UW-Madison is losing another of its bright lights.

Jon Foley, founder and director of the UW-Madison's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, or SAGE, has accepted an offer from the University of Minnesota to become the director of a new system-wide environmental institute.

Foley, 40, one of the university's leading environmental scientists and the Gaylord Nelson Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, said this week he can hardly believe he's leaving Madison and the university. His crowning achievement was founding SAGE, an internationally known think tank on sustainability Foley started "with a letterhead and one employee." Now it has a staff of 50 and a budget of $2 million.

Mostly, Foley said, he is leaving because of the rich opportunity that awaits in Minnesota. But Foley is not shy about saying the lack of support for the UW-Madison from the state Legislature and the university's continuing financial woes have made offers such as that proffered by Minnesota more difficult for faculty to turn down.

"It is remarkable how big a difference having a constructive and supportive legislature — even when money is still tight — makes in campus morale and attitude," Foley wrote in an e-mail to friends announcing his decision. "There is a startling difference between the two universities right now."

Foley's is the latest name on a list of talented faculty recruited away from the UW-Madison. A cover story in the April issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education documented the growing reputation of the university as a recruiting ground due to low salaries. About 400 of UW-Madison's 2,050 tenured and tenure-track professors received job offers from other colleges over the past four years, according to the article.

UW-Madison Provost Pat Farrell called Foley's departure "a great loss." He said it highlights the challenge UW-Madison faces in retaining faculty at a financially troubled time. He said UW-Madison "couldn't come close" to matching the University of Minnesota's offer to Foley.

Even though UW-Madison still competes for talented people, losses of researchers such as Foley eventually wear on morale, Farrell said.

"It's hard for those who are still here not to wonder, 'Do we have as bright a future here?' There's some uncertainty there," Farrell said.

A message left with Rep. Steve Nass, chairman of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee, was not returned Tuesday.

In his new post, Foley will receive double the salary he was being paid at UW-Madison. But Foley said the attractiveness of the offer goes beyond salary and highlights some of the shortcomings now plaguing UW-Madison, especially in the area of environmental studies. He called the chance to lead the new institute the "opportunity of a lifetime."

The founding of the environmental institute at the University of Minnesota represents that university's commitment to environmental sciences as one of the institution's main areas of emphasis along with stem cells and biofuels, Foley said. The institute will have a budget of $9 million (compared with a $2 million budget for the Nelson Institute) and Foley is also being offered $1.2 million of research money to spend as he pleases.

"That's 10 times what the UW would typically do," Foley said of the research dollars.

But he said the emphasis on environmental science at the University of Minnesota goes even deeper. He said the university is looking for the new institute to find innovative ways of connecting environmental science to a world that faces different environmental challenges than it did in 1970.

Today's questions have to do with climate change and energy and sustainability, Foley said. He fears UW-Madison continues to approach the study of the environment from the perspective of the 1970s when the issues were not quite as complex and connections, such as those between energy and climate, not as clear.

"I think they're struggling to redefine themselves because environmental problems keep changing every five years," said Foley. "How do we redefine our environmental initiatives to keep up with a changing world? This requires a nimble response. And I think that's where Wisconsin will have to do some thinking."

Foley said he was particularly dismayed at the recent failure of a search for a new director for the Nelson Institute, the larger, interdisciplinary environmental institute with which he and SAGE are connected.

Despite his concerns, Foley said he remains optimistic UW-Madison will find a way to solve its problems. And he said he will remain associated with the university. He said he is not taking his grants with him and will allow the money to continue being used by graduate students and others who are conducting research they started under his tutelage. He will spend Fridays on the UW-Madison campus for the first several months of his new appointment.

Other faculty members lamented Foley's loss. William Cronon, a professor of environmental history and a faculty member within the Nelson Institute, said colleagues "hugely regret " Foley leaving.

But he said Foley's comments should also be taken as a challenge. Few institutions can match UW-Madison for its legacy and resources in environmental studies.

"What we desperately need is a vision and leadership to achieve what's possible, " Cronon said.