Note: Registration is free but required to view the event live.
Join us for a special UW Now Live as we explore the opportunities and challenges shaping the year ahead for UW–Madison.
Interim Chancellor Eric M. Wilcots will offer his outlook for the academic year, including a preview of our incoming freshman class, new faculty and senior administrative hires, and key priorities for our education, research and service outreach missions. He’ll be joined by Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau, founding dean of the new College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence, to discuss how advances in AI and computing are reshaping education, research, and the workforce. Together, they’ll explore how UW–Madison is preparing students to thrive in a rapidly changing world while driving innovation that benefits society.
Some key questions we’ll discuss include:
- What opportunities and challenges do you see defining the academic year ahead? What are the most exciting changes happening on campus and how will they benefit students, researchers, and the world?
- How will AI impact the education and research mission at UW–Madison? Are institutions across the country collaborating in our approach to this opportunity? Are we seeing any evidence that AI is hurting employment prospects for recent grads?
- How can UW–Madison remain a leader in both traditional academic excellence and emerging fields that didn’t exist a generation ago?
The talk will be moderated by Mike Knetter, from the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association.
Speakers
Eric M. Wilcots is the interim chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Mary C. Jacoby Professor of Astronomy in the Department of Astronomy, his home department since 1995. Prior to assuming the role of interim chancellor, he served as the dean of the College of Letters & Science (L&S). During that time, Wilcots welcomed two of the largest classes of undergraduates to L&S, kicked off an initiative to modernize the college’s degree requirements, and integrated the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS) into the college. The success of CDIS ultimately led to the formation of the College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence, launched in summer 2026. To match the innovation occurring in L&S’s programs and research enterprise, Wilcots delivered significant improvements to the college’s facilities. He celebrated the opening of the Chemistry Building’s new North Tower in 2022 and Morgridge Hall in 2025, and he presided over the design and construction of a new L&S academic building, Irving and Dorothy Levy Hall, which is scheduled to open in summer 2026. Wilcots’s research focuses on the evolution and gas content of individual galaxies and galaxy groups, primarily through the lens of radio wavelengths. Prior to moving to Madison, he was a Karl Jansky Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico. He received his undergraduate degree in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University and his PhD in astronomy from the University of Washington.
Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau is the founding dean of the College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence at UW–Madison, launched July 1, 2026. He is a professor of computer sciences, an internationally recognized researcher, an award-winning educator, and a longtime leader at UW–Madison. Arpaci-Dusseau was previously the director of the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences prior to it becoming a college, a special adviser to the provost on computing, and the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and Grace Wahba Professor of Computer Sciences. Arpaci-Dusseau’s research in computer systems, conducted with longtime collaborator Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau, has advanced the field’s understanding of storage systems, operating systems, and distributed computing, and driven innovations that have influenced both academia and industry. He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
This event is hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Association®.
