Skip to main content

New Madison Chancellor Has Deep Christian Roots

Rebecca M. Blank, the economist stepping down from the post of U.S. Commerce Secretary to become UW-Madison?s next chancellor, is relishing the thought of escaping D.C. for a city as quietly cultured as Wisconsin?s capital. The former dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy has a sturdy bipartisan reputation (Republican Gov. Scott Walker hailed her appointment) and friends in a lot of high-profile universities, but a third dimension of her background has so far gone overlooked: her Christian faith.