Judy Goldsmith previously served as UW-Fond du Lac CEO/ Campus Dean from 1993 to 2002 and has recently come out of retirement to lead the campus again as Interim CEO/Dean.

Goldsmith assumed the leadership of the campus on July 1, 2009 and will serve for up to a year as the campus searches for a replacement for Dr. Daniel Blankenship, the previous campus dean, who has left to take a position at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee.

Goldsmith, a past national president of the National Organization for Women, also currently serves on the Fond du Lac County Board of Supervisors.

Goldsmith is a Wisconsin native, having grown up in Two Rivers in the lakeshore area. After getting a Master’s degree in English at the University of New York in Buffalo, she taught English for 15 years, first in Buffalo and then returning to Wisconsin to teach in Manitowoc, before becoming involved in the National Organization for Women.

She served in leadership positions at the local and state level of NOW, then was elected to the national board of directors, after which she moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as executive vice president and finally as national president of the organization (1982-1986), addressing women’s issues in appearances before Congress and on national network news shows such as the Today Show and Meet the Press.

On returning to Wisconsin in 1991, Goldsmith served as special consultant to the Chancellor for gender equity and diversity at her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In addition to her administrative responsibilities, she also taught undergraduate and graduate classes in gender communication in the Communications Department.

Two years later, she took the position as CEO/Campus Dean of UW-Fond du Lac, a position she held for nine years until her retirement in 2002. While serving as Dean and in subsequent years, she also taught courses in gender communication, women’s studies, and English.

It was during her previous tenure at the campus that a $13 million renovation project was completed that transformed UW-Fond du Lac with the addition of a two-story University Center including a commons, music suite, library and 340-seat Prairie Theater along with the complete updating of all science labs and classrooms. The renovation project was completed in 2000.

Goldsmith, 70, is a native of Wisconsin, where she knew poverty as a child in a working class home. She and her four brothers and sisters were supported by their divorced mother, who worked in factories for 25 years. A scholarship allowed her to attend college, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English at Wisconsin State College at Stevens Point (now UW-SP), and a master's degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Read Dean Goldsmith's 40th anniversary reflectons.