GRADUATE SCHOOL - Key Persons


Abbey Thompson

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean, Diversity, Inclusion and Funding
  • Title
The Assistant Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Funding plays a central role in creating an inclusive and multicultural educational landscape in graduate education at UW-Madison. This includes oversight of the Summer Research Opportunities Program and programming in the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Funding. The Assistant Dean role advances diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging across the university through participation in the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement's network of school/college Campus Diversity Representatives. Additionally, Abbey will oversee the Graduate School's fellowship and funding competitions, serve as the coordinating unit for external fellowships, and provide assistance on campus-wide funding issues. Abbey's proven success includes more than 15 years of leading, developing, and implementing programs for the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students and more than 14 years of administering graduate fellowship award processes and managing program budgets. Prior to joining the Graduate School as Assistant Dean, she was the Associate Director of the Science and Medicine Graduate Research Scholars (SciMed GRS) program on UW-Madison's campus, which she helped establish in 2008 and where she served as program coordinator until 2018.

Albert E. Whitford

Job Titles:
  • Distinguished Achievement Professor

Alexandra Walter

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Degree Coordinator

Alissa Ewer

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean, Office of Professional Development and Communications
  • Title
The Office of Professional Development coordinates, develops, and promotes learning opportunities to foster the academic, professional, and life skills of the graduate education community. The Communications Office portrays, through various media platforms, the values and identity of both the research and graduate education missions of the organization. As Assistant Dean, Ewer utilizes her background in studio art in her communications leadership role and her graduate degree in higher education in overseeing professional development.

Austen Vizcarra

Job Titles:
  • Applications Developer

Benjamin Kilness

Job Titles:
  • Admissions Business Analyst

Beth Meyerand

Job Titles:
  • Title
Meyerand's focus areas as associate dean are academic affairs, including admissions and academic planning, and enhancing faculty mentoring of graduate students along with graduate student mentor and mentee training. She also serves on the Graduate School's leadership team and on the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee. Meyerand's previous leadership in graduate education at UW-Madison includes directing the graduate programs in the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering and serving as principal investigator and director of T32 training programs. Since 2019, Meyerand has been the faculty director of the Science and Medicine Graduate Research Scholars community, which supports underrepresented graduate students across 38 departments in five schools and colleges. Since 2014, Meyerand has been a master trainer for the National Research Mentoring Network, providing training in effective research mentoring strategies and the establishment of mentoring programs. She has also served as a facilitator for the Delta Program in the Graduate School's research mentor learning communities. Beth Meyerand Position title: Associate Dean, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Departments of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Email: memeyerand@wisc.edu Address: 217 Bascom Hall

Bob Mathieu

Job Titles:
  • Faculty Co - Director

Dante Fratta

Job Titles:
  • Faculty Co - Director
  • Associate Professor of Geological Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering

Dean Beth

Job Titles:
  • Associate

Dean Florence Hsia

Job Titles:
  • Associate Dean
  • Title
Hsia is an Associate Dean in the Graduate School, providing advice and input to the Dean of the Graduate School regarding programmatic and graduate education issues. Hsia concurrently serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Arts and Humanities in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, providing leadership for arts and humanities and interdisciplinary research across campus. As Associate Dean, Hsia participates in review considerations for arts and humanities programs and assists with other Graduate School initiatives related to the arts and humanities. Other responsibilities include direct interaction with graduate program leadership in the arts and humanities, serving as a member of the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee, participating in Graduate School leadership meetings, and chairing the arts and humanities component of the annual Graduate Student Support Competition.

Dean William J. Karpus

Job Titles:
  • Dean
  • Principal Investigator
  • Associate Dean Marcy Carlson
  • Dean of the Graduate School / Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
  • Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Is Pictured on Oct. 2, 2024
  • Title: Dean of the Graduate School, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
As Dean of the Graduate School, Karpus provides leadership for all aspects of the graduate student experience, from recruitment through graduation, and serves as a campus-wide leader in graduate education. He is responsible for approximately 11,000 graduate students in over 180 master's/specialist and over 120 doctoral fields of study. William Karpus, dean of the Graduate School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is pictured on Oct. 2, 2024.

Debbie Klimek

Job Titles:
  • Application Review Specialist

Elaine Goetz-Berman

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Student Assistance Specialist

Elena Hsu

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Degree Coordinator

Elizabeth Hart

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director for Career Services

Eric Lynne

Job Titles:
  • Admissions Business Analyst

Foram Gathia

Job Titles:
  • Education Leadership Project Assistant

Irina Diaz

Job Titles:
  • Fellowship Manager

Jenna Alsteen

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean for Academic Analysis, Planning and Assessment
  • Title

Jessica Maher

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director of Delta

Jules Whitaker

Job Titles:
  • Research Mentor Training Specialist

Katie Bourassa

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director of Admissions
  • Title

Kipp Cox

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Dean for Academic Services
  • Title

Laura Linde

Job Titles:
  • Student Records and Curricular Specialist

Lorena Kemen

Job Titles:
  • Academic Planner

Luke Stavedahl

Job Titles:
  • Education Leadership Project Assistant

Marcia (Marcy) J. Carlson

Job Titles:
  • Dean
  • Associate Dean Marcy Carlson
  • Title
The associate dean's responsibilities focus on the graduate student experience and the allocation of resources supporting graduate education. As associate dean, Carlson's focus areas include PhD student funding guarantees, funding allocation methods, and encouraging external fellowship applications. She also serves on the Graduate School leadership team and the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee. With respect to graduate education, Carlson has mentored numerous doctoral students, served on many dissertation committees, and regularly taught graduate seminars. She served for five years as principal investigator (PI) of CDE's National Institutes of Health (NIH) T32 training grant in demography, after serving for four years as the UW-Madison Center for Demography and Ecology Associate Director for Training, where she coordinated funding and training for more than 40 PhD students from multiple disciplines. She has also worked with colleagues from five other universities to develop a National Institutes of Health-funded program, called ‘NextGenPop', focused on bringing scholars from underrepresented backgrounds into population research and graduate education.

Meghan Chua

Job Titles:
  • Communications Specialist

Nick Sigmund

Job Titles:
  • Research and Policy Analyst

Peter Kinsley

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research and Policy Analyst

Rachel Irving

Job Titles:
  • Executive Assistant to the Dean

Skye Xollo

Job Titles:
  • Education Leadership Project Assistant

Trina McMahon

Job Titles:
  • Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Bacteriology