When Jennifer Mnookin joined UW-Madison in 2022 as its chancellor, she faced declining state funding, a decadelong tuition freeze, then campus protests and an onslaught of federal research cuts.
But during her nearly four years in the position, Mnookin built a track record of forging deals with critics of her leadership or the university itself, such as breaking ground on the hard-fought new engineering building, despite frequent opposition from the Republican-led Legislature.