By Stacy Nguyen
Northwest Asian Weekly
Phyllis Wise
University of Washington (UW) Provost Phyllis Wise, 66, has been named chancellor of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and vice president of the University of Illinois system. Wise, a Chinese American, recently served as interim president of the UW, until Michael Young took over in April. Wise will start at UI on Oct. 1, pending approval by UI’s board of trustees at its September meeting.
This will be the first time the campus will have a permanent chancellor in almost two years, according to The News-Gazette in Illinois. The two other UI campuses also have female chancellors.<!–more–>
“Dr. Wise has the ‘full package,’ ” UI-UC President Michael Hogan said in a press release. “She is a proven scholar, with a deep commitment to public higher education, and has an exceptional reputation as a leader at some of the nation’s top universities. I couldn’t be more pleased to have her joining our distinguished leadership team.”
“I am thrilled to join the University of Illinois community in the role of vice president and chancellor,” Wise said in the press release. “The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the most respected institutions of higher education in the world. I look forward to working with the faculty, staff, and students, and the university’s many external stakeholders and partners, to build on its strengths and create new opportunities for the university to have an even greater impact.”
Pending board approval, Wise will also hold a tenured faculty position at UI-UC in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and an appointment in the College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology.
Wise will earn $500,000 annually with an additional $100,000 per year deferred and paid if she remains in her position for five years, according to The News-Gazette. Wise made about $535,000 at the UW, with deferred compensation.
Established in 1867, UI-UC is one of three UI campuses and serves about 44,000 students through 17 colleges and institutes. It has an annual operating budget of about $1.8 billion.
Wise has served as UW Provost since 2005. She was interim president for the 2010–2011 academic year. Previously, she was dean of the College of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis from 2002 to 2005.
Wise earned her bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and a doctorate from the University of Michigan. ♦
Stacy Nguyen can be reached at stacy@nwasianweekly.com.
Great News and Hope to Illinois!
As a faculty at the University of Illinois, We are proud to have Phyllis Wise as the newly selected Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. University of Illinois needs a great leader to restore confidence of faculty, staff and student after shameful Category-I scandal caused by previous Chancellor Herman. We are looking forward to support her in every possible way!