David Ward

As a geographer, he is a recognized authority in urban history and has pioneered research on English and American cities during their rapid growth of the 19th and early 20th centuries. His books have helped define the changes in land use and spatial arrangements of people and employment during the course of industrialization and especially the ramifications of the ethnic diversity of cityward migrants.

As provost and as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he provided strong leadership for efforts to improve the quality of undergraduate education. Changes inspired by him include enhanced student advising and increased opportunities for undergraduates to conduct research .He also pioneered clustered faculty appointments as a concrete step to promote inter-departmental collaborations. During his tenure, he also gave new expression to The Wisconsin Idea, the venerable philosophical framework for the university's public service role.

From 2000-2008 he served as President of the American Council on Education, the primary co-ordinating association for representing the full range of higher education institutions to the Congress, the media and the public. In addition, he stressed international connections with other national higher education systems and also the policy and management issues related to the rapidly shifting compositions of higher education revenues.

He served an encore term as Chancellor at UW-Madison from 2011 to 2013 and used that opportunity to explore the potentialities of new learning technologies. It was also an opportunity to experience the challenges of leadership transitions in an era of rapidly changing revenue sources. He currently sustains those interests in retirement.