It appears the revered Council Oak Tree may survive after all. UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich on Tuesday directed architects and engineers designing a new student center to develop building blueprints that would save the oak tree and the surrounding site that serves as a cultural and spiritual location for American Indians and others...

It's Go Big Read week on the UW-Madison campus and in the Madison community. Students and others who have read Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" - the inaugural book chosen for a university common book reading program - will finally get to see the author in person Thursday night at the Kohl Center...

The chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has chosen a book that many consider anti-agricultural for the school's reading and discussion program; and that's prompting farm groups and ag industry leaders to become more vocal about their own positions over farm production practices...

...UW-Madison has served up Pollan's recent book, "In Defense of Food," as the main course for its Go Big Read campus-wide book discussion this year. Chancellor Biddy Martin says its selection was meant to generate discussion about an important topic, and not an endorsement of the book, Pollan or his adopted food system ideology...I hope readers will realize that Wisconsin's diversity of farms looks nothing like the picture Pollan paints of modern agriculture...(Author: Bill Bruins, president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation)...

The H1N1 outbreak at UW-Madison is not over, but it's not nearly as bad as it was a couple weeks ago...

Officials with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point say they are ready to handle an outbreak of H1N1 or swine flu, but are working on plans that would deal with the impact in classrooms...

Central Wisconsin is home to companies large and small who are here because of the dependable, highly skilled labor force and the quality of life...Many businesses, local governments, educational institutions, chambers of commerce and foundations in our area have come together to encourage Centergy's efforts to help retain and grow existing businesses, attract new businesses and enhance the quality of life in central Wisconsin...(Author: Victoria Strobel, director of business development for Marshfield Clinic and a Centergy board member since 2005)...

Steep investment losses have caused painful cutbacks at some of the nation’s best-known universities over the most recent fiscal year and have prompted questions about whether their endowments are taking too much risk. But as the schools, one by one, disclose their numbers, the managers of these endowments are indicating their continued support for a diversified portfolio chock full of alternative investments like hedge funds, private equity and real estate — the very things that have caused so much trouble...

Gov. Pat Quinn says he expects to receive the resignation of University of Illinois President B. Joseph White today...Quinn and U. of I. board chairman Chris Kennedy said they did not request White's resignation...

Experts convened by the nation's governors and state schools chiefs on Monday proposed a set of math and English skills students should master before high school graduation, the first step toward what advocates hope will become common standards driving instruction in classrooms from coast to coast. The proposal aims to lift expectations for students beyond current standards, which vary widely from state to state, and establish for the first time an effective national consensus on core academic goals to help the United States keep pace with global competitors...

...Financial aid experts have increasingly argued that while making enough money available is obviously essential, one reason for the lower college going rates of low-income people is that potential students from lower socioeconomic groups are either unaware of how much need-based financial aid is available or intimidated by the process of applying for federal student aid, and officials in the Obama administration, among other policy makers, have embraced the idea that simplifying the process will make a big difference. But data to fully back up that hypothesis have been lacking -- until now...

From Facebook to YouTube to personal blogs, future doctors are crossing the line — and getting in trouble. A new study finds most medical school deans surveyed said they were aware of students posting unprofessional content online, including photos of drug paraphernalia and violations of patient privacy. Some infractions resulted in warnings, others in being expelled...

Students nationwide are organizing events Wednesday to raise awareness of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The DREAM Act is a federal immigration reform bill that, if passed, would create a path to legalization through a two-year college education or two years of military service for undocumented youth...

The University of California is dealing with its worst financial crisis in decades and a very uncertain financial future. But its leadership has another problem: convincing many of its employees that the situation really is as bad as it looks. As thousands of faculty members, staff members, and students stage protests on the university's 10 campuses this week, many of the demonstrators are charging the university's leaders with fiscal mismanagement...