Almanac

We’re wired
The university’s WiscMail system often delivers more than 1 million messages per day for faculty, staff and students, according to the Division of Information Technology. And during the past year, the number of campus computer kiosks for quick Internet access increased to more than 50 in 18 locations.

Legal eagles
Law school applications around the country averaged an increase of 17 percent for the class entering in fall 2003. At the UW Law School, however, totals soared: Applications increased 39.6 percent.

Going global
International Academic Programs in the Division of International Studies coordinates undergraduate programs that typically send more than 650 students overseas to participate in more than 70 different programs. As another measure of UW’s commitment to grow connections abroad, one-quarter of the UW Medical School class of 2003 traveled to 15 countries, including Vietnam and Tanzania, to work at primary care sites.

Get on board
From September 2002 through April 2003, UW employees logged 529,895 free bus rides, thanks to free passes provided under a comprehensive transportation demand management plan for the campus.

Cookbook mixes literature with recipes
Past and present come together in a new cookbook that benefits Friends of the UW–Madison Libraries.

Compiled by members Joan Jones, Loni Hayman and Anne C. Tedeschi, “A Literary Feast: Recipes and Writings by American Women Authors from History” uses literary excerpts describing meals or meal preparation to illustrate recipes from contemporary cookbooks.

The cookbook highlights fiction and nonfiction pieces by female authors such as Kate Chopin and Louisa May Alcott, as well as cookbooks from the Cairns Collection.

The recipes were selected from the William B. Cairns Collection of American Women Writers (1650-1920), which is primarily a literary collection of approximately 9,000 titles by more than 3,100 women writers.

Hotline updates late-night campus events
The Wisconsin Union’s “Fashionably Late” telephone hotline, 265-0505, drew about 80 callers during its first two weekends of operation. The hotline is for those looking for activities on or near campus 9 p.m.- 2 a.m., Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The hotline provides updates on movies, music, dances and other events.

Updates can also be accessed at http://www.union.wisc.edu.

Backward glance
From Wisconsin Week, Sept. 29, 1993: Dedication weekend approaches for Grainger Hall, the 260,000-square-foot new home of the School of Business. The school plans a weekend full of activities on Oct. 8-9, including an ethics symposium featuring luminaries such as former senator Warren Rudman, newsman Jim Lehrer, former chancellor Donna Shalala and Motorola chairman Robert Galvin. At a cost of $40 million, the five-story building has 30 classrooms, several auditoriums and is expected to serve more than 3,000 people per day. … SAFEWalk, a program to improve campus safety by providing escorts for trips across campus, begins its pilot season. … MTV visits campus as part of its “Guide to Higher Education” segment. VJs Kennedy and Bill Belamy visit classes and mingle with students. … Badger football gets off to a 4-0 mark and ranks 22nd in the Associated Press poll, its best start since 1978.