Rebecca Blank, former dean and current professor of University of Michigan's school of public policy, stressed the importance of fundraising and diversity as the fourth chancellor finalist to visit campus Thursday.
While at Michigan, Blank secured the school a PhD degree program and created an undergraduate degree for public policy. She has also contributed to fundraising on the Ann Arbor campus and worked in the White House as a member of economic advisors for former president Bill Clinton.
Blank grew up in the Midwest among large public universities and said this contributed to her appeal for the position of chancellor at UW-Madison.
The numbers of people working on such different issues and the intellectual energy that therefore came from that was really fun, much better than being at the smaller private schools,"" she said.
Blank said she enjoys encouraging research and working on the outreach of a university to the state. She said if she were to become chancellor, fundraising and management would be important to focus on.
""When you go from being a dean of a school to a president of a university, there are more things to manage, more moving pieces,"" Blank said. ""The key to coming in here is figuring out which moving pieces you need to keep your eye on.""
She stressed there is no substitute for really getting to know people or for building a relationship.
""It is important to listen to where your agenda and [others'] agenda may coincide.""
Blank said a challenge facing the campus is the issue of faculty salary and retention.
""Clearly there are a lot of people feeling pretty anguished about that and pretty worried about it '¦ it has to be a major priority for the Chancellor, but that is not something that is going to be fixed within the first six months, it is going to take some additional fundraising,"" Blank said.
The finalist said alternatives to tuition for UW-Madison are needed because the tuition and quality of the institution do not comply.
In terms of tuition, she said, ""working on the gifts and endowment projects is just as important as developing good relationships with the legislature.""
When questioned about diversity, Blank said UW-Madison needs to have enough people around campus so individuals do not feel isolated.
""You need to make sure that [people] have the support and networks and what they need to succeed here,"" Blank said. ""The issue of diversity is much bigger than an admissions issue.""
Blank's campus visit Thursday completes the public phase in the search for a replacement for Chancellor John Wiley, who will step down in September. The other finalists - UW-Madison College of Letters & Sciences Dean Gary Sandefur, Cornell University Provost Biddy Martin and University of Minnesota Vice President for Research Timothy Mulcahy - already visited campus.
The UW System Board of Regents is expected to select the next UW-Madison chancellor from the four finalists no later than June 5. Check back at dailycardinal.com for any chancellor search updates.
- Jillian Levy contributed to this report
