When University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly departs at the end of the year, he’ll be just the latest top administrator in Madison higher education to hop off the carousel. Of the six top jobs in this higher education mecca, four will have turned over in about a year, making way for new blood but also raising concerns the exodus holds ominous signs.
“This is not the golden age for higher education in Wisconsin,” said Joe Heim, longtime political analyst and professor at UW-La Crosse. “Both the tech schools and UW have had tough budgets over the last two or three cycles.”
Others see opportunities for new leaders to bring new ideas and collaboration to funding problems that most acknowledge are likely not getting better soon.
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“It gives us a chance to relook at relationships,” said Noel Radomski, director of the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, a think tank on the UW-Madison campus who’s also a former Madison Area Technical College district board member. “New leaders can do things together differently. They don’t have the same baggage and can start having conversations about how we can better serve our Wisconsin residents as it relates to education and training.”
Besides Reilly, who announced last week he’s leaving his job as president of the University of Wisconsin System in December, other recent resignations or retirements include Dan Clancy, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System; David Ward, interim chancellor at UW-Madison; and Bettsey Barhorst, president of Madison Area Technical College.
Clancy was replaced in January by Morna Foy. Ward turned over the reins to new chancellor Rebecca Blank in July. Barhorst will cede to new president Jack Daniels later this month.
Daniel Carey, president since 2005 of Edgewood College, remains in that job. Ray Cross, chancellor since 2011 of UW Colleges and UW-Extension, remains in place, as well.
Individually, each outgoing administrator left after a relatively long tenure and was near or at retirement age.
“I think it’s a healthy transition for higher education and the city,” said Mark Bugher, a former cabinet secretary for Gov. Tommy Thompson who since 1999 has run the University Research Park in Madison, a job he’ll retire from in October. “Stepping aside at the right time is really a good thing for the community.”
Bugher said faculty at UW-Madison will notice the change in leadership more than academic staffers and other employees, taking stock of signals the new leader sends about priorities.
“There are beloved leaders, such as David Ward, who they’re really sorry to see go,” he said. “But they’re comfortable with the selection of chancellor Blank and feel she can take the university to a different level.”
Bugher noted that at UW-Madison other top leaders, including academic deans of multiple departments, are new, as well, with still more new faces coming in the next year to replace outgoing provost Paul DeLuca and federal relations director Rhonda Norsetter.
Replacing Reilly could be tricky
After being comfortably above the national average in public support for higher education per capita through the 1990s, Wisconsin has since 2004 lagged the national average, an era spanning the administrations of Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, and current Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican.
In 2011, Wisconsin doled out $232 in funding per resident, according to the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Nationally, it was $242. Twenty years ago, the state gave $19 more per resident than the national average.
Reilly, who presided over the System during the last nine years, has been credited for boosting enrollment and maintaining quality and access despite having state funding declining as a percent of the overall revenue. It’s a challenge faced by administrators in many states and may be a factor — coupled with comparatively low pay for top administrators — working against the System in hiring Reilly’s successor.
“It’s a lot easier to grow than shrink,” Heim said. “Cutting is very unpleasant.”
Reilly said last week he’s confident the System will be attractive to top candidates nationally, noting that in his travels he gained instant respect from colleagues and the general public when he mentioned he was with the University of Wisconsin.
“The reaction I get uniformly is, ‘What a great institution you have,’” he said. “‘How did this small state in the Upper Midwest build a system of that quality?’”
Challenge at Capitol
The respect and admiration for the state’s university system globally can be harder to find in his own neighborhood at the state Capitol, especially among some Republican lawmakers.
“It’s ironic in some ways,” Bugher said. “I use the analogy of living on the shores of a beautiful lake. You don’t appreciate it until you move away. I think it’s taken for granted the value the university brings to the state and the community.”
Bugher said it’s become extra important for administrators, including Reilly’s successor, to remind lawmakers and the public repeatedly about the many ways universities benefit the state and the need for funding.
“We can’t ever be complacent,” he said.
Reilly was often criticized for not being a more vocal public advocate for the university. Horn-tooting doesn’t come naturally to scholars and university administrators, Bugher said.
“It’s not how they’re trained,” he said.
