UW System President Lyall announces retirement

Katharine C. Lyall will stay on as UW System president until her replacement arrives or until Sept. 1 at the latest, she says in announcing her retirement from one of the longest and most productive presidencies in the system’s history.

In September, Lyall will begin a year’s appointment as a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Palo Alto, Calif.

“It has been extremely exciting to lead the world’s best university system and a great privilege to serve the people of Wisconsin in that role,” Lyall says. “I leave with a great sense of pride in all we have accomplished, especially in the more than 300,000 students who have graduated from our four-year campuses during my tenure.”

UW–Madison Chancellor John Wiley says he was sorry to hear about Lyall’s decision to leave the UW System after 12 years of superb leadership as its president. He issued this statement:

“Katharine epitomizes what it means to be a great university president in her proven ability to keep the UW System moving forward, even in the face of fiscal adversity. Despite dwindling resources, she has made the system more accountable to its stakeholders by improving student success, efficiency and public service. She has also improved the return on the state’s investment by working tirelessly to define the university’s role as a central player in the state’s economy and quality of life.

“She has created and maintained a strong and efficient system of higher education in large part by allowing each UW campus the autonomy to develop unique programs that enhance student learning and research, and then ensuring that those programs receive the support they need to succeed.

“For UW–Madison, she has been an ardent supporter of efforts to address the needs of our students, the state and the world through her support of programs such as cluster hiring, the Madison Initiative and numerous capital projects.

“I commend Katharine for positioning the University of Wisconsin System and UW–Madison to be successful for many years to come. She will be very difficult to replace.”

Lyall was named president of the UW System in April 1992 after serving for eight months as acting president, replacing Kenneth (Buzz) Shaw who went on to become chancellor of Syracuse University. She served as executive vice president for five years under Shaw, having come to the UW System as vice president for academic affairs and professor of economics from The Johns Hopkins University in 1982.

Toby Marcovich, president of the UW System Board of Regents, says he will put the presidential search on a fast track, appointing a search-and-screen committee within the next few weeks with the goal of having the Board of Regents name a successor by June.

“Our university community cannot thank her enough for what she’s accomplished, including putting virtually all our current UW leadership in place,” Marcovich notes. “She has led the UW with wisdom, integrity, wit, common sense and a wonderful collaborative spirit, and our campuses are the richer for it.

“I know she had hoped to retire a year ago, and I appreciate that she was willing to stay on this year to help our regents chart a future course for the UW and prepare for the 2005-07 state budget process,” Marcovich says.

During Lyall’s presidency, UW System sources of revenue diversified; though the university’s state budget grew $200 million, its budget from other sources more than doubled to $2.3 billion annually. This growth fueled new majors and programs; more research, including research at the undergraduate level; new study-abroad programs; and many new campus facilities.

Lyall was the first woman to serve as UW System president. Her 12-year term represents one of the longest tenures of any university system president in recent times. The average tenure in such posts nationally is now less than five years.