[media-credit name=’MEGHAN CONLIN/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]After a nationwide search and months of candidate interviews, University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley has selected Patrick Farrell, executive associate dean of the College of Engineering, to be the next UW provost.

Farrell will begin in his new position — which is second in rank at the university — April 3, and will be paid a reported $238,468 in salary.

"It's quite an honor," said Farrell, who has been at UW since 1982 and assumed his current role in 2001. "It's a big responsibility and, at the same time, it's a little frightening."

A number of issues will be awaiting Farrell when he assumes the provost position, with a constrained budget situation being among the most critical, according to Wiley.

"We're all concerned about the extent to which the state is withdrawing our budget," Wiley added in a phone interview. "This trend can't continue."

However, with Farrell's "diplomatic" and "analytical" approach, Wiley was confident he chose the right person to help the university through a "tight funding situation."

"[Farrell] has a lot of experience with techniques in strategic planning," Wiley said. "He wants us all pulling in the same direction."

Along with working to remedy the budget situation, Farrell listed keeping student tuition at a "manageable" level, retaining quality faculty and staff, and increasing access to the university among his goals for UW.

Farrell said the best way to address these concerns is to strengthen relations outside the university.

"The key is to develop a better understanding and better partnership between the university and legislature and the people within the state," Farrell said. "It has weakened a little bit … but we need to be strong partners."

Wiley chose Farrell over Sue Rosser, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who was named the other finalist for the provost position by a university search-and-screen committee.

Comparing the provost position to the chief operating officer of a corporation, Wiley said Farrell's "familiarity" with the UW campus played into his favor.

However, Farrell's selection now leaves someone else "familiar" with the UW campus in a precarious situation.

When April 3 arrives, Farrell will overtake the position of current Interim Provost Virginia Sapiro, who was left off the final list of UW provost candidates and is now a candidate for similar positions at a number of national universities.

Wiley himself said he was "surprised" Sapiro was left off the finalist list, along with a number of other officials within the university.

"I was surprised she and others were not on it," Wiley said. "But the process is what it is."

Even though he technically could have chosen someone not named by the committee, Wiley said he was reluctant to do so.

Wiley, however, admitted he was worried that Sapiro may leave as a result, which Interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam said would be a "tragedy."

"She has been so rich in her insight, her vision, her support," Berquam said. "The campus would lose astronomically if she left."

However, Berquam added the UW administration and faculty stood behind the Farrell selection and supported it.

"The overall sentiment is we welcome him on board," Berquam added. "There will be a groundswell of support for him."