The Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation awarded UW-Madison with a $360,501 Career Ready Internship Grant, according to a Monday university release.
Democratic leaders renewed their calls Monday for an audit of the state Department of Corrections after allegations of abuse at the Lincoln Hills juvenile facility in Irma. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, and three other top Democrats sent a letter to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in an effort to spur on a closer look at the state’s correctional facilities. Public outcry has mounted after a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation alleging that workers at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake juvenile facilities committed acts of abuse, sexual assault and intimidation of inmates. The scandal has forced the resignation of former Corrections Secretary Ed Wall, and over a dozen prison staffers have been placed on leave. Lawmakers said in the letter that an audit of the DOC would hold staff accountable, as well as provide a plan for future reforms within the state prison system. “The situation can no longer be ignored,” the letter said.
An exhibit that features writing, art, music and dramatic work from inmates of the Oakhill Correctional Institution will be available at the Madison Public Library’s Central Branch this Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Wisconsin Center for Education Research, which is a part of UW-Madison’s School of Education, launched a program earlier in February to address the need for education interventions.
Gov. Scott Walker signed 46 bills into law Monday, including one prohibiting legislators from concurrently holding office as county executives. Written by Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, Senate Bill 707 passed the Senate with a 19-13 vote. The measure is intended to prevent government officials from taking two salaries from taxpayers’ dollars, Fitzgerald said in a Feb. 2 Wisconsin State Journal article.
Five fraternities came together Saturday to attend the first Greek Life Cross Council Diversity Discussion to raise awareness about different issues regarding race on the UW-Madison campus. The members discussed a wide array of topics, including white privilege, microaggressions, institutionalized racism and the prison-industrial complex. Members of five Greek organizations—including Pi Lambda Phi, Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Sigma Beta, Chi Sigma Tau and Lambda Theta Phi—attended the event. UW-Madison students Stanley King, Kenneth Cole, Devon Hamilton, Cheta-Chukwu Agwoeme and John Schroeder had been in communication to organize the event for roughly two weeks.
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank detailed data about enrollment, retention and educational outcomes for students of color on campus in a Friday blog post, saying although there is still work to be done, the university has improved its efforts in these areas.
UW-Madison spin-off organization Stemina Biomarker Discovery is attempting to create a biological method to diagnose autism by screening blood samples. CEO Elizabeth Donley and UW-Madison professor in the Department of Animal Sciences Gabriela Cezar founded the company in 2006, according to a university release. The company received $2.7 million from the National Institute of Mental Health in August 2015 to fund the study, which is titled the Children’s Autism Metabolome Project.
UW-Madison’s 135-year-old Washburn Observatory will reopen for free public viewings Wednesday night after being closed for nearly two years due to repairs. The observatory closed in April 2014 due to an unexpected malfunction in the sliding door on the dome of the observatory, according to a university release.
The streets of Madison will see 23 new police recruits in early March for field training, after more than five months and nearly 900 hours of training, according to a Madison Police Department statement. The state requires 720 hours of training before recruits can begin field training, which MPD exceeds.
The Rathskeller dining room and Subskeller station in Memorial Union closed Feb. 28 for further renovation, according to a press release from the Wisconsin Union. The closing is part of a larger, ongoing construction project that began in 2012.
Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill Friday that would streamline bureaucratic hurdles for Medicaid patients with chronic mental illness and create pilot programs for alternate mental health care. The bill, authored by state Sens.
Jose L. Vasquez-Garcia, 39, is the only suspect in last Wednesday’s homicide of his girlfriend Christina A.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., proposed a bill Thursday requiring the U.S. State Department to inform Congress on Guantanamo Bay prisoners being transferred.
UW-Madison is seeking nominations for the 2016 Administrative Improvement Award. The award acknowledges candidates who have performed exceptionally “in administrative roles that support academics, research, student services, outreach and administration,” according to a university release. Chancellor Rebecca Blank, Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf and Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Darrell Bazzell said administrative work is vital to the continued success of the university. “This Administrative Improvement Award program acknowledges that our students’ success is supported by the operations and administration of the university,” they said in a joint statement.
Wisconsin’s poverty rate is the highest it has been in three decades, according to a recent study from UW-Madison’s Applied Population Laboratory. The study retrieved data from 2005-’09 and 2010-’14 and demonstrated that poverty levels are the highest they have been since 1984.
Twelve UW-Madison faculty members have been announced as winners of the 2016 Distinguished Teaching Award. The award, created in 1953, aims to recognize UW-Madison “faculty members whose teaching is of such quality that it merits recognition and award,” according to a university release.
350 Madison Climate Action Team joined with the UW-Madison campus branch of 350 UW in Varsity Hall at Union South to address topics on climate change in a joint Q&A session, called “Rising to the Challenge of the Climate Crisis.” The event targeted questions surrounding progress made at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris and how that progress translates to the United States. Lauren Peretz, leader of 350 UW and a UW-Madison student, and Erik Anderson, member of 350 Madison and UW-Madison student, relayed questions from the audience to the two expert panelists.
The Disability Rights Commission renewed its commitment to improving the accessibility of Madison taxi cab services at a meeting Thursday night.
Almost 70 years after UW-Madison hired its first professor of color, members of the campus community gathered at the Pyle Center to acknowledge faculty from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
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