The Minnesota native was named to the top post at UW-Madison by UW System President Kevin P. Reilly and a special committee of the UW System Board of Regents on Monday.
Blank is well-acquainted with the Big 10. Before moving to Washington in 2009, she served at the University of Michigan as dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and at Northwestern University as director for the Joint Center for Poverty Research. She spent the fall of 1985 on the UW-Madison campus as a visiting fellow at the Institute for Research on Poverty.
Blank's Washington connections could come in handy for a major research university that depends heavily on federal grants. Her experience as a leading economist also is expected to be an asset as the flagship positions itself to be a driver of economic development in Wisconsin.
She has advised presidents from both political parties, serving as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers first for George H.W. Bush and later for Bill Clinton.
Blank's husband, Hanns Kuttner, is a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute, working with the Institute's Future of Innovation Initiative. He also served in the George H.W. Bush administration as a domestic policy staffer for health and social service programs.
Blank was a finalist for the UW-Madison chancellor's job in 2008, when Carolyn "Biddy" Martin was picked. Martin resigned in 2011 to become president of Amherst College, and was replaced on an interim basis by former chancellor David Ward, who will continue in the top post until Blank arrives July 1.
The salary range for the job is $426,500 to $522,500. The regents will formalize the terms of Blank's contract and her appointment when they meet April 5.
Blank was out of the country Monday.
She's in Brazil, co-chairing the eighth meeting of the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum. During the trip, she's also expected to deliver remarks to the just-launched Columbia University Global Center in Rio de Janeiro, one of a network of centers designed to enhance collaboration among scholars and students around the world.
"I am honored and delighted to be offered the job of chancellor at UW-Madison," Blank said in a prepared statement. "This is a world-class school, and I have been continually impressed by the caliber, dedication and enthusiasm of its students, faculty and staff. Together we will continue to build on the school's long history of excellence. Wisconsin is one of the foremost public universities, demonstrating that a top research institution can also provide educational access to students from all backgrounds."
Among the attractions of the job, Blank said, was the school's strong commitment to the Wisconsin Idea of engaging the state and its communities. "The university is integral to the economic future of the state and must continue to be a strong partner in the effort to create jobs and stimulate economic growth," she said.
Choice wins praise
Reaction to news of Blank's move from a federal cabinet post to Madison was swift - from the Badger campus, to the state Capitol and the White House.
"I want to thank Dr. Blank for her hard work and exceptional service on behalf of the American people," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "Over the past four years I have asked Becky to take on several roles at the Department of Commerce, and in each one she has distinguished herself as a steady leader and a vital member of my economic team. A tireless advocate for American businesses, Becky has helped to increase our competitiveness, support our innovators and entrepreneurs, and bring good-paying jobs back to our shores.
"While I will be sad to see her go this summer," the president said, "I want to wish her the best of luck in her exciting new role. I know the University of Wisconsin Badgers will have an outstanding chancellor for years to come."
Gov. Scott Walker called Blank "a great pick."
"She has excellent academic credentials and strong leadership experience," the governor said. "Equally as important, she has a keen knowledge of economic issues that can help the UW promote great prosperity in the state."
UW-Madison faculty senator and blogger Sara Goldrick-Rab endorsed a different finalist for the job - Michael Schill, dean of the University of Chicago Law School.
"Some of my most-trusted friends and colleagues assure me that Rebecca Blank is a superb leader, a good listener and an excellent manager," Goldrick-Rab said Monday. "Knowing she has such capacities, I hope that Dr. Blank joins us as a partner in shared governance, and works hard to keep UW-Madison the uniquely public institution it has always been. I sincerely want her to exceed my expectations, and if she does I'll be nothing but grateful."
In addition to Blank and Schill, the four finalists included Nicholas Jones, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; and Kim Wilcox, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Michigan State University.
A native of Roseville, Minn., Blank has been with the U.S. Department of Commerce since 2009, serving first as undersecretary for economic affairs, then as deputy secretary and acting secretary. Before joining Commerce, she served as a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Built Michigan program
From 1999 to 2008, she was dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, where she also worked as a professor of public policy and of economics. During her eight-year tenure as dean, the public policy school began a bachelor's degree program in public policy and moved into a new $35 million building.
"We really - literally - built the Ford School," Blank told The Michigan Daily in 2007, when she announced she was leaving. "We were responsible for raising the money, constructing the building, getting the right students and faculty and putting the undergraduate program together."
In addition to her work at Northwestern University, Blank taught economics and public affairs at Princeton University and was a visiting professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"Dr. Blank is uniquely prepared to lead UW-Madison, coming to us with broad national and international experience in roles where big science and big research intersect with job creation and commercialization, Reilly, the UW System president, said in a prepared statement. "She also has a strong track record of educational innovation, having created interdisciplinary graduate programs, and a new undergraduate public policy major, at the University of Michigan."
At a time when the governor's budget "would reinvest in the UW System, putting our institutions in a position to step up in areas of workforce development and economic growth, Dr. Blank's impressive skill set will be an invaluable addition to UW-Madison," Reilly said.
Blank holds a Ph.D. in economics from MIT. She earned her undergraduate degree, also in economics, from the University of Minnesota, where she graduated summa cum laude.
Blank brings to the chancellor position a broad and varied array of experience managing complex organizations, along with a record of academic leadership, said Regent Charles Pruitt, who chaired the regent committee that interviewed Blank and the three other finalists Friday.
"Add to that a brilliant mind and Midwestern roots, and you get someone who understands UW-Madison's extraordinary potential and knows how to achieve that potential through strong, collaborative leadership," Pruitt said. "She is committed to upholding the finest traditions of the Wisconsin Idea in ways that benefit all state citizens."
Blank's official biography says she was born in Missouri, but she grew up in Minnesota.
Blank's experience of leading a large and complex federal agency will be a tremendous asset for the university, said David McDonald, the UW-Madison professor of history who headed the 25-member search and screen committee.
The search committee members were particularly impressed by her commitment both to "big science" and to the liberal arts as equally essential components in educating citizens for 21st-century America, McDonald said.
0 Comments