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After nearly seven years as head of the University of
Wisconsin, John Wiley announced Friday he will step down as chancellor
effective September 2008.

Wiley, who will turn 66 in March, said he is not retiring
from the university and will stay on board to help with fundraising efforts,
particularly with the East Campus renovation project.

Next fall will be the "perfect time for transition," Wiley
said.

Wiley’s family moved out of the chancellor’s home last year
so the house could undergo a wide range of renovations, and Wiley said Friday
the family never intended to move back in.

Additionally, Wiley said the best time for a transition is
halfway through a budget period, and 2008 will be midway through the 2007-09
biennial cycle.

UW is also up for reaccreditation in April 2009, seven
months after the new chancellor would take over. That period gives the new
chancellor "plenty of time to take full ownership and have full understanding"
in developing the university’s next 10-year plan, Wiley said.

"Taking all these things into account, plus my age, it just
seems like the right time," Wiley said at a press conference Friday.

One of Wiley’s strongest passions has been ensuring progress
of the East Campus renovation project. Upon completion, there will be an arts
and humanities district extending from Lake Mendota to Regent Street.

"I want to make sure that’s launched with enough momentum
that it will continue on," Wiley said. "Even if we had all the money in hand today,
it would still take about 10 years to complete."

Wiley said he spends at least 25 percent of his time as
chancellor fundraising and will do even more during the next nine months.

"We have raised money at the rate of almost exactly $1
million a day every day of the year for six years," Wiley said. "So try waking
up some day and telling yourself, ‘If I don’t raise $1 million today I’ve got
to do two tomorrow.’"

While he will stay on faculty, Wiley said he will not go back
into teaching in the electrical engineering department, which he did before
joining the administration in 1989.

"I’m way too stale to do that," he said. "I’m a pretty good
student, but I don’t have much appetite to relearn all that stuff again."

The next chancellor will continue to struggle with enduring
budget cuts, but this is not an issue unique to UW, Wiley said.

"We as a society have to figure out where a division of
responsibility lies between the students and their family, on the one hand, and
the public at large on the other hand in financing public higher education
because both sides benefit enormously," Wiley said. "It’s an investment."

He added returns on the investment in public higher
education in the state are the greatest returns out of any state investment.

Wiley said the leadership within UW keeps the university at
its level of quality.

"We’ve got an absolutely stellar group of deans right now,
the best collection of deans this university has ever had," Wiley said, adding
"the first, second, third, fourth and fifth things I would be most proud of are
the people that we have around here."

After jokingly saying he has been considering this decision
"for six years," Wiley said it has still been on his mind for some time.

Who’s next?

The UW System plans to "move swiftly on a national search"
for the next chancellor, UW System Board of Regents President Mark Bradley
said, with the new chancellor expected to take over immediately after Wiley
leaves.

One struggle UW continues to deal with is faculty pay, which
is less than competing universities throughout the United States.

Bradley said salary serves as just one part of a package,
which also includes health insurance and retirement plans.

While the search will be broad, both Wiley and his predecessor,
David Ward, served as UW faculty members before becoming chancellor.

"If you look at the tradition and you look at where,
historically, the chancellors of this campus have come from, the norm has been
to find a chancellor from within the faculty," Bradley said. "But, of course,
there have been exceptions."

One exception was Donna Shalala, who came to UW from Hunter
College in New York and served as chancellor from 1987-1993.

Provost Pat Farrell, who has served as UW’s second-highest
administrator since the spring of 2006, said he does not know yet if he would
like the chancellor position and said "it’s hard to say" how important it is to
hire an in-house candidate.

Dean of Students Lori Berquam said the leadership team of
Wiley, Farrell and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Darrell Bazzell have
made a "great triad."

"The next person will also really have to really make a
great team and contribute to the team that’s already existing, because the
other two are really strong and very good at working together and problem solving
and communicating," Berquam said.

Bradley, though, said the next chancellor should carry similar
leadership skills to those Wiley has displayed, including surrounding himself
with the best faculty possible.

"What I’m looking for is someone who is going to hit the
ground running from the standpoint of maintaining that strategy and also
providing leadership," Bradley said.

David Walsh, a current regent and former president of the
board, will chair the committee that will make the final recommendation for the
next head of UW-Madison.

"First of all, we need someone who understands public
education," Walsh said. "We need someone who understands the culture of
Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Idea, and specifically the University of
Wisconsin-Madison."

For his part, Wiley said he will not speculate or offer
recommendations for who the next chancellor should be, but did say several
people on campus now would do a fine job as chancellor.

— Carl Jaeger contributed to this report.