Phyllis M. Wise is Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In this role, Dr. Wise is the chief executive officer campus and is responsible for the financial programs, campus policies, and priorities necessary to ensure that Illinois is a pre-eminent public research university with a land-grant mission and global impact. She and her leadership team work to ensure the faculty and staff have the resources to carry on cutting edge research and scholarship and that the students have a transformative educational experience. The Urbana-Champaign campus has an annual budget of $1.5 billion with more than $500 million in research expenditures. There are more than42,000 students and nearly 1,900 tenure-track faculty members. The university is renowned for its interdisciplinary collaborations, advances in human understanding, community outreach, global partnerships, and life-changing scientific developments. Prior to this appointment Dr. Wise was interim President of the University of Washington in 2010-2011. Before that appointment, she served as Provost and Executive Vice President at the University of Washington, a position she held for five years. Dr. Wise was dean of the College of Biological Sciences at the University of California-Davis for three years. Prior to that, she was professor and chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington from 1993 to 2001. Wise also was a faculty member at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, from 1976 to 1993, promoted through the ranks to full professor of physiology in 1987.
At Illinois Dr. Wise is continuing her research in issues concerning women’s health and gender-based biology. She has been particularly interested in whether hormones influence brains of women and men during development, during adulthood and during aging. She holds memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in the Institute of Medicine, and is also a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Wise also holds positions on the governing boards of Nike, Inc., Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and First Busey Corporation. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in biology and a doctorate degree in zoology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Wise also holds an honorary doctorate from Swarthmore College.
At Illinois Dr. Wise is continuing her research in issues concerning women’s health and gender-based biology. She has been particularly interested in whether hormones influence brains of women and men during development, during adulthood and during aging. She holds memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in the Institute of Medicine, and is also a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Wise also holds positions on the governing boards of Nike, Inc., Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and First Busey Corporation. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in biology and a doctorate degree in zoology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Wise also holds an honorary doctorate from Swarthmore College.
Welcome Message by Chancellor Wise
It is my great pleasure to join President Yang of National Taiwan University for this inaugural NTU-UIUC Global Issues Forum: Smart Cities/Healthy Cities. We have long recognized the special relationship between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and National University of Taiwan, two of the world’s pre-eminent public research universities. Among the many distinguished Illinois alumni here in Taipei, we are very proud of the more than 70 NTU faculty who earned their advanced degrees from UIUC. Their loyalty to their alma mater and ongoing ties to their former advisors and colleagues at Illinois have resulted in a robust and varied series of faculty-driven research collaborations and cooperative educational programs spanning disciplines from agricultural sciences, business, bio medical research, engineering, social work, and library and information sciences.
In our increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, all great research universities must be truly global in reach and impact. Our faculty, students, and alumni flow more freely than ever across borders; but, more importantly, all of the significant issues, challenges, and opportunities that we face—from climate change to food security, aging populations to sustainably energy—likewise cross borders, between nations and cultures, and between academic disciplines. In response, successful scientists, engineers and scholars
in today’s world must be equally adept at collaborating across disciplines and geographies.
This, for me, is the real source of excitement and energy underlying the Smart Cities/Healthy Cities forum. We have brought together a group of truly outstanding faculty experts, from both universities, to address a fascinating constellation of inter-related issues, challenges, and opportunities surrounding the quickly increasing urbanization of our world. Indeed, we couldn’t have a more timely topic. Earlier this year, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs noted that 54% of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected increase to 66 percent of 2050. It is anticipated that 90% of this growth in urban populations will take place here in Asia, and in Africa.
The Smart Cities/Healthy Cities forum is a unique opportunity to bring together leading faculty, and to share our work on a wide variety of issues related to sustainable urban growth and development, both from the perspective of technology and infrastructure, as well as from human factor considerations. More importantly, it affords our faculty with the opportunity to identify opportunities for ongoing collaborations, deepening the already significant web of interconnections between our two institutions—and between Chicago and Taipei, the two great urban centers we serve.
I look forward to a series of lively discussions over the coming days, and to hearing from our faculty about plans for moving forward from this forum, to collaborate more closely on this crucial global issues.
In our increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, all great research universities must be truly global in reach and impact. Our faculty, students, and alumni flow more freely than ever across borders; but, more importantly, all of the significant issues, challenges, and opportunities that we face—from climate change to food security, aging populations to sustainably energy—likewise cross borders, between nations and cultures, and between academic disciplines. In response, successful scientists, engineers and scholars
in today’s world must be equally adept at collaborating across disciplines and geographies.
This, for me, is the real source of excitement and energy underlying the Smart Cities/Healthy Cities forum. We have brought together a group of truly outstanding faculty experts, from both universities, to address a fascinating constellation of inter-related issues, challenges, and opportunities surrounding the quickly increasing urbanization of our world. Indeed, we couldn’t have a more timely topic. Earlier this year, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs noted that 54% of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected increase to 66 percent of 2050. It is anticipated that 90% of this growth in urban populations will take place here in Asia, and in Africa.
The Smart Cities/Healthy Cities forum is a unique opportunity to bring together leading faculty, and to share our work on a wide variety of issues related to sustainable urban growth and development, both from the perspective of technology and infrastructure, as well as from human factor considerations. More importantly, it affords our faculty with the opportunity to identify opportunities for ongoing collaborations, deepening the already significant web of interconnections between our two institutions—and between Chicago and Taipei, the two great urban centers we serve.
I look forward to a series of lively discussions over the coming days, and to hearing from our faculty about plans for moving forward from this forum, to collaborate more closely on this crucial global issues.
Phyllis M. Wise, Chancellor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign