John D. Wiley

John D. Wiley (born March 23, 1942 in Nashville, Tennessee)is the current chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. On December 7, 2007, he announced that he will step down from his position on September 1, 2008.

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Wiley was named the 28th Chancellor of the University on November 10, 2000, having been selected over finalists Nancy Cantor, then Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan (now Chancellor of Syracuse University), and Susan Westerberg Prager, then Provost of Dartmouth College (most recently President of Occidental College). He assumed office on January 1, 2001.

Wiley has had a long career with UW-Madison, having nearly 40 years of involvement as either a student, faculty member, or administrator. From 1994-2000, he served as Wisconsin's Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Prior to serving as Provost, he was the University's Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School. He was elevated to this position in 1989 by then Chancellor Donna Shalala after having served as the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering.

A research physicist by training, Wiley's academic work has focused on research in semiconductors and solid state physics. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Indiana University in 1964, and received master’s and doctoral degrees in physics in 1965 and 1968 from UW-Madison on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. He returned to UW-Madison as a faculty member in the College of Engineering in 1975, after having worked with Bell Telephone Laboratories and at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany as an awardee of the Alexander von Humboldt Senior U.S. Service Award for Research and Training.

His tenure as Chancellor has been distinguished by record-breaking fundraising efforts for the University as well as a strong emphasis on strategic planning. Wiley has been successful in attracting alumni and institutional investment into such areas as the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery, the Chazen Museum of Art, and the Executive MBA Program at the School of Business. Wiley has also commissioned an expansive Campus Master Plan that will guide physical development of the campus for the next decade. Central to this plan is the creation of an East Campus Arts Corridor, which will require the renovation or demolition of several existing campus buildings.

Wiley is not without his critics, and his tenure has also been marred by what many see as a fractious relationship with the State Legislature. Additionally, he was hurt by reports in 2005 that he placed then Vice Chancellor Paul Barrows into a back-up position as special assistant to the Provost and then instructed him to take several months of sick leave and look for a position at another institution, rather than report to work. This was in conjunction with an ongoing investigation of Barrows over charges of sexual harassment (these accusations, in turn, resulted in the resignation of then Dean of Students Luoluo Hong). Though Barrows was later cleared of these charges, both Wiley and then-Provost Peter Spear both stand by their initial decision to place Barrows in a back-up position. This has led to subsequent legislation eliminating the use of back-up positions in the University of Wisconsin System.

References

• Chancellor John D. Wiley