Chancellor Rebecca Blank was elected to a four-year term on the board of directors and executive committee of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
Blank will also be board chair from Nov. 2021 until Nov. 2022. According to their website, the APLU is a research, policy and advocacy organization that focuses on strengthening and advancing the work of public universities.
UW is one of 243 institutions involved with the APLU. According to a UW press release, APLU President M. Peter McPherson said he was delighted to have Blank join the board.
“She brings a wealth of experience as an economist, public servant and higher education leader,” McPherson said. “We are so pleased that Rebecca will be at the table helping to provide a national direction.”
APLU works to expand access to higher education and improve student success in an effort to build healthy communities, according to their website.
In an email to The Badger Herald, Blank wrote that while serving on the board she hopes to advocate for issues affecting public universities, particularly on a federal level. She included issues of sexual assault, immigration, research funding, Pell grant availability, and increasing admissions and funding for low-income students.
Blank wrote that the work APLU does is very impactful for UW students.
“The advocacy APLU does on issues of concern affects the lives of UW students,” Blank said. “It is much more powerful to do this in coalition with other schools than to do it by ourselves.”
Blank also just finished a term on the board of the Association of American Universities. Blank said that it is important for both universities and students to be involved with these organizations.
AAU report finds sexual assault rates of females remain unchanged since 2015
At UW there are many people who engage with APLU regularly, such as the presidents and chancellors of various schools and extension programs, Blank said.
Blank encouraged students to engage with the APLU and organizations like it.
“If there are national issues students are interested in, they can share them with those at UW who are doing campus-based leadership to find out what national organizations are also concerned with these issues,” Blank said.
