Certain reflects on career, challenges, opportunities facing campus

Phil Certain has been kicking around college campuses for 43 years.

A Georgia native who stepped onto the campus of Atlanta’s Emory University as a 17-year-old chemistry student, Certain’s path led him to UW–Madison where he has spent 34 years teaching, building the campus and helping solve its problems.

Next month, Certain plans to retire after 11 years as dean of the College of Letters and Science — whose 39 departments and five professional schools make it the campus’ largest academic unit.

“I think that it’s easy being dean of the College of Letters and Science. You have to put up a roadblock now and then, but the main thing you have to do is stay out of people’s way and help people accomplish what they want to accomplish,” he says.

That simple summation belies the enormity of the job. The college teaches almost 90 percent of freshman-sophomore credit hours, enrolls more than half of all UW–Madison students and last year attracted $120 million in federal research grants.

Before being named dean in 1993, Certain was chair of the Department of Chemistry and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. He holds a 1969 doctorate in theoretical chemistry from UW- Madison, and joined the faculty in 1970.

“Getting a job here was a lucky accident,” he recalls. “Six faculty were hired in the chemistry department the year I came on, and during the next six years, the job market tightened and there weren’t six hired in the course of the next six years.”

Throughout his career, Certain has been widely respected for his support of the arts, humanities and social sciences. He has served on the boards of the Overture Foundation, the Madison Repertory Theatre and Edgewood College.

He will retire June 30. People from around campus recognized his accomplishments at a May 10 reception.

Certain reflected in a recent interview on his career, and issues facing the college and UW–Madison.

Certain on a scientist’s interest in arts and humanities

“One of the nice things about this job is learning a little bit about various areas in the college, and that was an area I spent a lot of time on. My father used to listen to the Metropolitan Opera on Saturdays, and I was the product of a liberal arts college at Emory.

“I did undergraduate research with a chemist at Emory who was a very forceful personality, and he was extremely negative toward the arts and humanities, and I grew up in a pretty egalitarian household. His negativism made me think, ‘OK, there’s got to be something here.’

“I didn’t come into it with the idea that what scientists do is really hard, and what everyone else does is easy. That attitude really goes against my grain.”

On the health of the college

“Departments are really taking a responsibility for themselves. We’ve gotten beaten up, most recently with budget cuts, but departments are really responding and stepping up to the plate.

“We’re still hiring excellent faculty. The credentials of these people just knock your socks off. This is the time of the year when faculty members are being promoted, and we write letters to them summarizing their careers. It’s a feel-good time to see what faculty has accomplished.

“The one thing I feel very happy about is unless I go crazy in the next two months, my successor won’t have the $4 million budget deficit I inherited. There won’t be any immediate budget problems, unless the state again decides to cut our budget.”

On East Campus development plans

“It’s really important. I’m delighted John Wiley has taken this on as a special mission. We will be the primary beneficiaries of these new arts and humanities facilities.

“In the past 10 or 15 years, we’ve primarily built science buildings. The humanities buildings were built in the 1960s. Everyone wants people to write well, communicate well and understand our heritage — it means we really have to rely on our donors.”

On state budget cuts

“We could drive this ship of the university up on the rocks, and who would be the victims? Our students.

“It’s the difference between watching the engine of a car blow up in a ball of flames and seeing a finely tuned automobile gradually deteriorate for a lack of ordinary maintenance. One of these days, that car isn’t going to run any more.

“The state, through its tax policies, has been withdrawing support from the university, and has been papering it over and shifting costs to students through tuition. Does that mean the university is going to have to close its doors? No. Will it make us leaner and meaner? The answer is also no. What it will do is keep us on a glide plane to mediocrity.

“Once you pass a certain tipping point, the state will not have the resources to get us back. I’m not sure exactly where that tipping point is, but we’re certainly closer to it today than when I became dean.”

On campus diversity

“Until the Madison Plan came along, we had diversity goals, but no mechanism to meet them. Year after year, the university fell short. The Madison Plan gave us more realistic goals.

“It’s very hard to make progress because of the whole pipeline issue. Students come to the university after having participated in the educational process for 12 years. We have to deal with the output of that process. One thing Plan 2008 has done is to get us much more involved earlier to improve the capabilities of individuals.

“The pipeline continues all the way through faculty choices. É If you only have three minority graduates in some particular field nationwide, then your chances of luring one are going to be pretty slim. What’s needed is continual effort and creativity.”