Comments about Biddy Martin

The selection of Biddy Martin to serve as the next UW-Madison chancellor is the right choice for our university’s future.

The campus community and all those involved with this important search were rightly impressed with Dr. Martin’s enthusiasm for UW and the ideas she brings to strengthen and accelerate this great, public, land-grant University of Wisconsin into the 21st century.

She brings a breadth and depth of leadership experience from Cornell University and a deep appreciation for her alma mater. Under her leadership, this campus will thrive as the go-to place for solutions and opportunities in education, research and outreach in fulfillment of the Wisconsin Idea.

As an alumna herself, Dr. Martin understands the special affinity for this university that comes with being a Badger. I know that as the next chancellor of our alma mater, she will inspire great pride in the community of 375,000 UW-Madison alumni around the globe.

We look forward to working with her. She has a very strong background both academically and from the perspective of university leadership.

She understands the nuance and delicate balance you have to walk as both an academic person and a plain old administrator to get the job done from day to day. … She’s done something clearly right in that job and has led (Cornell), which has a great reputation. Obviously, she’s battle-tested and ready.

All the evidence from Cornell University indicates that Dr. Martin has been a very wise and visionary leader of that institution. She brings a breadth of understanding that ranges from the natural sciences to the arts and humanities, and is someone I hope will lead this institution into the next decade and what we need to accomplish in the 21st century.

One of the great challenges of an institution that is as large and complicated as UW-Madison is helping everybody associated with the institution — faculty, staff, students, alumni and all stakeholders — all feel like they are part of a common project. We want everyone to know what’s special about UW-Madison, what its unique contributions can be and why we should all be excited to be associated with it.

I would love, five years from now, for people to feel excited and optimistic about the future of UW-Madison, and I believe Biddy Martin is someone who can help accomplish that goal.

Tashia and I are very excited about it. Dr. Martin comes with a wealth of experience as provost at Cornell. ... She has enthusiasm, energy. She’s a very personable kind of person. We have some good friends, one of whom was a trustee at Cornell, and they spoke most highly of her. She has a good sense of humor, which is always helpful, particularly in the job she’s taking on.

I think that fresh eyes from the outside in an institution are periodically of real value.

Tashia and I will be most supportive of her and her efforts, because I think we’ve got a great university and I think she’s the kind of person that can keep it great.

In her years at Cornell, Dr. Martin has established a reputation for strong, effective and strategic leadership. As the provost of New York’s land-grant research university, she has wide-ranging experience with all of the roles UW-Madison must play in the life of this state, the nation and the world. She is someone who appreciates fully the importance of education to the future of American society, and conveys that message to others with a high degree of passion and credibility.

I sent my congratulations to Biddy this morning and she replied very graciously. I look forward to working with her as I continue in my position as Dean. My plans are to remain in Madison and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the foreseeable future.

I am delighted that Biddy Martin has been selected as our new chancellor. Biddy has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with UW-Madison since her graduate school days here, and she brings outstanding leadership experience from her years as provost at Cornell. I’m speaking for our entire search and screen committee when I welcome Biddy to the university.

(Biddy Martin) was definitely energetic and passionate about the job, about students and about the university experience. Her level of intellect and her ability to analyze and understand all aspects of the university was amazing. Even if we didn’t necessarily agree with her, she could convince us of the importance of her view to the future of the university in the long term.

She emphasized that retaining professors and improving campus climate as a whole would be important not just to professors and staff, but it trickles down to the students as well. It makes our experience here better.

(Students) want someone who can energize us and who is transparent in their leadership style, and (Martin) definitely has both those qualities. She appears to be very inclusive in her decision-making. I think she can really connect to every facet of the university community, especially students.

Dr. Martin is a veteran administrator who brings extraordinary experience to the chancellor’s position. I believe she will exercise great respect for our legacies, while pushing hard for continuous improvement. She will energize our constituents as well as the university community.

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. It’s gratifying to welcome back a UW alumna and give her the opportunity to apply her considerable expertise to our great university.

I was extremely impressed with the slate of finalists. I met Dr. Martin during her campus visit and found her to be very aware of the issues facing higher education, and enthusiastic about helping us maintain our position among great public land grant institutions. Her breadth of experience at Cornell is very impressive and should translate well to leading UW-Madison. And she is a Wisconsin alumna, after all. I’m looking forward to getting to know her better and working with her through the transition.