The UW System Board of Regents may become more geographically diverse if the state Legislature passes a bill requiring representation from all main regions throughout the state...According to Sisi Chen, communications director for the United Council of UW Students, 10 of the 14 current regents who are appointed by the governor come from either Milwaukee or Dane counties...Chen said she feels this bill will allow for all UW System students to be represented on the board, not just those who attend UW-Madison or UW-Milwaukee...

The Sierra Club would like to see the UW System eventually transfer its coal-fired heating plants to what it considers more environmentally friendly formats, local Club member Richard Spindler said. Such changes already are underway at a plant at UW-Madison, and Spindler said he hopes to begin educating administrators and students at UW-Eau Claire about coal burning to set changes underfoot here too...

Flu cases on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus held steady last week, according to the weekly flu report from University Health Services. Seventy-two cases were evaluated at the clinic on campus in the ninth week of the semester (Oct. 25-31), down two cases from the previous week...

The chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and the UW-Extension is a finalist to become president of Morgan State University in Baltimore. Morgan State says David Wilson is 1 of 3 finalists...

The dean of the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point has been reappointed by Governor Doyle and unanimously confirmed by the State Senate for a second six-year term on state DNR Board. Christine Thomas served as chairperson of the panel for much of her first term, and says she is honored to be reappointed...

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Calumet County UW-Extension office and Economic Development specialists will hold a session on launching a business Tuesday...

College students in Madison want to have a say when it comes to who gets a liquor license in the city. They hoped to earn a permanent spot on the committee that makes those decisions, but instead, reached a compromise. Tuesday night, the Common Council passed a new ordinance 16 to 2, allowing the mayor to appoint a Madison resident on the alcohol committee. It will likely be a student, but there's no guarantee...

With a red-and-white striped sweater, Adidas tennis shoes, and that big smile, Bucky Badger is one of the most recognized college mascots in the country...But luckily, one of the seven students who portrays Bucky was able to make time out of his busy schedule to talk about what it's like being the face of the University of Wisconsin...

The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities began switching its e-mail servers over to Google this week — a change announced last spring that will allow increased savings and technological advantages for students...While the popular trend among colleges to outsource their e-mail clients to private companies continues to grow, the University of Wisconsin system remains hesitant to hand over sensitive information to outsiders like Google...

Earlier this month, an employee noticed a young man carrying an odd package rushing to class in the morning at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point...We found that we have well-developed plans in place for responding to a potential campus emergency and that those plans served us well. We were reminded, however, that in an era of hyperspeed and raw information, our work is cut out for us as we ensure our campus and community are well-served by our efforts... (Author: Mark Nook, Interim Chancellor of UW-Stevens Point)...

UW-River Falls is committed to Managed Intensive Grazing as a viable alternative to confinement rearing of dairy heifers and the more-traditional, less-intensive pasturing of beef cattle. Agri-View explores practices employed and research underway involving rotational grazing at UW-River Falls with Forage Specialist Dennis Cosgrove and farmer turned Animal Science Professor Gary Onan...

The White House intends to use the first anniversary of President Obama's election to showcase his education agenda...He is planning a trip to Madison, Wis., to spotlight his Race to the Top competition, a new federal program that allows states to compete for $4.35 billion in education grant money...

...Although college-age people are among the most susceptible of all age groups for contracting swine flu, that distinction is not scaring most into taking precautions, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. Nearly seven out of 10 people in the 18-to-29 age group said they did not plan to heed warnings to get vaccinated, the poll found...

For nearly six years, I have served on the Board of Trustees of the California State University system -- the last two as its chairman. This experience has been more than just professional; it has been a deeply personal one. With my term ending soon, I need to share my concern -- and personal pain -- that California is on the verge of destroying the very system that once made this state great...

Under a blanket of secrecy, six colleges have begun testing an experimental service from major recording labels that lets students legally download all the music they want and put it on any device...The experimental service, led by Warner Music Group, is called Choruss...The participating colleges have asked not to be identified, in part because the music industry's efforts have been criticized in the past and the issue is a political land mine for campus officials...

Almost everyone in academe daydreams about scrapping the conventional university model and building something from scratch, but few people actually get the chance to try it. Stephen W. Lehmkuhle did, when he was hired in 2007 as chancellor of the University of Minnesota's fledgling Rochester campus. He had been told to create a new undergraduate program in health sciences—a natural role for a campus two blocks from the Mayo Clinic...

A provocative new report being released on Wednesday by the Institute for Higher Education Policy argues that much of the data that is used to compare higher-education systems in the United States and other countries is poorly understood and analyzed, and that the comparisons themselves therefore end up being misinterpreted and easily manipulated. In "The Spaces Between Numbers: Getting International Data on Higher Education Straight," Clifford Adelman, a senior associate at the institute, sets out to confront what he calls the "negative propaganda" about the performance of the United States in international comparisons...

The United States economy is at risk because Indian and Chinese universities are educating more engineers than American institutions, or because some European countries have graduation rates that put those of American institutions to shame, or because of … (fill in the blank with the comparison of your choice)...But a report released today suggests that many of the most commonly cited figures are highly questionable, based on the sort of apples and oranges comparisons that statisticians should have rebelled against years ago. In a number of cases, the flaws may overstate significant problems in American higher education. In many other cases, the flaws may render data valueless for promoting the kinds of education reforms that are needed, the study says...