Renee Rosenow

On Tuesday, English professor Marty Wood will begin his new position as interim provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at UW-Eau Claire. Wood is also the University Senate chair, a position he plans to leave to take over as provost and vice chancellor.

Wood will be replacing Steve Tallant, the current provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, who was recently named president of Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich said Wood was chosen in part because of his involvement with the development and support of the strategic plan for the university. His role as chair of the University Senate also played a role.

“Marty Wood is a good university citizen,” Levin-Stankevich said. “That is important because you can’t just come to this college with one perspective of the university. He is also student centered, which is an important aspect of being provost.”

Wood is a people-oriented person, which Levin-Stankevich said will be an asset with the upcoming year-long evaluation of every department. He said the evaluation may cause some anxiety and that Wood is very attune to that.

Levin-Stankevich explained that Wood will be the interim provost and vice chancellor until a permanent replacement is found. He said the replacement will probably start in the summer of next year.

Wood said he looks forward to his new position as interim provost and vice chancellor, because it will be a new experience for him.

“I will do anything I can to make sure the implementation of the strategic plan gets off to a good start and that people around campus, including faculty and students, have confidence in it,” he said.

Wood also said he looks forward to working with students, especially with the student government leaders, to help them with the harder issues including differential tuition.

“People in every category, students and faculty, are extremely talented and hard working and highly dedicated and I really look forward to working with them,” he said.

Jill Morreim, English education major and one of Wood’s students, said he is a good professor and is able to connect with students.

“I think it’s great that he is the new vice chancellor,” she said. “His class was one of my favorite classes. He is a very approachable guy for students and will do a great job.”

Wood will be leaving his position as chair of the University Senate while holding his position as interim provost and vice chancellor. He said he will be returning as chair next term since he was already elected for the following two years.

“As much as I feel loyal to the faculty, the new position is not a faculty position (although usually a faculty member takes the position) and the chair of the University Senate must be a faculty member,” he said.

Wood earned his Master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Michigan State University. He joined the Eau Claire faculty in 1986, serving as the English department chair from 1998 to 2007 and University Senate chair in 2007.