An upgrade of the utilities underneath Bascom Hill is beginning this month. Contractors are removing trees on Bascom Hill this week in preparation for work that is part of the Bascom/Lathrop Utility project. During this initial phase of work, a number of trees and shrubs will be removed near North Hall, Chamberlain Hall, and Sterling Hall. Additional removals near Lathrop Hall and South Hall will occur later in the summer. After work is completed, replacement trees and shrubs will be planted and other aspects of the landscape will be restored.

UW-Madison has released a new policy document that provides formal guidance on employment-related matters for graduate student teaching and project assistants and their supervisors. The Graduate Assistantship Policies and Procedures (GAPP) document formalizes practices that are already established at UW–Madison such as appointment letters, probationary periods, job orientation and training, performance evaluations, and leave benefits. Policies covering research assistantships will be added later. UW also announced that stipends for graduate students have increased 42 percent for teaching assistants, 30 percent for project assistants, and 22 percent for research assistants since 2013. Graduate students and supervisors are encouraged to contact their local human resources offices with any questions.

The IT Professionals Conference 2019 is now accepting registrations. The event will take place Thursday, June 6, 8 a.m.–4:15 p.m., at Grainger Hall. Organized by and for IT professionals, the conference forges meaningful connections among campus IT staff by sharing experiences, skills, and technologies. Thomas Limoncelli, site reliability engineer manager at Stack Overflow, will be the keynote speaker. The registration deadline is May 29 and includes a $50 fee.

TeachOnline@UW is a learning community that helps UW-Madison instructors explore and implement research-based online course design and teaching best practices. Two courses are offered: “Plan & Design” and “Facilitation & Management.” TeachOnline@UW is open to UW–Madison faculty and instructional staff who will be teaching fully online courses in the next two years. Applications are now open for fall 2019 and spring 2020 sessions.