May 28, 2008

U. of Wisconsin at Madison Hires Cornell U. Provost as Chancellor

The next chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison will be Carolyn A. (Biddy) Martin, university officials announced today.

Ms. Martin, 57, provost at Cornell University since 2000, earned her doctorate in German literature at Madison in 1985. She will succeed John D. Wiley in September, pending her approval by the university’s Board of Regents this month.

With a $2.2-billion annual operating budget, the Madison campus is ranked among the top five public universities in research capacity. It faces recent challenges, however, most notably in lagging faculty salaries. The Chronicle reported last month that many faculty members have been hired away from Madison by private and even other public universities.

In a written statement, Ms. Martin promised to develop a plan to keep the university competitive in hiring and retaining professors.

“Faculty salaries will be a very high priority for me,” she said. “All institutions are going to face much stronger competition for their best scholars and scientists. It’s critical to get ourselves in a position where faculty are appropriately rewarded and supported to meet this problem head-on and from a position of strength.” —Paul Fain

Comments

1. This is an excellent choice by the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents for its flagship, Madison campus. Martin knows Madison since she received her Ph.D. there and she is Cornell’s longest serving Provost with many years of successful leadership at that quality school.

   Some weeks ago, there was a Chronicle article and thread about the Madison Chancellor hiring search: one candidate’s identity was accidentally revealed although he had requested anonymity. Some speculated then that Wisconsin was trying to undermine diversity in so doing. It should be noted that Dr. Martin is not only a female, she is openly gay and has published numerous works on feminism, diversity and sexuality.

   — fflambeau    May 28, 11:55 PM    #

2. While it is wonderful that the UW will address lagging faculty salaries, the part of the story that isn’t being told is that any funding that DOES come out of the legislature goes directly to Madison. This school is STARVING the rest of the system. While Madison can say it is A priority, surely it can not be the ONLY one for the system. It makes the rest of us in the state cringe to think that Madison will get even more demands met from the legislature while the rest of the schools starve.

   — Kathy    May 29, 06:58 AM    #

3. Ditto Kathy – I remember the days when I was a grad student in an adjoining state, and outlying schools in the Wisconsin system were infamous for being a training ground for the street, due to abysmally low salaries, ridiculous teaching loads, and no support for obligatory research and publishing.

   — Jerry    May 29, 08:56 AM    #

4. UW-M has made an inspired choice. Biddy Martin will be a remarkable chancellor.

   — Amy    May 29, 10:15 AM    #

5. Responses 2 and 3 illustrate the problems with university systems when money is tight. After many years of experience, I believe the better strategy is to protect the flagship, even if this seems unfair to the others. UW Madison is a national treasure, and should not be further eroded in the interest of system parity. It is shameful that this wonderful university is losing top faculty to sometimes lesser institutions because of noncompetitive salaries. I wish Dr. Martin well. This appears to be an outstanding selection.

   — case hardened    May 29, 10:46 AM    #

6. Dr. Martin seems an outstanding choice, and she is further likely to maintain Madison’s national (and international) leadership in international education and training students to be global citizens. Cheer up Mad-town, things are looking good!

   — Simone    May 29, 11:37 AM    #

7. The worst thing that ever happened to UW-Madison was when it was merged with the state schools to form the UW System. The trend to leveling in all things is a natural outcome of such a system. Wisconsin is a small moderate income state and can only afford one great university and it needs to be UW-Madison. The state also needs to free the UW Madison of some of the cumbersome state rules that actually hamper private funds being used effectively at the university. Right now it is illegal for private funds to supplement faculty pay and it is also illegal to use some tuition money for student aid.

   — Frank    May 29, 01:23 PM    #

8. As a Cornellian, I am thrilled about Dr. Martin’s appointment at UW (my wife’s alma mater). She has compiled an unexcelled record and is on a par with other outstanding leaders of great universities (e.g, Faust, Tilghman).

   — Peter    May 29, 04:04 PM    #

9. I disagree with Frank’s assertion that “Wisconsin is a small moderate income state and can only afford one great university and it needs to be UW-Madison.” I’m very proud to have three degrees from Madison but as a resident of Milwaukee I’ve become very aware of UW-Milwaukee’s key role in the economic and cultural vitality of the greater metro area. We (as a state) cannot afford to not fully fund and promote UW-Milw. We Wisconsinites need to support efforts to further develop the great research potential of UW-Milw. Go Carlos (that’s Carlos Santiago)!

   Renee

   — Renee    May 29, 08:37 PM    #

10. Poster #2 is not correct when she claims that any funding that “DOES come out of the legislature goes directly to Madison. This school is STARVING the rest of the system,” laments Kathy.

    Sorry, Kathy but the UW system receives $990 million in funding from the state. See http://www.wisconsin.edu/about/glance.htm
    UW Madison’s funding from the state in 2006-07 was $424.4 million (less than half that of the system).

    On another note, the author of this article misleads when he writes that “ With a $2.2-billion annual operating budget, the Madison campus is ranked among the top five public universities in research capacity.”

    Actually, with over $900 million in federal research funding, UW Madison ranked 2nd (to Johns Hopkins) for ALL universities, public and private. I can understand members of the public making factual mistakes, but Mr. Fain, for you as a professional journalist in the field of higher education such sloppiness is less excusable. But then, the last decade has really seen a decline in professionalism in journalism as a whole.

    — fflambeau    May 29, 11:09 PM    #

11. Yeah, a real national treasure. A hotbed of anarchy and domestic terrorism in the 1960s. I wonder how much things have changed.

    — RK    May 30, 01:16 AM    #

12. I hope she make some needed changes, particularly with regard to salaries of faculty and the other host of issues that have been a regular fixture for Madison that we’ve all read about in CHE over the last four or five years (or more).

    Although I do not wholly agree with Kathy, if one looks at the figures on the link provided by fflambeau who noted the system receives more than double the funds of Madison, it would appear that by FTE enrollment, the system received about $8,774 per FTE in 2007-2008, while Madison received $11,427 per FTE. The difference in pay has been mentioned in many CHE articles/blogs/discussion boards and are also quite disparate as well. So, I can see her point and the point of many who have voiced this concern in Wisconsin and other states.

    Suffice it to say, Dr. Martin has a tremendous amount of work ahead of her if she intends to stem the tide of the growing problems.

    — Jay    May 30, 08:05 AM    #

13. Perhaps if fflambeau would investigate the new incentives out of the legislature (like new funding to hold onto talented professors) he or she would see that Madison took it all. I’m sorry. There are simply too many talented students at schools OTHER than Madison for this attitude that it must be fed first and best. What message does that send to other campuses, their students, faculty and staff?

    — Kathy    May 30, 08:09 AM    #

14. Kathy, you don’t seem to like stats and just ignore them which doesn’t seem to be terribly rational if you’re concerned about educational matters. Other schools than Madison also got money to retain faculty. But let’s be realistic, the other campuses until elevated to university status a few dedades ago were primarly teachers colleges; none of them are research institutions like UW Madison. Nor do they bring in the fed $$ or private donations that Madison does. They are simply different kinds of and very unequal institutions. So why the surprise that they are treated differently?

    For this reason too, Jay’s FTE comparisons are like comparing apples to oranges. Jay please look at the website I linked to: you will see that 13 of the UW system’s colleges are 2 year institutions. I think even you would have to agree that it costs a lot less to educate a student there (and to retain a faculty member) than its does, for instance, at the UW, Madison law school, business school, engineering school or med school. Grad programs, especially professional ones, are much more costly than 2 year ones. Hence your FTE comparisons are faulty.

    “Case hardened” nailed it and so did Frank in post #7. The merger was a mistake and the legal changes Frank indicated should be made asap. For example, to even get a supplemental salary increase from the UW Foundation to Chancellor Wiley took an advisory opinion from the state’s Attorney General that it was legal. He decided it was but only because Wiley had committed to extra fundraising efforts. Those silly rules put fetters on the UW Foundation’s $2 billion endowment and on WARF’s $3 billion dollar endowment. By the way Kathy, in that regard too the schools in the system are very unequal. I think the next largest endowment in Wisconsin is at UW-M and that is only about $150 million.

    — fflambeau    May 30, 09:22 AM    #

15. Of course, if all of that money for UW-Madison was actually going to educate students, ffambeau might have a stronger argument. However, with an overly expensive Division I athletics program draining funds away from the education side, I have less sympathy for any arguments about insufficient funding!

    — Dan    May 30, 10:26 AM    #

16. To the first Kathy—what would you have Madison do? Continue to allow Madison’s scholars leave the institution for greener $$ pastures, simply because you think the pot should be more evenly divided? Rather, if Madison is supported as the flagship that it is, demonstrating excellent results, it bodes well for education generally. Having a superb administrator like Dr. Martin negotiating on behalf of the school can only raise support for other schools. Also, it’s a good thing that faculty salaries are supported through public means; research has already become to biased in favor of funders—do we want the same for those teaching UW students?

    — Another Kathy (admittedly f/Madison)    May 30, 10:52 AM    #

17. “Rather, if Madison is supported as the flagship that it is, demonstrating excellent results, it bodes well for education generally. Having a superb administrator like Dr. Martin negotiating on behalf of the school can only raise support for other schools.”

    Can someone explain how? Because Madison does not — nor has ever — looked out for the other schools in the system as this post implies.

    — Kathy    May 30, 10:59 AM    #

18. I did use your website; perhaps I explored further than you. Go to that website, click on “UW System Statistics”, click on “Student Statistics”, click on “Ten-Year Headcount Results” and well, you get the idea. Just fill in the form with the data you wish and there you are. It was the start page you provided that gave way to the data.

    But, UW Milwaukee is not a 2-year institution, and according to that website to which you directed us neither are 12 other campuses. Not exactly apples to oranges by any means. As I do not have the same year funding data for these 13 institutions as noted by Kathy, I cannot make a more direct comparison.

    But, based on the funding figures available from your starting webpage, the picture does not improve substantially for the remaining 13 4-year institutions nor for UW-Mil. in particular. True, Madison has some more expensive programs, but UW-Mil has a much higher operations budget. It was one example. Cut it how you like, the end result remains much the same.

    The comparison is not ideal, but it is not totally faulty either. If nothing else, it is substantial enough to warrant the first Kathy’s concerns. Dismissing them as such, to me, is faulty.

    But, to the greater issue at hand, that Dr. Martin has a challenge ahead. Many have commented on the major troubles at Madison of late – the faculty and administrative flight, gaffes of numerous kinds – have taken their toll. Honestly, if it were another institution similar issues would likely have hurt the institution’s rep more; the past helps Madison in this respect. I wish her and the system well – they so very much need it.

    — Jay    May 30, 11:45 AM    #

19. The UW Madison athletics department is not a drain by any measure. It makes money, has a huge cash reserve approaching $30,000,000 and a portion of the TV contract in the seven figures is given over to the general budget. Do a little research before posting misinformation.

    — Frank    May 30, 12:41 PM    #

20. Source of UW sports data

    http://www.madison.com/wsj/blogs/badger/baggot/288418

    — Frank    May 30, 12:49 PM    #

21. Also an update article on the “brain drain” problem at UW. Might be over hyped.

    http://www.madison.com/tct/news/288358

    — Frank    May 30, 12:52 PM    #

22. Not sure I buy the hype from Madison.com. The CHE does not report such things lightly, and they have been all over that story.

    The athletic part is accurate, but those Tennessee Vols put the paddle to them in the Outback Bowl.

    — JE    May 30, 01:00 PM    #

23. Sounds like a bitter UW faculty reject now teaching at MATC. Meanwhile UW faculty continue to lead the country in research funding and turning out useful research that is turned into patents and jobs locally and around the world.

    — Frank    Jun 2, 11:43 AM    #

24. Name names or your blast has all the impact of a fart in the wilderness. Who are these racists and ethics violators you claim? “Ivy-bound”, sounds like someone with an inferiority complex.

    — Frank    Jun 3, 11:28 AM    #

25. I PERSONALLY know people who saw UFOs. Does that mean UFOs are real? They tell me so.

    Cite documented facts and names if you want people to take you seriously.

    — Greg    Jun 4, 07:57 AM    #

26. could someone please explain the “floating negro head” PR disaster?

    — anon    Jun 4, 10:42 AM    #

27. I received my BS from UW-Green Bay and PhD from UW-Mil. I love the UW system, but Madison is not for everyone. We need to have a strong system, but understand the role of regional campuses like GB, Stout, LaCrosse, etc. They are undergraduate institutions. UW-Mil is trying to compete with Madison. I’m not sure that’s the best idea. Having each regional school carve a niche (GB-Enviornmental Science, Platteville-engineering, Whitewater-education, etc) and feed future grad students to UW and UW-Mil is the way to go.

    — etg    Jun 4, 11:04 AM    #

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