Phyllis Wise' Percent Effort

While Dr. Wise's appointment to the NIKE board may or may not pass the smell test of UW and State admin rules, my reading of the med school policies suggests she is in violation of those policies.  Even if she is not, then a number of issues, including her recompense, should be matters of public record.

I would also remind you that while she is entitled as a UW Prof. to one day a week of academically oriented consulting, she has other time commitments as Provost and as a Federal grant recipient that may complicate her distribution of effort.  Her current grants include:


Transforming Engineering Through PEERS: Building a Better Experience for Underrepresented Students.
Project Start Date: 2009-04-01
Project End Date: 2012-03-31


Neuroendocrine and neurochemical function during aging.
National Institutes of Health 2008,Jul,02; (Grant Number: 5R37AG002224-29)
Project Start Date: 1980-04-01
Project End Date: 2010-07-31

I do not know what the %effort commitment is for the NSF grant, but typically such grants require 10% of total professional effort. As PI on an NIH grant, she is expected to have at least 20% effort on that effort.  This means her effort commitment to the Provost job can not be more than 70%.   w

I worry that her decision, even if legal, is unseemly and may be in violation of effort reporting rules for the State.

Finally, I think there are serious issues of leadership here. Dr. Wise is a very well paid State employee and University Provost by  national standards and certainly by the standards of our State. She has made this decision at a time when many UW employees have lost their jobs and students are facing major financial challenges.

It seems to me that if the Provost has this amount of free time, then other priorities likely should come first.