Academic research and development, one of the few bright spots in Wisconsin's economic landscape, doesn't need to be a political football. Political games abound in the absence of clear strategic direction, and that's what happened with the idea that the University of Wisconsin System should spread dollars for fresh water technology to all four-year campuses in the state. The idea that fresh water technology should be proliferated, rather than focused, demonstrated a lack of understanding of the concept of clusters that grew out of the four economic summits early in this decade...

Recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news articles and editorials have raised important questions about the leadership role of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in freshwater research. As leaders of the UW System Board of Regents, we want to set the record straight about UW System's strong, continuing commitment to this program...Our enthusiasm for a vibrant Milwaukee campus is shared by our entire board and UW System President Kevin Reilly...(Authors: Charles Pruitt, President, and Michael Spector, Vice-President, UW System Board of Regents)...

Four years ago on these pages, we launched a crusade to create a school of public health at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Then as now, we argued that the public health challenges in our city are so severe, the need so great, that only a research institution located in the heart of the city has a chance to battle them. That school is a reality now. Its first seven students are studying for doctorates; the first six faculty have been hired or soon will be. But UWM's new School of Public Health requires another investment from state and private donors if it is to take flight and serve students, the community at large and the state of Wisconsin. Important decisions await...

In fall 2005, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published its first editorial advocating for the creation of a school of public health at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Four years later, the school is a reality...The next step is to establish the school's home. Central to this decision is a clear understanding of the core mission of the School of Public Health...In our meetings, I have strongly advocated that the school instead should be located next to the UWM campus in Columbia-St. Mary's Hospital. It offers prime space for the School of Public Health. Here is why... (Author: David H. Petering, UW-Milwaukee professor of chemistry and biochemistry)...

The Athletics Department of the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie has been honored by the NCAA for its diversity efforts. It is the first time a Division III university has received this award...Established in 2005, the Diversity in Athletics award annually highlights athletics departments that excel in diversity. Recipients are recognized in six categories — diversity strategy, gender diversity of employees, racial diversity of employees, value and attitudinal diversity, gender equity (Title IX proportionality), and overall diversity...

Today people from all around Wisconsin will gather at the UW-Madison to show off high-tech mapping skills that tell communities everything from the location of fire hydrants to crime patterns...GIS provides all the information of an ordinary map, but adds the element of time...

Before Bob and Margaret (Penny) Swanson left Menomonie, they notified me of a special legacy. It wasn't what most would expect of the former UW-Stout chancellor and his wife, who have given much of themselves to the community over the years. But it is nonetheless a meaningful bequest, from which it is hoped that others can learn and perhaps benefit. Penny, who was diagnosed with essential tremor (ET) 25 years ago, will donate her brain to science, in hopes that the cause and cure for ET can be found...

Time Warner recently revealed details on a five-year effort to encourage children to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math, and Wisconsin is among the first to get in on the action. As part of a nationwide, $100 million project to promote STEM skills among America's youth, Wisconsin will get $3.5 million in cash and other resources to support and promote local programs...

Officials at the Univesrity of California, Santa Cruz, say dozens of protesters who were occupying the university's main administrative building have ended their protest. Campus spokesman Jim Burns says the nearly 70 or so protesters who had occupied the university's Kerr Hall since Thursday in a demonstration over fee hikes walked out of the building around 8 a.m. Sunday...

...President Obama will announce a campaign Monday to enlist companies and nonprofit groups to spend money, time and volunteer effort to encourage students, especially in middle and high school, to pursue science, technology, engineering and math, officials say. The campaign, called Educate to Innovate, will focus mainly on activities outside the classroom...

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents cast a tie vote on human embryonic stem cell research on Friday, defeating a rare effort to limit such research at a university system beyond what state and federal laws allow. The 4-to-4 vote, which took place in Lincoln, in essence leaves the university’s policy in line with President Obama's expansion of the research that federal money may cover. It was a major disappointment for groups that have led a sustained campaign against the research and saw the Nebraska fight as a possible new front in the national debate over the matter...

Melinda Rieboldt's kids were Googling her name for fun when they found it: A college paper she had helped write as part of a group project while pursuing an MBA. It was available on at least five websites that sell research papers to students. Rieboldt, who graduated last year from the University of Phoenix in Pleasanton, Calif., doesn't know how the websites got the paper, on the topic of global communications. Nor, she says, do her five co-authors...Now though, a class-action lawsuit working its way through a U.S. District Court in Illinois could provide a road map for those who find their work online without their authorization. The judge has found a provider liable on six counts, including copyright infringement, unfair competition and other fraud-related claims...

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, squaring off against Republican lawmakers, has launched a campaign to salvage a $100 million college-scholarship program that she sees as critical to diversifying her state's flagging economy. Michigan lawmakers stripped funding for the state's Promise Scholarship in their budget for the current fiscal year, arguing that, with auto-industry cuts and 15% unemployment ravaging state coffers, Michigan can't afford to hand out money to college students. The Democratic-controlled state House has since voted to restore Promise funding, but the Republican-led Senate is holding firm so far...

Financial aid officers and their bosses, college presidents, can be forgiven if they feel a little bit like the rope in a game of political tug of war over federal student loans. On the one hand, they're hearing regularly from the Obama administration and its allies in Congress that they're putting their students' academic futures at risk if they don't prepare to switch to the federal Direct Loan Program now, because pending legislation known as the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will require them to do so by next July. On the other, lenders are whispering in their ears that the legislation's fate is uncertain and that if they prefer the bank-based Federal Family Education Loan Program, in which a majority of colleges still participate, they should stick to their guns...