Committee hopes to pick new UW-Madison chancellor by May

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The leader of a committee searching for a new chancellor for the University of Wisconsin-Madison says she wants to pick someone by May.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported the committee’s chairperson, Karen Walsh, laid out the group’s timeline on Tuesday. The plan calls for an application deadline in mid-March, semifinalist interviews in mid-April, finalist campus visits in early May and a hiring recommendation to the full Board of Regents by the middle of the month.

Walsh said she wants the plan is to avoid hiring an interim chancellor after Rebecca Blank leaves this summer to take over as president at Northwestern University.

Whoever wins the job will make between $600,126 and $900,190 after the regents approved a new salary range for the position on Monday. The old range was $489,334 to $734,000. Blank's base salary is $606,154.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, called the range increase “incredibly tone-deaf.”

A consultant with AGB Search, a firm assisting the UW System in the Madison chancellor search, praised the increase, saying it keeps pace with other Big 10 schools. Many search firms earn a percentage of the final candidate's starting salary, but AGB Search's deal with the UW System is unclear. The State Journal requested a copy of the contract two weeks ago but the system hasn't turned anything over yet.