As the four chancellor finalists were announced Wednesday, those close to the process prepare to judge them as they visit campus next week.
David Walsh, chair of a special UW System Board of Regents committee, said the Regents committee and UW System President Kevin Reilly will interview them individually May 14.
In the meantime, each of the candidates will come visit the campus and have individual one-on-one meetings with various stakeholders and also be available for public meetings,"" Walsh said.
The finalists - Gary Sandefur, Biddy Martin, Rebecca Blank and R. Timothy Mulcahy - will each participate in a public reception individually next week.
David Giroux, UW System spokesperson, said the intent of public receptions is to offer students the chance to meet with the finalists.
""It's unfortunate that it might have fallen during finals week. The alternative was to postpone it to the point where some of the students might actually have graduated and left campus for the summer,"" he said. ""It's a function of the tight time lines that we are under with this and four other search processes.""
""It's always a balancing act.""
Walsh said the final decision will be made taking a variety of factors into consideration, including notes from opinions of the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee's 23 members, a recommendation from Reilly and feedback from the public events and other campus interviews.
Walsh said a special five-member Regents committee will make the final recommendation to the full Board as early as May 21.
Walsh said it does not matter whether the next chancellor is an internal or external hire.
""We asked the [search committee] to recommend four to five that no matter how we ranked them, all five of them would be satisfactory,"" he said. ""They all have various strengths and perspectives.""
Giroux said at this stage in the process, it is necessary to select the best candidate.
""Everybody who makes it to this stage of the search is someone who's got very, very strong credentials,"" Giroux said. ""The charge to the search committee is to advance a slate of people, each of whom could do the job and succeed as chancellor, so that is the belief of the search committee, that each of these four individuals is qualified to be the next chancellor of UW-Madison.""
Giroux said the announcement of Wiley's replacement will come after all the campus visits, but before the June 5 Board of Regents meeting.
