John Wiley
From Badger Herald Wiki
 |
This article may need to be updated. |
 |
This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. |
(Written July 21, 2008)
John D. Wiley (b. March 23, 1942 in Evansville, Indiana) is the outgoing chancellor of The University of Wisconsin-Madison. Wiley has also held a role as a member of the Physics department faculty, and was Provost under previous Chancellor David Ward until his appointment as chancellor on January 1, 2001.
In December 2007, he announced he will step down from his post effective Sept. 1, 2008. Wiley will then take a post as interim head of the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery, a private-public twin laboratory on the campus's south side for the purpose of interdisciplinary research.
Contents |
Early Career
Wiley came to the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1964 and eventually earned both his Masters and Doctorate from the university. In 1975, he joined the UW-Madison faculty in the engineering department. During his time in the engineering department, much of his research focused on creating computer chips with smaller and more integrated circuitry through X-ray lithography. In 1989, then-Chancellor Donna Shalala named Wiley, then associate dean for engineering research, Dean of the Graduate School. During his time as dean, Wiley dealt with criticism of UW's animal testing as well as drops in research funding.
In 1994, Wiley was named interim Provost of UW-Madison after former Provost David Ward was appointed Chancellor. In 1995, he was made the official provost. In 1997, Wiley was one of four finalists to become president of The University of Texas-Austin. He lost his bid to Larry Faulkner.
In 2000, Ward stepped down from his position as chancellor and Wiley was appointed as his replacement.
Years as Chancellor
2001
Wiley assumed the role of chancellor on January 1, 2001. In addition to several appointments in the first few months (such as Wiley's replacement as Provost), Wiley's first duties included addressing the so-called "Shoe Box Scandal," where 157 UW Athletes across 14 different sports were found to be recieving 12 to 50 percent discounts on athletic apparel. In April 2001, Wiley announced to the NCAA that the school impose significant penalties on athletic administrators and athletes for the violations. David McDonald, Wiley's assistant to atheltics banned all UW staff, administrators or athletes from shopping at the store. Wiley also imposed penalities including fines and suspension for any atheletes found to have obtained unauthorized discounts or benefits.
Wiley was criticized following the September 11 attacks by students and the Herald Editorial Board for not canceling classes. In an e-mail to students at UW-Madison, Wiley said that the lack of immediate danger to the campus meant retaining the usual schedule. It was also noted that while the UW System remained open, professors were allowed to cancel class as they saw fit and students were allowed to make similar decisions. Wiley then decided to cancel that weekend's UW Football game until, which was followed by the Big Ten's decision to cancel all contests that weekend. Wiley held listening sessions following the attacks to gauge the climate of campus in the weeks that followed.
In late October, Wiley drew criticism from minority groups on campus after he was quoted as saying that the budget's for the MultiCultural Student Coalition and the Diversity Education Program were redundant and that he didn't see the utility in raising segregated fees for their budget. At the time, MCSC-DEP had a proposed budget of $1.4 million dollars. UW student and MCSC chair Tshaka Barrows wrote an opinion piece in the herald that portrayed Wiley as a "betrayal." Wiley later moved to approve the budget, a move which received criticism The Badger Herald Editorial Board.
2002
The beginning of 2002 began with then-Gov. Scott McCallum's plan to close the budget deficit, which included $51 million in cuts to the UW System. Wiley came out against the plan, as it cut the amount the Madison Initiative would receive, as well as force UW-Madison to cut it's budget significantly. However, Wiley did admit the Madison Initiative would have to be postponed, while stating that administrative, library and out-of-state tuition as off the table. During this time, Wiley also rejected the idea of UW-Madison seceding from the UW System and becoming a charter school. The budget cuts lead Wiley to postpone renovations to Camp Randall until further notice. The budget situation not only lead to project cuts, but found Wiley becoming the first UW chancellor to mandate budget cuts to UW's allocable segregated fee budget, asking ASM to cut $140,000 from the allocable fund.
Wiley also involved himself directly with the issue of downtown drinking. In one of the more controversial moves at the time, UW-Madison pushed local bars to ban drink specials. Although, in an interview with The Badger Herald, agreed that a plan that would allow 18 year olds into music venues while allowing 21 year olds to drink was the right idea.
