An avalanche of retirements have hit UW-Platteville over the past year and the snowball effect has left three high-profile positions vacant on campus.

It all began with the retirement of former chancellor David Markee in August. Markee was replaced by Interim Chancellor and former Provost Carol Sue Butts and the search for a new chancellor began. Some thought Butts might seek the chancellor position full-time, or return to her position of provost, but those rumors were dashed in November when Butts announced she would also retire. Her last day is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 3. In October Richard Schultz, dean of the College of Engineering, Math and Science, also announced he will retire over the summer, setting three search committees into action.

Butts said the first position that will be filled is the chancellor position. The chancellor search committee narrowed the pool of candidates down to about 10 applicants by Jan. 22. Joanne Wilson, chair of the chancellor search committee, said the committee will interview the candidates in Milwaukee on Jan. 29, 30 and 31.

On Thursday, Feb. 18, UW System President Kevin Reilly will officially announce the finalists for the chancellor position. The finalists will visit UW-P between Monday, Feb. 22 and Friday, March 12; and then each candidate will be interviewed by a special regent committee, Reilly, and system administration on Wednesday, March 31. The new chancellor will be announced on Friday, April 2 and will be appointed chancellor by Reilly at the Board of Regents meeting on Friday, April 9. The new chancellor will come to campus for a few days near the end of May and officially take office on Tuesday, July 1.

The new chancellor will appoint a new provost. Butts said it is crucial for there to be positive chemistry between the chancellor and provost and that they should complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The chancellor and provost must also have a positive working relationship with the people in his or her office who hold positions that are limited-term appointments. A limited-term appointment is a position that reports upon the will of the chancellor or provost; therefore, the new chancellor and provost can make new appointments to fill the positions or decide to leave the positions vacant, Butts said.

Patrick Hagen, chair of Faculty Senate and chair of the humanities department, said the provost search committee would have its first meeting in the first week of February. The application for provost candidates will be available in the middle of February, and the committee will select the semi-finalists for the position in early April. The provost will officially take office on Monday, Aug. 2, but will visit UW-P before then to help appoint the EMS dean, Butts said.

Barb Daus, chief information officer for UW-P said the applications for dean of EMS are due Monday, March 15. Whomever is selected will take office Wednesday Sept. 1.

Daus said dealing with this many appointments at once may be confusing, but the process that is in place for filling the vacant positions is standard when universities have multiple appointments to make.

“This is a very thorough and deliberate process,” Daus said. “A great deal of thought has been used in planning and in developing timelines for the searches and the hiring of these positions.”

“The committee members invest a great deal of time in reading and evaluating candidates and in interviewing finalists,” Daus said. “Service such as this sometimes goes unnoticed because of the confidentiality associated with the work of the committee; however, it is very much appreciated.”

Names of the candidates running for chancellor have not been released because they have requested confidentiality.