Research and graduate education transition includes familiar, new faces

As UW–Madison’s research and graduate education programs begin an historic transition, there will be many familiar faces and a few new ones on the third floor of Bascom Hall.

This month, a new administrative structure begins to take shape as the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education and the Graduate School become distinct, but intimately connected entities. The change, years in the making, is intended to optimize and enhance the administrative engine that governs one of the world’s largest and most diverse academic programs of research and graduate education, explains Marsha Mailick, interim vice chancellor for research and graduate education.

Critically, the change aligns the Graduate School into a distinct but more focused graduate education role, with a reporting line directly to the vice chancellor for research and graduate education. “Research and graduate education are integrated functions,” notes Mailick. “Graduate students are often the vehicle by which research and scholarship are carried out at this university.”

In shaping the new administrative structure, Mailick has identified her leadership team, which will include names and faces familiar to many on campus.

Taking over as interim dean of the Graduate School will be Wendy Crone, a professor of engineering physics who most recently served as Graduate School associate dean for graduate education with responsibility for admissions, academic services, academic analysis, funding, professional development, and diversity. She is an expert in the area of engineering mechanics and has broad experience in research, teaching and outreach with interests ranging from stem cells to nanotechnology.

Daniel Kleinman, former Graduate School associate dean for social studies, has been named as associate dean of the Graduate School. He is a professor of community and environmental sociology and is an expert on the relationship between science and society and citizen engagement with science and technology. He is best known for his scholarship on the interface of academic biology and commerce.

Steve Ackerman, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, has been named as associate vice chancellor for the physical sciences. He previously served as Graduate School associate dean for the physical sciences. He is an accomplished researcher, teacher and communicator on issues of weather and climate.

Oncology Professor Norman Drinkwater is the interim associate vice chancellor for the biological sciences. His research interests include the genetics and molecular biology of carcinogenesis. He previously served as the director of the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research and chair of the Department of Oncology in the School of Medicine and Public Health.

Jan Greenberg, a professor of social work and director of the UW–Madison School of Social Work, has been designated as interim associate vice chancellor for social studies. Greenberg’s research interests focus on the families of people with mental illness, with a special interest in the role of aging parents as caregivers to adults with serious and persistent mental illness.

Communication arts Professor Lea Jacobs will assume the role of associate vice chancellor for arts and humanities. Jacobs has also been asked to assume the role as interim director of UW Press.Jacobs served as associate dean for the arts and humanities in the Graduate School. Her scholarly expertise is on the history of the American studio system, performance, silent cinema and film stylistics.

Petra Schroeder has been named associate vice chancellor for administration. Schroeder previously served as Graduate School assistant dean for research services and, most recently, as associate dean for administration. She is the chief financial officer for the Office of Research and Graduate Education and oversees accounting, human resources, research administration and information technology services.

Continuing as vice chancellors for research policy are biochemistry Professor Brian Fox and neuroscience Professor Dan Uhlrich. Fox is an authority on the biochemical, catalytic and structural aspects of enzymes and proteins. Uhlrich studies the transmission and modulation of visual and auditory signals in the brain.

Mailick has also appointed Andy Richards as interim chief of staff for the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education. He served for more than six years as chief of staff for UW System President Kevin Reilly. Prior to his time working for President Reilly, he was associate vice chancellor for business and financial services at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and before that served as assistant vice president for budget and planning at UW System Administration.