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Fostering the diversity, equity, and inclusion of faculty and leadership at UW-Madison

WISELI's 2024 Press Release

WISELI thanks Drs. Jennifer Sheridan and Amy Wendt for their service as they step down from WISELI leadership

Madison, WI – WISELI would like to express sincere gratitude to Drs. Jennifer Sheridan and Amy Wendt for their invaluable service and dedication over the last two decades. Both have played a significant role in a number of WISELI initiatives including, but not limited to, the Study of Faculty WorkLife and the Vilas Life Cycle Grants.

Since the early 2000s, Drs. Sheridan and Wendt have been critical to WISELI’s key programs and initiatives, as well as serving in leadership roles. Dr. Jennifer Sheridan served as the Executive and Research Director and Dr. Amy Wendt served as a Faculty Co-Director. They were instrumental in securing extramural funding from agencies such as NSF and NIH and advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion among faculty at UW-Madison and beyond.

As Drs. Sheridan and Wendt step down from their roles, WISELI is committed to ensuring a smooth transition. In the interim, Drs. Dessie Clark and previous Co-Director Erika Marin-Spiotta have taken on leadership roles to ensure the legacy and continued success of WISELI programs, in particular the delivery of the Searching for Excellence & Diversity® Workshops for Faculty Search Committees for Fall 2024. Dr. Erika Marin-Spiotta is currently the Faculty Director of WISELI, while Dr. Dessie Clark is continuing her role as Director of Curriculum Development and Implementation, as well as completing interim duties for the Executive and Research Director role.

Drs. Jennifer Sheridan and Amy Wendt completed their last day with WISELI on June 30th, 2024.

On behalf of everyone at WISELI, we extend our heartfelt thanks and wish Drs. Sheridan and Wendt continued success and fulfillment in their next chapter.

For further information, please contact Drs. Dessie Clark or Erika Marin-Spiotta at (wiseli@mailplus.wisc.edu).

Workshops

WISELI offers a variety of workshops and conducts research on their effectiveness.  These include workshops for faculty search committees, workshops to understand and minimize the influence of unconscious or implicit bias, and workshops to improve department climate.

Workshops

Coming Soon: Safe and Thriving Research Environments

Courses & Lectures

WISELI affiliates offer courses related to our goals of faculty diversity, equity and inclusion.  In addition, we may be available to provide lectures describing our workshops and research.

Courses & Lectures

Resources

Download PDFs of some helpful WISELI publications instantly.  Links to our extensive research library and other resources can be found here.

Research & Data

WISELI is continually researching the effectiveness of our workshops and programming, as well as conducting original research on a variety of topics relating to the advancement of persons underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (STEMM).

Research & Data

Apply for grants

Celebrating Women and Gender Diversity in Science & Engineering Grant Program

A collaboration between WISELI and the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Letters & Science, Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, School of Pharmacy, School of Medicine & Public Health, and School of Veterinary Medicine.

Get complete info

The Vilas Life Cycle Professorship Program

Provides funds to faculty and non-emeritus permanent PIs at UW–Madison who are at critical junctures in their professional careers and whose research productivity has been directly affected by personal life events (e.g., illness of a dependent, parent, spouse/partner, or oneself; complications from childbirth; combination of major life events).

Get complete info

About WISELI

WISELI’s mission is to increase the representation, advancement, and job satisfaction of women faculty and members of groups currently underrepresented on the faculty and in leadership positions at UW–Madison.

Learn more about WISELI

WISELI in the news

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    As the need for guidance regarding social media’s role in faculty recruitment becomes more pertinent to WISELI’s Searching for Excellence & Diversity workshops, we’ve made such a resource available on our website. The goal of …

  • WISELI’s 2024 Press Release

    WISELI would like to express sincere gratitude to Drs. Jennifer Sheridan and Amy Wendt for their invaluable service and dedication over the last two decades. Both have played a significant role in a number of WISELI initiatives including, but not limited to, the Study of Faculty WorkLife and the Vilas Life Cycle Grants ...

  • Erika Marin-Spiotta awarded the 2023 Geoethics Medal

    WISELI co-Director Prof. Erika Marin-Spiotta received the 2023 Geoethics Medal from the International Association for Promoting Geoethics. The Geoethics Medal honors scientists and scholars who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to ethical practices in geoscience research and/or practice, and/or in …

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Related events

WISELI acknowledges that our work is taking place on the ancestral Ho-Chunk land. This university exists because of the forced 1832 ceding and colonization of their territory and forced removal of the Ho-Chunk people, who nevertheless resisted.  We honor the legacy of resistance and resilience of the Ho-Chuck people, and respect the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the other 11 First Nations within the boundaries of the State of Wisconsin. WISELI encourages all visitors to this website, and to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to learn more about the Ho-Chunk people by visiting the Our Shared Future website.