Martha Casey Biography

After receiving a PhD in Organic Chemistry from MIT in 1968, I followed my husband to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he became as assistant professor, I a postdoctoral fellow. I worked six years as a research chemist in the Chemistry Department and School of Pharmacy. It was the days when people were worried about nepotism, not spousal hiring, and I found it essentially impossible to find a permanent position in chemistry in Madison.

In 1975, for both personal and professional reasons, I sought a full-time position that was not on scientific “soft money.” I joined the university administration, where I worked 29 years retiring recently as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Planning and Analysis. I built this arm of the Provost’s office to support academic and budgetary decision making through data gathering, policy analysis, and projection of future trends. The Academic Planning and Analysis office (myself, and four analysts) used a great deal of the university’s data -student enrollment patterns, personnel and payroll data, budget and expenditure trends and more. I learned how very dependent the university is on people who prepare this data, maintain it, and assure its accuracy and integrity. For these staff, there are few day to day “rewards”, but they are motivated by a dedication to the integrity of the university’s information systems. My office, on the other hand, had the “fun” of seeing how the chancellor, the provost and others would react to the studies we assembled from these data. It is largely because of knowing these dedicated staff and how hard they often work, that I decided to establish this award.

In the earlier years of my career, I was part of the Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis and worked on a variety of budget issues such as preparing budget proposals to System Administration and the State (when the university was still getting such proposals funded), and analyzing federal overhead patterns. One of the most difficult, but politically important analyses was our repeated attempts to compare the state funding of the UW-Madison with our peer universities in the Big Ten and elsewhere. Different methodologies for such studies will always yield varying results. However, all analyses supported the fact that this university is under funded compared with our peers. Consequently, UW wisely concentrates funding in “core missions” – especially instruction. As the Chancellor and others frequently point out, this university is becoming more and more dependent on private support to maintain its excellent academic rankings. This is another reason I was committed to establishing this award, and to encouraging other private funding of UW-Madison.

In the later years of my career, I concentrated on “academic planning,” which meant I staffed the University Academic Planning Council, oversaw the academic program review process, and coordinated the approval process for required for new majors and degrees. I especially enjoyed the latter as it involved learning about new academic initiatives ranging from a new undergraduate degree in Biology, a Master of Engineering, a PhD in Japanese, and many others. These experiences again emphasized how special this university is in offering such a broad range of majors and degrees. Though none of my own degrees are from this university, I have become an enthusiastic “honorary alumnae.”