How do we measure the true output of a major research university? Often, we look to grant totals, breakthrough publications, or student graduation rates. Yet, these metrics represent only the final, visible layer of an immense, complex administrative architecture. The real question is: what sustains the environment that makes this level of scholarly production possible?
The College of Letters & Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently addressed this by naming the recipients of its 2025-26 University Staff Awards. While the awards highlight individual excellence in effectiveness, innovation, and leadership, the underlying reality is that these staff members function as the essential stabilizers of an unpredictable academic environment.
Managing the Friction of Academic Evolution
For Kristine Schultz, the Department Administrator in the Department of Anthropology, excellence is defined by her ability to bridge the gap between traditional academic workflows and the mandates of modern digital infrastructure. When the university adopted Workday—a campus-wide software system for HR, research, and budgeting—many units faced significant operational friction. Schultz’s success in managing this transition, combined with her strategic shift toward a year-long course-planning model, has demonstrably reduced scheduling inequities for faculty and teaching assistants. As Sissel Schroeder, the Bradshaw Knight Professor of Environmental Humanities, noted, the department’s functionality rests on these administrative pivots.
Resilience in the Face of Physical Infrastructure Failure
In the Department of Chemistry, the challenges are not just digital, but structural. Jeff Nielsen, the building manager, oversees the Chemistry Complex, which includes the Shain Research Tower, the Daniels Wing, the Mathews Wing, and the new Chemistry Tower. Managing these spaces is not merely a matter of maintenance; it involves mitigating high-stakes hazards. Nielsen’s track record includes navigating a 2019 flood that shuttered multiple floors, the university-wide COVID shutdown, and a 2022 failure of the air-handling system that disabled two buildings. These events underscore a vital limitation: scientific research is only as resilient as the infrastructure that houses it. Without proactive, on-call management, the sophisticated laboratory work required for high-level research would be periodically—and catastrophically—interrupted.
The Administrative Engine of Talent Acquisition
The recruitment of top-tier researchers is another area where staff effort directly influences institutional output. Kathryn Wood, an Administrative Assistant in the Department of Chemistry, manages a pipeline of 250 to 400 applicants annually. The logistics of coordinating these searches—arranging interviews and gathering materials—are what allow faculty to focus on the intellectual, rather than clerical, requirements of hiring. Similarly, Molly Moen, the assistant to department chair C. Shawn Green in the Department of Psychology, manages the administrative needs of nearly a dozen faculty administrators. These roles represent the "administrative ecosystem," a term used by Sam Pazicni, an assistant professor of chemistry, to describe the stable, dependable environment necessary for scholarly discovery.
Limitations to Consider
While these awards serve as a formal recognition of individual contribution, they also highlight a systemic dependency. The institutional reliance on specific, highly skilled individuals to "make things happen" suggests that the current administrative model may be vulnerable to personnel turnover. If the success of these departments is contingent upon the unique, creative problem-solving of individuals like Wood or Nielsen, the university must consider how to formalize these processes so that institutional knowledge is not lost when these staff members move on.
Future Research and Next Steps
Moving forward, the effectiveness of these departments will likely be tested by the ongoing integration of new software systems and the physical demands of modernizing legacy laboratory spaces. For instance, Nielsen is currently supervising the renovation of a sub-basement into a specialized lab requiring precise environmental controls. The next reading of institutional performance—specifically, how these departments adapt to the next wave of campus-wide software updates and the successful integration of newly recruited faculty—will show whether these administrative structures are sufficiently robust to handle the increasing complexity of 21st-century academic research.
