After turning 65 this year, Provost Madeline Wake said she probably will not miss working 60- to 70-hour weeks and knowing every little thing about the university by going through her usual 200 e-mails per day after she steps down from the position at the end of the month.

Wake said the provost job is basically a 24/7 position. The job description entails being responsible for academic affairs and institutional planning and providing vision and leadership for deans of the university. But Wake did much more during her five and a half years as provost.

After taking the provost position in 2002 at the request of University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild, the first task she accomplished was approve a Ph.D. program in nursing, which Wake said meant a lot to her because she came from such an extensive nursing background.

Wake said she never dreamed of becoming provost and originally was not crazy about the job. She said she wanted an external candidate to be chosen for the position because she did not want to leave nursing.

Wake was dean of the College of Nursing from 1993 to 2002.

But she took the job to do everything she could to move the university forward in all possible aspects. She said going into the job, she thought it would be a good experience because she likes to learn and she loves people and different cultures.

Wake said one accomplishment she is most proud of is increasing diversity at Marquette. The number of nonwhite students and faculty rose during her time as provost.

Along with diversity, Wake said Marquette's mission is to create leaders for a multicultural society.

"Am I satisfied? No way. We have a lot of work to do," Wake said. But she said the university has taken great strides in the right direction.

Another challenge Wake overcame was improving the Marquette faculty. Before she came in as provost, Wake said the university was losing important faculty members because salaries were too low.

"It's important that we have the best faculty for our students," Wake said.

To solve the problem, Wake helped raise salaries and incorporated a system of shared governance between the faculty and the administration. She was instrumental in revamping the University Academic Senate to improve communication between the administration and faculty.

Through good communication, Wake said ideas and suggestions can now be heard and addressed to prevent losing important faculty members.

"The faculty have soared," she said.

Kristy Nielson, chair of the Academic Senate and associate professor and assistant chair of psychology, worked with Wake in setting up the system.

"Because of her understanding of and respect for the faculty, she has made some of our prime concerns major goals during her administration," Nielson said in an e-mail.

Nielson said the restructured Academic Senate is "a brave and promising start" that the faculty owes to Wake.

In addition to establishing a system of shared governance, Nielson said she applauds Wake's enhancement of Marquette's scholarly reputation and how Wake made herself available to faculty needs and concerns.

"Her willingness to take risks to move us forward in research and scholarship will reap benefits in the future," Nielson said.

During her time as provost, Wake said she was also passionate about improving the university assessment system to show that the university is doing a good job as a whole and to provide evidence that quality learning takes place.

Wake said the university has a side fund that can be used to launch good ideas for new programs. She said she and her colleagues constantly tried to improve and set in motion programs to enhance Marquette students' education. One accomplishment was transforming the School of Education into the College of Education. The change will become official next year.

"If our students are hurting, we need to change that, and so we did," Wake said.

During her time as provost, funding for graduate research programs increased from $4 million to $8 million and total student enrollment increased from 10,800 to 11,500, Wake said.

She was also helpful in bringing to campus the "Vagina Monologues," a controversial play that was originally rejected by the administration. Wake said she helped because it is important to have controversy on college campuses. She said she loves demonstration because it brings classroom discussion to a higher level and it "means that people are alive."

But unfortunately Wake did not accomplish all of her goals as provost. She said her main regret was her inability to get Mandarin and Arabic language classes on campus after trying for three years. She said she will refuse to give up because the two are important and widely used languages in today's world.

Wake will step down as provost Dec. 31. She said she plans on coming back to Marquette as a professor after a one-year sabbatical because she wants to get back to the nursing field. She said she is especially looking forward to spending time with her grandchildren and reconnecting with former colleagues and alumni.

Upon stepping down, Wake said she feels that things are set in place for the university's success in the future.