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Many eager to pick chancellor

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Also by Carl Jaeger:

Many eager to pick chancellor (December 11, 2007)
Officials debate Wiley's legacy (December 10, 2007)
'No guarantee' in UW success (December 10, 2007)
New rules apply for UW seg fees (December 7, 2007)
Regents hear about booze, textbooks (December 7, 2007)

by Carl Jaeger

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Four days after University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley's announcement he would step down from his position this summer, students are already anxious to be a part of the search-and-screen committee to find his replacement.

Jeff Wright, chair of the Associated Students of Madison Shared Governance Committee — the group in charge of screening students to sit on the committee — said he has already received inquiries about the committee, and he expects to receive even more.

"We’re going to get a lot of people from a lot of different student organizations and units across campus," Wright said. "There will be people from both within and outside ASM, and I’m looking forward to seeing it unfold."

Wright said qualified students should be aware of the responsibilities being a chancellor at a major university entails, including overseeing research, funding, faculty and student oversight, as well as "strengthening the educational experience on campus."

"I think as long as you have generally a good working knowledge of what the position entails and what students are looking for, if you are in touch with the student body, I think you’ll make a pretty successful search-and-screen member," Wright said.

Wright said he anticipated equal representation on the entire chancellor search-and-screen committee between students, staff, faculty and administration.

Along with ASM chair Gestina Sewell, Wright will meet with UW System president Kevin Reilly next week to discuss the process and qualifications for determining the student committee representatives.

Wright said he is looking forward to the process of finding student representatives, but said "it’s going to be both fun and challenging."

"It’s fun because it’s a high-profile committee, so we know we’re going to get a lot of student applications across campus and we’re going to try to select the best students who would serve on the committee," Wright said. "But it’s challenging at the same time because it’s up to us to screen and select really responsible and engaged students, and sometimes that’s not easy to do."

Current Board of Regents member and former president of the committee David Walsh, who will be chairing the Board of Regents search committee, said he looks forward to working with student representatives.

"They certainly offer a perspective on things that’s different, and I would expect them to fully participate … and hopefully raise some issues and ask some questions that other people may not have thought of, that may have higher priority with them," Walsh said.

Student perspective is important to the committee, as they bring issues to the table that other members have not thought of, Walsh said.

Walsh said he was pleased with UW students who are already expressing interest in joining the committee, but said the response is typical of a chancellor search at any university.

"We get the same response everywhere. We have more students here — 40,000 — you’ll get more here than at Whitewater," Walsh said. "There’s always a good group of students who want to be actively involved in this."

Wright stressed the importance of student representation on the committee, as it is required by UW’s shared governance policies.

"I think it’s a great opportunity for any student across campus to get involved in the governing of our university," Wright said. "That’s really what it’s about; it’s about students having a place at the table, being able to provide valuable input as to who the next chancellor will be."

Individuals interesting in applying for the student position on the committee can e-mail ASM Shared Governance at asmsharedgovernance@gmail.com.

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Anonymous (December 11, 2007 @ 8:11am):

Jeff = The epitome of resume padders

Anonymous (December 11, 2007 @ 2:05pm):

Let Mike Leckrone pick the new chancellor.

Anonymous (December 11, 2007 @ 3:03pm):

Yes, that's what we need, the crazy ASM people picking the next leader of UW. Because they have done such an excellent job in the past of decision making.

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