Douthitt to lead School of Human Ecology

Robin Douthitt, a veteran professor of consumer science UW–Madison, has been chosen as dean of the School of Human Ecology.

Her appointment follows more than a year of service as interim dean, after Hamilton McCubbin stepped down from the position in June 1999. Douthitt has been on the consumer science faculty and an affiliate of the UW–Madison Poverty Research Institute since 1986.

Chancellor John Wiley says Douthitt will maintain the quality of the school, historically ranked in the top five among its peers nationwide, as well as expand its mandate.

“Robin is well-known and well-respected throughout the campus and community, and she has done an outstanding job as interim dean,” Wiley says. “I’m delighted she was willing to accept this appointment, and I look forward to working with her.”

Douthitt says that specific plans for the school says will include enhancing education for the approximately 100 graduate students in Human Ecology’s five departments. In addition, she says she would like to offer more development opportunities for academic staff and classified personnel. A special mission will be to expand the preschool facility and other research, creative arts and teaching venues in the school.

“We’re extremely crowded right now,” Douthitt says. “Our main building hasn’t been renovated since it was built in 1916. We’re currently working on a master plan for our facilities with architects at Taliesen, and we expect to see some preliminary drawings at the end of March.”

Long recognized as an advocate for women and children, Douthitt has been a leader in establishing the five-year-old Nancy Denney House, the nation’s first cooperative residence for undergraduate single parents and their children. Currently operated as an off-campus nonprofit, the residence will move into a unit in Eagle Heights this fall.

In 1989, she founded the UW–Madison Women Faculty Mentoring program in 1989 and continues to serve on its advisory committee. In its first decade of existence, the program has improved measurably the university’s retention rate for female faculty in all departments and has become a model for other institutions. Her research interests have ranged from child support policy analysis to consumer attitudes toward rBGH dairy products to methods of assigning value to unpaid labor.

Her efforts have earned her accolades on and off campus. In November, Douthitt received the $10,000 Cabinet 99 Faculty and Staff Recognition Award from the Wisconsin Alumni Association. In February 1999, she became the Vaughan Bascom Professor of Women in Philanthropy. In 1998, the YWCA named her one of its Women of Distinction.

Douthitt will begin her new duties immediately. Her salary will be $140,000.