the appointment of a new federal judge in 28 years.
A family business co-owned by UW board of regents member Jeffrey Bartell is listed as one Dane Countyâ??s top ten property tax delinquents.
The decision from Copenhagen left Chicago speechless. Madison was equally muted.
“I was hoping for the thrill of victory, instead we got the agony of defeat,” said Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz after the International Olympic Committee on Friday morning eliminated Chicago’s bid from consideration to host the 2016 summer games. Rio de Janeiro eventually won.
Wisconsin officials didnâ??t have to wait long for the International Olympic Committeeâ??s decision Friday when Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Q: Iâ??ve worked on campus for more than four years now and never once have seen the left-turn signal go on for the people turning on to University Avenue from Lake Street. The street gets blocked up during the evening commute. Why have the left-turn signal if it is never lit?
A Madison native was named Friday to a high Defense Department post as chief adviser for procuring equipment that protects U.S. forces from roadside bombs that have killed scores of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Brian Detter was sworn in by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus as the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for expeditionary warfare.
The weekend of Nov. 9-11, 2007, was a great time to be a Badger. On that Friday, the University of Wisconsin menâ??s hockey team opened a home series with rival North Dakota, while the nationally ranked UW volleyball team welcomed Michigan. On Saturday, Bucky hosted the football Wolverines, and Sunday brought the menâ??s basketball regular-season home opener. It was a perfect storm of scheduling that challenged Justin Doherty, who handled the athletic departmentâ??s day-to-day communications at the time, to somehow capture it all. His idea: dispatch a single staffer armed only with a camera, a computer and the capacity to seek out a good time.
The race for the 2016 Olympics has came down to just Rio de Janeiro and Madrid, with the International Olympic Committee eliminating Chicago in a stunning first round of voting.
Madison will know whether it will become part of the Olympic tradition today after the International Olympic Committee selects the host city for the 2016 summer games.
Wisconsinâ??s government and business leaders and sports fans have their fingers crossed in anticipation of the potential bounty for the Badger State if Chicago wins its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Wisconsin officials are awaiting the International Olympic Committeeâ??s decision Friday whether to award the 2016 games to Chicago or one of three other finalist cities.
We are less than 24 hours from a decision that could change the Madison area’s future.
But even if we aren’t chosen as a host for the 2016 Olympics a lasting impact has already been made.
The biking culture is nothing new for the Madison area.
A bill that would ensure geographic diversity on the UW Board of Regents moved one step forward Wednesday.
The state Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee voted to approve the legislation on a vote of 8-4.
The Madison area could host some cycling events if Chicago is selected for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games, and excitement is building among some local young athletes.
For some of the area’s talented young athletes, the goal isn’t only about winning a medal someday. Many said an Olympics in Chicago could bring hope to reaching all of life’s accomplishments.
We will learn Friday if the Isthmus, Old Sauk Road, Blue Mound State Park and Tyrol Basin become Olympic venues.
Sounds surreal, doesn’t it?
But if officials in Copenhagen select Chicago over Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid for the 2016 Summer Games, road cycling and the mountain biking events will be hosted in Dane County. That means thousands of spectators, Olympic officials and athletes will need places to sleep, eat and be entertained.
With student rallies fighting pay increases for top university officials at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and confusion among students over the faculty raises across the Big Ten conference, it now seems apparent pay increases have not been given this year due to tough economic times.
Dear Editor: As the first book in the new “Go Big Read” program, “In Defense of Food” stirred as much controversy as it intended. Beyond the remarks local farmers take issue with, including the condemnation of conventional agriculture that isnâ??t necessarily representative of Wisconsin farmers, Michael Pollanâ??s perspective is simply not viable in an area like ours.
Pesticides, herbicides, preservatives and additives are not helping the nationâ??s overall health. There is a lot wrong with the way Americans eat. Pollanâ??s ideology reflects that, and many of his ideas are sound. But here in the upper Midwest, things are not always that easy.
Madison police are investigating five robberies that occurred in the past few days.
Madison police said the latest incident happened Monday night at the Toppers Pizza on Regent Street.
Workers told police the robber entered the store with a pair of scissors, demanded cash and fled on foot.
I have regularly attended UW football games since 1967. In recent years, student conduct before and at games has eroded to the point that many fans are considering other activities on Saturdays.
During the recent high school band day, with a thousand or so high school students in attendance in addition to thousands of other fans, we were once again regaled by the students’ chant “eat s—, f— you.” It’s loud enough to be heard on national TV, and surely loud enough for young ears to catch. This chant occurs at every game. And as a loyal, ticket-purchasing fan, I’m offended by this student conduct.
Chemist Ahmed Zewail — the 1999 Nobel laureate in chemistry and a current member of the Presidentâ??s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology — will give lectures on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Monday and Tuesday.
It’s not just about 2016.
It’s bigger than that.
If Chicago lands the 2016 Olympics this week, get ready for more than an incredible spectacle of road cycling and mountain biking in Madison and southwestern Dane County.
The objection I have over Michael Pollan and those who support him are their vilification of traditional agriculture so they can promote organic farming. They claim that products derived from traditional agriculture are unsafe because chemicals are used. Whereâ??s the proof? There is none.
The veteran president of the University of Wisconsin Foundation says he will retire at the end of 2010.
Andrew “Sandy” Wilcox has led the University of Wisconsin-Madison fundraising business for 21 years. He told the board of directors of his plans to retire Friday, saying he wanted to give the company time to find a successor.
The president of the UW Foundation has announced he will retire at the end of 2010.
Andrew “Sandy” Wilcox has spent 21 years as head of the foundation, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s $2.5 billion endowment.
I am baffled by the criticism of Michael Pollan’s works and views. I’ve read these books and find their arguments fairly unassailable. One wonders whether the critics have even read “In Defense of Food.”
It’s pretty clear what industrialized agribusiness on the Archer Daniels Midland model has wrought.
In one week we find out if we’ll play host to the 2016 Olympics.
It is a worldwide event on the grandest scale and a village of 700 has been lost in the shuffle.
It’s rare to see much commotion in the Village of Blue Mounds.
University of Wisconsin institutions are reporting unusually high enrollment this fall.
A record high of 13,807 students are in classes at the 13 freshman and sophomore campuses of the University of Wisconsin Colleges, as of Sept. 16. Thatâ??s an increase of 4.6 percent over last fall.
Tuition at the UW Colleges will remain frozen this year, while it increased by 5.5 percent at the four-year campuses.
The president of the UW Foundation has announced he will retire at the end of 2010.
Andrew “Sandy” Wilcox has spent 21 years as head of the foundation, the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s $2.5 billion endowment.
As a physician trained at UW-Madison, I understand the necessity of the scientific method touted by professor Ric Grummer in a Thursday letter critiquing Michael Pollanâ??s “In Defense of Food.” As an alumnus, I am proud of the contributions of our academic community to the disciplines of agriculture and nutrition science.
Lynsey Marie Addario, a 1995 graduate of UW-Madison and a photojournalist who has “exposed the tragic consequences of human conflict,” has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, also called “the genius grant.”
WAUKESHA, Wis. — A former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student who was killed earlier this month was stabbed dozens of times.
Waukesha County Medical Examiner Lynda Biedrzycki testified on Wednesday that Samantha Peterson, 21, was stabbed and cut 36 times. Arteries in her neck and chest were cut and her lungs were punctured. Biedrzycki said that Peterson died as a result of blood loss and respiratory impairment.
Steep investment losses have caused painful cutbacks at some of the nationâ??s best-known universities over the most recent fiscal year and have prompted questions about whether their endowments are taking too much risk.
A University of Wisconsin alum was arrested and charged Monday for using a computer to intentionally facilitate a child sex crime after undercover detectives executed a successful sting on the defendant.
Several friends from outside Wisconsin sarcastically questioned why Wisconsin scheduled a football game against Wofford.I understand that UW-Madison needs a seventh home game to make enough money to pay the bills. But instead of paying Wofford $500,000 to come to Camp Randall, why not keep the money closer to home. Instead of Wofford, why not pay Whitewater to come and play?
A vacant big box grocery store in Oshkosh has a new lease on life. UW-Oshkosh is re-using the store as a home for campus maintenance services. And it’s making room on the school’s main campus for an energy efficient classroom building.
Big box stores get criticized for draining shoppers away from mom and pop shops downtown. When they go out of business or move to a new, even bigger box they create vacant eyesores that can attract vandals or squatters. But sometimes they do get re-used. An old Best Buy in Green Bay is now a Goodwill and coffee shop. A former IGA in Oshkosh is a St. Vincent De Paul. Now, another old grocery store, a CUB Foods across town has been transformed into a Campus Services center for UW- Oshkosh. (Third item.)
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin System is awarding more than $1 million in grants for 18 projects to help graduate more students.
The projects are meant to boost pre-college preparation, promote partnerships between UW faculty and high school math teachers, improve services for veterans and increase access and achievement among minority students and others.
I have been following the Go Big Read program, including Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s Friday guest column on her reasons for the selection of the book, “In Defense of Food: An Eaterâ??s Manifesto.”
Noted: The College Destinations Index ranked the top 75 cities from various metropolitan areas, but only displayed the top 15 or 20 in each size category.
New York City snagged the top spot in the major metro category, while San Jose, Calif. won the midsize metro category. Boulder, Co. earned the No. 1 spot for small metro cities and Ithaca, N.Y. proved to be the best college town destination.
The only Wisconsin city to make the list was Madison, which ranked fifth in the small metro cities category.
UW-Madison officials would like your help spending millions of dollars.
Remember the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates? Thatâ??s the tuition surcharge of $250 this year for in-state UW-Madison students – which will ultimately grow to $1,000 in four years – to boost undergraduate education and financial aid.
An oversight committee, made up of students, faculty and staff, are looking for proposals to make use of the funds generated by the initiative.
The Madison City Council approved liquor sanctions and a suspension against a local bar Tuesday, and it referred two other alcohol related policies back to city committees for further drafting of language.
Iâ??ve noticed that a number of Division I schools are playing schools of lesser size and ability.UW-Madison has one of those games coming up against Wofford College. I do not plan on attending that game, and if the UW continues to include teams like this on its schedule, I will consider dropping my season tickets after 45 years as a ticket holder.
Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee organized Monday to rally students to fight the tuition increase and budget cuts passed this summer by the UW System Board of Regents.
Even the best seeds can take a while to germinate. A case in point is the proposal to open seven â??emerging technology centersâ? on University of Wisconsin System campuses to better serve industry while engaging faculty and student research talent.
Some changes may be in store for the University of Wisconsin system, including campuses in our area. For the last two days, the UW Board of Regents met and reviewed a number of ideas, including one that could bring some new resources to Northeast Wisconsin.John Katers, an environmental engineer, works at ENCAP , a Green Bay company that turns waste from paper companies into mulch products.
Critics of $20 million in budget cuts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee plan a noon rally Monday. The protesters, which are expected to include students and staff, are calling for a cut in tuition, for rescinding a pay cut for university employees and rescinding budget cuts.
On the first day of classes this fall, some UW-Whitewater students did something no one has experienced on this campus in more than 20 years.
Over $74,400 in inappropriate purchases made by state employees on items, including a vacation package to Las Vegas, a personal laptop and expensive tickets to a theater production, were identified by the Legislative Audit Bureau Wednesday in an audit of purchasing card use.
The Mifflin and Dayton neighborhood could see some major changes in the future, with Madisonâ??s Planning Department considering redevelopment of the historic area.
A group that was hired by the University of Wisconsin System to perform a multimillion dollar overhaul to the Human Resource payroll computer system, and which is currently under review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, presented its case at the UW System Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
A committee of University of Wisconsin System regents approved plans Thursday for an $81.4 million payroll system despite concerns over the cost and uncertainty surrounding the consulting firm on the project.
