In the contest to be named the next chancellor at UW-Madison, Rebecca Blank is an outsider in more ways than one.
Of the four finalists to replace John Wiley as leader of Wisconsin’s flagship university, Blank is the only one who has never spent at least a couple years in Madison — although she was a visiting fellow at the UW in the fall of 1985.
Blank is also the only candidate who has significant experience working outside the academic world. Although her most recent job was as dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan from 1999 to 2007, prior to that she was on the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Clinton from 1997-99. The renowned economist, with expertise in social welfare and poverty, currently is on leave from Michigan as a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, D.C.