Getting to work in service to an extraordinary university

In a first-day message to UW-Madison faculty and staff, interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots looks to move the university forward, together.

The following message was sent by interim Chancellor Eric M. Wilcots to all faculty and staff on May 18, 2026.

Translation links will be posted soon.

Dear campus colleagues,

Today, I have the honor of becoming your interim chancellor. In my nearly 31 years here at UW-Madison, I have come to know just how extraordinary this university is, and I want to begin my service as interim chancellor by simply thanking you for all that you do to build a culture of excellence here.

This excellence is reflected in the remarkable accomplishments of our students, more than 9,000 of whom graduated a little over a week ago. It is reflected in our long list of institutional accomplishments and accolades, from climbing to 5th in research expenditures to being recently named one of the top ten public universities in the country. And it is reflected in the lives changed and the industries and communities who benefit from and shape our work. There is no doubt that teaching, research and service are central to UW-Madison's mission.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank former Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin for her leadership and for the strong foundation upon which we can continue to move forward. And I want to thank my friend and colleague Kristin Eschenfelder for her willingness to serve as interim Dean of the College of Letters & Science.

While I have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know many you and learning about what you do, I fully recognize that there is still much to learn about this incredible university, not just about what happens here all across campus but, importantly, about the impact we have across the state. I look forward to the opportunity to deepen my appreciation and understanding.

I also recognize that we are in the midst of an incredible amount of change and a degree of uncertainty. Some of this is driven by external factors that we will continue to monitor and address as we're able, and some is related to the campuswide initiatives that we have launched in the last few years. As your interim chancellor, my goal is to help us stay focused on and sharpen our work in these areas.

Two specific initiatives I would like to mention are RISE and the Wisconsin Exchange. We are at a transition point with RISE - we are shifting from the first phase of faculty hiring and will focus the next phase on building pathways to new research collaborations and new learning opportunities for our students. And I see in the Wisconsin Exchange a recognition that our "sifting and winnowing" occurs best when we acknowledge and embrace the coexistence of multiple perspectives. We have opportunities to strengthen this work, particularly as we look at the ways in which both initiatives can help us bring our new strategic framework to life.

And as we do this, we are also preparing to welcome an outstanding new class selected from a record-breaking 75,000 applicants, recruit our next Athletics Director, launch our new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence (our first new college in 40 years), continue construction of the Philip A. Levy Engineering Center, and put the finishing touches on Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall, our sparkling new home for many of our humanities and qualitative social science departments. It will be a busy and exciting time on campus this summer, and I am looking forward to working closely with our outstanding leadership team, including the provost, the other vice chancellors, deans, along with our shared governance groups and many of you.

I am ready to tackle the challenges ahead of us as well. I will be focused on keeping us anchored to our core commitments: providing access to an unrivaled experience for our students, pursuing research that pushes the boundaries of human knowledge, cultivating a culture of excellence across campus, and bringing our scholarship into the world to strengthen communities and change lives, staying true to the Wisconsin Idea.

I hope you all get time in the next few months to relax, recharge and enjoy summer in Wisconsin. I, for one, am looking forward to summer evenings on the Terrace. Thank you for your support, advice (and, in advance, for your occasional critique), and your commitment to preserving, protecting, and moving this exceptional university forward, together.

On, Wisconsin!

Eric M. Wilcots
interim chancellor