University Of Wisconsin System named David A. Brukardt as Associate Vice President for Economic Development for the University. In this new position, Brukardt will strengthen relationships between the university system and businesses statewide while also connecting researchers and others among the various campuses, with a goal of driving statewide economic growth. He will work in close collaboration with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, which is jointly funding the new position. Brukardt has more than 20 years of public affairs experience with global organizations and entrepreneurial start-ups. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President of Investor and Corporate Relations for Sterling Financial Corporation. For the past 10 years, he has been a member of the executive committee of the Association of Washington Business, the state's chamber of commerce, and was chair of AWB in 2010.

University of Wisconsin System, Biddy Martin announced she will leave the university after three years as chancellor to become president of Amherst College. She will assume the presidency at the prestigious private liberal arts college in Amherst, Mass., at the end of August. Martin was named chancellor of the state's flagship university on June 5, 2008, after serving as provost of Cornell University. It was a return to UW-Madison for Martin, who got her doctorate in German literature here in 1985. In recent months, Martin tangled with Reilly and other leaders in the UW System as she pushed to split UW-Madison from the other 25 campuses in the system. The change, backed by Gov. Scott Walker, would have given UW-Madison new administrative freedom and its own board of trustees. Martin argued the university needed the new structure in the face of declining state aid. In Martin's three years as chancellor, she gained a reputation as a leader with big ideas. In Martin's three years as chancellor, she gained a reputation as a leader with big ideas. She successfully pushed for a program called the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, a tuition surcharge to support and improve the quality of education offered at UW-Madison. The program also increased financial aid for students. She strengthened the university's relationship with China, promoted the humanities and launched the "Go Big Read" common-reading project for campus.