Rebecca Blank

American economist (1955–2023)

Not to be confused with Rebecca Black.

Rebecca Blank

Official portrait, 2009

11th Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison
In office
July 22, 2013 – June 1, 2022
Preceded by| David Ward (interim)
Biddy Martin
Succeeded by|

* John Scholz (acting)
* Jennifer Mnookin

United States Secretary of Commerce

Acting

In office
June 11, 2012 – June 1, 2013
President| Barack Obama
Preceded by| John Bryson
Succeeded by| Cameron Kerry (acting)
In office
August 1, 2011 – October 21, 2011
President| Barack Obama
Preceded by| Gary Locke
Succeeded by| John Bryson
United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce
In office
November 18, 2010[a] – June 1, 2013
President| Barack Obama
Preceded by| Dennis Hightower
Succeeded by| Bruce H. Andrews
Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
In office
June 9, 2009 – March 29, 2012
President| Barack Obama
Preceded by| Cynthia Glassman
Succeeded by| Mark Doms
Personal details
Born|

Rebecca Margaret Blank

(1955-09-19)September 19, 1955
Columbia, Missouri, U.S.
Died| February 17, 2023(2023-02-17) (aged 67)
Fitchburg, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party| Democratic
Spouse|

Hanns Kuttner

(m. 1994)​

Children| 1
Education|

* University of Minnesota (BA)
* Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA, PhD)

a. ^ Acting until March 29, 2012

Rebecca Margaret Blank[1] (September 19, 1955 – February 17, 2023) was an American economist and academic administrator. She was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 2013 to 2022. She served in several senior roles in the United States Department of Commerce during the presidency of Barack Obama, including more than a year as acting United States Secretary of Commerce.

## Personal life and background[edit]

Blank was born on September 19, 1955, in Columbia, Missouri, and grew up in Roseville, Minnesota.[2][3] She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a degree in economics and earned a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4]

Blank married Hanns Kuttner in 1994, and they had a daughter.[2]

In 2022, Blank fell ill while vacationing in Europe, and was subsequently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She died at a hospice facility in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, on February 17, 2023, at the age of 67.[2][5][6]

## Career[edit]

Blank was the Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. From 1997 to 1999, Blank was a member of Council of Economic Advisers in the 1990s during the Clinton Administration, participating in White House decision-making on economic, social, and regulatory policy issues.[7]

Blank was a professor of economics at Northwestern University and director of the University of Chicago–Northwestern University Joint Center for Poverty Research. She also taught at Princeton University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4]

### Department of Commerce[edit]

Blank in 2012 with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan

During the Obama Administration, Blank joined the U.S. Commerce Department in June 2009 as Secretary Gary Locke's principal economic advisor in her role as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs and head of the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA). ESA oversees the two premier statistical agencies in the United States: the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. She also served as Locke's appointed Board Representative to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.[7]

During her service at ESA, Blank played an important role in overseeing a decennial Census operation that was both timely and under budget – netting $1.6 billion in 2010 savings. Within ESA, she supervised a staff of economists and policy analysts who produced various reports and forecasts that helped develop and assess domestic and international policy.[7]

On November 18, 2010, United States Department of Commerce announced that Blank would become its Acting Deputy Secretary. In that role, she focused on management and policy matters for the department's 12 bureaus, functioning as Commerce's chief operating officer.[8] Her management roles were overseeing nearly 45,000 employees and also a $10 billion budget.[9]

In late 2011, President Obama nominated Blank as Deputy Secretary of Commerce. The United States Senate confirmed her to the post on March 29, 2012, by unanimous consent.[10]

Blank became the Acting Secretary of Commerce for the first time on August 1, 2011, after Gary Locke became U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China.[11] President Obama nominated John Bryson and on October 21, 2011, he became the 37th Secretary of Commerce. At the same time, Blank was designated the Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce.[12]

Blank was designated Acting Secretary of Commerce a second time on June 11, 2012. Incumbent Secretary John Bryson took a medical leave of absence following his citation on felony hit-and-run charges. He transferred his powers to Blank for an undetermined length of time.[13] A Department of Commerce spokesperson said he had suffered a seizure.[14]

On March 18, 2013, Blank announced that she was leaving the Obama administration to become chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following her resignation, Cameron Kerry was designated as Acting Secretary of Commerce, pending the Senate confirmation of Penny Pritzker.[15]

### University of Wisconsin–Madison[edit]

It was announced on February 21, 2013, that Blank was one of four finalists for the position of Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[16] A special committee of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents recommended her for the position on March 18. She announced that she would accept the position the same day. The full Board of Regents unanimously confirmed Blank as chancellor on April 5, and she began as chancellor on July 22.[17][18] Blank was previously a finalist for the position in 2008, when Carolyn "Biddy" Martin was selected as Chancellor.[19]

Throughout her time as Chancellor, Blank had to contend with an in-state undergraduate tuition freeze, in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to state funding.[20] She additionally worked to minimize faculty departures following the removal of statutory tenure protections by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Legislature[20] as well as legislation shifting away power from a long established faculty/student shared governance arrangement to the politically-appointed Board of Regents.[20] Blank implemented full-tuition scholarship programs for Wisconsin students whose families earn less than $60,000 annually and presided over substantial increases in both the size of the Freshman class and the 4–6 year graduation rates for undergraduate students.[20]

Blank engaged in several efforts to highlight the history of marginalized populations at the university, which included the establishment of a Public History Project and efforts to acknowledge the Ho-Chunk Nation, on whose ancestral land the UW-Madison campus sits,[21] as well as the presence of Divine Nine fraternities and sororities on campus.[22] Despite record increases in student body and faculty diversity, Blank came under criticism from student activists for the perceived efficacy of these changes on campus climate, as well as her responsiveness to calls for the removal of a statue of Abraham Lincoln because of his role in the genocide of indigenous populations.[23] She also faced criticism for the removal of a campus landmark that had been historically referred to by a racial epithet,[24] as well as the renaming of the university's Fredric March Play Circle because of its namesake's brief membership as an undergraduate in the "Ku Klux Klan" an interfraternity society composed of leading students formed at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1919 and 1920 which is not believed to have been affiliated with the white supremacist organization of the same name. The University report that found no evidence of an affiliation with the KKK also said that “Still, the ... choice of a name signals an identification—or, at the very least, no meaningful discomfort—with the widely known violent actions of the Reconstruction-era Klan as it was remembered, celebrated and given new cultural and institutional life in the early 20th century,”[25][26] Blank defended both moves in a New York Times opinion letter, written in response to conservative linguist John McWhorter, arguing that "Universities are not static places; they live and breathe, grow and change and reinvent themselves with new energy and approaches every fall, as new students arrive ... if we do not acknowledge both the good and the bad parts of our history, we cannot construct a better present for current students, or future for the next generation."[27]

She completed a $4 billion fundraising campaign called "All Ways Forward", the largest in school history,[20] and set in motion long-delayed campus building projects that have included a new academic home for the College of Letters and Science,[28] a new School of Music performance center,[29] and a home for the newly established School of Computer, Data, and Information Sciences.[30] However, Blank was unable to secure borrowing ability for UW-Madison, something its peer institutions were able to do.[20] She was also unable to secure a pledge of $100 million by Foxconn to provide funding for a new research building at the College of Engineering.[31] Foxconn had previously agreed to such a pledge as part of its proposed $10 billion investment in manufacturing in Wisconsin, which they have since reduced significantly, and without an agreed upon schedule of payments to UW-Madison.[31]

In January 2023, it was announced that the Public History Project, a limited initiative that Blank had championed to investigate the university's history of bigotry and exclusion, would be made permanent and renamed the Rebecca M. Blank Center for Campus History.[32]

### Northwestern University[edit]

It was announced on October 11, 2021, that Blank would become the next president of Northwestern University.[33] Blank was to succeed Morton Schapiro in the summer of 2022. Jennifer Mnookin, dean of the UCLA School of Law, was selected to replace Blank as UW chancellor.[34]

However, on July 11, 2022, Blank announced that she would not be able to assume the role, following her cancer diagnosis.[35][36] Former UCLA and University of Chicago Law dean Michael H. Schill, then serving as president of the University of Oregon, ultimately became Northwestern's next president.[37]

## Publications[edit]

Blank wrote extensively on the interaction between the macro economy, the labor market, government social policy programs, and the behavior and well-being of low-income families. In addition to publishing numerous books, including It Takes a Nation: A New Agenda for Fighting Poverty (Princeton University Press, 1997), which won the Richard A. Lester Award for the Outstanding Book in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations,[38] she authored almost 100 scholarly articles.[5] Her other notable works include Changing Inequality (University of California Press, 2011), Insufficient Funds: Savings, Assets, Credit, and Banking Among Low-Income Families (jointly written with Michael Barr, Russell Sage Press, 2009), and Is the Market Moral? (co-authored with William McGurn, Brookings Press, 2004).[39]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "S.Hrg. 111–429 — NOMINATIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AND THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE". www.congress.gov. Archived from the original on April 30, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
2. ^ a b c Traub, Alex (March 9, 2023). "Rebecca Blank, Who Changed How Poverty Is Measured, Dies at 67". The New York Times. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
3. ^ "CURRICULUM VITAE". Archived from the original on September 18, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
4. ^ a b "Rebecca Blank's Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
5. ^ a b Wethal, Kimberly. "Former UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank dies at 67". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
6. ^ "Remembering Rebecca Blank, Former UW–Madison Chancellor". Remembering Rebecca Blank. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023.
7. ^ a b c Commerce. "Rebecca M. Blank". Department of Commerce Official Biography. Archived from the original on July 1, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
8. ^ Commerce. "Commerce Department Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Rebecca Blank Named Acting Deputy Secretary". Department of Commerce Press Releases. Archived from the original on September 10, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
9. ^ "Rebecca M. Blank | The Hamilton Project". www.hamiltonproject.org. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
10. ^ "Becky Blank confirmed as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs". The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. May 26, 2009. Archived from the original on June 18, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
11. ^ Department of Commerce. "Secretary Locke Resigns, Becomes Next Ambassador to China; Acting Deputy Secretary Blank Assumes Role of Acting Secretary". Department of Commerce blog. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
12. ^ "Press Release, John Bryson Sworn In as 37th Secretary of Commerce" (Press release). October 21, 2011. Archived from the original on October 9, 2017.
13. ^ "White House: Bryson to take medical leave". USA Today. June 11, 2012. Archived from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
14. ^ "Commerce agency: Secretary John Bryson had seizure linked to crashes". The Los Angeles Times. June 11, 2012. Archived from the original on June 11, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
15. ^ "John Kerry's brother, Cameron, to be acting Commerce secretary". Los Angeles Times. May 14, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
16. ^ "Regents panel recommends Rebecca Blank as next UW-Madison chancellor". University of Wisconsin-Madison. Archived from the original on March 21, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
17. ^ "Regents confirm Rebecca Blank as next UW-Madison chancellor" Archived February 18, 2023, at the Wayback Machine The Daily Cardinal. April 5, 2013.
18. ^ "Blank reaches out on first day as chancellor" Archived July 26, 2013, at the Wayback Machine University of Wisconsin. July 26, 2013.
19. ^ "Scott Walker says Rebecca Blank is a great pick for UW-Madison chancellor". The Capital Times. March 18, 2013. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
20. ^ a b c d e f "UW-Madison chancellor headed to Northwestern in 2022". Wisconsin State Journal. October 12, 2021. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
21. ^ "UW–Madison heritage marker honors Ho-Chunk, recognizes land as ancestral home".
22. ^ "Divine Nine plaza dedicated".
23. ^ "BIPOC Student Colation expresses disappointment in Chancellor Blank's dismissal od demands". The Badger Herald. October 13, 2020. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
24. ^ "Five things to know about NU President-elect Rebecca Blank". The Daily Northwestern. October 13, 2021. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
25. ^ "UW–Madison releases report on student organizations that took name of KKK in 1920s". news.wisc.edu. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
26. ^ "Eminent Historians Fault UWO on name change, say Fredric March was no racist but a civil rights superstar". Oshkosh Examiner. December 3, 2020. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
27. ^ "The University of Wisconsin, Race and History". The New York Times. September 22, 2021.
28. ^ "UW-Madison unveils new L&S Building as Levy Hall". The Daily Cardinal. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
29. ^ "Mead Witter School of Music's Hamel Music Center opening this fall". University of Wisconsin-Madison. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
30. ^ "University of Wisconsin Madison is constructing a computer science building". American School & University. September 21, 2021. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
31. ^ a b "Philanthropy News Digest". Archived from the original on August 12, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
32. ^ Erickson, Doug (January 26, 2023). "New center will build on work of university's Public History Project". University of Wisconsin-Madison. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023.
33. ^ "Northwestern University names new president". Crain's Chicago Business. October 11, 2021. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
34. ^ "Jennifer Mnookin named chancellor". University of Wisconsin–Madison. May 16, 2022. Archived from the original on November 12, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
35. ^ "Rebecca M. Blank shares cancer diagnosis, choice to step down as president-elect of Northwestern". news.northwestern.edu. Archived from the original on July 11, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
36. ^ Knox, Liam (July 12, 2022). "Northwestern president-elect resigns after cancer diagnosis". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
37. ^ Northwestern Now Staff (August 11, 2022). "Michael H. Schill named next president of Northwestern: President of the University of Oregon will become Northwestern president this fall". Northwestern Now. Northwestern University. Archived from the original on November 12, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
38. ^ The Deepwater drilling moratorium: a review of the Obama administration's economic impact analysis on U.S. small businesses: hearing before the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, second session, September 16, 2010. p. 27\. OCLC 882482939.
39. ^ McGurn, William; Blank, Rebecca M. (2003). Is the Market Moral?: A Dialogue on Religion, Economics and Justice. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-8157-9628-2.

* This article incorporates public domain material from Rebecca M. Blank, Acting Secretary of Commerce and Under Secretary for Economic Affairs. United States Government.

## External links[edit]

* Office of the Chancellor-University of Wisconsin-Madison
* Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices

Preceded by

Cynthia Glassman

|  Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
2009–2012  | Succeeded by

Mark Doms

Preceded by

Dennis Hightower

|  United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce
2010–2013  | Succeeded by

Patrick Gallagher
Acting

Preceded by

Gary Locke

|  United States Secretary of Commerce
Acting
2011  | Succeeded by

John Bryson

Preceded by

John Bryson

|  United States Secretary of Commerce
Acting
2012–2013  | Succeeded by

Cameron Kerry
Acting

Academic offices
Preceded by

David Ward
Acting

|  Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison
2013–2022  | Succeeded by

Jennifer Mnookin

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