Mnookin, Zumbrunnen messages on provost appointment

Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin and Provost John Zumbrunnen sent messages to students, faculty and staff on March 9,2026, about Zumbrunnen’s appointment as provost.

Campus message from Chancellor Mnookin

Colleagues,

Following a robust national search, I am tremendously pleased to announce the appointment of John Zumbrunnen as UW–Madison provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, effective today.

Professor Zumbrunnen stepped into this vital role of serving as our chief academic officer last summer on an interim basis, following Charles Isbell, Jr.’s departure to become chancellor of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.

Both in his service as interim provost and in several preceding leadership roles here at UW–Madison, John has earned the broad trust of our students, faculty and through his thoughtful engagement on a wide range of complex issues and his strong commitments to the Wisconsin Idea, shared governance, student success and excellence in research and teaching.

John’s principled leadership is rooted in his belief that leading public research universities like UW–Madison have the potential and the responsibility to discover, innovate and create in ways that change lives and address crucial challenges in our communities. 

John has a particular ability to collaboratively identify and to drive forward new institutional opportunities while simultaneously staying anchored to the values that have guided us for more than 175 years.

His boundless energy and sense of awe about this extraordinary university have been an inspiration to me, personally, and to many others on our campus.

John has been a member of the faculty in our Department of Political Science for nearly 18 years, where he served as chair and won multiple awards for excellence in teaching. He has held a variety of academic and administrative leadership positions focused on bringing our educational enterprise to a new level of excellence and is a strong scholar who has published two books on Ancient Greek politics and contemporary democratic theory. Among other accomplishments, he co-founded the Division for Teaching and Learning and helped to lead the Wisconsin RISE initiative, dedicated to expanding the university’s ability to take on the grand challenges of our time by enhancing our scholarly expertise across disciplines and making strategic investments in research infrastructure and support. 

My thanks and appreciation to the provost search committee, and to its chair, Professor Russ Castronovo, as well as to the many faculty, staff and students who participated in the process.

I also want to offer my personal congratulations to John, who is both an exceptional leader and a good friend. He rose to the top of a strong pool of candidates, and I have every confidence he will be an exceptional provost for UW–Madison in the years ahead.

I hope you will join me in welcoming John into this well-earned new role and please read the full announcement.

Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin

Campus message from Provost Zumbrunnen

Dear Colleagues,

Just a quick note to say how honored and humbled I am to have been chosen to be UW–Madison’s provost.

As interim provost since last June, I’ve had the opportunity to learn more and more about the university that I have called home for nearly 18 years. I see and deeply appreciate the incredible things all of you and our students do on a daily basis here on campus, across Wisconsin, and around the world.

We continue to make our way together through challenging times for higher education. Drawing on our incredible history and building on our strong foundation of excellence, I firmly believe that our best path forward is to work as a team towards achieving our full potential for transforming lives, pursuing exceptional research, strengthening communities and making the world a better place.

That doesn’t simply mean “doing more” — I very much recognize that so many of you are working at (or beyond) capacity. But we can and will make space for looking to the future. Together, we will advance scholarship that pushes the boundaries of human understanding and addresses the most pressing issues of the day; enhance the already world-class educational experiences we offer; invest strategically in infrastructure; and deepen our practice of the Wisconsin Idea.

Huge thanks to Chancellor Mnookin for her leadership and trust, to my fellow vice chancellors for their partnership, to the deans who supported me as I figured out the parts of the job that were new to me, to the amazing Provost Leadership Group and Provost’s Office team for all they do, to shared governance leaders for their collaboration – and to all of you for making UW–Madison a vibrant, exciting, welcoming place to work and learn.

I look forward to collaborating with you over the months and years to come.

On, Wisconsin!
John