June 23, 2005
New provost named: Wise wasn’t looking but UW found her anyway
Phyllis Wise’s voice over the phone sounded genuinely enthused as she talked about her new job at the UW. In fact, she could barely contain herself as she called the appointment “so exciting and so wonderful.”
Wise was named UW provost earlier this month by President Mark Emmert. She takes over the position that was vacated by Lee Huntsman when he became interim president in November of 2002. David Thorud has been acting provost since then.
Wise is currently the dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis. She is also a distinguished professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior in the Division of Biological Sciences, and professor of physiology and membrane biology in the School of Medicine at Davis.
“Phyllis Wise is a spectacular addition to the University of Washington,” said Emmert. “She brings all the requisite skills and values needed to be the provost of one of America’s top research universities: an eminent scientist, a brilliant educator, a talented leader. I am delighted she will be joining our administrative team. She will find a remarkably innovative and collaborative institution ready to take on the next generation of intellectual challenges. She will provide exceptional leadership for the University, enabling our students, faculty and staff to accomplish even greater things in the future.”
It was exactly the opportunity for “enabling” that first attracted Wise, a longtime professor, to administration. She was on the faculty of the University of Maryland at Baltimore for 17 years before becoming the chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1993.
“I felt that I could have a wider scope of activities as chair,” Wise said of the move. “I thought I could enable people to achieve in areas they might not be able to do on their own. And indeed, we were able to make some hires while I was there that made a real difference.”
Similarly, her move to UC Davis in 2002 was motivated by the desire for an even larger scope as dean. But Wise emphasized that she was not unhappy at Davis and was not looking for a job when she received a nomination letter from the UW’s search firm asking if she would be interested in the provost position.
“It’s not unusual for people in my position to get such letters,” she said. “I almost never respond, but I knew of the eminent reputation of the University of Washington and thought it was an exciting opportunity.”
Wise was one of three finalists who visited the UW campus in May, meeting with a wide variety of faculty and staff groups and answering questions at open forums. At her forum, Wise stressed the importance of the modern university’s relationship to the outside world. She struck a similar note in talking about the University after her appointment.
“The UW has the resources to grow in ways that universities will be growing in the future,” she said, “to reach out and become more relevant.”
Asked to elaborate, Wise said she believes it is important especially for those in public institutions to talk to taxpayers and help them understand that the university is involved not just in educating their children, but also in improving the quality of citizens’ lives and in feeding the economy.
“We’re also a member of a larger community of universities across the country,” Wise added. “We need to tell citizens that we are the engines that lead to better drugs to treat diseases, better ways to work with people, better economic models, and so forth. We do our country a disservice if we only talk among ourselves.”
At her forum Wise also responded to a question on Harvard President Lawrence Summers’ remarks about women scientists. It’s a topic dear to Wise’s heart, and one she gave a speech about at Davis shortly after her visit to the UW.
Wise told her audience that at the University of Maryland, “I was the only woman in my department for 15 of the 17 years that I was there. And I don’t think it was a coincidence that we hired the second woman when I was asked to chair the search committee. Then, I took the position of chair of physiology at the University of Kentucky. I was the second woman out of 126 departments of physiology in the U.S. to take the position of chair.”
But Wise had the advantage of great models at home. A Chinese American, she is the daughter of immigrant parents who were both scientists. Her father was a physician whose career was devoted to research and her mother was a nurse educator.
“In my family, it was always expected that we would continue our educations after high school and indeed after college,” she said.
Wise earned her bachelor’s at Swarthmore, and her master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan. By the time she started her first professorial job, she already had two children who are now grown and on their own.
Wise’s research has centered on hormones, especially estrogen. She has received many awards in connection with it, including the Award for Excellence in Science from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in 2002, and the Women in Endocrinology Mentor Award in 2003. She was also selected by the Endocrine Society in 2004 as the recipient of the Roy O. Greep Award for outstanding contributions to research in endocrinology. Wise received the Albert D. and Elizabeth H. Kirwan prize from the University of Kentucky in 2002. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to original research.
Wise was featured in a Parade Magazine cover story on “The Quiet Heroes” engaged in lifesaving research. She has received two MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) awards from the National Institutes of Health, from 1986 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2010. MERIT awards provide NIH grant recipients with funding for innovative research over an extended period of time. This highly selective award is presented to researchers who have demonstrated superior competence and outstanding productivity.
When she comes to the UW, Wise will continue a small portion of her research — one project on how estrogen helps prevent brain injury and degeneration and another on how the brain ages.
But most of her time will be devoted to the demanding job of provost. The provost is the chief academic officer and chief budget officer of the University, to whom the deans of the University’s schools and colleges report. Other major units of the Provost’s Office include: Educational Outreach, Educational Partnerships and Learning Technologies, Diversity/Office of Minority Affairs, UW TechTransfer, International Education, Office of Research, Undergraduate Education, The Graduate School, Planning and Budgeting and UW Libraries.
The provost is responsible for the University’s annual budget of nearly $3 billion, including nearly $1 billion in sponsored research. The UW ranks first nationally among public universities in total federal support for research and training.
Wise said her first job when she arrives on Aug. 1 will be to listen. “I will have to listen very carefully to leaders and stakeholders, faculty, students and staff, to find out what is most important to them,” she said. “Then I’ll begin to map out some priorities and work on initiatives already begun. When I’ve been there long enough, I’ll have ideas of my own to offer.”
Wise also repeated something she said during her forum, that the UW is a place she plans to stay. “I’m looking forward to being there as long as I can contribute,” she said.
