Dispatches
Power Hungry
A new power plant is rising on UW–Madison's west campus, and not a moment too soon, campus planners say.
Construction began this fall on the long-awaited facility, which will produce steam and chilled water to heat and cool campus buildings and generate 150 megawatts of electricity for Madison utility customers. Seven years in the planning, the joint project of the UW, the state, and Madison Gas and Electric will come online in 2005, just in time to meet the university's growing demands.
In the past decade, energy consumption on campus has gone up by one-third, despite a $29 million conservation effort that includes upgrading motors, installing motion-activated light bulbs, and replacing 1,700 laboratory fume hoods with higher-efficiency models. The construction of new facilities and renovation of old ones has outpaced those savings, creating a serious need for more juice. According to one study, without new generating capacity, the university would max out its ability to heat and cool buildings by 2005.
Construction began this fall on the long-awaited facility, which will produce steam and chilled water to heat and cool campus buildings and generate 150 megawatts of electricity for Madison utility customers. Seven years in the planning, the joint project of the UW, the state, and Madison Gas and Electric will come online in 2005, just in time to meet the university's growing demands.
In the past decade, energy consumption on campus has gone up by one-third, despite a $29 million conservation effort that includes upgrading motors, installing motion-activated light bulbs, and replacing 1,700 laboratory fume hoods with higher-efficiency models. The construction of new facilities and renovation of old ones has outpaced those savings, creating a serious need for more juice. According to one study, without new generating capacity, the university would max out its ability to heat and cool buildings by 2005.
“For us, this was a fundamental prerequisite for continuing our mission at the university,” says Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities. “Obviously, the pressure was on.”
But Wisconsin has not built a new power plant in more than two decades, owing to irreconcilable debates that often arise between those who want to build plants and those who have to live near them. The UW's facility, which will be built adjacent to the existing Walnut Street heating plant, was no exception. Concerns from campus-area neighbors and environmental groups led to an extended period of public dialogue and, eventually, pledges from the university and MG&E to improve controls for air emissions and noise abatement, among other details.
Jennifer Feyerherm, a representative of the Sierra Club, says the alterations helped allay fears about the plant's potential environmental impact. “We hope this spirit of cooperation continues to make our home a safer and healthier place to live,” she says.
But Wisconsin has not built a new power plant in more than two decades, owing to irreconcilable debates that often arise between those who want to build plants and those who have to live near them. The UW's facility, which will be built adjacent to the existing Walnut Street heating plant, was no exception. Concerns from campus-area neighbors and environmental groups led to an extended period of public dialogue and, eventually, pledges from the university and MG&E to improve controls for air emissions and noise abatement, among other details.
Jennifer Feyerherm, a representative of the Sierra Club, says the alterations helped allay fears about the plant's potential environmental impact. “We hope this spirit of cooperation continues to make our home a safer and healthier place to live,” she says.
The $180 million plant takes advantage of economies of scale by using steam to heat, cool, and produce electricity at the same time. The university won't rely immediately on electricity from the plant, but the community will benefit from having a local power supply should a grid failure, such as the one that hit the eastern United States in August, cut transmission lines to Wisconsin.
Right now, 85 percent of MG&E's power flows in from outside the city. “For that reason,” Fish says, “getting some extra megawatts right here in town made sense.”
— Michael Penn MA'97
Right now, 85 percent of MG&E's power flows in from outside the city. “For that reason,” Fish says, “getting some extra megawatts right here in town made sense.”
— Michael Penn MA'97
Change Coming for East Campus
Campus planners have unveiled a long-anticipated strategy to transform east campus, which will create dramatic change to the intersection between campus and downtown Madison.
The plan envisions razing the George L. Mosse Humanities Building, the A.W. Peterson Office Building, the UW-Extension headquarters, and Ogg Hall as part of wholesale redevelopment of the aging lower campus. In their place, an arts and humanities district would be created, featuring new facilities for arts and humanities programs and an expanded and renovated Elvehjem Museum of Art. A new art facility is proposed for the southwest corner of Park and West Johnson streets, enabling the art department to bring facilities scattered around campus under one roof.
The plan envisions razing the George L. Mosse Humanities Building, the A.W. Peterson Office Building, the UW-Extension headquarters, and Ogg Hall as part of wholesale redevelopment of the aging lower campus. In their place, an arts and humanities district would be created, featuring new facilities for arts and humanities programs and an expanded and renovated Elvehjem Museum of Art. A new art facility is proposed for the southwest corner of Park and West Johnson streets, enabling the art department to bring facilities scattered around campus under one roof.
The long-range project also would add three new residence halls as part of a major upgrade of student housing. One of the new halls would sit in a mixed-use development at the current site of the University Square mall. The other two would be built at the southeast corner of Park and Dayton streets and on Park Street just north of Regent Street. The added housing would allow the university to guarantee on-campus residence for all incoming freshmen, something it can't do currently.
Another feature of the plan is the creation of a long north-south pedestrian mall intersecting Library Mall. First imagined in a campus master plan nearly a decade ago, the open span would stretch from Lake Mendota to just north of Regent Street.
— Dennis Chaptman
Another feature of the plan is the creation of a long north-south pedestrian mall intersecting Library Mall. First imagined in a campus master plan nearly a decade ago, the open span would stretch from Lake Mendota to just north of Regent Street.
— Dennis Chaptman
So Long, SoBIG
On the morning of August 20, Annie Stunden arrived in her office to find her e-mail box gorged with messages. It took only a few clicks before UW-Madison's chief of information technology knew she had a problem: the SoBIG virus, a PC worm that spreads itself through e-mail, was bouncing around campus like a baseball in a china shop.
The virus, which accesses a user's e-mail address book and sends out hundreds of copies of itself through bogus messages, wreaked havoc on computer networks across the world during a few days in August.
It showed up on the UW's network of sixty thousand computers about two hours before a software company released a patch that protected machines — time enough to infect some 2,400 computers and flood servers with approximately one million e-mail messages, doubling the normal daily volume.
The virus, which accesses a user's e-mail address book and sends out hundreds of copies of itself through bogus messages, wreaked havoc on computer networks across the world during a few days in August.
It showed up on the UW's network of sixty thousand computers about two hours before a software company released a patch that protected machines — time enough to infect some 2,400 computers and flood servers with approximately one million e-mail messages, doubling the normal daily volume.
Even those with virus-free machines had to spend several minutes deleting dozens or sometimes hundreds of meaningless messages. “It had a devastating effect on productivity,” says Stunden.
Still, it could have been much worse, which is why Stunden and others are chalking up SoBIG as a crisis avoided — and a valuable lesson that may help protect the UW's computer resources from future attacks.
SoBIG became the first computer virus to trigger the university's official crisis-response plan, which may have spared the network further stress. The UW's Division of Information Technology (DoIT) temporarily blocked off-campus users and closed down other portals into the network. DoIT filtered e-mail to and from the separate network in residence halls, where students were just arriving and plugging in potentially vulnerable machines.
Still, it could have been much worse, which is why Stunden and others are chalking up SoBIG as a crisis avoided — and a valuable lesson that may help protect the UW's computer resources from future attacks.
SoBIG became the first computer virus to trigger the university's official crisis-response plan, which may have spared the network further stress. The UW's Division of Information Technology (DoIT) temporarily blocked off-campus users and closed down other portals into the network. DoIT filtered e-mail to and from the separate network in residence halls, where students were just arriving and plugging in potentially vulnerable machines.
Judy Caruso, DoIT's director of policy, security, and planning, says those steps “bought us some time” to get the word out about how to defeat the virus. By the next morning, only about two hundred computers were still infected, and filters were in place to block the bogus e-mail.
As viruses go, SoBIG was more annoying than damaging, although it did cause some institutions' networks to crash from excess traffic. A more malicious attack — a SoBIGGER, if you will — could prove far more dangerous, which is why DoIT has five people working full time on how to secure campus computers. But the recent attack proves that communication can be a powerful weapon. “We have a mechanism in place to inform people quickly,” Caruso says.
— M.P.
As viruses go, SoBIG was more annoying than damaging, although it did cause some institutions' networks to crash from excess traffic. A more malicious attack — a SoBIGGER, if you will — could prove far more dangerous, which is why DoIT has five people working full time on how to secure campus computers. But the recent attack proves that communication can be a powerful weapon. “We have a mechanism in place to inform people quickly,” Caruso says.
— M.P.
Runaway GPA
Inflation may not be affecting the economy right now, but some professors say it's taking a toll on report cards. Faculty concerned about a long-term upward shift in grade-point averages met on campus this fall to figure out how to stem the tide.
The conference included several calls for substantive change to the manner by which college students are evaluated.
“Reformed grading practices will make an A once again an incentive for inspiring good students to do their best work, and an F a sign that students have failed to achieve the learning goals of a course,” argued Richard Kamber, a professor at the College of New Jersey. “They would restore credibility to the judgment of teachers, and diminish the reliance of employers and graduate schools on standardized test scores or the cruelly elitist criterion of institutional reputation.”
The conference included several calls for substantive change to the manner by which college students are evaluated.
“Reformed grading practices will make an A once again an incentive for inspiring good students to do their best work, and an F a sign that students have failed to achieve the learning goals of a course,” argued Richard Kamber, a professor at the College of New Jersey. “They would restore credibility to the judgment of teachers, and diminish the reliance of employers and graduate schools on standardized test scores or the cruelly elitist criterion of institutional reputation.”
But Francis Schrag, a UW professor of educational policy studies and philosophy who spoke at the conference, says that grades generally get too much emphasis. “People should not be rewarded or penalized for circumstances beyond their control,” he says. “Their choice to work hard should count for something, since that is within their control, whereas talent is often just a matter of luck. Grades undermine student motivation as often as they enhance it.”
— Candice Gaukel Andrews '77
— Candice Gaukel Andrews '77
Q and A - Susan Crowley
As director of UW-Madison's PACE Project, which aims to curb high-risk drinking, Susan Crowley is among those who groan when the university lands on the Princeton Review's annual ranking of party schools, as it did again this year, placing second.
Q: Some people would look at this ranking as a matter of pride. Is it a bad thing to be known for having fun?
A: There is no doubt that UW-Madison is a fun, vibrant campus with an active social scene. Having fun is an important part of the college experience, as long as the fun does not result in physical harm, property damage, or academic disruption.
Q: What distinguishes good, clean partying from the kinds of behavior that lead to those negative effects?
A: Good partying includes activities other than just drinking, such as food, live music, darts, pool, video games, or cheering on Wisconsin sports teams. They're often smaller, personal get-togethers with good friends.
Q: Are students and alumni getting the message about safe alternatives?
A: There's already great demand from students and alumni for varied social activities. There were more than 1,400 events during 2002–03, ranging from dance events, Greek system parties, recreational sports, Homecoming, and pre-sport events to games, films, and live music at the Unions.
Q: Some people would look at this ranking as a matter of pride. Is it a bad thing to be known for having fun?
A: There is no doubt that UW-Madison is a fun, vibrant campus with an active social scene. Having fun is an important part of the college experience, as long as the fun does not result in physical harm, property damage, or academic disruption.
Q: What distinguishes good, clean partying from the kinds of behavior that lead to those negative effects?
A: Good partying includes activities other than just drinking, such as food, live music, darts, pool, video games, or cheering on Wisconsin sports teams. They're often smaller, personal get-togethers with good friends.
Q: Are students and alumni getting the message about safe alternatives?
A: There's already great demand from students and alumni for varied social activities. There were more than 1,400 events during 2002–03, ranging from dance events, Greek system parties, recreational sports, Homecoming, and pre-sport events to games, films, and live music at the Unions.
Special Delivery
Midwives have been delivering babies since the dawn of recorded history. But that doesn't mean they're just a relic of folk medicine. At Madison's Meriter Hospital, 10 percent of all babies are delivered by nurse-midwives.
A recent change in Wisconsin law allows certified nurse-midwives to act as independent practitioners of women's health, meaning they're now licensed to provide primary and obstetrical care. In August, Meriter became one of the first medical facilities to extend to the UW Nurse-Midwifery Service the privilege of admitting and discharging patients.
“This decision will mean improved care for women,” says Ann Rifenberg, a UW nurse-midwife. “Before, the doctors had to sign all the charts and got the lab reports instead of us. Now, it's clear that we are providers who give complete care.”
UW nurse-midwives see patients for office visits at the UW Health East and West clinics and deliver babies at Meriter's birthing center. A team of seven physicians is on call in case of emergencies during labor, but the ability of nurse-midwives to deliver babies and administer drugs means that many moms-to-be may not need to see a doctor under normal circumstances. “They're competent and consult their collaborating physicians appropriately,” says Greg Bills '87, MD'91, an obstetrics and gynecology physician.
A recent change in Wisconsin law allows certified nurse-midwives to act as independent practitioners of women's health, meaning they're now licensed to provide primary and obstetrical care. In August, Meriter became one of the first medical facilities to extend to the UW Nurse-Midwifery Service the privilege of admitting and discharging patients.
“This decision will mean improved care for women,” says Ann Rifenberg, a UW nurse-midwife. “Before, the doctors had to sign all the charts and got the lab reports instead of us. Now, it's clear that we are providers who give complete care.”
UW nurse-midwives see patients for office visits at the UW Health East and West clinics and deliver babies at Meriter's birthing center. A team of seven physicians is on call in case of emergencies during labor, but the ability of nurse-midwives to deliver babies and administer drugs means that many moms-to-be may not need to see a doctor under normal circumstances. “They're competent and consult their collaborating physicians appropriately,” says Greg Bills '87, MD'91, an obstetrics and gynecology physician.
For many women, midwives create an increased sense of empowerment and security during pregnancy. “We support the natural process,” says Rifenberg, who notes that midwives educate women to help them make better choices during pregnancy and birth, resulting in easier pregnancies. “Our Caesarean section rates are as low as 8 to 10 percent,” she says, “versus the general population average of 20 to 25 percent.”
Unlike midwives of old, who were often uneducated and became marginalized over the last century, today's practitioners are registered nurses who have completed additional training in women's health. Although much of their work is with expectant mothers, they also provide routine physicals, family planning, and general wellness counseling.
“Our motto is, 'Your partners in the miracle of birth,'” says Lisa Wachholz '73, another UW nurse-midwife. “We stay with women through their labor, unlike physicians. It's a more personalized approach, since they have more time with us.”
— Erin Hueffner ‘00
Unlike midwives of old, who were often uneducated and became marginalized over the last century, today's practitioners are registered nurses who have completed additional training in women's health. Although much of their work is with expectant mothers, they also provide routine physicals, family planning, and general wellness counseling.
“Our motto is, 'Your partners in the miracle of birth,'” says Lisa Wachholz '73, another UW nurse-midwife. “We stay with women through their labor, unlike physicians. It's a more personalized approach, since they have more time with us.”
— Erin Hueffner ‘00
Pharmacy Calling
Applications to the School of Pharmacy's doctorate program, which have grown steadily during the last five years, spiked this fall, rising 23 percent from last year.
An aging population may be one factor in the field's burgeoning popularity. Judith Albers Thompson ‘67, the school's associate dean for student affairs, notes that the higher demand for medication, along with increasingly complex therapies and an evolution in pharmacists' roles, is changing the industry. “One of the attractions for prospective students is the variety of opportunities available to pharmacists in the current economy,” she says. “Graduates can work in independent pharmacies, chain drug stores, home health care, clinics and hospital pharmacies, government agencies, the pharmaceutical industry, and in academics.”
Thompson adds that a national shortage of pharmacists makes the field attractive. “It's a strong job market, a stable career with substantial salaries,” she says. A 2001 Wisconsin study found that entry-level pharmacists had an average starting salary of $86,000 per year in chain pharmacies, and $77,500 in hospital pharmacies.
The PharmD, the biggest of the three graduate degrees offered by the school, typically enrolls about 130 students each year. This year's class includes twice as many women as men.
— Linda Dietrich
An aging population may be one factor in the field's burgeoning popularity. Judith Albers Thompson ‘67, the school's associate dean for student affairs, notes that the higher demand for medication, along with increasingly complex therapies and an evolution in pharmacists' roles, is changing the industry. “One of the attractions for prospective students is the variety of opportunities available to pharmacists in the current economy,” she says. “Graduates can work in independent pharmacies, chain drug stores, home health care, clinics and hospital pharmacies, government agencies, the pharmaceutical industry, and in academics.”
Thompson adds that a national shortage of pharmacists makes the field attractive. “It's a strong job market, a stable career with substantial salaries,” she says. A 2001 Wisconsin study found that entry-level pharmacists had an average starting salary of $86,000 per year in chain pharmacies, and $77,500 in hospital pharmacies.
The PharmD, the biggest of the three graduate degrees offered by the school, typically enrolls about 130 students each year. This year's class includes twice as many women as men.
— Linda Dietrich
Word Score
Anyone who has stared at an incomprehensible rack of Scrabble tiles and wondered whether ixinyz could be a word will envy John O'Laughlin ‘02. A self-described “word freak,” he is one of the world's best at turning tiles into words, and words into points.
In October, O'Laughlin flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to take part in the world championships of Scrabble, joining top players from forty-five countries for three cutthroat days of competition. After twenty-four head-to-head matches, O'Laughlin had won thirteen times, earning him a ranking as the twenty-eighth-best Scrabble player in the world.
O'Laughlin was one of two members of a Madison-area Scrabble club to make the fifteen-person U.S. team. Despite his proclivity with letters, he's not an English major, but a graduate of UW's computer science and math programs. But that's true of a lot of competitors at the highest levels of the board game.
“[Scrabble] is a math game,” he says, “just like chess and backgammon.”
In October, O'Laughlin flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to take part in the world championships of Scrabble, joining top players from forty-five countries for three cutthroat days of competition. After twenty-four head-to-head matches, O'Laughlin had won thirteen times, earning him a ranking as the twenty-eighth-best Scrabble player in the world.
O'Laughlin was one of two members of a Madison-area Scrabble club to make the fifteen-person U.S. team. Despite his proclivity with letters, he's not an English major, but a graduate of UW's computer science and math programs. But that's true of a lot of competitors at the highest levels of the board game.
“[Scrabble] is a math game,” he says, “just like chess and backgammon.”
O'Laughlin uses a computer program that generates random jumbles of letters to test his prowess. When he encounters a new word, he usually looks up its meaning and use — although he says that's more curiosity than strategy. Some players even brag about their aversion to reading.
Interestingly, O'Laughlin isn't the only one on campus looking for a good game of Scrabble. Mark Seidenberg, a professor of psychology, was in touch with the Madison Scrabble club and also put an ad in the faculty/staff newspaper seeking championship-level players to participate in a research study. The professor is examining whether Scrabble players process words with different parts of their brains than others.
If that proves true, it would not surprise O'Laughlin. “Most of us don't know how to pronounce a lot of the words,” he says.
— Josh Orton x'04
Interestingly, O'Laughlin isn't the only one on campus looking for a good game of Scrabble. Mark Seidenberg, a professor of psychology, was in touch with the Madison Scrabble club and also put an ad in the faculty/staff newspaper seeking championship-level players to participate in a research study. The professor is examining whether Scrabble players process words with different parts of their brains than others.
If that proves true, it would not surprise O'Laughlin. “Most of us don't know how to pronounce a lot of the words,” he says.
— Josh Orton x'04
Flashback - Hoofin' and Woofin'
Crowded parking lots and icy roads make getting around campus in winter a challenge. Creative students have tried many different modes of transport — but seldom dogsleds. So it's hard to tell where the musher is going in this photo from around 1940.
But the picture is evidence of the UW's healthy campus-canine connection — a relationship that continues to this day. In September, the School of Veterinary Medicine, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, also sponsored its twentieth annual Dog Jog. The fund-raiser for Madison-area animal shelters raised more than $30,000 for eight county humane societies and Madison's Angel's Wish animal shelter.
— John Allen
But the picture is evidence of the UW's healthy campus-canine connection — a relationship that continues to this day. In September, the School of Veterinary Medicine, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, also sponsored its twentieth annual Dog Jog. The fund-raiser for Madison-area animal shelters raised more than $30,000 for eight county humane societies and Madison's Angel's Wish animal shelter.
— John Allen
Catching Up
For the second consecutive year, Halloween turned scary for Madison businesses and residents. Revelers, many from outside Madison, descended on State Street on the nights of October 31 and November 1, initially causing only minor disruption. In the wee hours of November 2, however, a melee broke out in the crowd, which shattered windows of at least seven State Street businesses and frustrated police and campus administrators who had hoped to avoid a repeat of last year's destructive riots.
The Sigma Phi fraternity house survived a scare when fire broke out in a basement room September 26. The house, a national historic landmark designed by Louis Sullivan, was ravaged by flames in 1972. This time, it escaped serious damage, even though firefighters were not initially told about the so-called secret chamber, which had hosted a candlelit ceremony the previous night.
Faculty and staff gathered August 30 to bid farewell to Fred — the building, that is. The fifty-year-old Fred Hall, the first home of the bacteriology department, was demolished to make room for a new microbial-sciences building, which will have four times as much space.
UW Police chief Sue Riseling became president of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, an influential state group that works on social and professional issues related to law enforcement. Known nationally as an innovator in community-based policing, Riseling was named the woman law enforcement executive of the year by a national law enforcement association earlier this year.
The Sigma Phi fraternity house survived a scare when fire broke out in a basement room September 26. The house, a national historic landmark designed by Louis Sullivan, was ravaged by flames in 1972. This time, it escaped serious damage, even though firefighters were not initially told about the so-called secret chamber, which had hosted a candlelit ceremony the previous night.
Faculty and staff gathered August 30 to bid farewell to Fred — the building, that is. The fifty-year-old Fred Hall, the first home of the bacteriology department, was demolished to make room for a new microbial-sciences building, which will have four times as much space.
UW Police chief Sue Riseling became president of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, an influential state group that works on social and professional issues related to law enforcement. Known nationally as an innovator in community-based policing, Riseling was named the woman law enforcement executive of the year by a national law enforcement association earlier this year.
