John Duncan Wiley (born March 23, 1942 in Evansville, Indiana) is a faculty member and former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Wiley was named the 28th Chancellor of the University on November 10, 2000, and assumed office on January 1, 2001. He stepped down as chancellor and returned to the faculty on September 1, 2008. Since November 1, 2008, he has served as interim director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.

Wiley has had a long career with UW–Madison, with nearly 40 years of involvement as either a student, faculty member, or administrator. From 1994 to 2000, he served as Wisconsin's Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Prior to that, he was the University's Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School and the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering.

A research physicist by training, Wiley's academic work has focused on research in semiconductors and solid state physics. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Indiana University in 1964, and master’s and doctoral degrees in physics in 1965 and 1968 from UW–Madison on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. He returned to UW–Madison as a faculty member in the College of Engineering in 1975, after having worked with Bell Telephone Laboratories and at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany as an awardee of the Alexander von Humboldt Senior U.S. Service Award for Research and Training.

His tenure as Chancellor was distinguished by record-breaking fund-raising efforts and a strong emphasis on strategic planning. Wiley attracted alumni and institutional investment into such areas as the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery, the Chazen Museum of Art, and the Executive MBA Program at the School of Business. A number of new construction projects were begun on campus during his tenure, including two new dormatories, a new Microbial Sciences Building, and major expansions to the Business and Medical Schools. He also commissioned an expansive Campus Master Plan that would guide physical development of the campus for the next decade. Central to this plan is the creation of an East Campus Arts Corridor, which will require the renovation or demolition of several existing campus buildings.

[edit] Controversy

Throughout his chancellorship, Wiley clashed with state Republican legislative leadership, many of whom were seen as openly hostile to UW–Madison. In August 2008, as he was leaving the office of chancellor, he singled out for opprobrium the hugely influential state lobbying group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), describing the group as being “hijacked by highly partisan ideologically driven staff” and stated that “WMC routinely opposes most measures favored by labor unions, and most measures aimed at improving the lot of entry-level and low-income workers who are essential to our economy. But this opposition is not a business or an economic position; it is a political position based on an era and an economy that no longer exist.”

Additionally, he was hurt by reports in 2005 that he placed then Vice Chancellor Paul Barrows into a back-up position as special assistant to the Provost and then instructed Barrows to take several months of sick leave and look for a position at another institution, rather than report to work. This was in conjunction with an ongoing investigation of Barrows over charges of sexual harassment. Though Barrows was later cleared of these charges, both Wiley and then-Provost Peter Spear stand by their initial decision to place Barrows in a back-up position. This has led to subsequent legislation eliminating the use of such back-up positions in the University of Wisconsin System.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Chancellor John D. Wiley
• Transcript from Chancellor Wiley’s announcement