The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents unanimously confirmed Rebecca Blank as the next chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Friday, according to a UW-Madison press release.
The Regents approved Blank following her recommendation from a special Regent committee earlier this semester.
“I can’t tell you how very proud I am to be joining one of the world’s great universities,” Blank said in the release.
Blank received her Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Minnesota, as well as a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Blank is currently serving as secretary of the United States Department of Commerce.
She has taught at MIT, Princeton University, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan, where she was also the dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Blank will take over for Chancellor David Ward, who has served as interim chancellor for the past two years, in July.
