UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls
Candidate interviews next week
January 14, 2022 —The Special Regent Committee for the University of Wisconsin System Presidential Search has identified two finalists who have agreed to be interviewed for the position next week.
The finalists are:
Regent President Edmund Manydeeds III, chair of the Special Regent Committee, said the two finalists offer a depth and breadth of experience, including in the academic, business, and civic arenas.
“We have identified two excellent candidates, each of whom would be an outstanding leader for our university system,” Manydeeds III said. “We believe their qualifications and experience provide the committee a great opportunity to pick a future leader for the UW System.”
The finalists will interview Tuesday with the Special Regent Committee and other groups, including shared governance representatives, chancellors, and UW System executive leaders. Manydeeds and Search and Screen Committee chair Karen Walsh, the Regent Vice President, announced that because of the extraordinary public input in the process so far, there will be no public session with the finalists.
“Our diverse 21-member Search and Screen Committee included representatives from all universities and all campus constituencies, which helped us identify a list of viable candidates to forward to the Special Regent Committee,” Walsh said. “We also held numerous valuable listening sessions at all of the universities and with all constituencies – often more than one. We look forward to the Special Regent Committee completing its work.”
After the interviews, the Special Regent Committee will forward a recommendation to the full Board of Regents, which will make the final decision on hiring a new UW System President. A decision is expected by the end of January.
Biographical information and photos for both candidates are available online: wisconsin.edu/presidential-search-2021/.
Tommy Thompson has been serving as president since July 1, 2020. He announced this month that he would step down effective March 18. Thompson replaced former president Ray Cross.
The next UW System President will be the System’s eighth since 1971 legislation unified two public university systems under a single Board of Regents. The system educates approximately 165,000 students at 13 universities across 26 campuses, serves more than 1 million Wisconsin residents through statewide outreach programs, and employs about 39,000 faculty and staff statewide. The total estimated annual economic impact of the UW System exceeds $24 billion.