Martin set for challenge to lead UW-Madison
Carolyn "Biddy" Martin isn't unfamiliar with the numerous challenges she'll face when she becomes the next chancellor at UW-Madison.
In fact, the current provost of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., is keenly aware that some at UW-Madison are concerned about a range of issues that potentially threaten the university's ranking as one of the premier public institutions of higher education in America.
But instead of focusing her energy on the many concerns -- such as relatively low faculty pay, the sometimes contentious relationship between the university and state Legislature, and the uphill battle to create a more diverse campus -- Martin seems determined to focus on the positives.
"It's my view that we face a number of challenges, and most people would probably focus primarily on the financial challenges of higher education at, in particular, research universities," the 57-year-old Martin said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon. "But I prefer to think about the opportunities that are offered up by virtue of the significance of higher education in a global knowledge economy. I think the opportunities to make higher education the engine for the kinds of growth and cultural understanding that we need to promote -- those opportunities are unparalleled.
"So, I suppose I'm more focused on those opportunities than on the problems or challenges, though they certainly coincide."
UW System President Kevin Reilly announced that Martin, pending Board of Regents approval next week, has been named the next UW-Madison chancellor. A Board of Regents search committee, led by chair David Walsh, and Reilly decided Tuesday to offer the job to Martin.
Martin is the first outside candidate to be named UW-Madison chancellor since 1988, when Donna Shalala was hired away from Hunter College in New York. Then-Provost David Ward replaced Shalala in 1993, and then-Provost John Wiley replaced Ward as UW-Madison chancellor in 2001.
"It's a two-edged sword," Walsh said of naming an outside candidate as next chancellor. "We have the advantage of a different perspective and some national perspective. But on the other hand there is a learning curve about our shared governance and our culture, and the need to work as a team. So those will be her challenges -- to build a team that can build that confidence."
Molly Jahn, UW-Madison's Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, says that will be no problem for Martin. Jahn, who has held her post in Madison for nearly two years, previously worked at Cornell and got to know Martin in 2000, when she was named provost.
"Biddy brings an incredible energy and vision," Jahn said. "She also brings really tailor-made experience for this position. She is very successful in a long tenure as provost at a complicated, large, excellent university that shares many similarities with our university. She has provided very significant leadership and had some extremely important successes at Cornell in a number of areas both related to undergraduate instruction, climate, overall competitiveness and successful research initiatives. So she brings a breadth of experience and a portfolio of accomplishment that is very impressive."
As provost, Martin helped raise $110 million for a life science building, developed a program to make financial aid available to low- and middle-income students and put together a retention plan for faculty -- something which currently is an issue at UW-Madison.
"Biddy came in as provost at a time when there were some important things that (Cornell) needed to do to retain its competitive position and grow that," Jahn said. "And she not only was able to start several major new initiatives, but she was also able to make some difficult decisions about where and how the campus was going to invest (its resources). And because of that, she was able to make very significant improvements in faculty salaries."
In regard to developing a better relationship with state leaders, Walsh said it was imperative that leaders of UW-Madison didn't simply go looking for handouts. He stressed the importance of convincing the decision-makers that an investment in higher education is a wise investment for everyone in the state.
"We need to convince the decision makers that we're part of the solution of the economic issues facing this state, and we must work together on that," Walsh said. "All of us. And hopefully we'll be able to generate additional funds to re-invest in our system."
While Martin noted that all public institutions of higher education must continue to aggressively look at alternative funding models, she agreed that it's vitally important for places like UW-Madison to continue to sell their importance and value to state leaders.
"At most public research universities in the United States the percentage or proportion of state funding relative to other revenue sources has decreased," she said. "Nonetheless, the amount of state funding for public universities, Wisconsin included, is absolutely vital to the health and well-being of higher education, so it's crucially important to work constructively with the legislature and all of the university's constituencies to make sure that funding remains strong."
Among other things, Martin on Wednesday also stressed the importance of diversity on campus. She has studied sexuality and gender and wrote a book, "Femininity Played Straight: The Significance of Being Lesbian."
"Diversity is absolutely key," Martin said. "It's been a major focus of mine as provost here and it will be a very high priority for me as chancellor at UW-Madison. I know it has been a priority at the University of Wisconsin and there are several very interesting programs. It's a very difficult challenge but one of the most important ones that we face. Advocacy is crucial and accountability is equally important in our efforts to make sure that we diversify not only the student body, but also the faculty and staff."
In that regard, UW-Madison is the only Big Ten university that doesn't offer benefits to same-sex couples.
"I think it's true across the country that domestic partner benefits have become increasingly important and it is the case that faculty do leave universities without them for universities that offer those benefits," Martin noted. "So it's about competitiveness."
Although Martin is an outsider in some ways, she was a lecturer at UW-Madison in the early 1980s and earned her doctorate in German literature from the school in 1985. She left for Cornell later that year and has been at the Ivy League school in New York ever since. In her current role as provost, she is responsible for operations of the university -- including 12 colleges and an annual budget of $2.8 billion.
Despite moving up the ladder of academia, Martin will actually take a pay cut to come to UW-Madison. She confirmed her salary at Cornell is in the neighborhood of $500,000, but the pay range for the UW-Madison chancellor post is $370,000 to $452,000. Her exact salary will be announced at next week's Board of Regents meeting in Milwaukee after she is confirmed.
As chancellor, Martin would be the chief executive officer of UW-Madison and responsible for all of its programs. UW-Madison, one of the nation's top research universities, has about 40,000 students, which is roughly double the size of Cornell. UW-Madison has 16,000 employees and an annual operating budget of $2.2 billion.
Although her official start date likely will be Sept. 1, Martin said she hopes to be working on the UW-Madison campus sometime in August.
"We're very pleased and excited about Biddy," said Walsh. "Most important, however, it was a very good process because we had four wonderful candidates -- and I want to emphasize that. And the reason we had such great candidates is this is a wonderful institution and it's nationally known and respected, and our challenge now is to keep the momentum going that the leadership of John Wiley did."
Carolyn "Biddy" Martin
