MADISON, WI (WSAU) – Interim UW System president Tommy Thompson is resigning effective March 18th.
The former governor had served in the role during the COVID pandemic, where campuses shifted to online learning and gradually reopened with new testing and vaccination protocols.
In a letter released on Friday, Thompson said he’ll spend his final months working on UW legislative priorities and making a farewell tour of the system’s campuses. “My mother was Irish, so I take my leave with mixed emotions and an everlasting affection for this institution I have been proud to lead,” Thompson said in his resignation letter.
Board of Regents President Edmund Manydeeds III issued a statement saying “We are proud of what he accomplished in his time here and consider him, as always, a lifelong friend of the University of Wisconsin.”
Thompson, 80, championed funding increases and building projects for the UW system when he served as governor. As interim president, Thompson sometimes sparred with the legislature over UW budgets and policies.
He is also a graduate of UW-Madison and the UW School of Law.
