Marsha Mailick Seltzer, PhD, named
interim director of Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
by Terry Devitt
University Communications
Posted: August 8, 2006
Marsha Mailick Seltzer
Marsha Mailick Seltzer, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's
Waisman Center and an internationally recognized scholar of developmental
disabilities, has been named interim director of the new
Wisconsin Institute
for Discovery (WID).
Seltzer's appointment was announced today (Aug. 8) by UW-Madison Graduate School
Dean Martin Cadwallader.
A veteran administrator who for four years has directed one of UW-Madison's
premier interdisciplinary research centers, Seltzer brings a "wealth of
experience, expertise and leadership to the new Wisconsin Institute for
Discovery," Cadwallader said in announcing the appointment. "She is a thoughtful
and accomplished leader, perfectly positioned to set the tone for what promises
to be one of the most exciting research initiatives our campus has seen in a
very long time."
Seltzer will continue in her position as director of the Waisman Center, a
complex of 60 laboratories for basic and clinical biomedical and behavioral
research, clinical services, education and outreach. She will serve as interim
director of WID until a permanent director is named.
"This is an incredibly important initiative for our campus," Seltzer says. "I
look forward to helping make WID a reality and to working with our faculty,
whose creative powers are essential to bring the WID vision to fruition, and
with the donors whose generous gifts have made the institutes possible."
The new $150 million Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery is planned for the 1300
block of University Avenue. Funded by major gifts from John and Tashia Morgridge,
the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and by the state of Wisconsin, WID is intended to be an innovative public/private crucible of interdisciplinary
research.
"Marsha Seltzer is an excellent choice for interim director," says WARF managing
director Carl Gulbrandsen. "She is devoted to UW-Madison and believes strongly
in the importance of interdisciplinary research and education. As director of
the Waisman Center, she has demonstrated that she is both a good listener and an
effective leader."
Seltzer says that WID represents both an enormous challenge and an opportunity
for the university. As the institutes take shape, she says that it is critical
to consider the interplay between the new institutes and the larger research
programs of the university. A central issue, she says, will be ensuring that WID
and its programs have influence beyond the institutes themselves and add value
to the university.
Still, she adds, WID will be unique. Its mission, she says, will reflect the
visions of its donors as it seeks to forge a model of interdisciplinary research
that fosters novel collaborations and practices that will amplify the creative
powers of the UW-Madison faculty.
Seltzer joined the UW-Madison faculty in 1988. She is Vaughan Bascom Professor
in the departments of Social Work and Pediatrics. She is an authority on
families of people with developmental disabilities and has authored or
co-authored five books and more than 120 scholarly papers. In addition to her
many awards, Seltzer has been named a fellow of the American Association on
Mental Retardation and the Gerontological Society of America.
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