Martin anticipates challenges as chancellor

The values that Carolyn “Biddy” Martin carries into her job as the next chancellor will help define the university as it faces the challenges of the 21st century.

Martin, who takes over as the campus’s chief executive officer on Sept. 1, is a strong advocate of academic quality, of campus diversity, and of student access and affordability.

She also knows that the university must compete on an international stage, making the best use of scarce resources — so students can compete and excel in a fast-changing economy.

“The protection and promotion of traditional academic values and academic excellence is very important to me, and I will devote a great deal of energy to them — open inquiry, the free exchange of ideas and rigorous peer review,” says Martin, who comes to Madison after serving for eight years as provost at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Also important to Martin is the continued integration of the research, outreach and teaching missions of the university, and the promise that balance holds for students.

“Active learning is a critical part of higher education,” she says. “At research universities students can take advantage of opportunities to conduct their own research. At UW–Madison, students are educated inside and outside of the classroom by the scholars and scientists who are actually producing new knowledge and spawning innovation. That has the potential to generate in students a lifelong passion for learning and discovery as well as the capacity to develop their own ideas.”

The university’s ability to compete for and retain some of the most talented teachers and researchers is also critical to UW–Madison’s mission, she says.

“Recruitment and retention involve more than money, but the faculty salary problem at Madison is real. The salaries of our world-class faculty should not be at the bottom of the peer group. I will make it a priority to attract and retain the best scholars and teachers,” she says.

Martin says the university, through wise investment and a comprehensive Campus Master Plan, has done an excellent job of providing and planning for leading-edge facilities — another major consideration when it comes to faculty retention.

And Martin hopes to continue enhancing the vibrant intellectual life on campus as part of her effort to attract and retain talented faculty, students and staff.

“We want to do whatever we can to lower the barriers between and among departments, disciplines and colleges, building a sense of intellectual community that makes it hard for people to leave,” Martin says.

Martin does not take over the job from John D. Wiley until Labor Day, but in recent days she has moved into Olin House, the official chancellor’s residence. Since mid–August, she has maintained an ambitious schedule that has included on-campus meetings, a tour of the American Family Children’s Hospital and attending last week’s Board of Regents meetings.

She is also scheduled to visit with first-year students as they move into on-campus residence halls and speak to new students during the Chancellor’s Convocation for New Students on Friday, Aug. 29, at the Kohl Center.

Prior to becoming Cornell’s provost, Martin spent four years as senior associate dean in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences. A professor of German studies and women’s studies, she served as the chair of German studies from 1994–97.

Martin knows the Madison campus well, having received her doctorate in German literature at UW–Madison in 1985.

At Cornell, Martin oversaw the completion of a $150 million life sciences facility; led a successful faculty salary improvement program; developed priorities for a $4 billion capital campaign; and oversaw the university’s interdisciplinary Life Sciences Initiative.

She also started a common reading project for incoming students, recruiting more than 200 faculty volunteers to lead small-group discussions during orientation week. The project has since broadened to include the entire Ithaca community.

G. Peter Lepage, dean of Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, told the Cornell Chronicle that Martin’s time as provost was marked by her principled actions.

“She makes decisions that are formulated in the context of our fundamental institutional values. I also have repeatedly admired her willingness to take on difficult situations,” says Lepage. “She has courage, guided by integrity.”

Cornell President David Skorton says he will miss Martin’s intellect and leadership.

“Biddy Martin will bring to her new responsibilities a deep academic sensibility and a wealth of experience dealing with the many issues and constituencies that play such a critical role in the life of a university,” Skorton says.

William Cronon, a professor of history, geography and environmental studies who sat on the 23-member chancellor search-and-screen committee, says Martin has the skills to draw the university’s many constituencies together.

“One of the great challenges of an institution that is as large and complicated as UW–Madison is helping everybody associated with the institution — faculty, staff, students, alumni and all stakeholders — all feel like they are part of a common project,” Cronon says. “I would love, five years from now, for people to feel excited and optimistic about the future of UW–Madison, and I believe Biddy Martin is someone who can help accomplish that goal.”

At Wisconsin, Martin also envisions a stronger, updated outreach role through the Wisconsin Idea. She says that the concept of outreach at many land grant universities needs to be modernized to reflect today’s society, culture and economy.

Increasingly, she says, that means working toward economic development and disseminating the results of research and discovery that are essential in a global, knowledge-based economy.

“The Wisconsin Idea, one of the most innovative and effective formulations of the land-grant mission, can be a leading edge idea again,” she says. “Land-grant universities were charged with responding to massive social and cultural changes in the late 19th century. We are living through another period of transformational change at the beginning of the 21st century. UW–Madison can play a critical role for the community, the state and beyond.”

Martin is also looking forward to interacting with UW–Madison students, and has already suggested regular meetings with the leadership of the Associated Students of Madison.

Much of that interaction, she hopes, can be on a more informal basis, or possibly as an occasional guest lecturer in classes on campus.

“It’s a part of the job I’m really looking forward to,” she says. “I will want to mix it up with students in a variety of ways, some completely spontaneous. Whether it’s at a football game, on the Union Terrace or at a residence hall.”