Throughout her first semester as chancellor, Biddy Martin has put her best foot forward in the effort to achieve new goals for the future of UW-Madison.
Martin officially stepped into her position with former chancellor John Wiley's stepping down Sept. 1. Prior to receiving her position at UW-Madison, Martin earned her graduate doctorate in German literature at UW-Madison. Following her education, Martin joined the faculty at Cornell University, and eventually became provost at Cornell in 2000.
Martin said so far she has enjoyed her first semester at UW-Madison and looks forward to working hard in addressing challenging issues.
It's been great, I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far '¦ it's a wonderful place,"" Martin said in an interview. ""I've really enjoyed working with the students, faculty and community members.""
Other prominent UW-Madison officials who work with Martin said she has transitioned smoothly.
""I think she's been really great her first few months here,"" said College of Letters and Science Dean Gary Sandefur, who was the university's only internal finalist for the position. ""It's been very exciting to work with her.""
Martin reflected on her first semester at a Madison Rotary meeting Wednesday and addressed what she believed to be the most prominent issues facing UW-Madison. As she spoke about the need to take a closer look at the university's funding, Martin publicly announced Mike Knetter, dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, as a new, unpaid special assistant.
Martin said Knetter's main duties will include developing strategies and opportunities for UW-Madison to receive more alternative sources of funding.
""We are going to be focusing on how to be most effective at developing non-state sources of funding for the university,"" Knetter said.'""
According to Knetter, officials need to change opinions of students and increase their awareness of funding coming to the university from sources other than the state and tuition.
""We need to be more proactive across campus at letting students know that funding is not just from the state,"" he said.
Although Martin said she wants to increase financial aid, she still wants to work to sustain UW-Madison's reputation as a world class research university.
""We cannot have a world class research university without an increase in tuition given what's happening with our other revenue sources,"" she said. ""However, if we don't hold harmless to those students whose families are at low income levels then we won't be serving the public.""
UW System Regent Colleene Thomas, a UW-Madison graduate student, said she feels the issue lowering tuition costs is the most important challenge Martin faces.'""
""We are going to have to think about how we can get students from lower and middle class families into schools because education is such a powerful tool for social and personal advancement,"" Thomas said.
Martin also stressed the need to increase pay for faculty members to ensure UW-Madison remains competitive amongst other private universities.
""We operate in a market that requires we either pay competitively or we lose the best faculty,"" she said. ""It's not because faculty deserves to make more than other hardworking professions '¦ I think it is our responsibility to be competitive.""
Brittany Wiegand, chair of the Associated Students of Madison, said Martin's reorganization of her staff in November is part of the gradual process she needs to undergo in order to officially transition herself to UW-Madison.
Martin said she rearranged her staff in a way she feels will be most helpful to achieving her goals.
The dropping of Wiley's former top aides Casey Nagy and Deb Lauder will provide funding for a new vice chancellor of communications in the future.
