Campus Connection

Selection follows a national search

Interim Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Betsy Morgan will have the interim title removed following a national search. Chancellor Joe Gow announced Wednesday, March 15, that Morgan will become the university’s next provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. She replaces Heidi Macpherson, who was chosen to be the president of The College at Brockport, State University of New York in May 2015. A campus Search and Screen Committee recruited an outstanding group of five finalists, says Gow, identifying Morgan as the candidate best qualified to lead the university’s Academic Affairs Division. “Our university will be very fortunate to benefit from her outstanding dedication and leadership skills,” says Gow. In addition to serving as interim provost since July 2015, Morgan has extensive experience at UWL as chair of the Psychology Department and as a faculty member since 1993. She served more than seven years as chair of the department, as well as another stint as interim provost in 2012. Morgan won the UWL College of Liberal Studies Excellence Award for Teaching in 2003, and is the author of two textbooks and several refereed journal articles. She earned a doctorate in social psychology from the University of California at Irvine, and a bachelor’s in psychology and women's studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Gow thanked the Search and Screen Committee for its work. “I have been involved with many similar searches over the years, and I can say without exaggeration that this was among the most thorough and careful processes I have ever seen,” he says. “We owe our deep gratitude to the members of the UWL community who so graciously volunteered to serve on the Search and Screen Committee.” Committee members included: Bradley Seebach (Chair) Brandon Harris Corey Sjoquist Heidi Jones Jacob Schimmel Jacque Bollinger Jennifer Kosiak Maren Walz Michele Thorman Mohamed Elhindi Ronda Leahy Taggert Brooks Vivek Pande