Chancellor Wiley’s biography
Chancellor John D. Wiley was a graduate student in physics when he first came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1964. He returned to campus a decade later, embarking on a more than 30-year career as a professor and administrator that has made a lasting impact on both the university and the state in the true spirit of the Wisconsin Idea.
Wiley points to his father as the first key influence in his life. A pharmacist who raised his family in Evansville, Ind., Wiley’s father had a zest for learning. He taught himself five languages, read constantly and continually nurtured his interest in astronomy. “He used to take me to the local museum and planetarium frequently when I was very small,” Wiley says of his father. “He taught me all the constellations we could see from Evansville. He also helped me set up a very elaborate chemistry laboratory in the basement.”
As a child, Wiley took a great interest in explosives and things that spontaneously combust — “the whiz-bang part of it,” he explains. “I also was always curious about how things worked and was taking things apart long before I learned how to put them back together.”
Since assuming the role of the university’s chief executive officer on Jan. 1, 2001, Wiley has led UW-Madison through a period of major growth in diversity, infrastructure, research funding, access, and service-learning and study-abroad opportunities for students.
Wiley spearheaded significant efforts to curb high-risk drinking among university students. In addition, he has worked closely with students to bring reform to the international companies that produce officially licensed apparel products.
He is also a passionate supporter of the arts and strong advocate for a plan to create an East Campus arts corridor, including a pedestrian mall and an expanded Chazen Museum of Art. In less visible ways, Wiley’s enthusiasm for the arts has touched lives across the campus. He and his wife, Georgia, provide funding for instruments, uniforms and other costs for a position in the UW Marching Band, and contribute to the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra. Wiley also secured private funding to refurbish the university’s rare double keyboard Steinway piano and personally welded metal wine racks for art auctions benefiting Tandem Press, a self-supporting printmaking studio affiliated with the Department of Art.
Prior to serving as chancellor, Wiley was UW–Madison’s provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs from 1994–2000. In his role as the university’s chief operating officer and deputy chancellor, he worked closely with deans, faculty, academic staff and student committees in the exercise of shared governance and overall management of the institution.
Before becoming provost, he was dean of the Graduate School and the university’s senior research officer, and from 1986–89, he served as associate dean for research in the College of Engineering.
Wiley joined the UW–Madison faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in August 1975, beginning a productive career in teaching and research, which focused on topics related to semiconductors and other materials and processes important to the electronics field. He is a co-founder of several highly successful research centers, including the Center for X-ray Lithography and the Engineering Research Center for Plasma-Aided Manufacturing.
From 1982-86, he chaired the Materials Science Program, a graduate-level, interdepartmental-committee program for master’s and doctoral degrees. In 1986, he developed a metal barrier for computer chips in response to the increased use of copper in manufacturing electronics. The patented technology keeps copper from getting into the silicon that stores data, preventing overheating or malfunctioning.
Wiley received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Indiana University in 1964. He attended graduate school at UW–Madison as a National Science Foundation Fellow, receiving master’s and doctoral degrees in physics in 1965 and 1968, respectively. He joined the technical staff of Bell Telephone Laboratories at Murray Hill, N.J., from 1968–1974, and then spent a year at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, as a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Senior U.S. Service Award for Research and Training.
He represents the university before groups including alumni, chambers of commerce and service clubs, the state Legislature and governmental bodies, UW System Administration and the UW System Board of Regents.
A prominent figure in higher education, in 2006 Wiley chaired the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors. He chairs the board for the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and is a member of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Committee.
He also serves on several local and community boards, including those for the William T. Evjue Foundation, the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, American Family Mutual Insurance Company, UW Hospital and Clinics Authority, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, University Research Park, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Venture Investors and BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute. Georgia Wiley serves on the board for the Friends of the Library.
Wiley also has been deeply involved in fundraising efforts, including the University of Wisconsin Foundation’s successful “Create the Future: The Wisconsin Campaign.”