Chancellor Rebecca Blank introduced the idea of splitting a Vice Chancellorship into two positions for next year at a University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate meeting Monday.
Blank announced informally that the current Vice Chancellor of Research and Dean of the Graduate School, Martin Cadwallader, plans on stepping down by the end of next summer.
Blank voiced the concern that one individual could not give adequate attention to both entities in the future.
Blank said with the anticipated expansion of research emphasis on campus, including the upcoming launch of “Discovery to Product,” it may be in the university’s best interest to divide the roles. D2P, which is presented in conjunction with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, will serve as a medium for students to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors.
“As I look at the Vice Chancellor for Research job, I personally will say that I find it difficult to understand how someone could do that job and could do adequately the full job of Dean of the Graduate School,” Blank said.
Also at the meeting, professor of communication sciences and disorders Ruth Litovsky presented the annual report for the Committee on Women in the University, which aims to address gender issues on campus.
Litovsky, who is the co-chair of the committee, highlighted campaigns the committee has been working on over the past years, including the work with End Violence on Campus and efforts to enforce parental leave.
The committee also monitors the trend of the percentage of women in the university’s workforce. Litovsky noted an overall increase of 6.12 percent from 1990-’91 to 2012-’13, according to the report.
Faculty Senator Colleen Hayes, who noted she has been a faculty member at the university
for 34 years, questioned why the university has not fully addressed lingering issues, such as the process for faculty receiving parental leave.
Litovsky said she hopes to see involvement and cooperation from different departments so progress can continue to be made in the future.
“We need recognition of how important this is,” Litovsky said. “We hope that all departments, chairs and directors will embrace this work and will help us move forward.”
