Last week, Phyllis Wise officially started her new job as Interim President of the University of Washington. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she will be the first woman, and first Asian American to serve as president. Stepping in for departing President Mark Emmert, Wise previously served five years as the university's Provost: Phyllis Wise takes over as interim president at the UW. Here's some of background, according to the Seattle Times:
Wise now faces the large task of fund raising and attracting big donors, representing the university before the Legislature, and lobbying for legislative changes to allow the university flexibility to raise more money. More here: Emmert leaves UW Thursday -- what next?
Phyllis Wise bio
Phyllis Wise is a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine and continues to hold a faculty position at the UW as a professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Biology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. She says she would like to return to faculty work one day.
Age: 65
Family: Two grown children: Andy Wise, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and Erica Wise, who lives in Barcelona; and four grandchildren.
Education: Bachelor's from Swarthmore College in biology, doctorate in zoology from the University of Michigan.
Professional background: Faculty member at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, 1976-1993; promoted to professor of physiology in 1987. Professor and chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of Kentucky, 1993-2002. Dean of the College of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis, 2002-2005. Provost at the UW since 2005. (Wise also holds a faculty position as a professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Biology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology and says she would like to eventually return to faculty work.) Member, National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine.
Biggest regret: That she did not learn much Chinese when she was growing up. "My Chinese is so awful," she said.