Jennifer L. Mnookin

Jennifer L. Mnookin is the 30th leader in the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s 176-year history, and one of the nation’s top legal scholars.

Chancellor Mnookin is dedicated to pushing boundaries to bring the university to new levels of excellence in research and education, and to energizing and expanding the Wisconsin Idea, UW–Madison’s commitment to innovating for the public good.

She is committed to expanding educational opportunities and research at UW–Madison around significant, complex challenges affecting Wisconsin and the world, and to increasing access to the university through Bucky’s Pell Pathway and Bucky’s Tuition Promise, which have significantly expanded the number of in-state students receiving funding to cover their full financial need.

During Chancellor Mnookin’s tenure, the university has been designated as a national center for innovation and economic prosperity and recognized as the number one public university in the country for opening the doors to opportunity for its graduates.

Prior to coming to Wisconsin, she served as dean of the UCLA School of Law, where she spent 17 years on the faculty. Before that, she was a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law and a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School.

Chancellor Mnookin is a nationally recognized scholar on the intersection of law and science, and recently co-chaired an expert report on facial recognition technologies for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

She received her AB from Harvard University, her JD from Yale Law School, a PhD in history and social study of science and technology from MIT, and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

She and her husband, political scientist Joshua Foa Dienstag, have two adult children