Chancellor Biddy Martin has appointed Paul DeLuca Jr., vice dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, as the university’s new provost.
Working closely with the chancellor and deans, the provost’s offices are responsible for faculty and staff programs, diversity initiatives and enrollment management, as well as helping articulate and implement the institution’s long-term goals in research and education.
“In some sense, I will ultimately bear responsibility for the educational experience [students] are going to have,” DeLuca said.
Some of the challenges that will ultimately wind up on his desk include helping students face walking into a classroom with 300 other students and how to optimize that experience.
Selected from a pool of three finalists recommended by a search-and-screen committee, DeLuca assumes the provost position with 36 years of experience at UW. ?
An internationally recognized expert in high-energy particle radiation effects on humans, DeLuca has served as chair of the Department of Medical Physics as well as vice dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health and has also sat on many key campus committees engaged in academic and facilities planning, according to a UW statement.
“He is an extraordinary scientist, very distinguished and well known nationally and internationally. He has built an incredible medical physics program here at the university and has years and years of administrative experience,” Martin said.
DeLuca, who officially started his position last week, said he is familiarizing himself with the major issues and things that need attention right away.
“There are a number of hot button issues. We’re going to have major discussions on the budget, which is going to be a formidable process,” DeLuca said.
Facing some of the most difficult economic times in the school’s recent history, DeLuca recognizes financial stress as a serious threat to the university.
“The economy is imposing extraordinary difficulties on us across the board … and the impact that might have on our program, particularly the undergraduate program, is frankly threatening,” DeLuca said.
In light of these economic hardships, DeLuca hopes to hit the ground running, immediately and strategically addressing situations with the budget, research environment, faculty retention and furthering the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates.
“We will have to think about these things strategically and ask how do we roll these things out so we can actually get them done in a realistic time period but a time period short enough to have an impact,” DeLuca said.
Considering himself a “perpetual optimist,” DeLuca said he sees all the indicators that there will be some wonderful opportunities over the next several years.
“When the economy is recovering, that’s the time to have an impact,” he said.
As DeLuca steps in, Interim Provost Julie Underwood stepped down from what Martin considered an “exceptional” term.
Underwood said that the provost position has been both a challenge and a reward and thinks DeLuca will do a “wonderful” job moving forward.
