Phyllis Wise

Phyllis M. Wise is an American biologist and higher education administrator. Most recently, she served as the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.^[1]

Education

Wise received a bachelor's degree in biology from Swarthmore College in 1967, an M.A. (1969) and then a doctorate (1972) in zoology from the University of Michigan.^[2] She was a postdoctoral fellow there from 1972–74.^[3]

Career

University professor

In 1976, she was appointed Assistant Professor of physiology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, rising to the rank of full professor. In 1993, she was appointed professor of physiology and chair of the department at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. In 2002, she became Dean of the College of Biological Sciences at University of California-Davis, holding also the rank of Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior in its College of Biological Sciences, and of Professor Physiology and Membrane Biology in its School of Medicine.

Research focus

Her principal area of research has been the effect of hormones on male and female human brains during adult development and aging. In 2014, she admitted to serious irregularities in one of her publications.^[4]

Administrative career

University of Washington

Starting in 2005, Wise served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Washington. Later, she briefly held the position of interim President there in 2010-11, becoming the first woman and Asian American to serve as President of the school.^[5]

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

In 2011, Wise was appointed Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the chief executive officer for the campus. In 2014, she became involved in the controversy over the rescinded appointment of Steven Salaita.^[6] She resigned her position, effective August 12, 2015,^[7] on August 6, 2015, after she was implicated in hiding emails that involved the rescinding of a job offer to Steven Salaita. After Wise's resignation, executive officers of the university called on the board to reinstate the offer to Salaita. In a published letter, over 40 department heads, chairs and directors said Acting Chancellor Barbara Wilson and President Timothy Killeen should call for the reinstatement of Steven Salaita at the September 2015 board meeting.^[8]

On August 12, 2015, the Board of Trustees Executive Committee rejected her resignation, reassigned her to a position as special assistant to President Timothy Killeen, and began dismissal proceedings, thus voiding a $400,000 bonus promised under the initial terms of her resignation. On August 13, Wise released a statement saying that she rejected the new position, and was "considering options to protect [her] reputation."^[9]

Memberships and Honors

She is a member of the Institute of Medicine, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Nike.^[10] Swarthmore College has awarded her an honorary doctorate.

References

External links

• Biography at official university website
• Academic CV