Search begins for pharmacy dean

A search-and-screen committee is conducting its search for a new dean of the School of Pharmacy.

Dean Melvin H. Weinswig, who joined UW–Madison in 1969 as a professor in continuing education for pharmacy professionals, announced in September that he will retire at the end of the academic year.

The 17-member committee is chaired by Daniel Rich, professor of pharmacy, and made up of representatives from the faculty, academic staff, non-represented classified staff, student body and community.

The committee is expected to forward a list of finalists to Chancellor John Wiley later this spring.

The dean, who reports to Wiley and Provost Peter Spear, serves as the chief academic and executive officer of the School of Pharmacy, with responsibility for faculty and staff development, personnel oversight, budget planning and management, research, curriculum, student academic affairs and fund raising.

The school, which is ranked among the finest pharmacy schools in the country, has an annual budget of approximately $15 million and is comprised of 110 faculty and staff, 525 professional and undergraduate students, and 100 doctoral and postdoctoral students. Wisconsin’s only pharmacy school, the UW–Madison program supplies more than 90 percent of the state’s licensed pharmacists.