One state lawmaker continues to push for strict legislative oversight of the UW Board of Regents’ power to condemn and acquire land under eminent domain. Milladore Democrat Amy Vruwink’s bill would ensure the board is accountable for its actions and the property acquisitions really are for the public good. Vruwink’s bill would require the UW Board to get permission from the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee before seizing private property. There would be a public hearing and a three-fourths majority vote before the Board would be granted permission to condemn a property. UW officials oppose the measure...

For students and families concerned and complaining about the upward spiral in the cost of a college education, the University of Wisconsin System president recently proposed a solution: Work harder and graduate sooner. It is an obvious statement that bears repeating as the university system searches for money and the public hopes for educational bargains...

The president of the University of Wisconsin System told the Board of Regents this month that students can save thousands of dollars by making sure they graduate within four years. Easier said than done. But it's good to see university officials acknowledge the challenge...

The pace of construction in the University of Wisconsin System is creating a growing to-do list of maintenance projects and nowhere near enough money to get the work done. “We need to start thinking about this long term,” said state Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah. “And if we’re saving money on other projects, we should think of a way to utilize that money”...

The Big Ten Network plans to honor the  University of Wisconsin-Madison's signature anthem, "On Wisconsin!" The network will air a documentary on the song to honor the ditty's 100th anniversary...

Frances Jaeschke remembers the comments of a local official back in the 1960s, when she was part of a core group angling to build a four-year University of Wisconsin campus in the Kenosha area. “‘We’re just a lunch-bucket community; what are you trying to sell us Cadillac stuff for?’” Jaeschke recalled an alderman asking. Speaking nearly a half century later to a gymnasium full of new graduates and their families, Jaeschke noted the error of that unnamed politician’s ways...

Class speaker Micah Swanson had a simple message for his fellow midyear 2009 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh graduates, one he got from his evaluating officer in the Army ROTC. "I did my best, and I was prepared to be grilled in true military fashion," Swanson said. "His challenge still echoes in my mind. He said, 'Cadet Swanson, you're a lot better than you think you are. This is tough stuff, but you can do it'"...

Both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Edgewood College held Winter Commencement ceremonies on Sunday. UW- Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin spoke at the UW's graduation. Chancellor Martin said she believes grads are well-prepared to face the hiring world. She says their education was one of the best investments they've made...

A company that partially demolished UW-Madison's Ogg Hall before getting fired shouldn't get around $1.8 million from the state, according to a recommendation from the State Claims Board...

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has filed a lawsuit against the University of Wisconsin's medical school and its supporting foundation.The newspaper and reporter John Fauber allege the school, the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, and other defendants are violating the state's public records law by refusing to release faculty comments about a proposed conflict-of-interest policy...

The University of Wisconsin's medical school and its supporting foundation are violating the state's public records law by refusing to release faculty comments about a proposed conflict-of-interest policy, according to a lawsuit filed Friday. The suit was filed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and reporter John Fauber, who has written extensively about the relationships between drug companies, medical-device makers, doctors and medical schools. It seeks a court order to make the comments public...

The events of a lifetime sometimes get bumped out of order. Take Frank Schultz, who walked across the stage this weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's commencement. He earned his degree 50 years ago. He has been retired from his teaching career for a decade now. The graduation ceremony was denied to him in 1959 because of what turned out to be a clerical error showing he missed the cut by a fraction of a credit. It stings to this day. So the 72-year-old Milwaukee man finally wore the cap and gown Saturday, joining more than 600 much younger grads...

The 3rd District Neighborhood Association, composed of Milwaukee’s east side and Riverwest neighborhood associations, wants University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to locate its new School of Public Health at Columbia Hospital, and not at a downtown location recommended by university administrators...UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago has proposed buying the hospital, which is next to UWM, and converting it primarily into student housing. The hospital complex will become available in late 2010 when Columbia St. Mary's Inc. consolidates operations at its Lake Drive campus...

The University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Rothwell Student Center closes its doors for good at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday as employees move to the university’s new Yellowjacket Union student center slated to open next month...

UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich has instructed the Davies Center Redevelopment Steering Committee to proceed with a site option for a new student center that will preserve the site of the Historic Council Oak tree by shifting the building to the east toward Phillips Science Hall...

With the state's jobless rate still hovering around 8 percent, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point graduates trying to find a job this winter will have their work cut out for them. On Saturday, amid camera flashes, flowers and family, 576 winter graduates -- 535 of them bachelor's degree candidates -- were encouraged by speakers and faculty members to start the job hunt running. University of Minnesota strength coach Bob Rohde, a UWSP alumnus, urged students to work hard and be creative in their search for employment...

...The event is an example of the effect the changing nature of college funding is having on universities. As state support declines, public universities rely more and more on other sources, from tuition to endowments. As funding becomes increasingly privatized, smaller fundraisers such as Monoprint have begun to spring up to help fill in the gaps...

A Republican state senator is criticizing Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal to offer two years of state grants to eligible Wisconsin Covenant scholars. Sen. Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac said the Department of Administration proposal released this week backtracks on the governor's original plan from 2006, which seemed to promise financial aid to Covenant scholars throughout college...

Aiming to improve student proficiency and achievement in mathematics, multiple systems of higher education have recently raised either their minimum standards for admission or their benchmarks for enrollment in credit-bearing courses in the subject...

...The result of sporadic or skimpy computer science training is that a generation of teenagers great at using computers will be unlikely to play a role in the way computer technology shapes lives in the future, said Chris Stephenson, executive director of the New York-based Computer Science Teachers Association...That has economic implications. "If you look at history, the nations with economic superiority are building the tools the rest of the world is using," Stephenson said. The slide in computer science education is surprising at a time when politicians are bent on fueling innovation by sharpening the math, science and technology skills of the future workforce...

...Hybrid careers like Dr. Halamka’s that combine computing with other fields will increasingly be the new American jobs of the future, labor experts say. In other words, the nation’s economy is going to need more cool nerds. But not enough young people are embracing computing — often because they are leery of being branded nerds. Educators and technologists say two things need to change: the image of computing work, and computer science education in high schools. Teacher groups, professional organizations like the Association for Computing Machinery and the National Science Foundation are pushing for these changes, but so are major technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Intel. One step in their campaign came the week of Dec. 7, National Computer Science Education Week, which was celebrated with events in schools and online...

A federal civil rights agency investigating possible gender discrimination in college admissions will subpoena data from more than a dozen mid-Atlantic universities, officials said Thursday. The probe by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is focusing on whether some colleges favor men by admitting them at higher rates than women, or by offering them more generous aid packages...

At most Big Ten universities, a list of students’ off-campus misdemeanor charges lands on a dean’s desk every Monday morning...The University of Wisconsin-Madison enforces a similar policy. Four students died from alcohol-related causes during the last school year. Since then, officials have revised their policies, said Ervin Cox, assistant dean of students. Wisconsin students only face formal disciplinary action for off-campus drinking incidents when they result in a trip to the hospital, an assault occurs, previous disciplinary history is on record, or alcohol was provided to a minor who needed medical care. The Madison campus is dealing with 57 open misconduct cases, 49 of which are alcohol-related...

...Vite and Curiel echo the voices of families throughout the state who are being severely tested by the budget cuts at the Cal State, University of California and community college systems. The fee increases, as well as mandatory staff and faculty furloughs, steep reductions in enrollment (40,000 otherwise eligible students will be turned away in the next two years at Cal State) and elimination of programs and majors have spurred student and faculty protests on many campuses. But now there is an emerging movement of parents who are speaking out and assuming a bigger advocacy role...