The UW Board of Regents expects to select a new UW-Madison chancellor in November, the official leading the search committee said Thursday.
UW-Madison’s new chancellor will succeed Jennifer Mnookin, who left the university in May after nearly four years to lead Columbia University. Eric Wilcots, dean of UW-Madison’s College of Letters and Science, is serving as interim chancellor.
Terry Fritter kicked off a discussion Thursday about what community members want in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s next chancellor by commenting on how familiar the process felt.
“Seems like you just did this not very long ago,” Fritter, who’s part of university staff, told members of a search and screen committee during an event at Union South.
Thousands of Wisconsin Badgers alumni from around the world filled the Resch Expo for the Badger Huddle to kick off the season.
The event is hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Alumni Association. Organizers said they want Badgers fans to have a home away from home at Lambeau Field.
Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots said the energy among fans is high.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Lori Reesor discussed federal funding pressure, artificial intelligence and an update to the Wisconsin Exchange at a media roundtable on Bascom Hill August 27.
Wilcots spoke about how federal funding changes, international student visa changes and AI are affecting university operations. He promised an “unrivaled” student experience at UW-Madison with the university’s newly-announced “Forward Together” strategic framework.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots and faculty welcomed just under 6,000 first-year and new transfer students to campus at the university’s annual convocation on Sept. 1 at the Kohl Center.
The committee leading the search for a new UW-Madison chancellor is holding a public input session next month to hear feedback on what the university’s leader should bring to the table.
UW-Madison’s new chancellor will succeed Jennifer Mnookin, who left the university in May after nearly four years to lead Columbia University. Eric Wilcots, dean of UW-Madison’s College of Letters and Science, is serving as interim chancellor.
UW-Madison has a new director of athletics, and he’s a son of America’s Dairyland.
UW-Madison interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots announced Wednesday that Shawn Eichorst will lead the program moving forward. Eichorst, who was raised in Lone Rock and graduated from UW-Whitewater, was previously the Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Texas.
Shawn Eichorst was named University of Wisconsin-Madison’s director of athletics, interim Chancellor Eric M. Wilcots announced Wednesday.
Shawn Eichorst has officially been named the Badgers’ next athletic director. UW-Madison interim Chancellor Eric M. Wilcots announced the hiring of Eichorst on Wednesday.
The Urban League of Greater Madison is requesting a formal review of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s hiring process for its athletic director position, citing concerns about whether the search followed established policies.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots announced July 1 that he appointed Shawn Eichorst to serve as the next athletic director for the Badgers – the first decision in his time as chancellor.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has named a new leader for Badgers athletics.
Wisconsin native Shawn Eichorst has been appointed to serve as the university’s new athletic director, interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots announced Wednesday.
Protesters reached an agreement with University of Wisconsin-Madison administrators in 2024 to end a pro-Palestinian encampment on Library Mall. Two years later, the two sides disagree on whether that deal has been upheld.
The leader of the Urban League of Greater Madison has called for a formal review of the University of Wisconsin’s athletic director hiring process to see if it was in line with policies and equal opportunity standards.
After UW-Madison named a new athletic director on Wednesday, all eyes are turning to the university’s other vacant leadership position: chancellor.
It’s really important for a columnist to have a strong opinion on a big news event, but you deserve honesty more than some contrived take.
So here it goes: Truth is, I have no idea how to feel about UW-Madison interim chancellor Eric Wilcots apparently choosing Shawn Eichorst to be the school’s next athletic director.
UW-Madison is searching for its next chancellor at the same time recruitment is underway to find a new Universities of Wisconsin president.
The Universities of Wisconsin’s search for UW-Madison’s next chancellor is kicking off with public input sessions starting next week.
The 23-member committee leading the search to identify former Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s successor will gather feedback from the faculty, staff, students and the public on Monday and June 22 at two listening sessions, the university announced Tuesday.
UW-Madison’s new chancellor will be stepping onto campus within the next year.
The search is underway after Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin left UW-Madison in May to lead Columbia University, closing a four-year tenure marked by the growth of the university’s research enterprise, historic enrollment, federal policy changes and several controversial high-profile decisions.
Students, faculty and staff could learn by fall who will become the next leader of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“We hope to have a new chancellor named … by the end of the calendar year, at the latest,” Jason Beier, who oversees human resources for the broader UW system, recently told a group tasked with finding Jennifer Mnookin’s replacement.
UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin is signing off as the university’s head this week, making way for an interim leader.
Eric Wilcots, the dean of UW-Madison’s College of Letters and Science, the largest division on campus, is succeeding Mnookin as the university’s temporary leader after her last day on Saturday.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and I met for a sendoff lunch this week as she departs the University of Wisconsin-Madison after nearly four years.
I asked her how it feels to be moving to a job — the presidency of Columbia University in New York City — once held by Dwight Eisenhower, a future U.S. president.
She smiled and said the story told at Columbia is that Eisenhower, who joined the university in 1948 as a World War II hero, left to run for president in 1952 because, well, the politics required to run the entire nation would be simpler than Columbia’s.
UW Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin is leaving the university to serve as the 21st president of Columbia University.
She received a farewell party at the Memorial Union Terrace for her last week, including music by the University of Wisconsin Marching Band. She later posted a farewell letter saying serving has been one of the greatest privileges of her life.
Her last day on campus is May 15.
UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin is saying goodbye.
She posted a farewell letter Wednesday, calling her time as chancellor one of the greatest privileges of her life.
Mnookin is leaving to become president of Columbia University in New York City.
After nearly four years at the helm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said she feels a bit like the thousands of students wearing caps and gowns who just graduated at Camp Randall Stadium.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin reflected on her accomplishments leading the state’s flagship campus Monday while acknowledging what she calls a period of “significant challenge” during her four-year tenure.
Mnookin’s last day on campus is Friday.
After four years leading UW-Madison, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s exit this week is like a graduation of sorts.
“Like many of our seniors, I feel like I am graduating after four years, and so I, too, know the enormous life-changing impact that a place like this can have,” Mnookin said during an interview Monday in Bascom Hall.
The Universities of Wisconsin has launched a national search to identify UW-Madison’s next chancellor.
Acting UW system head Chris Patton and UW Board of Regents President Amy Bogost appointed a group of 23 faculty, staff, students and people from the Madison area to identify UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s successor.
UW-Madison is gearing up to bid farewell to its chancellor, Jennifer Mnookin, who is leaving next month to take the helm at Columbia University.
The university is hosting a send-off for Mnookin on May 14 at the Memorial Union Terrace from 2 to 4 p.m. for the campus community, UW-Madison announced Wednesday.
It was Marcus Sedberry’s first public meeting as interim athletic director of the University of Wisconsin.
But Wednesday’s Athletic Board meeting was a farewell, too: UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin delivered her final address to the group that’s tasked with oversight of the athletic department.
Kristin Eschenfelder, a professor and associate dean, will serve as the interim dean of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s largest academic unit, the College of Letters & Science.
The appointment is effective on May 17, concurrent with the beginning of Dean Eric M. Wilcots’s term as interim chancellor.
Eschenfelder, who has been on campus since she joined the Information School faculty in 2000, has served as the L&S academic associate dean and associate director for the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences since it launched in 2019.
A new five-year strategic framework for UW–Madison helps identify and advance clear shared priorities and define the university’s mission for the years ahead.
The following message was sent by Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin, Provost John Zumbrunnen and Interim Chancellor-designate Eric M. Wilcots to all students and employees on April 7, 2026.
UW-Madison is closing its astronomy outreach center, UW Space Place, this spring after nearly 36 years, citing budget cuts.
Over the last three decades, the astronomy department has run Space Place as a hub for guest lectures on space and astronomy research, as well as for programming for Madison-area schools and families that teaches about UW-Madison and Wisconsin’s impact in the field.
“Space Place was the primary way of satisfying that sort of demand for the community for decades,” said Jim Lattis, UW Space Place’s longtime former director, who retired last May after more than 30 years and who has continued to volunteer there post-retirement. “So that’s going to go away. The astronomy department is going to do their best, but there’s no longer anybody who is specifically dedicated to doing astronomy outreach in those forms.”
John Zumbrunnen doesn’t pretend to have all the answers as the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s new provost. He doesn’t actually think he should.
A provost’s job, he said, is to “make sure that campus is asking the right, big strategic questions” and bring together teams in “search for the answers.”
That’s the pitch Zumbrunnen recently made as he sought to become UW-Madison’s next chief academic officer and the second-highest ranking leader on campus.
The Trump administration disrupted university research last year by canceling grants, delaying new awards and seeking other policy changes that put millions of dollars in jeopardy both in and beyond Wisconsin.
“There continues to be great volatility and uncertainty around federal funding, which is our largest single source of external revenue,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said at a campus meeting last month.
W-Madison has named John Zumbrunnen provost after he’s served in the interim role since June, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced Monday.
Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen has been selected to hold the role of provost permanently, beating out finalists Anna Stenport (the University of Georgia) and Charles Martinez Jr. (the University of Texas-Austin), the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Monday.
John Zumbrunnen has been appointed as the provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin announced. The position is the second to the chancellor UW, managing all academic program and budget planning.
John Zumbrunnen, who has served as interim provost for UW-Madison since June 2025, saw that interim tag removed Monday. He was also named the school’s executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced.
John Zumbrunnen has been named the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced Monday.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is tapping a longtime professor to fill one of its most important positions on campus.
John Zumbrunnen, 55, was named the provost on March 9, two months before UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin departs to become the next president of Columbia University.
Outgoing Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin praised the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s artificial intelligence initiatives in her address to the Board of Regents last month, including one new tool researchers have been using to partner with industry partners and collaborators.
The Open Seat food pantry, located in the UW Student Activity Center, provides food and hygiene products to students experiencing food insecurity. Open to all UW–Madison students without income verification, the pantry aims to remove barriers to basic needs so students can focus on academics instead of worrying about their next meal.
Now, the eight part-time student employees who operate the pantry are calling on Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor to fund a full-time, permanent staff position dedicated solely to pantry operations. Student organizers say the current model — in which students manage every aspect of a large-scale food distribution program — is no longer sustainable.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin called the win “exciting” and highlighted the importance of the partnership in saving lives.
“The Badgers contributed more than 15,400 donations over the course of the competition,” Mnookin said. “That included our students, alumni, community members, anybody who went and donated.”
Eric Wilcots, dean of the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters & Science, has been named interim chancellor of the university, effective May 17.
harles Martinez, a dean at the University of Texas at Austin, says he’s the right person to guide UW-Madison through the upcoming search for the university’s next chancellor.
Eric Wilcots, dean of UW-Madison’s College of Letters and Science, will serve as interim chancellor, the Universities of Wisconsin has announced.
Wilcot replaces Jennifer Mnookin, who is taking over as president of Columbia University in New York City.
Here’s what to know about Wilcots.
University of Wisconsin-Madison leaders and students urged campus communities to strengthen civil dialogue, protect free expression and adopt a systemwide artificial intelligence vision responsibility at a Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
In her final appearance before the Board of Regents on Thursday, outgoing University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin delivered a reflective defense of public higher education, urging leaders to hold fast to core values while navigating an era of “profound uncertainty.”
The Universities of Wisconsin has named a temporary successor for UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin.
College of Letters and Science Dean Eric Wilcots will serve as interim chancellor starting May 17 as Mnookin begins her departure to lead Columbia University, UW system President Jay Rothman announced Wednesday.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison saw a 17 percent decrease in federal research funding since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to outgoing Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin.
In a presentation to the Board of Regents last week, Mnookin shared the clearest quantification yet of cuts to Wisconsin’s flagship university by the Trump administration, which also included a decrease in grants awarded.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has lost at least $27 million in federal research money since President Donald Trump upended the funding landscape in academia.
It’s the first time the state flagship has put a price tag on its losses since the Trump administration began cutting existing projects, delaying grant reviews and reducing the number of new projects getting funding.
The effects of the federal government’s cuts to UW-Madison’s research are coming into full view: $27 million lost in the last year from terminated or suspended grants.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s continued and growing excellence will depend on either more state support or more flexibility, the school’s leader said Thursday.
“Now look, both would be best of all. But we deeply need, at a minimum, one or the other,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin told the Board of Regents, which oversees UW-Madison and Wisconsin’s 12 other state universities, at a campus meeting.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s decision to leave the University of Wisconsin-Madison for Columbia University has drawn mixed reactions from campus, varying from bittersweet goodbyes from campus leaders to celebratory farewells from Badger sports fans, labor leaders and student activists alike
“I well understand the significant uncertainties and heightened scrutiny many universities are now facing,” Mnookin wrote to members of the Columbia University community. “Moments like this demand, in my view, an urgent assertion of the role universities must play in civic life, a clear articulation of both our value and our values, and, simultaneously, a genuine openness to taking seriously the views of those who see the world differently, both inside our campus and in the broader world.”
Meanwhile, UW System President Jay Rothman plans to name an interim chancellor for UW-Madison before Mnookin departs in May.
When Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin took over at the University of Wisconsin-Madison four years ago, she entered an unwinnable situation.
Republican legislators immediately criticized her as an out-of-touch coastal elite, and she was forced to handle many of the issues that would plague her term as chancellor — debates over anti-semitism and how campuses could support free speech while upholding an environment inclusive of all students.
Babcock Dairy’s “Mnookie Dough” ice cream is stocked and ready to be served. At least for now.
The flavor that UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin helped develop, which consists of a vanilla base, with chocolate chip cookie dough pieces, and fudge and caramel swirls, will be available for at least through Mnookin’s tenure, Babcock’s spokesperson Bethany Jones said Tuesday.
Tensions were high at the University of Wisconsin in May 2024. Protesters were nearly two weeks into an encampment meant to pressure the state’s flagship to divest from Israel in response to its bombing campaign in Gaza. Families were already arriving in Madison for commencement.
