Four finalists named for UW-Madison provost

Four finalists have been named for the provost position at the university, campus officials announced Monday, June 11.

The finalists were recommended to Chancellor John Wiley by a 13-member search and screen committee following a nationwide search. The committee, chaired by Richard Moss, professor of physiology and chair of the Medical School’s Department of Physiology, was made up of faculty, academic staff, non-represented classified staff, and students.

The finalists are:

• Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, associate dean for the social sciences in the College of Letters and Science and professor of communications arts at UW–Madison. During her 23-years at UW–Madison, Fitzpatrick has also chaired her department and served as director of its graduate studies. She also served as director of the Center for Communication Research.
• Virginia Sapiro, Sophonisba P. Breckinridge Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies at UW–Madison. Sapiro is also a research scientist at the University of Michigan and serves on the board of trustees at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. During her 25 years at UW–Madison, she has also chaired the Women’s Studies Program, the Social Science Data and Computation Center and the Department of Political Science.
• Peter Spear, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of psychology at Colorado University-Boulder. Spear also held various positions at UW–Madison 1976-96 while serving as a professor of psychology, including associate dean for the social sciences in the College of Letters and Science and Department of Psychology chair.
• Ellen Wartella, dean of the College of Communication and professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas-Austin. Wartella previously served as a visiting professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California-Santa Barbara and university scholar and research professor at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Gary Sandefur, professor of sociology and American Indian studies, is serving as interim provost until a permanent provost is hired.

Wiley is expected to make a decision by July 1.

The provost is the university’s chief operating officer and deputy to the chancellor in overall academic and administrative management. The provost also serves as acting chancellor in the chancellor’s absence.

Among the provost’s many responsibilities are academic program planning involving 12 schools and colleges; faculty and staff development, and personnel oversight; the General Library System; information technology; diversity initiatives; outreach and extension programming; as well as collaboration with other vice chancellors in the areas of facilities planning and management, budget planning and management, human resources, student affairs, and law and policy administration.