Chancellor Rebecca Blank will leave the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the end of the academic year to become the first female president of Northwestern University, she announced in a tweet Monday morning.
Blank has been with UW-Madison since 2013. Prior to her tenure at UW-Madison, Blank worked in three different presidential administrations, was dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and was a member of Northwestern University’s faculty as the director of the Joint Center for Poverty Research.
“It was always my goal to leave this university stronger than when I came and I believe that together we have achieved that,” said Blank.
According to a university news release, Blank’s tenure brought several achievements including an increase in four and six-year graduation rates, an all-time high share of historically underrepresented students in this year’s freshman class and an over 15% increase in federal research funding from last year.
“Leading UW–Madison and serving the people of Wisconsin has been an honor and a privilege,” Blank stated. “Now it’s time to let someone else step into leadership. I have many connections with Northwestern and am excited about this new opportunity.”
Blank will begin her term at Northwestern in summer 2022.
