Search for next UW-Madison provost gets underway

A committee to help select the next provost of the University of Wisconsin–Madison has begun its work, with a new provost expected to be in place sometime during the spring semester.

The successful candidate will succeed Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Paul M. DeLuca Jr., who announced in June that he would return to the faculty.

DeLuca is a professor of medical physics and former vice dean for research and graduate studies in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and has served as provost since June 2009. He will remain provost through the transition.

The provost is the chief academic officer of the university, responsible for overseeing and coordinating the curricular, student and faculty life on campus. In this role, the provost serves as the chancellor’s partner in articulating and implementing a vision for how UW–Madison retains and builds on its long history of excellence. The provost works closely with the deans and with campus leadership, including faculty, staff and students, to design and implement the programs, organizational structure and resource distribution to deliver on the university’s threefold mission of education, research and outreach. In the absence of the chancellor, the provost assumes the role of chief executive.

The committee is chaired by Joan Schmit, professor at the Wisconsin School of Business. Other committee members are Maureen Bischof, Office of the Provost; Professor James Blanchard, Engineering Physics; Cynthia Blankenship, Research and Sponsored Programs; Dawn Crim, School of Education; Professor William Cronon, History; Laura Dunek, student representative; Professor Jo Ellen Fair, School of Journalism and Mass Communication; Professor Jerlando Jackson, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis; Anne Jozwiak, School of Nursing; Professor Patricia Kiley, Biomolecular Chemistry; Professor Heinz Klug, Law School; Dean Jeanette Roberts, School of Pharmacy; Myla Rosenbloom, student representative; Professor Dietram Scheufele, Life Sciences Communication; Dean Karl Scholz, College of Letters & Science; Professor John Yin, Chemical and Biological Engineering.