Despite the poor economy, overall enrollment across UW System campuses increased about 3,000 students from 2008 to 2009, President Kevin O'Reilly said Friday at UW-Eau Claire...However, less than 60 percent of students entering four-year colleges nationwide are graduating. Michael McPherson,co-author of "Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America's Public Universities," shared some of the new book's findings with the board...

A nationally known economist and author said students need better advice on choosing a college during a presentation Friday afternoon for the Board of Regents at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In his book “Crossing the Finish Line,” Spencer Foundation President Michael McPherson and his co-authors examine the effect of a variety of variables, according to a statement. These include high school grades, test scores, financial aid, family income and parental education and how they have an effect on student retention and graduation rates...

Student approval will be crucial if UW-Eau Claire expects them to approve raising differential tuition rates, members of the UW System's Board of Regents said Thursday in Davies Center. UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich and a handful of students fielded questions from the Regents' Budget, Finance and Audit Committee about the university's "Blugold Commitment"...

In 2006, when Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich began working at UW-Eau Claire, the school set out to achieve four goals by the university's centennial in 2016: to evaluate the university with a reaccredidation self-study, to set goals through a strategic planning process, conduct a review of all academic and administrative programs and to participate in national studies. On Oct. 15, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Patricia Kleine presented these goals and the centennial plan to the UW System Board of Regents Education Committee at their meeting at UW-Eau Claire...

...We have some ideas about what people want, and we can answer this rhetorical question if we choose. We have flippant responses at the ready, such as, sports for the alumni, parties for the students, and parking for faculty. I would argue that we do not take the question seriously enough, and therefore are often surprised — and truth be told a bit hurt — that our audiences do not always sufficiently appreciate what we provide...Unlike most major American industries, higher education has paid relatively little attention to preparing potential customers to desire and use its product...(Author: Kevin P. Reilly, President, UW System)...

If given a choice between reading the 1,200-page epic novel "War and Peace" on a Kindle digital reader or curling up with an old-fashioned book, it's no contest for UW-Madison student Rule Johnstone. He'll take the actual book...Johnstone is one of 20 students in Professor Jeremi Suri's upper level history seminar who was given Kindle DXs - one of Amazon's digital readers - to use for free as part of a pilot program at UW-Madison. UW-Madison Libraries purchased them last summer for $10,000 with private gifts from the Parents Fund, at a cost of $500 a piece...

...And this week central Wisconsin, too, was the site of a mistaken threat-assessment. The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Tuesday morning activated its campus emergency management plan over a suspicious package that turned out to be a prop for a theater class -- a wooden sword, no less.Still, that incident served as a worthwhile test run of the university's emergency response. And the good news was that the system ran smoothly...

Governor Jim Doyle today joined campus leaders, donors and supporters to break ground on the New Academic Building at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The $37 million construction project, the first new academic construction project at the university in over 35 years, will greatly improve campus facilities and is estimated to create over 2,000 jobs in the next three years...

The first shipment of H1N1 vaccines arrived at the University of Wisconsin Thursday and will go primarily to those working in health care facilities, making it unlikely any will be left for the general student body...

A former University of Wisconsin administrator returned to UW after nearly 20 years on Friday, expressing the need to modernize the standards of the Wisconsin Idea. Eugene Trani, former vice president for academic affairs, elaborated on the importance of maintaining a symbiotic relationship between the university and the Madison community, and how students should not only acquire an education in Madison, but use that education after they graduate to benefit the city...

Brian Popp, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse junior, is working on a project that's more than simply worthwhile: It could save a life some day. But Popp is running into some speed bumps in his drive to make the UW-L campus a safer place for pedestrians. There's the cost of signage and making sure signs meet federal standards. There's permission from the city's Board of Public Works...

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's first permanent branch farming research station is gearing up for its 100th birthday. The outpost was founded in 1909 in Spooner as farming spread throughout northern Wisconsin...

Tom Olson was named CIO for the $2.27 billion University of Wisconsin Foundation, Madison, confirmed spokesman Chris DuPre...

The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh today broke ground on its new academic building, a $37 million construction project. The building is the first new academic construction project at the university in more than 35 years...

...(Mike) Leckrone, who is in his 41st year as the UW Marching Band director, is known for being a taskmaster. Tryouts for the band weed out the weak, practices are grueling and no error goes unnoticed...But over the past few years, Leckrone's band has also made headlines for the wrong reasons: hazing, lewdness, and an assistant director who resigned after reported inappropriate sexual behavior...

After last year's troubled season, the UW Marching Band made several changes to try to prevent more incidents of hazing...

The University of Wisconsin-Madison put out a press release Friday noting that, according to statistics compiled by the National Science Foundation, the university is the nation's third-largest research institution as measured by dollars spent...The most recent NSF rankings show UW-Madison trails only Johns Hopkins University and the University of California at San Francisco...

UW-Madison officials continue to debate Provost Paul DeLuca’s plan to restructure the graduate school, and will hold another town hall meeting Friday for further discussion. DeLuca proposed the restructuring to help the school comply with complex federal and safety regulations, but many professors and administrative officials have raised concerns over the cost and effectiveness of the plan...

A book by Sean Carroll, a UW-Madison professor of molecular biology and genetics, has been nominated for the National Book Award. The book, "Remarkable Creatures," tells the stories of the expeditions undertaken by naturalists and other scientists in search of evidence to support Charles Darwin's theory of evolution...

Writers at the University of Wisconsin-Superior take part in two events Tuesday as they join writers around the country in observing National Day on Writing. The day celebrates composition in all its forms and demonstrates how integral writing has become to daily lifey. National Day on Writing is sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English. UWS’ Writing across the Curriculum Program is sponsoring the event...

With the new Master Plan, UW-Milwaukee student-parents have been voicing concern over the proposed removal of the UWM Children’s Center on Kenwood Blvd...

The Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is making a difference one campaign at a time. And now, it has the financial backing of student government to push for change...

The Wisconsin School of Business (Wisconsin Full-Time MBA Profile), a second-tier MBA program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, takes a nontraditional approach to teaching management. Students sign up to study career tracks rather than majors or concentrations...

The latest figures from the National Science Foundation confirm what many people in Wisconsin already knew: the UW-Madison is one of the nation's leading research universities. The numbers also underscore the fact that academic research and development isn't confined to the labs and research offices of the state's flagship university. Research and development work is taking place at colleges, universities and similar institutions across Wisconsin, and the total reflects a competitive edge most states would envy...

Only 137 jobs, many of them held by students, were created or saved at the University of Wisconsin System thanks to $5.2 million in federal stimulus money. The university's audit, released Thursday, used a government formula to calculate the number of jobs based the number of hours worked on projects paid for with stimulus money. It did not say how many were new jobs or what the exact positions were...

Wisconsin must change its state law to allow student test results to be used to evaluate teachers in order to compete for $4.5 billion in federal education stimulus money, Gov. Jim Doyle said today...

While other universities around the nation lay off staff, halt construction projects and cease programs, local La Crosse colleges seem to be more focused on expanding. Currently, both UW-L and Western Technical College are amidst campus construction projects that include new academic buildings and residence halls...

Gov. Jim Doyle today proposed keeping kids in class longer each day and lengthening the school year to help the state capture federal Race to the Top funding. In addition, Doyle said the state's Race to the Top application will include a proposal to tie teacher evaluation to student achievement tests. He is also proposing changes to the school funding formula that would loosen revenue caps for schools that lower administrative costs by working with other districts and seek other efficiencies...

...News organizations may be shrinking, as you have heard ad nauseam, but journalism is being revived and reinvented in some encouraging ways, a new report says...Campuses, from the University of Wisconsin to the University of Maryland, are producing more professional-level journalism with student manpower...

Tens of billions of dollars in federal economic aid has created or saved 250,000 education jobs, the Obama administration announced Monday, although states and school systems continue to face enormous fiscal pressures. The figures in the report issued by the White House and Education Department do not address how many education jobs have been cut this year because of the recession, nor do they project how many are in jeopardy in the coming year...

States have used economic-stimulus dollars to fill in shortfalls in their education budgets and create or save 250,000 education jobs, the White House said Monday. The White House and the Education Department released a new report on the impact of the approximately $100 billion in stimulus funds devoted to education...

They don't make much money, they don't have health benefits, and they don't have job security. So why do adjuncts keep showing up to teach in college classrooms semester after semester, year after year? The Chronicle went to Chicago to find that out, and a lot more...

The Fulbright Program, run by the U.S. Department of State, has always straddled the worlds of academe and public policy. Tailored to enhance both the international interests of the United States and the scholarship it supports, the program is sending 1,551 students and 1,250 scholars abroad this academic year. Now, with a new administration in place, the State Department is reviewing the disciplines and areas of the world on which it wishes to focus, with an eye toward putting President Obama's stamp on the program...