May 28, 2009
Peer Portfolio
MOWER POWER TO THEM: Every year, hundreds of people bring their power mowers to the University of Missouri campus for its annual tune-up clinic, according to the campus newspaper, MizzouWeekly. “It’s become a rite of spring on campus,” the paper reports. Over the weekend, each mower gets its chassis steamed-cleaned, its air filters and plugs changed, its blades sharpened and an oil change. Owners pick up their mowers and pay $30 each. The clinic has become so popular it was broken into two sections this year. And the paper got to use the headline “Less is mower.”
DIG THAT VINEYARD: The University of California, Davis, is growing its own vineyard, reports the campus newspaper Dateline UCDavis. Donations of money and rootstock from area vintners and other companies have enabled the university to build a 13.5-acre vineyard on the campuses’ south entrance. Soon, a winery will be built as well. “The new grapevines should yield their first crush for the new winery in three years,” the paper added.
SIGNING OFF: The University of Michigan will close its television station, WFUM-TV because of budget challenges and reduced viewer support, the university’s newspaper, The University Record, is reporting. The station has experienced a 28 percent decline in member support and business underwriting revenue over the last two years. The university hopes to transfer operation of the station to “another entity.” WFUM-TV began broadcasting in 1980 and has an audience of about 200,000 a week.
HOLIDAY’S OVER: The University of California system’s nearly 20-year “holiday” from paying into its retirement will end April 15, 2010, the institutions’ Board of Regents has voted. The system’s retirement fund enjoyed huge success in investments years back, allowing the long suspension of both employee and employer payments into the retirement system. With the economic downturn, that system is no longer as flush as it was. So starting in April 2010, employees began contributing 2 percent of their salary and the UC system will contribute 4 percent. The employee rate will increase to 3 percent in 2011 and continue to climb annually until employees pay what their colleagues at California State University pay — 5 percent.
ON THE RECORD: The University of Michigan has launched a new online companion to its weekly faculty-staff newspaper, The University Record. The site is called the Record Update. The site, according to the newspaper, will be posted anew each weekday morning and will provide “a brief, vibrant summary of what is happening across campus as well as thoughtful perspectives on issues affecting U-M and higher education.”
MEET ‘MEDZOU’: Students at the University of Missouri have formed their own health clinic to help those without medical benefits, according to MizzouWeekly. MedZou is the city’s first student-coordinated community outreach clinic. More than 100 students and about 20 faculty and resident physician volunteers have donated their time to the clinic, the paper says. MedZou is funded by a four-year, $30,000 grant from the Association of American Medical Colleges, an annual $10,000 donation from MU’s medical school and private donations. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of the clinic’s patients are uninsured.
WISCONWIN WIND: When they talk wind power at the University of Wisconsin, they’re not just blowing smoke. Vestas, the world’s leading producer of wind power technology, has entered into a long-term partnership with the university for energy research and student learning opportunities, according to the campus newspaper, Wisconsin Week. Calling it an exciting partnership, the other UW’s dean of engineering, Paul Peercy, said, “Wind power has the potential to serve as much as 20 percent of our energy’s energy needs by 2030, and our students will be highly motivated to participate in this growth industry.”
Peer Portfolio is an occasional compilation of activities at the UW’s peer institutions.
