Robert Barker/University Photography

Provost Biddy Martin puts the finishing touches on Cornell's financial aid plan in January.

Cornell Provost Carolyn A. "Biddy" Martin has been recommended as the next chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, her graduate alma mater, it was announced today, May 28. The UW System's Board of Regents will vote on Martin's appointment in early June.

Martin has been at Cornell since 1983 and has served the past eight years as provost, the university's chief academic officer. She would replace outgoing Chancellor John Wiley, who plans to step down in September.

"I'm delighted and honored to have been recommended for the chancellorship at UW-Madison, a world-class public university," Martin said during a telephone press conference. "The Cornell provost's position is one with broad and deep responsibilities and forms of authority that will stand me in good stead at a university with equal depth and breadth."

In a statement, Cornell President David Skorton said the news is "a source of great pride for the entire Cornell community and a great day for Wisconsin."

He said: "Biddy Martin will bring to her new responsibilities a deep academic sensibility and wealth of experience dealing with the many issues and constituencies that play such a critical role in the life of university. We will greatly miss her intellect, leadership and friendship. On a personal note, I am delighted for Biddy, and I look forward to continuing our partnership at the national level."

Observed G. Peter Lepage, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences: "Biddy's years as provost have been characterized, above all, by her principled actions. She makes decisions that are formulated in the context of our fundamental institutional values. I also have repeatedly admired her willingness to take on difficult situations. She has courage, guided by integrity."

Madison is familiar ground for Martin, who earned her Ph.D. in German literature at UW-Madison in 1985, the year she joined the Cornell faculty full time as an assistant professor of German studies and women's studies.

Martin said that increasing financial aid will be one of her priorities as chancellor, along with research funding support, competitive faculty salaries and strengthening collaborative research and education. (In January, Martin announced a sweeping new financial aid initiative at Cornell, starting next year, to eliminate need-based loans for all undergraduate students from families with incomes under $75,000, making it possible for new students to graduate debt-free.)

"Rather than challenges, I prefer to think about the opportunities offered by a research institution in a global knowledge economy. One of the greatest challenges to take on is transferring the incredible discoveries in research into opportunities for our students," she said. "It has been a great pleasure [at Cornell] to work with all of the deans at all the colleges to build collegiality and lower the barriers between disciplines. And Madison, like Cornell, has a long tradition of interdisciplinarity and a lot of initiatives to enhance that interdisciplinarity."

As provost, and over her professorial career, Martin has made significant contributions to academics at Cornell, in both the sciences and humanities.

"She's been central to women's studies and to its transformation as feminist, gender and sexuality studies, centering sexuality studies into the frame of what a large, responsive, cutting-edge kind of program should be," said Shelley Feldman, a friend and colleague throughout Martin's Cornell career. Feldman is a professor of development sociology and academic director of the Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Cornell.

"She's also been instrumental in the humanities more broadly, including the social sciences," Feldman said. "She's always been a forward thinker as provost. I really do admire her ability to go from reorganizing biological sciences to reorganizing the social sciences -- which, for a humanist, is an extraordinary feat.

"I'm both delighted for her personally and really sad, I think. Her shoes are going to be hard to fill."

Martin was one of four finalists for the position of UW-Madison chancellor. She visited the Madison campus earlier this month as part of a series of public forums with the candidates.

Martin told the Madison community at her May 13 forum that she would bring "a fresh pair of eyes" to the job.

"It's always an advantage to know a place and love a place and then also to have experiences elsewhere and to know from first-hand experience how things can be done differently," Martin said at the forum, the UW Badger-Herald student newspaper reported.

"Now, more than ever, Wisconsin people need their public university to be an economic engine. UW-Madison has been that engine, and I'm convinced that it will continue to fuel the state's economic growth under Dr. Martin's leadership," said David G. Walsh, chair of the regents' special committee. "It's gratifying to welcome back a UW alumna and give her the opportunity to apply her considerable expertise to our great university."

Martin also said the move from Ithaca to Madison was not out of a desire to leave but to take an opportunity.

"There was no reason for me to leave Cornell," she said. "I love it here and it has been a wonderful 24 years at a great institution. I wanted to seize this really rare opportunity to assume leadership at a great university which is my alma mater, and is where I spent some of the best years of my life."

UW-Madison is the oldest and largest campus in the UW System, ranking second in the nation in annual research expenditures. With a total enrollment of 40,466 students, UW-Madison employs 16,225 people, including 2,053 faculty members. Its annual operating budget is approximately $2.2 billion.

Skorton said that he would soon begin the process to identify suitable candidates for consideration to succeed Martin as provost. He said he will confer with the faculty and others across campus and share the process with the community.