Category: UW-Madison Related

Grandparents� University, inspired by a program at UW-Madison, brings children ages 7-14 and their grandparents together for some one-on-one, get-to-know-you-better time, said Cathy Paynter, director of continuing education at UW-Fox Valley.

It was a mistake that put hundreds of former MATC students at risk for identity theft. The mistake involved old applications, filled with personal information that anyone could have gotten their hands on…including us.

Three friends of Sarah Stellner, who died last spring of a drug overdose, and the woman who allegedly sold them heroin were charged Wednesday with negligent homicide in the death.

Stellner, 20, was found dead in her Langdon Street apartment on April 26. Her roommate, 18-year-old Morgan E. Fenick, admitted to police that she injected Stellner with heroin.

Can a simple snow fence prevent a blizzard of problems on State Street on Halloween?

The Madison Police Department seems to think so.

Madison Metro’s system of selling discounted tickets to UW-Madison and other institutions has brought more riders. More companies should consider this program, which allows them to buy discounted unlimited passes for employees or members.

In their efforts to avoid another Halloween disturbance, Madison officials say stretching orange plastic snow fencing across the Frances Street entrances to State Street may be the best option.
Police plan to barricade Frances Street – and possibly other streets – to limit access to State Street, said Madison Police Capt. Mary Schauf during a Community Halloween Planning Group meeting Tuesday.

One of the most enduring images from Barry Alvarez’s tenure as Wisconsin football coach was the scene at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1994.
Alvarez’s underdog Badger team had just upset UCLA 21-16 for Wisconsin’s first-ever Rose Bowl win. The estimated 70,000 Badger fans who had turned the stadium – normally UCLA’s home field – into Camp Randall West were cheering amid a flurry of flashbulbs as the team jogged a victory lap.

Everywhere you looked, there was red.

State and federal health officials go to great lengths trying to convince more than 2 million diabetics to carefully and safely dispose of about 1 billion hypodermic needles each year.
It certainly doesn’t help the effort to have Gov. Jim Doyle’s staff casually carrying 1,400 of the used needles around in a grocery bag at the state Capitol and dropping them on a political foe’s front desk.

Gov. Jim Doyle is like the mouse that got away with the cheese, leaving the Legislature standing in shock at the triggered, empty trap they had so carefully set for him.
Doyle sliced and diced the state budget 139 times with one of the nation’s most powerful veto pens this week, shifting huge amounts of money around and often reversing the Legislature’s intent.

When members of the UW Board of Regents start their study of administrative backup jobs in the University of Wisconsin System, they won’t have far to look for examples of the now-controversial practice.

After all, nearly 50 of their top assistants enjoy the perk. From System President Kevin Reilly to board secretary Judith Temby – plus the dozens of planners, directors and assorted vice presidents in between – almost all of the highly paid administrators who scale the System’s bureaucratic heights have backup jobs to act as parachutes if they fall.

The new state budget is putting the squeeze on Madison and other Dane County municipalities.
Many leaders are already talking about service cuts and layoffs.

“We’re starting to get a pretty stark vision of the impact of the state budget on the city of Madison,” a still-fuming Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said Wednesday.

It took more than three years, but now UW Rock County will receive funding for a new electrical engineering degree program.

Governor Jim Doyle approved a budget that will include $370,000 dollars to kick start the four year degree program.

As Gov. Jim Doyle signed one set of state employee union contracts into law (yesterday), he and labor leaders expressed hope that the next round of negotiations — set to begin next month — would go more smoothly.

During a Capitol ceremony, Doyle signed the contracts with four units of the Wisconsin State Employees Union for the 2003-05 contract period, which ended June 30. Negotiations for the current contract period will begin in mid-August.

Investors also usually have to buy more than one discovery to work on a single project. This “stacking” of patents is highly likely in the stem cell field, in which the University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has already patented some of the essential technology.

Quoted: Edward Friedman, a China specialist at the University of Wisconsin.

College administrators call them “helicopter parents” and say their numbers are on the rise: moms and dads who persistently hover around their children during orientation, hampering efforts to help new students begin the transition to life away from home.

The University of Vermont decided to do something about those well-meaning troublemakers: hire “parent bouncers.” The bouncers, who are students, delicately keep parents at bay during orientation sessions as incoming students consult with academic advisers or participate in panel discussions about alcohol and sex.

MIDDLETOWN, Virginia (AP) — During commencement here at Lord Fairfax Community College this spring, M. Gayle Crowder not only stole the show but, for a memorable moment, stopped it

If beer is your beverage, chances are you can relate to the frustration of a slow flow. And if so, you can certainly appreciate the plight of a former University of Wisconsin student who has spent years pouring over the problem.

Today, his solution is certain to leave many a glass half-full. “I got the idea for the product while standing in a beer line at the UW Terrace,” says Matt Younkle.

Matthew Younkle was a senior at the University of Wisconsin in Madison when inspiration struck. What the world really needs, he decided, is a three-second beer.

Ten years later, Younkle, 31 years old, is president and chief technology officer of TurboTap, a company marketing a finger-sized nozzle that attaches to standard beer faucets and pours draft beer at least twice as fast as traditional systems do, and with less spillage.

Mice engineered to grow old and gray two to three times faster than normal are providing UW-Madison scientists insights into the aging process.
Research on the prematurely old mice may one day lead to genetic intervention as humans age, allowing doctors to treat some of the curses of advancing age, such as hearing loss, which was studied in the lab mice.

Madison is on the right track with its effort to ensure a safer and saner Halloween bash on State Street this fall. Officials should continue to focus on establishing standards of behavior, encouraging swift and absolute enforcement of those standards, and creating a well-lit, well-policed environment that discourages mayhem.

The state is finally auditing a $100 million program that has failed to reduce overall energy use in state-owned buildings.
The Wisconsin Energy Initiative has paid for energy-efficient lighting, temperature controls, high-efficiency motors and low-flow plumbing fixtures since 1992 to try to save energy and money in the long run.

Quoted: Dr. John J. Magnuson, an emeritus professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin.

Hollis-Eidsmoe is represented by the Consumer Law Litigation Clinic, a project of the University of Wisconsin Law School.

GREEN BAY – At a time when some legislators and citizens are questioning whether the University of Wisconsin System is still in touch with the needs of the state, the new Paper Technology Transfer Center in Green Bay is a reminder that the “Wisconsin Idea” is alive and well.

CHICAGO, July 12 – Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich signed an executive order on Tuesday making Illinois the fourth state to devote public money to embryonic stem cell research.

A state program will distribute $10 million in grants in its first year to seek treatments and cures for conditions like Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries and heart disease.

Quoted: Chin Wu, assistant professor of civil environmental engineering at UW-Madison.

Many colleges are building new dormitories at a blistering pace to attract students, but some institutions have found that renovating existing dorms can make more financial sense, even though the work can be fraught with problems, according to speakers here on Monday at the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

RIVER FALLS, Wis. – Even after years as a nurse at the University of Wisconsin campus here, Linda Vigars says her heart still melts when she sees a student seeking emergency contraception – the so-called morning-after birth-control pill.

Broken condoms bring women to the campus clinic. Or lapses in judgment after drinking alcohol. More rarely, it’s a sexual assault.

On Friday, a day after four bombs exploded in London, many American colleges with students in Britain had accounted for most or all of their students, and were resuming classes.

MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin officials spent the Thursday busily tracking down their students who are studying in London after more than 50 people were killed there by bombings in three subway trains. At least 22 of the hundreds of people who were wounded are hospitalized in serious or critical condition. ( FULL

Students attending University of Wisconsin schools will pay nearly 7% more for in-state tuition this school year after a vote by the UW Board of Regents on Thursday. The tuition increase – which was more than university officials had proposed and at the high end of what Gov. Jim Doyle had recommended – means that tuition for the coming school year will go up by $356 at UW-Milwaukee and by $364 at UW-Madison.

Board of Regents President David Walsh said today he wants a report comparing University of Wisconsin fringe benefits with those of comparable institutions.

Fringe benefits have been an issue in the wake of the treatment of Paul Barrows, former vice chancellor for student affairs on the Madison campus. Barrows had used months of sick leave while continuing to collect a $191,000 annual salary.

The week of July 3-July 9 UW-Madison Dean of Students Luoluo Hong will officially conclude her employment at UW-Madison to pursue a career opportunity at Arizona State University in Glendale. Hong had been working as dean of students since Nov. 1, 2002 and oversaw much of the reorganization of the Office of Student Affairs after Vice Chancellor Paul Barrows took an extended leave of absence last school year.

Refrerence: UW- Madison’s Arlington Research Station.

Paul Quantrill, born in London, Ontario, is also the last player from the University of Wisconsin baseball program still playing in the majors. The school dropped the sport in 1991, two years after Quantrill was drafted. “That a Big Ten school can’t have a baseball program is pathetic to me,”

The Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the nation’s largest philanthropies, is enduring the embarrassing revelation that it spent millions of dollars advancing its own agenda.

Along with other foundations and nonprofits, the Philadelphia-based organization has come under fire recently for quietly bankrolling efforts to ensure passage in 2002 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.

Among those receiving money was the University of Wisconsin, which received $1 million for a study on issue advertising on TV.

Just what did Pew get for its money?

Dear Editor: As citizens of the state of Wisconsin, we are extremely concerned about the recent reports concerning Paul Barrows, former vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Gov. Jim Doyle is calling on Senate Republicans to quit their internal bickering and send him a budget before the end of the week.

Republican lawmakers “have had this budget for four months. They’ve had their closed caucuses. They’re supposed to have been working this out, and after all of this time, they still haven’t gotten their act together.

MADISON, Wis. — A University of Wisconsin medical school professor convicted of stalking is still collecting his $67,000 a year salary while sitting in the Dane County Jail.

A member of the UW faculty since 1989, associate professor Steven Clark is serving a court appointed one-year Huber sentence, meaning he could be eligible for work release and be back on the job.

Artist credited with putting `S’ on Superman’s cape dies at 94

BY AMY RABIDEAU SILVERS

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MILWAUKEE – (KRT) – Back when Clark Kent was reporting to the Daily Star – and even before there was a Daily Planet – a mild-mannered Milwaukee teacher became the first ghost artist to draw America’s superhero for comic books.

The teacher was Paul H. Cassidy, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine arts.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison put an embattled administrator on paid leave today as officials investigate allegations of misconduct during his tenure. Chancellor John Wiley says he’s received new allegations against Paul Barrows during his tenure as vice chancellor for student affairs.

The Madison Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team saddled up Tuesday night at the UW Stock Pavilion.

The team answered a call from the UW’s Veterinary School and UW police after a horse found its way to the top of the bleachers, about 20 feet off the ground.

As a parent of a female University of Wisconsin student, I am fuming over the state Assembly’s passing of AB 343, which will ban University Health Services from prescribing and dispensing emergency contraception (“Pill ban at UW moves ahead,” June 17). What gives the state the right to deny adult women access to this legally prescribed medication?

UW-Madison officials said former Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows will return from a seven month paid leave as a consultant. Although Barrows will no longer earn the $191,749 he received while Vice Chancellor and while on leave, records show his $150,000 salary makes him the second highest paid of 32 consultants spread among the university system’s campuses.

Madison is a center for the study of the Civil Rights Movement.

On the anniversary of the murders of three civil rights workers, the ring leader is convicted, families feel vindicated and Madison is a place to preserve a piece of that history.

“This is the right decision at the right time,” said LaMarr Billups, special assistant to the chancellor at UW-Madison.

Wednesday’s free showing of “Smile” is sponsored by the Friends of the Waisman Center, which studies human development, developmental disabilities and neurodegenerative diseases, and the UW Department of Plastic Surgery. Donations for both Operation Smile and Eduplast, a group founded by UW physicians to train medical professionals in Central America in reconstructive surgery, will be accepted at the screening.

MADISON — Monroe native Bob Olson had a mentor who made a difference in his education and his life.

Now, Bob and his wife Marilyn, are giving back. The Olsons have donated $1 million to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Engineering, the school announced this week.

Stanley Kutler has long been amazed by the public’s fascination with “Deep Throat,” the – until recently – anonymous shadowy figure who three decades ago helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein bring down the Nixon White House.

Amazed and more than a little annoyed, the renowned (UW) Madison historian acknowledged with a chuckle this week.

UWââ?¬â??Madison Campus Child Care Centers says its special program honoring UW Police will still take place as scheduled Thursday night at Luther’s Blues. Doors open at 5 p.m., and tickets are $25.
For more information, call 263ââ?¬â??5700.

Luther’s Blues, one of Madison’s most popular live music venues will close its doors and conclude months of speculation on the status of the struggling business.
“The handwriting’s been on the wall that there were problems,” said Tag Evers, owner of Madison music promotion company True Endeavors.

Facing a $421,00 shortage this year due to unexpectedly high fuel costs and bracing for a budget gap next year estimated at $1.4 million, Madison Metro Transit will consider fare hikes.

Madison Metro’s budget pressures do not come at a time when ridership is declining; rather, the city’s buses are the busiest they’ve been since 1986 but operate with frozen state aid and other government funding sources.

…(Metro manager Catherine) Debo said two main factors have contributed to stable or increasing ridership. The more recent cause, she said, is the contracts Metro has made with employers to issue employees unlimited ride cards. So far, Metro has contracts with the University of Wisconsin, St. Marys Hospital and University Hospital.

Surely it hasn’t been 25 years since the movie “Airplane!” debuted. But it has and “Don’t call me Shirley.”
The anniversary will be marked by a benefit celebration in Milwaukee in honor of the volunteer service and philanthropy of Louise Abrahams Yaffe and her son Jim Abrahams, who wrote and directed “Airplane!” with fellow Shorewood High School and UW- Madison graduates David and Jerry Zucker.

MADISON, Wis. – Gov. Jim Doyle appointed a University of Wisconsin-Parkside English major as the newest student representative on the UW System Board of Regents Wednesday.

Christopher Semenas will replace Beth Richlen, a UW-Madison law student, according to Doyle’s office. Her term expired in May.

Semenas, of Rosendale, is the first student regent appointed from UW-Parkside, Doyle said. He’s a fourth-year student, majoring in English and history.

He served as the president of the Parkside Student Government Association and legislative issues director for the Student Government Association. He currently works as an events assistant on campus.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison, $1.501-billion as of May 18 (increase of $36.4-million in the last month); the goal is $1.5-billion by 2007.

During alerts, members of the Clean Air Coalition – including Madison Gas and Electric Co., Dane County, the city of Madison, Kraft Foods, UW-Madison and the state of Wisconsin – put response plans into place. Those plans include alerting employees by e-mail, encouraging them to leave their cars at home, avoiding refueling fleet vehicles until after 6 p.m. and other measures. During the first five alert days of the season, Madison Metro will offer free bus service.

If you attended the University of Wisconsin in the last 38 years you know Mary Rouse. In fact, there’s a good chance you know her even if you didn’t attend the UW.

Until the country renews its commitment to making college affordable for everyone, the American dream of success through education will die.

Michael Stafford resigned as head of the Milwaukee Public Museum on Friday after weeks of public battering for overseeing an institution that ran up a huge deficit, drained its endowment and was forced to lay off 56 staffers.

About time for a glowing profile of the guy, right?

The current issue of the University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni publication Letters & Science TODAY offers a two-page paean to the man at the center of the museum maelstrom.