[Robert Golden] Welcome during this fairly chilly winter.
I appreciate everybody coming here.
Before we get started, I want to acknowledge that our
university and school occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land.
Beyond this routine acknowledgment,
I think we all know that we must do
more and actually take action as we
work to embody our mission and to acknowledge
the lessons learned from
past mistakes as we move forward into the future.
So, we have an interesting agenda.
Dave Andes, who is leading the Dean search
will give an update on
the transition and on the search process.
Then we're going to have a panel discussion where
we've invited a number of folks with collectively,
a pretty complete perspective of the school to
share their thoughts about key opportunities
for the new Dean to think about as they come on board.
And hopefully that will provoke a lot
of discussion and questions beyond that.
During the town hall, we'll 23
entertain questions about anything.
Anything is fair game,
including the panel discussion
and any other topics people want to bring out.
So, without further ado,
I'm going to invite up to the podium Dave Andes.
I think everybody knows he's the Chief of
the Division of Infectious Diseases
and a professor in the medicine department.
But more germane, he has had
the wonderful assignment of
leading the search for the next Dean.
So please welcome Dave. [applause]
[Dave Andes] Thanks, Dean Golden. It's actually
been a privilege and honor
to be able to serve on this committee.
So as most of you know, the search
for the next Dean of
the School of Medicine and Public Health
and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs is being
out of the office of both the Provost and the Chancellor,
given the dual roles of this position.
As most of you are also aware,
we had four finalists visit
campus in November through close to Thanksgiving.
I want to thank all of the community,
the students, the staff,
and the faculty for
the multiple interactions that you had
with the candidates and for
the thoughtful feedback that
you provided on the candidates both to
the search committee and
the Provost and Chancellor as well.
The hiring process for
the next candidate is ongoing
and it's my understanding nearing completion.
As soon as that process is completed,
the stakeholders in the school will be notified by
email shortly before there's a public announcement.
I know everyone, we thank you for your patience.
We all wish we had a name in hand,
but hopefully we'll
have something soon. [applause]
[Robert Golden] Any questions for Dave?
[Dave Andes] Thanks.
[Golden] Okay. Well, now
on to the main event.
We immediately decided
that we should invite
Angela Byars-Winston to serve
as the leader of this panel discussion,
which is going to focus on
key opportunities for the new Dean.
I love that euphemism,
key opportunities for the new Dean. It's great.
I think everybody knows Angela,
but in case somebody is
just visiting from another planet,
she's one of the most effective,
articulate and inspiring leaders in our school.
She's a professor in the
Department of Medicine.
And she's also the leader of
our Diversity Science Institute on campus.
And what you might not know is she's also been a very,
very valuable coach and advisor to me on some
of the really burning issues
that we continue to grapple with.
We also have a dream team of really thoughtful folks that
collectively cover the full continuum of
all the different perspectives and
missions that we have here.
And then we also have you, the audience,
both in person, but also a number of virtual folks.
So I'm going to invite Angela come up
here and she will then
kick off a series of presentations from
the panelists and then let the games begin. Thanks.
[Angela Byars-Winston] Good afternoon to
our colleagues in the room and online.
Thank you to Dean Golden for
the invitation to co-
facilitate or to facilitate this panel.
I say “co” because I think you'll be
a part of the conversation debriefing this.
As the Dean mentioned,
we have the unique opportunity to really capitalize on
the amazing perspectives of our colleagues
here and before we start
to allow them to introduce themselves,
I just want to build on what Dean Golden said.
I learned recently that we have
the very good fortune of having
the second longest serving dean of
a medical school in the country. What a gift.
I do think that deserves a round of applause.
Part of that gift means that we have this rich
almost two decades long worth of legacy of experience,
leadership, lessons learned and wisdom.
So as we are on the precipice of welcoming a new dean,
we have the opportunity to not just
look back but also look forward.
In that spirit, I just want to share a little bit about
a West African proverb or concept called Sankofa,
it's typically represented by a bird
with its head looking back as it flies forward.
It acknowledges that as we move into the future,
we can really build on our past
and what we have learned from someone like Dean Golden.
That image of that bird also has an egg in
its beak that represents
the collective knowledge that
we can draw on as we look forward.
As Dean Golden leaves us with amazing legacies,
lessons learned, knowledge to build
on this panels in the spirit of looking forward.
In that spirit of Sankofa I want to
now ask our colleagues to each to introduce
themselves and then I'll share a little bit more
about how we imagine using this panel.
[Jim Keck] Great. I am Jim Keck.
I'm a professor in
the Department of biomolecular chemistry.
That means I'm a basic scientist,
so I spend most of my time training
graduate students in our PhD programs.
I also had the pleasure of
serving in the Dean's office for
a little over five years as
the associate dean for
basic science and basic research training,
and my portfolio included
a lot of work involving graduate programs,
postdoctoral training, various tasks as assigned,
which became larger and larger as time went on.
I truly enjoyed my time in the Dean's office,
but I'm also enjoying my time as 100% faculty now.
[Janae Goodrich] Hi, everyone. My name is Janae Goodrich,
and I am an evaluation researcher and
principal investigator in
the School of Medicine and Public Health
in the Population Health Institute.
I am entering May will be my 17th year here,
and I focus primarily on evaluating programs
around the Midwest that are in
the areas of substance use and mental health.
Thank you. And I also sit on
the Council for Academic Staff Issues
here at SMPH, happy to be here.
[Mayra Bentancourt Ponce] Hi. Good afternoon. First of all,
I want to thank you for the
opportunity to be in this panel.
I'm Mayra Betancourt Ponce.
I am in the MD PhD program.
I am my seventh year and also
exactly four weeks away from defending my PhD.
So [applause] thank you.
So hopefully some of my experiences as a student can help
inform the new opportunities for the new dean.
[Andrea Schnell] I'm Andrea Schnell. I'm an associate professor
in the division of General Internal Medicine,
and my primary role is actually clinical,
so I spend most of my time
being a primary care physician,
a little bit of work in the hospital, too.
And then with my other part of my time,
I'm an associate program director
for the Internal Medicine residency,
where I focus on diversity
equity, and inclusion, and mentorship.
[Byars-Winston] The dream team. This is an honor.
Again, we want to thank the Dean's
leadership team for making
space in today's meeting
for us to have this conversation.
Our vision is to spend about 20 minutes
or so with a few questions.
We have about six or so questions.
Each of the panelists will take three in
the beginning to talk about what their hopes are for
the new Dean and
we'll mix it up in terms of some of their words of
wisdom about how to be successful here in Wisconsin.
I'll start off by with the first question and I'll
just go from my left to
the right and then we'll mix it up from there.
Jim, this is for everyone as well,
what is one issue that 210
you hope the new Dean spends time on
in their first six months.
[Keck] So, when I first read this question,
the first thing I remembered was on
a chair search where the Dean was
introducing what it means to be a chair of a department.
He said, “Departments are
either fixer uppers or they’re turn key”.
And a fixer upper is one where you need to do
a lot of work right away because there are problems.
And I'm happy to say, from my perspective,
SMPH is a turn key school.
So my suggestion to the new Dean would be
to first spend those six months
getting to know the strong foundation that we have,
recognizing what strengths we have,
while also bringing their outside ideas about
what opportunities might exist for advancement.
That's one of the exciting things, of course,
about change and scary things about change.
Is that with it is going to
come some new ways of thinking about things.
But I'd say, just
starting with getting to know our community,
the things that we've done
well is a great place to begin.
[Goodrich] Thank you, Jim. Yes, thank you.
So, similarly, Jim,
I was thinking about the importance of
relationship building within the staff
that we have here in SMPH
within the larger UW and within
Wisconsin to really understand the issues,
what is working, what could be improved
and then what opportunities
might be available moving forward.
[Bentancourt Ponce] So, I did a small short survey to
some other students that have also
had different experiences here,
and I realized several things.
One is that even though six months
or short term doesn't feel like a lot as students,
it's really it can make or
break the next thing in our career, the next stage.
Second, a lot of the comments that I
got had to do with transparency and commitment.
So, I think that for the short term,
some of the things that I would
ask for the new leadership to address is
our commitment to educational opportunities
relating to topics that might be you know,
politically sensitive or very,
very relevant to our current climate,
and those include things in the spectrum of DEI,
reproductive health, migrant health,
as well as transgender LGBTQ plus care
in addition to making clear the commitment
to inclusion in our medical school community.
[Andrea Schnell] Well, I love those answers, and I'll say,
you know, I started medical school here myself in 2007.
So, I was here as a medical student,
and then I was here as
a resident and now I'm here as faculty.
Actually, I grew up in Wisconsin,
too, so in a somewhat cheesy way,
I very much believe in the mission and
the values of this institution and,
you know, including things
like diversity, equity, inclusion,
including the excellence and compassion,
that are listed as our values.
And so I think those will always be
in important for us and I'll always believe in them,
but we're in a time of change in a time of transition,
somebody who can lead us through that and keep
us on those values as we go through these moments.
[Byars-Winston] I appreciate all those comments
and want to build on that because we just
talked about the commitments that you hope that
the new Dean continues in terms of
the legacy again of
Dean Golden.
That was on the six month spectrum.
Now I want to think about it in two
years and I'll start with Janae.
What is an issue that you hope
the new Dean addresses in their first two years?
[Goodrich] Okay. So, there were a few that came to mind,
but a couple things is with
the changing times that we are in and recognizing
how much of our work is funded with funds that
come from outside of the university.
My position is fully grant funded.
Many of us have some level of funding research funding.
[Goodrich] So really getting a handle on that funding and
diversifying funding sources so that
we can continue the great work that we are doing here.
[Bentancourt Ponce] My turn. The comments
that I said for the short term
should stand in the long term.
But additionally, I started here in
2018 and even in these seven years that I've been here,
there's been a lot of change and a lot
of transition and I've seen the school
respond appropriately to those even with
the COVID response and with everything that we saw um,
um, or we've seen in these years.
So I'm hoping that in the next few years,
the new leadership can continue that and
continue providing training opportunities in things like,
you know, telemedicine, artificial intelligence,
as well as continue growing
the community engagement programs that
students and faculty have
developed in the last few years.
And yeah, as a researcher,
I'm also thinking about, you know,
funding strategies and how to grow research programs
and get students kind of excited to further that.
[Schnell] Well, you know, when I got this question,
it was a little hard because I was like, I don't know
if I have a grand strategic vision.
But like I said, I do believe in the mission,
and I think one thing I always
think is we need to have things be sustainable, right?
So I think that's what Janae was saying about the funding.
And so thinking about all those different parts like
the clinical piece, the scientist piece,
all of that and how we can -
or even the diversity equity and inclusion piece,
how we can have systems that are sustainable and
also able to adapt and change and move forward over time.
I think kind of figuring out those policies
and stuff to make sure that we move
forward in a way that's going to be sustainable.
[Byars-Winston] Okay.
[Keck] So I thought of
this question as sort of an extension of the first one.
You've spent the
first six months
getting to know us all about us,
if I may burst into song.
And then in those first two years,
what you've done, hopefully,
is recognize strategic opportunities
that you can then capitalize upon.
And one of the things that I would
say after 24 years of being
here that is challenging is
we do such a great job in
Wisconsin of building the foundation,
and then sometimes we're
afraid to take risk.
We are a relatively risk averse group of people.
That's probably true of almost all academics.
I'd love to see us take
some strategic risks that are
moving into some areas that are brand new.
I'm not going to name them because I bet
every one of us has
something we're thinking of right now.
But I would love to see some risks being taken.
I think a second issue that's a real challenge
in any academic setting is every university
has its own internal struggle
of centralization versus decentralization.
And we are a model of
decentralization at the University of Wisconsin,
and that's sometimes good and sometimes not good.
So, I think having seen
some opportunities for some centralization
when it would be useful and
to act on that would be quite bold.
[Byars-Winston] A lot of heads nodding as you all
shared about the importance of building
things that can outlast
changing times and thinking about ways that we can
have infrastructure that supports innovation and
creative ways to move even further than we've been.
The next question again to all four of you and
then we'll start to mix it up.
Talk about an issue or two outside of your portfolio,
outside of your purview
that you hope the new Dean focuses on.
Again, like Mayra said,
you might be building on some previous comments.
I will start with Andrea
and then we'll come back this way.
[Schnell] Well, to build off of what Jim
said about being decentralized
or thinking of things outside of
my purview is just again,
maybe finding ways that we
can all connect with each other and learn from
each other and kind of build on the wisdom that we
have because we're all in
different spaces like me as a clinician and,
you know, scientists, staff, students.
And so, I think that's one thing I would hope for too,
is just more opportunities to interact, even, like,
with your diversity institute was
partly to kind of help people make connections.
And I like that. I'm interested in connections.
[Bentancourt Ponce] Yeah, I would agree with that.
So I have kind of two stories that might be relevant.
One is that I moved here from Puerto Rico.
So when I moved here, everything
was new for me and it was very,
very important, the aspect of being able to,
you know, make a new community here.
And I think that's the aspect of inclusion that I really,
really care about and I think should be a focus.
And with that comes student retention
as well as faculty retention.
I know that's been, you know,
a topic that I've heard about and I've heard people
wanting to get more of or perhaps just make better.
Is the aspect of inclusion in
not only the student body but also in
the faculty and staff.
That's something that I care about.
Um, and then the other aspect
of it is in the research space,
I really like when I'm in the admissions process,
I really like talking to students about how
collaborative the research space is in Wisconsin,
and I've experienced that myself.
And I think as Andrew mentioned,
the importance of, you know, again,
making community and bridging
the spaces that we already have and that, you know,
we interact with in the daily basis,
maybe making more, you know,
efforts to kind of bring them together.
[Goodrich] Super appreciate those answers,
and those are also things that came to mind as I
thought about building something that lasts.
[Janae Goodrich] One of the things that I'm hoping
the new Dean kind of leans
into is how we recruit and retain our staff.
So many of our positions come with
degree requirements both to enter into
our positions and then to progress in our positions.
I came in with my
bachelor's and then worked full time and
went to school to get my master so that I
could progress in my career.
So really thinking about how we balance
academic achievements with experience in
the field and how we balance that in our recruitment and
retention so that we really
represent the population that we're aiming to serve.
Also, making sure there's
enough administrative support available to
support the work that we're
doing, talking about centralization,
having staff who specialize and are in the areas of
HR and all the things that it takes to bring
funding in and to keep
staff and to work on staff retention,
really making sure we have the staff available,
and it also speaks toward staff well being to not be
burned out by the administrative tasks
that are required in all that we do.
So that was a couple of ideas.
[Byars-Winston] Can we just speak a little louder.
Our friends online are having
a hard time hearing us, yes.
[Keck] So, I completely agree 476
with the bridges in terms of collaboration.
And so I will go to a very specific point,
and it's just a little bit different
to just to offer something else.
And that is as
a person who studies protein structure and function,
I've seen massive changes in
the last four years from machine learning that
have revolutionized the way we think
about getting to molecular models.
And that is not the only area where
machine learning is really
starting to change our world.
It will be impacting education.
It will be impacting the way
physicians interact with their patients.
A former MD/PhD student of
mine who's now a resident in radiology,
it's impacting him immediately in
terms of how he's doing his job.
I think a keen focus on that would be well suited for us.
[Schnell] Thank you. They're already using it to
write notes in clinics right now.
[Byars-Winston] I'll just ask each of our speakers
maybe hold the mic when
you're speaking just so that we can
have a little bit more volume online.
I'm hearing some themes around
not just our workforce development,
but also the importance of building relationships and
connectivity because there's an interesting article,
the head story for the February issue of
the Atlantic Monthly is chronicling how
the US citizenship is the
Most, historically, is experiencing
the most amount of alone time
in recent generations.
Folk just want some time by themselves.
Some of it is by choice,
Self-imposed away time.
But if we know that that can make us vulnerable to
a lot of the issues that are not
supporting our well being, as you mentioned, Janae,
our connections, why we stay
the retention of our faculty and our staff and building,
as you said, those connections
across the clinical and the sciences.
So certainly, as our incoming dean thinks about ways
to activate these relationships
that we have will be really important.
I also heard the importance of
several times in building our infrastructure,
but also doing it in
a way so that there's inclusive excellence.
I think we're in a moment historically
where we have to really think about,
are we committed to the words,
or are we committed to the work?
When we think about whatever combination
of letters of diversity, equity,
inclusion you're thinking about,
but we all want workplaces
and learning places where we can flourish.
I think there'll be opportunities for us to really
stretch into the unknown into the discomfort,
but we've always had headwinds when we think about
drawing the circle of inclusion big
enough for everybody to flourish.
With that, I want to think about now
a little bit lighter set of conversations,
words of wisdom to our incoming Dean,
about how to make Wisconsin work for you.
So I will start with Janae to ask,
what do you think is the secret to
success in Wisconsin because you grew up here,
and then I'm going to ask Mayra to also respond
to that question and
then we'll go to some other questions.
[Goodrich] I am third generation Madisonian.
I would say finding ways to embrace and
even challenging yourself to enjoy the winters.
They are inevitable, but there are
so many good options for things to do outside,
cozy restaurants to go to, things to do inside
So finding ways to embrace and even enjoy the winters,
I think is a key to lasting in Wisconsin.
[Bentancourt Ponce] I'm laughing because I wrote embrace it.
I have the same answer,
but I put embrace
it without forgetting where you're from.
So a twofold answer.
So yes, embrace the winters.
I feel like when I first got here,
I just wanted to get away from it.
And when I started to accept that this is where I was,
it became fun, honestly. Embrace it.
But also don't forget where you're from.
I think I've been able to bring who I am to this space,
and it's been well received and hopefully
that's the same for the new leadership.
[Byars-Winston] Yeah, so Denial is not a river in Egypt, right?
Like it is Wisconsin,
January is the coldest month.
Everybody else freaked out last week with
negative 25 wind chill and we were moving on.
So I appreciate that. Several of you just brought up places,
things to get out and
do to embrace the winter.
Going outside when winter lasts
five months in this state, it helps to get outside.
At a practical level,
I'd love to hear from Jim and from Andrea,
What's your favorite restaurant in town?
[Keck] So my absolute favorite is Sardine,
and I love eating at the bar.
They have this fabulous zinc covered bar,
and I have always
ended up having a great
conversation with
my wife and whoever the stranger
is on my left while eating a great meal,
my favorite restaurant by far.
[Schnell] Ichiban. It's on South Park Street,
and there's some of it's spicy, some of it's not,
but that'll warm you up, and it's delicious.
It's always a good meal. So I love Ichiban,
and then my other one would be Amber Indian.
[Byars-Winston] Excellent.
I mean, you can't get this in
the recruitment material they give Deans.
These are really hidden treasures.
Speaking of hidden treasures,
what's your favorite hidden treasure in Madison?
Something very, very few people know about.
I'd love to hear from Janae,
I'd love to hear from Jim.
[Goodrich] So there are so many options to choose from.
But I think one of the best hidden treasures
is actually right here on campus,
and that is Allen Centennial Gardens.
We have so many options to
get in nature with the arboretum and
Olbrich and Picnic Point and
all the city and county parks. We have so many options.
But at Allen Centennial Gardens,
it's a gorgeous spot.
They do yoga there in the mornings.
They have concerts there in the summer.
It is a gorgeous spot,
and admission is free. So it's great.
[Keck] So mine wasn't so hidden,
but for anybody who knows
my outside activities, I'm an avid runner.
And it is the complex network
of biking and running trails that
are cleared even in these miserable months
that I love running on so much.
That is a gem you just don't see in
other cities as bountifully as we have it here.
[Byars-Winston] We just had a moment where Jim was like, “Yeah,
so it takes me 5 miles to
run across Lake Monona to get home.”
I realize you were literally saying he runs
across the frozen lake to get home.
Many things to do. I'll just add,
I'll take the moderators privilege here.
The planetarium at the MSCR school,
Memorial High School, which has now been renamed
Vel Phillips. Thank you.
Vel Phillips Memorial High School on the west side.
It's important to look up from time to time.
Literally and figuratively,
there's a lot going on down here on
the ground and something just
looking up at the eternity of the heavens,
however you experience them is pretty powerful.
I don't get any money from this,
but I just want to put in a plug for
MSCR for our incoming Dean.
That's a Madison School Community
Recreation Partnership that offers a lot of
things that are either free 99 or very
affordable and one of them is on Valentine's Day.
So if you haven't looked it up,
you can go to mmsd.org and just look up
the planetarium at what used to be Memorial High School,
and they have a Valentine's evening
for kids and their parents,
and you just get to look up at the sky.
There's something pretty refreshing,
I think, and re energizing about that hidden treasure.
Two more questions, and then we're going to
turn it back over to the Dean.
This is for Jim and Mayra because you're outside.
You were not a native Madisonian.
So if you are from outside the Midwest,
which would be Jim and Mayra,
what was your biggest learning curve
when you moved here?
Jim and then Mayra?
[Keck] So just for history,
I lived in Massachusetts,
so I learned to drive aggressively.
And then I lived in California
and I learned everybody is to be loved.
But when I moved here, the thing
that shocked me the most is
that people will wave at
you on the street who you don't know.
And to lean into that and actually get into it.
So now at Woodmans I can't tell you
how many conversations I
have with people in the coffee aisle.
Should I get Yuban or should I get this other kind?
You sit there for 15 minutes
and you realize, this was great.
So just that attitude is wonderful.
[Byars-Winston] Thank you. Mayra?
[Bentancourt Ponce] Well, for me, obviously,
it was the cold,
the winter, but to give a different answer,
I think it was, like,
the Packers schedule and, like,
what football was and when they played and who were
the opponents and all of
that fun stuff involving football.
[Byars-Winston] Go, Pack, go. This is
the last question and then we're going to
turn this back over to our Dean's leadership team.
What is something special about
Madison that keeps you here and you can't say the people.
I'd love to hear from each of
you start with Andrea and move our way back.
[Schnell] Well, it was hard when you said,
I can’t say the people.
But I will say, Madison is something special.
I think it's the fact
that this is a powerful place, right?
So this is the seat
of the government of the state of Wisconsin.
So decisions that impact
Wisconsinites
lives are made all the
time right up the street.
We’re at an institution that is,
again, a lead research institution,
a lead educational institution in the country.
But it's also cozy, you know,
like you do you do have
those conversations in the grocery store.
And when I go to the Korean grocery store, she knows me.
She asked about my kids.
When I go to Ichiban, they ask where my friends are,
you know. I like that.
I like that here we are in
a place where big decisions
are made and big things are happening,
but it's also cozy and people are warm and I'm known.
[Bentancourt Ponce] Thank you.
That was really nice. I really
like Madison and how lively it is.
I feel like no matter the
time of the year or the weather or anything,
there's always people outside doing fun things,
you see families, you see people
just hanging out in community.
I really appreciate that.
[Goodrich] I was going to say something similar,
and that is the nature options
with all of the lakes in the area.
I really like the fact that it seems
like no matter where you are in the city,
you are no more than
15 minutes away from
farmland and country
and open space.
You get the city feel and you're not far
away from open space, which I appreciate.
[Keck] Yeah, I agree with all of those.
For me, the part that I
brought up was the opportunity for growth.
So in the years that I've been here,
the dimensions I've been able to grow
into as a scientist and as a person,
I have been supported by the university and
by the local community in ways that I just
don't think any other city or
university would have served the way it has me here.
So the appreciation I have for this place is enormous.
[Byars-Winston] On that note, we want to thank you
for just a few moments of listening to
some different perspectives from
the lived experiences of various colleagues here in SMPH,
not just thinking about inspiration and
words of wisdom for the incoming Dean,
but I think many invitations from
this panel to think about ways that we can be better,
do better as a community. 767
Thank you again, and we'll turn it back over
to the Dean and his leadership team.
[applause]
[Robert Golden] Wow, what an amazing bolus of wisdom.
That was just fantastic.
I have a feeling we're supposed to open it up now for
questions from folks online.
But before we do, I was enjoying this.
I was hoping that
maybe you weren't going to stop on time,
but I'd like to extend it a little bit further,
because there's even more rich loads
buried beneath the surface right here in this room.
So I'm just going to call on a couple of folks.
I'm sure I won't emcee it as well as Angela,
sitting over there is Connie Schulze
and not everybody in the room knows Connie.
I'm betting, but you should.
She for many years,
has been our liaison with the state government,
both for the School of Medicine and
public health and also for UW Health.
So, Connie, if you were in the elevator with
a new Dean and the new Dean turned to you and said,
What is the one most impactful political issue at
the other end of State Street that I
should be focused on in my first year.
And this is an elevator and
a short building, not a tall building,
what would you say to the new Dean is
the most important political dynamic?
[Connie Schulze] Wow, it is difficult to
narrow it down to just one, Dean Golden.
But, gosh, I would probably say that we are purple state,
and you really have to recognize
that that we have divided government.
[Connie Schulze] The legislature is controlled by Republicans and
the governor seat is controlled by a
Democrat and they have to find a way to work together,
which means that we have to find a way to work together.
So I would say that that's
probably the single most pressing issue,
but then we could talk about ten different policy issues
if we wanted to spend more time.
But yeah, that's the one
recognizing this is a purple state.
[Golden] Thanks. Well, speaking of passing the baton,
if you could pass the microphone to Shiva,
actually sitting next to you,
Shiva doesn't need any introduction,
but Shiva, same silly question.
I'm good at silly questions. You're in the elevator.
It's your first opportunity,
and you're asked, in terms of our culture,
our climate, our inclusivity,
what is the one thing that ought to
be front and center in your mind during your first year?
[Shiva Bidar-Sielaff] I think the importance of
our values that are held so deeply by
so many at SMPH and how as a dean,
the person is going to continue to really
hold those values very dear and close to
their heart and making
sure that we actually bring everybody together
and we create an environment in which there are
good conversation and there are an ability to understand
why that's so important to every single person.
[Golden] Yeah.
Thanks. So does everybody know Sarah Rothschild?
She is the director of
our Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association.
Boy, this is going to discourage people from showing up.
Oh boy. Yeah. So Sarah has been masterful in expanding
our capacity to really connect with our alumni and to
really connect them with our students in the MD program.
I wish one of the things on
the to do list is to extend that type
of connectivity across all the other curricula
that are so important here.
But, Sarah, slightly different question.
If you're asked, you know, in just a few words,
how would you characterize the alumni?
What do you think is
the defining characteristic of our alums
compared to alums that were
unfortunate and they had to go to
school in Chicago instead of in Madison.
[Sarah Rothschild] I mean, there are
so many attributes I could assign to them,
but I think that generally speaking,
I don't think I've ever come across one of
our graduates who was
not service oriented.
I think some of them come with that,
but this is certainly a breeding ground where they really
embrace it and it becomes part of
their professional identities the rest of their lives.
[Golden] Great. So I'm going to let the
other Golden in the room off the hook and go back a row.
I see a center director,
a co-leader of our Institute for Clinical Research,
Beth Burnside, Beth, you know,
when most people think about a university or a school,
they think about departments. 870
But we are blessed in that we have
this wonderful portfolio that includes centers.
So putting aside for the moment, ICTR,
if the new Dean were to ask you, what about centers?
What's the story with centers here?
Tell me in this elevator ride the role that centers
play in defining the School of Medicine
and Public Health and advancing its missions.
[Beth Burnside] Well, I think that
I'm going to draw my answers from many.
So I think some of what
the panelist said and some of what Shiva said
and many others is the collaborations
between the individuals and
the organizations in UW are so strong,
in many ways, I sometimes think
the institutes and centers are the glue.
They're interdisciplinary and they bring people together.
I think my advice for the dean on the elevator would be,
how can you like
deans in the past, encourage collaboration?
I think centers and institutes are
really an important component of that.
[Golden] Great answer. Okay. Now, passing to your side,
I want to get a leader from a clinical department.
We have our chair of neurology,
Dr. Kathleen Shannon here,
and forgive me for the stupid joke I made about Chicago
because we were lucky enough to recruit her
away from Rush to come here.
From the perspective of our clinical departments,
which are all characterized as having
the whole continuum of research and discovery,
education, and clinical service, of course.
From the perspective of clinical departments,
what is foremost in the minds of
the chairs of the clinical departments
that the new dean should be aware of?
[Kathleen Shannon] So just from my own experience,
I think the most important thing is that
the chair has to respect every mission.
There's no one mission
that's more important than the other missions.
We have to respect every mission
and every faculty member.
And the most wonderful thing about
the chairs here is how collegial this group is.
Every international or national meeting I go to,
you hear about the sniping
between neurosurgery and neurology,
and you just don't have that here.
And I think the reason is the leadership from above and
then also the recruiting people
who are just collaborative in nature.
[Golden] Great answer. Now, I realize I'm
probably dangerously off script and we
probably ought to be
inclusive and include the folks
that are with us virtually,
and Kaine's got some questions from them.
Probably for the panel, but anything is fair game.
[Kaine Korzekwa] Yeah, we have not questions online,
but some pre summited questions that have come in.
One is bringing the mood down a bit.
I apologize, related to some confusion and concern around
recent the change in
federal administration and announcements
or lack of announcements from something like the NIH,
cancellation of study sections, et cetera.
I'm wondering if someone could speak to that.
I know there's several people in
the room that could have something to say.
[Golden] So it's about concerns over
the temporary shutdown of travel and meetings.
Anyone want to take that one on?
[Schulze] All right, thanks. I would just say
that this is going to be cold comfort,
but it is not unusual for the suspension of activities
at agencies to happen as
administrations transfer from one to another.
So we are definitely not
at the point of panic yet.
This is something that we in
government affairs are watching very, very closely.
We have boots on the ground in DC who are
very close to this and are keeping us updated regularly.
Of course, we're keeping the Dean and campus updated.
But I don't think we should panic yet.
This is not outside the norm.
Um, a lot of what we've seen in
the first five days has been a little outside the norm,
but this NIH pause is not one of those things.
[Korzekwa] We have another pre-submitted question.
This one might be for Hope is
what sort of the status of a pay raise this year or not?
[Hope Broadus] Hi, thanks. It's still unclear whether
the university will provide
a central compensation program for this year,
and then any pay plan increases
for FY 26 and beyond have yet to be determined.
We continue to be committed to
financial stability while continuing to
support our employees in other meaningful ways like
professional development and enhancement of benefits.
We recognize the importance of
competitive compensation and are
actively reviewing our strategy.
And we'll continue to do so and provide
an update when we have one. Thanks.
[Korzekwa] Thanks.
We have lots of presubmitted questions.
This one, maybe for doctor Andes or possibly
Allison is besides watching
this wonderful panel that we just had,
what else will onboarding look like for
the new Dean? Thank you.
[Allison Golden] Hi. Yeah. So I
have been working with a really great group of people,
including people sitting to
my right and left and Andrea Fabian,
who I see in the back and a number of others,
to really build out a
comprehensive onboarding strategy for the new Dean.
They are going to receive pre sorry,
they're going to I'm so focused on using
a they/them pronoun for this hypothetical person.
They will receive briefing materials,
so things to pre read in advance if they choose to do
so high level skimmable briefing materials
and things to sort of target their attention.
We've also worked out a first hundred days
meeting list of priority meetings.
I say, we, I really mean Andrea.
Um, and that I think we're really excited about
because it's going to give
a strong overview and allow opportunity for connection.
But we've also targeted specific topics and
areas where deeper conversations are going to need to
have and who is going to have those deeper conversations.
So I'm thinking about things like open records requests,
shared governance, our relationship
with government relations.
Uh, UWHCA board orientation,
fundraising orientation, media training.
So it's going to be a whole compilation,
I think, of hopefully not overly rigid,
but kind of peppering
through the first three to four months,
things that this individual will
need to really get familiar with.
We are certainly going to focus on uh,
taking the time to get to know the culture
and really encouraging how important that is.
My sense from all of the finalists is that
they have a deep appreciation and understanding for that.
So, we'll see things later in the fall
involving travel to see our uh,
you know, different alumni
areas, different development opportunities,
as well as getting to know the state,
and getting to understand
our relationship with our legislators,
and I will
just say from a personal perspective, you know,
whenever I start a job,
I'm so frustrated with myself for
the first three or four months because I am just slow.
I'm like, What happened to my brain?
Why isn't my brain working the way it normally does?
And you're slower when you're getting
to know a new place and
you're getting to know new things.
So, I will just say, you know,
my own expectation and working to set
this expectation with others is that this individual,
you know, we need to give them time to get up to speed.
We need to give them, you know,
grace to do that.
And I think that it's going to be
a really important aspect of their first year.
Thanks for that question.
[Robert Golden] That question and also one of the comments
made by the panelist brings back a memory.
As soon as I had heard as
a member of the search committee
for the Chancellor that
Chancellor Mnookin was coming here,
I didn't wait to be in an elevator.
I sent her an email of congratulations.
I said, If I can help you in
any way, getting oriented here,
if you have any questions such as,
what's the best restaurant in Madison?
I gave as an answer, Ichiban.
That was the answer that I gave.
I stand by that answer.
Absolutely. Good. Do you have any others online?
Okay. Any other questions
or should I continue to put on the spot
People? So you know what we haven't covered.
We haven't covered a basic science department.
I see in the back trying to hide
behind the pillars Maureen Durkin,
who is the chair of
our Department of Population Health Sciences,
which for a School of Medicine and
public health is kind of foundational.
So Maureen, um, back in the elevator.
Your building, actually, the elevator rides
pretty tall if you're going up to your department.
[Golden] So what would you say to our new dean
to help orient them to
the role of basic science departments in our school?
[Maureen Durkin] Thank you for that.
Yeah, Dean, you might
have known that your predecessors were very
bold in embrace and
changing the name of the school
to a school of public health.
You might have come from an academic medical center
that had a separate school of public health.
Here it's integrated and
that integration is still a work in progress,
but we've made major strides in addressing
the health needs of our population and
thinking beyond just the walls of the school,
you might have heard about the Wisconsin idea.
But that's what this basic science department
of population is addressing,
and I certainly hope you'll continue that tradition.
[Golden] So I think the panelists
and now the people put on the spot who didn't
expect to be panelists have really come up
with a lot of really wise insights.
I think they're really wise because they really
resonate with what my experience has been here,
having had the privilege of serving.
Tell you what I was thinking about as
I was soaking up the wisdom from up here.
I think it's understandable that as a school,
we focus on our students.
I think it's understandable as
a school that started out as a medical school.
We focus on our patients.
I think it's understandable as
a school of medicine and public health that we
focus and need to focus
even more on communities across the state that
are disadvantaged where there are
health disparities and other kinds of
injustices on a daily basis.
I think it's also really important as
a pillar of a research intensive school that we focus on
science and discovery and the translation of that
into meaningful impact on
people and populations.
Where I think I have dropped
the ball is that I haven't focused enough on
staff and staff are really
what makes it all come together and happen.
I think for us to achieve our full potential,
we need to be a employer of choice.
We need to support not just staff,
but all of the other vibrant young faculty
and learners by having,
for example, on-site daycare across the street on
the marshy land that is 1136
wet enough that we can't
build another WIMR tower there.
Instead, let's build a childcare center.
Let's have more affordable housing so that
the people who keep this building
operational can afford to live right by where they work.
And I think during
the hopefully short epic we're going through now,
where there's a lot of divisiveness.
Let's all come together as a community,
which is important in an end in itself,
but it's also a means of showing the rest
of the state and the rest
of the country how to do it right.
I think, you know, in the wonderful words
of Ben Franklin,
during the earliest revolutionary time.
And right now in some ways,
I don't think it's hyperbole to say
our nation is in revolutionary times.
In revolutionary times, we have to
all hang together, or else we’ll all hang separately.
And that might be a little bit of a grotesque metaphor,
but I do think that we will do well by doing good.
And that means taking care of ourselves,
especially those among us who
have the greatest challenges of you know,
putting bread on the table,
and being able to successfully balance being
a wonderful parent with being
a wonderful teacher, student, employee.
And I think we've got a,
we've got a moral obligation
to do that right because we are
blessed with the community and
the resources to have the potential to do it right.
So that's
a long elevator ride, but, you know, what the heck?
I think I deserve maybe
one floor for each year that I've been here.
[Golden] So, thank you so much.
It's really, really been,
truly an honor to work with you,
and it's not over yet,
but I'm already getting wistful and excited and a
little anxious about what it's going to be like to
wake up and not have 1183
the pleasure of going into
a building that's surrounded by bright, committed people.
So, thanks. On Wisconsin.