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...

The dean of UW-Madison's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences has been appointed to a senior position in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to university officials. Molly Jahn will serve as deputy undersecretary of research, education and economics, where she will be responsible for leading three units within the USDA...

Chilly temperatures might have helped control downtown crowds during this weekend's University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point homecoming...

Seven of 20 University of Wisconsin-Madison head coaches have already taken at least one unpaid furlough day...

...Members of the Oshkosh Fire Department went door to door in an eastside neighborhood over two nights this week, checking to make sure smoke detectors were working, replacing batteries that needed to be replaced or installing detectors in residences that needed them...n 2008, the department targeted the off-campus housing area near the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and found that 28 percent of the smoke detectors were missing batteries or had dead batteries...

The Wisconsin Innocence Project and state officials will work together beginning early next year to identify inmates who claim to be innocent and whose cases could benefit from post-conviction DNA testing. Currently, attorneys at the Innocence Project wait for prisoners or their advocates to contact them at the University of Wisconsin Law School. But a $647,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will allow the project to search for the wrongfully convicted among an estimated 6,000 people currently in prison for murder, non-negligent homicide and forcible rape, said Keith Findley, co-director of the innocence project...

In response to what University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin called the “single greatest complaint” she has received thus far as chancellor, a proposal has been constructed that would significantly change the structure of the graduate school, including the addition of a separate vice chancellor for research. Specifically, Martin said she has heard many concerns the UW research enterprise has “serious, serious problems,” in her address of the faculty at the faculty senate meeting last Monday...

...Residence hall occupancy for the UW-P's fall semester is at the maximum 2,700 students, predominately freshmen and sophomores. It means there are more students -- around 50 at the semester's start -- than there are available dormitory rooms...When that occurs, she said, the university adds additional living spaces in what's called "expanded housing." It means that alternate areas, such as floor lounges, are converted for resident use...

A closed south Wood County facility has attracted the attention of two University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point professors developing a process to turn wood pulp into biofuel...

The job losses and industry upheavals the Northeastern Wisconsin region has sustained over the past few years means our economy has to change to bring in more business. And how do we do it? According to New North Inc. Executive Director Jerry Murphy, the key is collaboration...Schneider believes New North is on the right track in encouraging educational advancement through partnerships with area liberal arts and technical colleges...

While workforce development agencies are trying to rustle up more retraining assistance for increased numbers of dislocated workers, the U.S. Department of Education has announced $11.25 million in grants to community colleges for unemployed workers and working adults. Three Wisconsin technical colleges are among the participants...

...The survey by online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. shows putting money away for higher education is the top savings goal for today’s teens. The results showed 62 percent of teens aged 14 through 19 save their money for college, a much higher rate than the 40 percent of adults who said they saved when they were teens...

After a decade of impressive growth, the programs and offices devoted to diversity in academe are bearing their share of pain from the recession. In some cases the spending cuts are also leading to reductions in enrollment and positions for non-tenure-track faculty members, which may inadvertently hurt minority students and professors. And while most colleges have preserved or increased their financial-aid budgets this year, many were not able to match the growing need among their students...

...But the young engineers face a potentially tougher challenge as University of California leaders consider a plan to charge these students more for their undergraduate education than most others at the university. As part of a plan to plug UC's battered budget, the regents may vote as early as next month on the controversial, tradition-breaking proposal to require engineering undergraduates, along with those studying business, to pay $900 more a year than the rest of the student body...Public universities in Arizona, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Colorado and Wisconsin are among those with the additional fees...

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents unanimously approved a $240 million wish list of building projects Friday, with a heavy emphasis on maintaining and upgrading existing buildings. The request asks the Legislature to approve $193.3 million in bonds plus $46.7 million in bonds from the university...

The right combination of money and policies can make real progress in reducing the time to degree for earning humanities doctorates, but the six-year humanities Ph.D. is probably not in the cards. Those are among the key findings of one of the most ambitious efforts ever to reform the humanities Ph.D., as discussed in one of the most thorough (and frank) evaluations of such an effort...