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UW-Madison chancellor search: Martin offers 'fresh pair of eyes'

Todd Finkelmeyer  —  5/13/2008 7:44 pm

Carolyn Martin knows UW-Madison.

She was a lecturer at the university in the early 1980s and earned her doctorate from UW-Madison in 1985 in German Literature.

Yet Martin, who has spent more than 20 years at Cornell University, an Ivy League school in Ithaca, N.Y., also brings an outsider's perspective in her quest to become UW-Madison's next chancellor.

"It's always an advantage to know a place and to love a place, and then also to have had experiences elsewhere and to know from first-hand experience how things can be done differently," said Martin, who has been Cornell's provost -- the university's chief academic officer and chief operating officer -- since 2000. "And that's the advantage that probably anyone from the outside would bring -- that's just a fresh pair of eyes, a new look at things, a less strong sense for people who have been here longer that things have to be done in the way that they've always been done.

"Of course, it often turns out that they've been done for a long time because it's the right way to do them. But a fresh pair of eyes is always good in each situation. But I think the advantages I would bring, I would hope, would arise less from having been away somewhere else and more from the experience I've had in administration in eight years as provost at a large, complex university."

Starting Monday and running through Thursday, each of the finalists to become the next leader of Wisconsin's flagship university were to spend a day interacting with faculty, academic staff, students and community leaders. John Wiley, who is stepping down from his post in September, has been UW-Madison's chancellor since 2001.

Following a public reception in the Main Lounge of the Memorial Union Tuesday, Martin met with members of the media.

Speaking mostly in general terms, Martin answered questions on a wide range of topics.

Some of the highlights included:

* What are some of the key issues the next UW-Madison chancellor will face?

"Of course I'll have a much better sense if I have the honor of actually coming here," said Martin. "But in the meantime I'll put the question in a larger context and say there are a number of critical issues facing all institutions of higher education at the moment. I like to say that the challenges for higher education at the moment are extraordinary, but the opportunities are also great.

"... I think one challenge has to do with changing the funding models for higher education. That's a major challenge everywhere. As the pressures on federal and state governments grow for all kinds of reasons there is less funding available or flat funding for higher education. ... So, obviously, a major challenge at every university at the moment is a set of questions about how to best finance the operations and what new sources of revenue can be brought to the mix of the already hybrid mix of revenue sources that enable universities to do what they do."

* What kind of strategy would Martin use to deal with the state legislature on funding issues?

"Well, it would be a strategy similar to the one we use at Cornell with the New York state legislature," she said. "And that is first and foremost to build relationships with the legislature, to understand the pressures and the challenges they face from their point of view, as well as presenting the challenges and pressures we face at the university.

"And on the basis of that relationship of trust and mutual appreciation of each other's positions and tasks, then to do everything conceivable to communicate effectively the importance of higher education for the state of Wisconsin. And the importance of education for the state of Wisconsin is hard to over-estimate. It's obviously the creating and preserving of opportunities for the youth of the state, but it's also producing the research and scholarship that has the potential to solve some of the state's and the nation's critical problems.

"I think of higher education in relation to government as a provider of solutions more than just a handout for additional funding, and I think higher education is increasingly perceived across the world really as essential in a knowledge economy. And in the wake of globalization, it's essential to the well being -- the economic, political, social and cultural well being -- of people everywhere. So I anticipate, somewhat optimistically, an increasing perception of the benefits of higher education. I'm not speaking specifically now of the state of Wisconsin but the state of Wisconsin is part of a larger environment."

* Does Martin have any strategies in mind to make UW-Madison a more diverse campus?

"It's of course impossible for me to answer precisely what this university needs to change because I'm not here and I'm not well-enough informed," said Martin. "But what I can say in general is that my commitment to diversity, the diversification of the faculty, staff and students is very strong. I'm passionate on the issue.

"... It requires a set of things -- retention and recruitment of student, staff and faculty is one set of issues, but creating the environment in which everyone feels well served, everyone feels they are gaining the benefits of everything the campus has to offer, that's a second set of issues. Both are important.

"And, certainly, a chancellor or president can set a tone when it comes to creating an environment and also holding a campus accountable for enhancing diversity. And accountability is a big part of the solution to the problem of diversity. But the real work, of course, has to belong at the program and department and college levels, where the recruitment, retention and creation of cultures actually occurs day-to-day."

* Martin, who reportedly made more than a half-million dollars in fiscal year 2006, would have to take a pay cut to be UW-Madison's chancellor, as the maximum pay the Board of Regents could offer is $452,000. Martin was asked if she, indeed, was offered the job, would she take it?

"I think it's premature to talk about that hypothetical situation," she noted. "But I would certainly be very pleased if it were offered."

Wiley, who is stepping down in September, makes $327,000 per year.

* Martin was asked how she would address the issue of UW-Madison's lower-than-average salaries, when compared to its peer institutions. Those lower salaries have been blamed for large numbers of professors leaving Madison for higher-paying jobs at other colleges and universities.

"I think it's absolutely essential to keep pace with peers when it comes to salaries," she noted. "It's always good to be at the median when that's possible. I don't yet know enough about the salary situation here to comment specifically on Wisconsin.

"But what I will say is that we've entered a period of extraordinary competition, not only nationally but internationally, for the best faculty. And that's a result of the fact that there was a hiring bulge in the '60s, when universities in the United States expanded and that large bulge of people who were hired in the '60s are now hitting retirement age. So the competition to hire the best faculty over the next 10 to 15 years is going to be extraordinary, and it's important that a university can be well-positioned to compete for the best minds."

Public receptions are to be held for all four UW-Madison chancellor candidates from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Main Lounge of the Memorial Union. The public reception schedule for the remainder of the week includes:

Wednesday: Tim Mulcahy, who has been vice president for research at the University of Minnesota since February 2005. Mulcahy spent 20 years at UW-Madison, including as associate vice chancellor for research policy from 2002 to 2005.

Thursday: Rebecca Blank, dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan from 1999 to 2007. Blank, who is currently on leave and is the visiting senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, was on the President's Council of Economic Advisors under former President Clinton in 1997-99.

Gary Sandefur, the UW's dean of the College of Letters and Sciences since 2004, had his public reception and meeting with the media on Monday. Sandefur, who has spent the past 24 years on the UW campus, currently oversees 39 departments in the arts and humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. More than half of UW-Madison's students are enrolled in Sandefur's college, which employs about 3,000 people.

The four candidates will interview Wednesday with UW System President Kevin Reilly and a Board of Regents search committee, led by chair David Walsh. Reilly and the Regents' committee expect to name their pick later in the month. The new UW-Madison chancellor officially will be appointed at the next regularly scheduled Board of Regents meeting June 5-6 at UW-Milwaukee.

For more information, including a complete resume for each of the finalists, visit the UW-Madison's chancellor search Web site at www.chancellorsearch.wisc.edu.

Todd Finkelmeyer  —  5/13/2008 7:44 pm