In June, Eric Wilcots removed the “interim” from his title, officially becoming the new dean of the College of Letters & Science. Wilcots, the Mary C. Jacoby Professor of Astronomy, had served as deputy dean since August of last year, and has been a faculty member at UW-Madison since 1995. He recently sat down to speak—through videoconferencing, of course—about his vision for the college and some of his key priorities.
You’ve been very vocal about championing diversity and inclusion. How do you plan to move that forward?
One priority is making sure that we are consistently championing diversity and inclusion at a high level. We have an outstanding Equity and Diversity Committee that is doing great work. The dean has the role of empowering that committee to think deeply, raise issues and hold us accountable. Our EDC has put together a list of good practices for departments to think about diversity and inclusion, and I’ll be promoting that. We'll be relaunching one of our initiatives from a couple of years ago—inclusive teaching. We need to make sure that we are equipping our instructors to be able to teach their classes in ways that promote inclusivity and a welcoming environment. We want to empower them to be proactive.
When people have issues, we've got to listen to their concerns, not just when those concerns come up, but consistently.
One of the things I want to start is listening sessions with students, so that I'm regularly hearing from our students about what's going on. There are a number of issues where it’s important to have the dean be out in front. I think we could set a different tone and a different priority.
It sounds like you’re really focusing on some structural changes.
Part of what you're seeing out in the world—though I'm not a social scientist—is people weary of that reactive bit, where something happens, we have a reaction, and then it happens again. I think locally, we've missed the call, from incidents that have happened on our own campus over the last three or four years, to put in place some structural changes. We've got to do that.
Promoting the college’s diverse array of research is another key priority you have identified. How will you do that?
We need to remember and emphasize our role as a research institution. It is not just to study those things that we as individuals are motivated to think about, but to tackle and address big problems like climate change and racial injustice. As a College of Letters & Science, we really need to be at the forefront of these topics, making sure that when the public is trying to wrap its head around whatever is going on, they know that there are leaders and experts at UW-Madison making a difference through research. We've got to make sure that our work is being talked about as accessible to more than just ourselves and our funding agencies.
But let’s not forget that aspect of research that simply inspires. Astronomers struggle with the practicality of our field. But this is beautiful work, understanding the world around us on a big scale, and really touching on some of those big fundamental questions, like “Who are we?” Research in L&S is also about those disciplines, like Astronomy, that can inspire and that can allow us to think about these “big” questions.
What inspired you to become an astronomer?
When I was eight or nine, I got a telescope for Christmas, and I looked at the rings of Saturn. It was a tiny telescope, but that really piqued my interest. My interest in science as a kid was because it was accessible. I spent part of my high school career working at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, so the idea of making science accessible to everyone has been with me for a long time. Other kids had far less exciting jobs.
What do you see as your biggest challenges?
COVID-19 is a big but temporary challenge. Over the next year, we will feel the effects of the pandemic in a way that’s tough to wrestle with. We must make sure that we are articulating our importance and our value. We will also be challenged to handle the pushback against what I call curiosity-driven research. We've got to make sure we're reminding people of the value of curiosity-driven research and scholarship, because that lays the foundation for things that will happen 10-20 years from now. I think there's a challenge in shaping the perception of who you are and what you do. I think diversity is a huge challenge for us. We’ve got to get it right. Otherwise, I don't think we can live up to our missions. I have hope that we can make progress in all these areas.