Category: UW-Madison Related

Beginning Monday, May 18th, 2009, City Engineering will begin Phase 2 of the reconstruction of the Gorham Street-University Avenue-Campus Drive corridor. Phase 1 of the construction from State Street to Park Street will continue as well. Phase 2 of the project is expected to last until the end of August. The construction project will include replacement of utilities located beneath the street as well as replacement of pavement. Construction of this phase will impact traffic as follows:

Letter writer criticizes the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates.

Road construction will shut down several streets on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus for three weeks beginning May 18, as the second phase of the reconstruction of the Gorham Street/University Avenue/Campus Drive corridor begins.

The first phase of the project, reconstructing Gorham and University from State Street to Park Street, will continue as well, so motorists should use caution on these main arterials heading into campus.

They landed in Calcutta at midnight and what Rick Brooks remembers is the piles of rags. They were everywhere. He saw them on sidewalks driving from the airport and he saw them again from his hotel window. Rags, and more rags.

“They were all people,” Brooks was saying Friday.

He was 13 years old, and it changed his life.

Brooks, 60, is an outreach program manager in UW-Madison’s Division of Continuing Studies. He is also, I think it’s fair to say, a kind of consummate Madisonian.

Dear Editor:

In response to “UW-Madison chancellor’s proposed tuition hike elicits little pushback,” a major reason for the widespread campus support for the Madison Initiative — approved Friday by the Board of Regents — is that it will have concrete benefits for the educational experience of undergraduates.

The story in political science, where I am the current chair, has been a simple one over the past 10 years: a larger number of students combined with a smaller number of faculty. Over this decade, our faculty decreased by 20 percent while the number of majors increased by over 85 percent. Compared to our peer institutions such as Michigan, Ohio State, and Minnesota, we serve far more majors with fewer faculty.

Alumni service days are fast becoming a rite of spring for colleges and their graduates across the country. At least 10 schools have launched such days in the past two years and plan annual events.

Among the names that have surfaced as prospects for the U.S. Supreme Court spot that will open with the retirement of Justice David Souter are several individuals with ties to Wisconsin. We’re particularly pleased, for instance, that Kimberle Crenshaw has been boomed by Princeton Professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell as President Barack Obama’s first high court pick.

Crenshaw, a University of California-Los Angeles School of Law professor who also teaches courses on civil rights, race and justice, and constitutional law at Columbia Law School, earned a master of law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1985.

MADISON (WKOW) — In a statement on Wednesday, Representative Steve Nass requested that the Board of Regents delay the approval of a $1,000 tuition surcharge on UW-Madison resident students.

According to Nass’ statement, Nass believes UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has worked to educate faculty, students and administrators on the goals of the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates. However, Nass feels that that plan is being moved forward without reasonable time for analysis of its specific details.

Road construction starting later this month will make the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus a maze, but at least crews will be waiting until the spring semester is over before making travel difficult.

“In many ways it’s a perfect storm of construction activity,” said Rob Kennedy, senior transportation planner on campus. “We want people to be aware of the challenges they will face around campus this summer so they can take alternate routes.”

….Two Metro bus routes on campus, 80 and 85, are being affected by construction, but alternate routes have not been determined yet.

University of Wisconsin-Madison staffers will be screaming for Babcock Hall ice cream inside instead of outside Wednesday afternoon, thanks to Mother Nature.

With the threat of rain, the annual employee appreciation ice cream social will begin at 1 p.m. in the lobby of Birge Hall, just south of Bascom Hill.

They’re women, not girls

Madison West High School has a “girls'” basketball team. The University of Wisconsin has a “women’s” basketball team. It’s not much of a surprise when Joe Sixpack fails to honor this distinction. It’s mildly disconcerting, however, when the high-salaried athletic director of a major university fails to do so.

In a recent State Journal article concerning UW-Madison women’s basketball coach Lisa Stone’s one-year contract extension, Barry Alvarez is quoted referring to the “girls” who played for her this past season. A careless mistake, or does his gaffe beg a more complex character analysis?

Either way, I suspect many of UW’s female student-athletes would appreciate the dignity of being referred to as the women they are, rather than as the girls they are not.

— Ray Johnson, Evansville

A presentation at Electric Earth Café Friday showed how the Mifflin Street Block Party has changed significantly since its beginnings on May 1, 1969, moving from a political protest to an apolitical drinking event.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. â??Budâ? Selig will deliver the commencement address at four UW-Madison undergraduate ceremonies on Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17, at the Kohl Center.

Selig, former owner and president of the Milwaukee Brewers, graduated from UW-Madison in 1956 with a degree in political science and American history.

When it comes to restorations that impress, fancy buildings or miraculous rehabilitations often do the trick. But sometimes it’s something as familiar as a gas station.

….Another public building honored was the John Olin House at 130 N. Prospect Ave., the chancellor’s residence for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The new head of the stateâ??s largest university made the case for her proposal to fund UW-Madisonâ??s future in a talk Tuesday.

In her first year as chancellor, Carolyn â??Biddyâ? Martinâ??s â??Madison Initiativeâ? called for implementing a differential tuition for undergraduates that will be phased in during the next four years, starting with an additional $250 per year for in-state students. It would increase to $1,000 per year.

Only at an academic conference at UW-Madison would you find a scholarâ??s paper called “Ode to a Norwegian Urn” â?? one of more than 250 parts of an explosion of Scandinavian esoterica that will be assembled here Friday and Saturday.

Nearly 300 scholars are arriving to participate in the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study. UW-Madisonâ??s Scandinavian studies department is the oldest in the country, so its host position â?? once a decade or so â?? is both an honor and a duty.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chancellor is staying put for now. Letâ??s hope his vision for the school is more fully realized.

Instead of setting aside $15 million for star faculty, a group of University of Wisconsin faculty and staff want to give it to needy students.

Gov. Jim Doyle created a $15 million fund within the next two-year budget to keep and recruit high demand faculty.

The Association of University of Wisconsin Professionals, a statewide union of faculty and academic staff at UW System schools, endorsed a proposal to reallocate the funds for student financial aid. The union does not include representatives from UW-Madison.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Officials with the University of Wisconsin System said they won’t rush to fill the chancellor position recently vacated at UW-Stevens Point.

Linda Bunnell resigned from the position Thursday. There were controversies involving her leadership and handling of a traffic accident in her state vehicle.

The National Science Foundation on Thursday said it has awarded nearly $5 million in grants to 14 universities so they can participate in the IBM (NYSE: IBM)-Google (NSDQ: GOOG) cloud computing initiative for research projects.

Through the NSF’s Cluster Exploratory, or CLuE, program, the universities will use software and services running on the IBM-Google data center. The companies launched the joint university initiative in 2007 to help teach computer science students. UW-Madison is among the recipients.

Mark Rosenberg, a beloved, brainy and bespectacled Florida International University professor and administrator whose FIU career spans more than three decades, emerged from a national search Saturday to become the school’s fifth president.

His selection came in dramatic fashion as the remaining finalist withdrew only hours before the FIU Board of Trustees was to make its decision.

For months somebody (I don’t know who) has been running a Facebook profile that bears my name, my personal information and several photos of me.

An old high school friend had connected with the faker, instead of me. Several of the people with whom fake Matt is friends also appeared to be fakes, including a copycat of Vertex Pharmaceuticals ( VRTX – news – people ) founder and chief executive Joshua Boger. (Boger has a real Facebook profile but isn’t friends with me. He declined to comment on the fakesters.) I couldn’t see this Fake Matt’s profile myself, even by searching for my name.

U.S. News and World Report named several University of Wisconsin graduate programs among the best in the country as a part of its â??Best Graduate Schoolsâ? 2010 list released Thursday.

After a controversial traffic accident and a no-confidence vote by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student government, Chancellor Linda Bunnell announced her resignation Thursday, effective May 31.

After months of controversy concerning her leadership, the embattled chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will step down May 31, officials announced Thursday.

Linda Bunnell, who was appointed chancellor in 2004, became the public focus of attention after she failed to report an accident in her state vehicle in February. Community anger over the incident brought to the surface a long-simmering battle among Bunnell, the UW-Stevens Point Foundation and some of the school’s major donors.

University of Wisconsin -Stevens Point Chancellor Linda Bunnell announced her resignation Thursday amid criticism from students and donors and questions about how she handled a traffic crash.

Bunnell, who has been chancellor since 2004, said she was stepping down effective May 31. The announcement was an abrupt turnaround from last week, when she said she planned to lead the central Wisconsin school known for its environmental programs another five years.

Central Wisconsin will lose a strong force in economic development and higher education with Linda Bunnell’s planned resignation May 31, local leaders said.

Many are confident, though, that the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will replace its chancellor with a new leader who will build upon Bunnell’s contributions.

Linda Bunnell, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, resigned today following a hit-and-run incident that occurred after she had bought three alcoholic drinks, the Associated Press reported.

In mid-February, Ms. Bunnell hit a parked car with her state-owned vehicle, then drove off. She later acknowledged that she had purchased a cocktail and two glasses of wine at a club in Madison, Wis., before the accident, but â??she had time to drink only one of the three and was not tipsy at the time of the crash,â? according to local news reports.

Embattled Chancellor Linda Bunnell announced Wednesday that she will step down from her leadership of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point on May 31.

The decision comes after nearly a month of controversy in which the university’s Student Government Association passed a unanimous vote of no-confidence in Bunnell’s leadership, and UWSP Foundation leaders criticized her spending and her poor relationships with some members of the community.

I would like to respond to the Opinion piece by Dan Walters on April 23 (â??Cynicism justified on conduct codeâ?) regarding the proposed changes to student conduct policies for the UW System. Mr. Walters is wrong when he argues students have the right to full representation by an attorney at a formal misconduct hearing. There simply is no such right, as a review of case law will attest.

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Chancellor Linda Bunnell announced her resignation Thursday amid criticism from students and donors and questions about how she handled a traffic accident.

Bunnell, who has been chancellor since 2004, said she was stepping down effective May 31. The announcement was an abrupt turnaround from last week, when she said she would not resign and planned to lead the central Wisconsin school known for its environmental programs for another five years.

During the annual State of the City address Wednesday, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said Madison must work to recover from the current economic recession by restructuring and redefining its economy to make the city both progressive and pro-business in the future.

The Chancellor of University of Wisconsin Stevens Point says she knew she was wrong when she left the scene of a hit and run accident in Madison in February.

The University’s leader says she began the evening of February 17th, 2009 at The Madison Club, a members only establishment.

Bunnell says she ordered a mixed drink and two glasses of wine at the club, but only had time to drink one glass of wine before driving to a speech given by Wisconsin Governor Jim

Metro bus riders will be taking alternate streets on several routes beginning Wednesday.

Landowners interested in learning how to grow switchgrass can now get a “how to” guide from the University of Wisconsin-Extension.

The guide, “Establishing and Managing Switchgrass,” was released Wednesday.

Switchgrass is a native prairie grass that has been shown to be a good fuel source for heat or power.

The late Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson fostered the idea of a day dedicated to awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, devoted to “understanding the relationships between people and the planet, and on seeking solutions to environmental problems at all scales,” is hosted by UW-Madison. It came about through the contributions of Wisconsinites Nelson, John Muir and Aldo Leopold.

If Chancellor Carlos Santiago leaves the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, it will be a loss for the region.

But if he goes, his ideas must stay and be brought to fruition. We respect Santiago, but the ideas – putting UWM on the research map and making the school a major economic driver for the region – are bigger than the man.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago has advanced to become one of four finalists for the position of president at Florida International University, officials announced Monday night.

The news came after Florida International officials said Friday that Santiago was among 13 candidates for the top job at the 38,000-student university in Miami.

Charisma. Energy level. Passion. All were mentioned Monday as a presidential search committee looking for Florida International University’s next president pared the list down to four candidates.

On Monday, the remaining of 11 candidates walked into a ballroom at Hotel Sofitel and tackled the first question from the 26-member Presidential Advisory Search Committee:

“Why do you want to be FIU’s next president?”

Chancellor Linda Bunnell wants to move fundraising for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point under the supervision of the university.

That would leave the current body in charge, the UWSP Foundation, in a mostly passive role, as university staff members assume primary responsibility for fundraising.

Rich Mintz thinks college fund raising needs serious help.

Bureaucracies are byzantine, messages leave alumni cold, and methods of delivering them are ineffective.

“Frankly,” says Mr. Mintz, a bushy-haired fund-raising consultant who once aspired to be a medieval scholar, “I think that a lot of institutions have probably simply given up on getting anything valuable out of their alumni under 40.”

His attitude could come across as off-putting, but Mr. Mintz boasts a unique calling card: The company he works for built the new-media arsenal that helped catapult Barack Obama into the White House.

It’s been a rough couple of months for University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Chancellor Linda Bunnell.

Directors of the university’s fundraising arm have rebelled against her leadership. Student leaders voted no-confidence in her and accidentally posted her credit card number online. She got into an accident in her state vehicle and later acknowledged she had been drinking a bit beforehand.

Some of the world’s smallest art is going on display at the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison.

“Tiny: Art From Microscopes at UW-Madison” starts Friday and runs through Dec. 31.

About 40 images feature cells, molecules and nanoscale structures generated by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists over the last 10 years.

Over the past month, I’ve had the opportunity to witness a group of University of Wisconsin students, their teachers and friends work on a project in our old barnyard.

Before this group of extraordinary young people came to work here, like many, I was worried about the economy and the state our country is in. I worried about the future of our children. Then I found myself in the midst of a group of students with astounding talent. They came upon many roadblocks during the course of this project, but taking the things available to them, they found a way to make it work.

Madison firefighters spent hours fighting grass fires Wednesday afternoon — a situation that is getting more prevalent as grass and soil dry out.

Public Information Officer Bernadette Galvez said 14 grass or brush fires have been reported to the department in April already, including three fires on Wednesday.

The first fire on Wednesday was reported at about 3:50 p.m. between Park Street and Walnut Street along the bike path near Lake Mendota.

….The third grass fire of the day for Madison firefighters was reported at 5:09 p.m. in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum along Fish Hatchery Road north of Carver Street.

As the Wisconsin Legislative Joint Committee on Finance begins its executive hearings on Gov. Jim Doyleâ??s budget proposal today, some of the proposalâ??s most controversial issues are likely to spur debate among lawmakers during the coming months.

Amid criticism over how it handled non-emergency calls that later proved to involve serious incidents, the Dane County 911 center is developing a formal policy that would have operators probe for more information during such calls as they now do with 911 calls.

Madison Police Capt. Carl Gloede said establishing the policy would help satisfy his concerns about two high-profile incidents.

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point chancellor bought three alcoholic drinks in the two hours before she left the scene of a car accident but said Wednesday she wasnâ??t impaired.

Chancellor Linda Bunnell acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press she bought a cocktail and two glasses of wine at the Madison Club before the Feb. 17 accident in Downtown Madison. But she said she only had time to drink one of the three and was not tipsy at the time of the crash with her state vehicle.

If “listening to a cow’s beating heart” has been on your to-do list for years, head down to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital on April 26.

The animal hospital, 2015 Linden Drive, is holding its first open house in over six years. Admission is free and the open house is from noon to 4 p.m. Free parking is available on campus in lot 62.

Visitors will be able to listen to a cow’s heart, meet unusual animals and learn what it takes to become a veterinarian.

The Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission has awarded more than $155,000 in grants in support of community arts, culture and local history programs.

The funding includes $148,080 in grants for 54 projects and $7,331 for four capital grants.

The public-private money from the commission is combined with funds from the Evjue Foundation, the American Girl’s Fund for Children, the Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation, the Madison Community Foundation’s Arts Access Fund, the Overture Foundation and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation to total about $1.5 million, with that amount being matched from other sources.

Many people would agree that earning a PhD is hard work worth celebrating. But is a doctoral graduation gown worth $800?

At a time when the economy is rocky and jobs are harder to find, some University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee doctoral students are balking at the price tag of the regalia they’re supposed to wear to spring commencement – a fancy frock that is three times as expensive to rent as doctoral attire at UW-Madison.

MILWAUKEE — A new national report released Monday shows salaries for professors at Wisconsin’s public and private universities are below the national average.

The American Association of University Professors tracked salaries for full professors and found the University of Wisconsin-Madison trails the national average by $6,000.

Gov. Jim Doyleâ??s budget somehow finds $25 million in new financial aid for low-income students. The goal is to â??hold harmlessâ? students from households making less than $60,000 from the tuition increases many UW schools will be forced to implement.

To the average taxpayer, this sounds wonderful. Despite a flagging economy, the governor is still finding ways to support in-need students.

Dear Editor: I’m looking forward to being your 911 director.

…Residents of and visitors to Dane County: 911 service (and thus overall emergency response) is on the upswing. I’m heartened by the plans for near-term improvements and am made confident about the future by seeing many things already being successfully begun. One of the most helpful initiatives thus far was the hiring of nine new staff members who are currently being trained and will be ready for the busy summer season. I pledge to you that the staff and I will work diligently to continuously improve emergency communications and response in Dane County.

Dear Editor: Empire building again. That appears to be what the UW System is up to with its plan for the future of Iraq, making Iraq sort of a sister nation — as if the UW-Madison did not already have enough on its plate. More than enough.

I have over the years watched the UW, obsessed with growth and outreach, chew up the beautiful campus, knock down woods near the tower on Bascom Hill, and continually prostrate itself for the gods of growth — to the detriment of the taxpayers’ ability to pay, and to the environment itself.

Endless growth thrown against a fixed supply of natural resources is an oxymoronic proposition. And the UW should not endorse it.

Are you a Badger without a job?

Perhaps the Wisconsin Alumni Association can help.

What is Wisconsin’s energy future?

Biomass, wind, solar and the strategy to produce and maintain a sustainable homegrown energy plan will be the topics of the day on April 22 during the third annual Earth Day conference at Monona Terrace in Madison.

The conference is put together by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is co-sponsored by American Family Insurance, Madison Gas & Electric, Alliant Energy, the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corp., the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the British Consulate-General of Chicago.

Four University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni are being honored for their accomplishments in journalism and mass communication.

….The award recipients will be honored at the school’s annual awards dinner April 17 at the Pyle Center on campus.

State Rep. Steve Nass is asking the University of Wisconsin System to review the conduct of UW-Stevens Point Chancellor Linda Bunnell in the wake of a report that she failed to tell police immediately that she had caused a car crash on the UW-Madison campus.

Bunnell was in Madison to attend Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget address and, in a car registered to the UW Board of Regents, hit a parked car and proceeded to the event without notifying police.

Nass said the crash and other behavior by Bunnell, including dissastifaction among students and the school’s fundraising arm, warrant review by UW System President Kevin Reilly.

Two armed men who allegedly robbed a convenience store early Wednesday morning were arrested by Madison and campus police, following a car chase and foot chase on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Antonio Johnson, 27, and an unidentified male were arrested and tentatively charged following the robbery that happened about 1:30 a.m. at the PDQ store at 2538 Fish Hatchery Road.