hould the next UW-Madison chancellor be an internal or external hire?
That’s a question that’s seemingly been a topic of discussion in every UW-Madison chancellor search dating back to at least the 1970s.
A 1987 Wisconsin State Journal article about the selection of UW-Madison chancellor Donna Shalala quotes an unnamed UW Board of Regents member who questioned why fewer Wisconsin-grown candidates were being chosen.
In 1987, during the search for a successor to then-UW-Madison chancellor Irving Shain, a disgruntled member of the UW Board of Regents — which picks the chancellor — publicly complained about the applicant pool.