By Laurel White

The UW–Madison School of Education recently celebrated its newest endowed chair position: the Patricia Busk Department Chair in Educational Psychology. 

Funded by longtime School of Education supporters Patricia and Michael Busk, the new endowed chair will provide sustained support to the School of Education’s No. 1-ranked Department of Educational Psychology. The inaugural endowed chair is Professor Jennifer Asmus, who has led the Department of Educational Psychology since 2024.

At an investiture ceremony last month, Dean Marcelle Haddix lauded the Busks’ support as “an investment in people and possibilities.” 

“An endowed chair is one of the most meaningful investments a donor can make to a university,” Haddix said. “It provides lasting support for leadership, scholarship, mentorship, and innovation. It helps departments attract and retain exceptional faculty, like many of those in the room today, and creates opportunities that benefit students for generations.”

Patricia and Michael Busk’s other investments in the School of Education have included a named professorship in quantitative methods and an ongoing travel fellowship fund. Patricia Busk is a School of Education alumna who earned her doctoral degree from the Department of Educational Psychology in 1976. She recently retired after an academic career that included more than 40 years on the faculty at the University of San Francisco. 

In her remarks, Asmus recognized the impact of Patricia Busk’s career, including her dedication to mentorship and her highly regarded research in meta-analysis, nonparametric methods, randomization tests, test construction, and performance assessment.

“And it all started with her dissertation in our department back in 1976,” Asmus noted. “A copy of her dissertation can be found up on the eighth floor (of the Educational Sciences Building), and it is worth a read!”

Asmus said the endowed chair will enable her, in collaboration with faculty, graduate students, and staff across the department, to continue advancing excellence in teaching, research, and service. The Department of Educational Psychology’s cutting-edge scholarship has three overarching areas of focus:

• education-related theory and methodology,
• the biological, psychological, technological, and social processes of learning, development, and mental health in diverse populations, and
• examining ways to enhance learning and mental health in educational communities and contexts.

Asmus, the first woman to serve as chair of the department, said she is proud to be the first to hold the title honoring an exceptional alumna. 

“I want to close by stating how honored we are to carry forward Patricia’s meaningful life’s work in academia through this lasting legacy,” Asmus said. “Her endowed chair will help us maintain the progress we’ve made while supporting the purpose, impact, and future of our No. 1 Department of Educational Psychology.”

Haddix aims to fund endowed chairs across all 10 departments in the School of Education. Last year, the first endowed chair was created in the Department of Counseling Psychology.