News releases

3/18/13

TO: MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES
FROM: Greg Bump, University Communications and Marketing, 608-890-2166, gbump@wisc.edu
RE: BLANK MEDIA CONTACTS

Rebecca M. Blank, acting secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, has been recommended as the next chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly announced today, Monday, March 18. The full Board of Regents is scheduled to vote on the recommendation April 5. If confirmed, Blank would succeed Interim Chancellor David Ward.

Blank is currently in Brazil to co-chair the 8th meeting of the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum with Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman and senior officials from the Brazilian government.

During the trip, she will also deliver remarks to the just-launched Columbia University Global Center in Rio de Janeiro, one of a network of centers designed to enhance collaboration among scholars and students around the world.

She is unavailable to media until her return to the U.S., at which time a media conference call will be scheduled.

Today, President Reilly and Regents special committee chairman Chuck Pruitt are available through David Giroux, 608-262-4464. In addition, UW-Madison Search and Screen Committee Chair David McDonald is available through University Communications, 608-890-2166.

More information on Blank's tenure at Commerce is posted here: http://www.commerce.gov/news

For more information about Blank, including photos, a video clip, her CV and personal statement and the search process, see http://www.chancellorsearch.wisc.edu.

###