‘Construction’ was the word this summer

From construction to Chinese athletes, campus was a busy place this summer. Here are a few stories you may have missed.

If you have been in Madison, you know that it hasn’t been easy navigating around campus this summer. Several major construction projects that began in mid-May, scheduled to be completed by mid-August, are still ongoing, due in large part to weather and unforeseen conditions. They probably won’t be finished until sometime next month.

Park Street between University Avenue and West Johnson Street has been closed all summer due to a city underground utility project. That block will probably reopen before classes begin, but the other campus streets that have been affected may not be opened up until Tuesday, Sept. 7, or later.

Following spring commencement weekend, Observatory Drive was closed to traffic between Park Street and Bascom Hall for an underground utility project and some road and curb reconstruction.

Despite big “Road Closed” signs and a lot of construction vehicles and fences in plain view, many drivers attempted to travel east over the hill and discovered they needed to turn around and head west. One of the worst examples involved a pickup truck pulling what appeared to be a large horse trailer.

Linden Drive and Charter Street have been backed up every afternoon at rush hour, and impatient motorists have made dangerous U-turns to avoid the wait. Major backups have occurred at Old University Avenue and Campus Drive due to city road construction in that area.

Then there was the anticipated completion of the East Campus Utility Project. Langdon Street has been down to one-way westbound from Lake Street all summer and Park Street between Langdon and University has been one-way southbound.

Early this month construction crews working on the project encountered a setback due to numerous unforeseen conflicts with underground utility pipes that weren’t expected to be there.

Campus buses resumed their standard service this week and will continue on their summer detour routes until the closed streets are reopened. Route 80 buses run on six- to seven-minute intervals in the morning and mid- to late afternoon. Route 85, the South Park Circulator, runs at 10-minute intervals. Visit Madison Metro for more specific route information.

Work is continuing at the site of the School of Human Ecology’s expansion on Linden Drive. Completion of the $52 million project is scheduled for the spring of 2012.

Linden between Charter Street and Babcock Drive was closed for a few days last week for utility work at the site, but it reopened on Aug. 23, a few days earlier than expected.

A group of student-athletes and coaches from China are living and studying at UW–Madison this semester as part of the inaugural Chinese Champions Program, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between UW–Madison and Beijing Sports University.

The idea for the program was formed two years ago by kinesiology professor and chair Li Li Ji. Chinese officials were looking for ways to help former Olympians and other top athletes develop post-athletic careers and prepare them for international leadership positions in sports, says Ji.

This fall, the group will continue taking classes in English as a Second Language and in the Department of Kinesiology, in addition to internships focusing on training, coaching and events management. They will be in Madison until Dec. 15.

An international search will be conducted for a successor to Michael Knetter as dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. Effective Oct. 16, Knetter will become the new president and chief executive officer of the UW Foundation, and Joan Schmit, vice dean of the School of Business, will be the school’s interim dean.

Knetter joined the School of Business as dean in July 2002. In March, he was named vice chancellor for advancement, in addition to leading the business school. In his new role at the UW Foundation, Knetter succeeds Andrew A. “Sandy” Wilcox, who will retire at the end of the year.

Ice drillers from around the country gathered in Stoughton to prepare for the final season of work on the IceCube neutrino detector, which has been under construction at the South Pole since 2004 and is scheduled for completion this winter. In November, drillers, equipment testers and computing specialists will head to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station to continue work on IceCube, a telescope that will search the universe for neutrinos, which are produced in the decay of radioactive elements and particles. Neutrinos can help astronomers understand the sources of dark energy and dark matter.

The largest group ever to complete the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE) graduated into their senior year at the end of July. The group of 180 high-school students finished their six-week residential program, with a final project of working on applications to UW–Madison.

Middle-school students are selected to enter PEOPLE after sixth grade through a competitive process that works with the community and the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Nike announced that it would contribute $1.54 million to a workers’ relief fund to help improve the lives of Honduran factory workers affected by factory closures. UW–Madison’s decision to end its licensing agreement over the treatment of the workers had a major impact on the decision; the university was the first to protest Nike’s actions and sever its licensing agreement with the company.

Under the agreement, Nike’s fund contribution will be distributed to roughly 1,500 eligible workers by the Worker Rights Consortium, the Solidarity Center and the Central General de Trabajadores union federation, which represents the workers. Nike also will cover the cost of enrolling the workers and their families in Honduras’ national health program for one year.

Grandparents University celebrated its 10th anniversary with nearly 900 grandparents and grandchildren in the program this year. When the program started in 2001, 160 attendees participated in just four offered majors. This year, 870 people from around the country learned about 18 available majors ranging from astronomy to theater and from digital storytelling to wildlife ecology.