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Emilee Rader, Information School professor and expert in human-centered data privacy, has been named the inaugural associate dean for faculty affairs for the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence (CAI). 

Rader will lead faculty affairs for CAI, supporting faculty throughout their careers while developing the college-level policies, processes, and programs that underpin faculty success. Her portfolio spans recruitment and retention, promotion and tenure, professional development and mentoring, faculty governance, and other issues that may affect faculty across the college. 

“Emilee was part of some of the early work to shape the vision for our new college, and I was impressed not only by the depth of her expertise in the field, but by how thoughtfully she understands organizations and the people within them,” Founding Dean Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau said. “We’re very fortunate to have her taking on this role and helping us build an environment where our faculty can do their best work.” 

As CAI continues to grow, including plans to recruit 50 new faculty members, Rader will play a central role in building the college-level structures and support needed to support faculty and departments. 

Rader brings experience in academic leadership, industry, and interdisciplinary research to the role. Before joining UW–Madison, she served as associate chair of the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University. She has led multidisciplinary research teams since 2009 and previously worked at Motorola Labs, where she collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of researchers to design and evaluate applications for mobile technologies. 

Her research focuses on human-centered data privacy, including how people reason and make choices about data collection and how they can better protect themselves from privacy violations. Her work has received over $1.2 million in support from the National Science Foundation, and she is a recipient of the Computing Research Association’s Computing Innovation Fellowship.  

Rader brings some of the same systems thinking that informs her research to academic leadership, viewing policies, processes, and people as interconnected parts of the environment in which faculty work.  

“I see my role as helping make sure faculty have the resources, clarity, and environment they need to do their best work,” Rader said. “A big part of that, especially as I’m getting started, is listening. I want to hear from faculty across the college about what’s working, what isn’t, and how I can help.”  

Rader’s experience spans several disciplines and leading research universities, giving her experience with a range of academic environments and approaches to how universities support faculty. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from UW–Madison after beginning college as a vocal performance major at Indiana University. She later earned a professional master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute and a PhD from the University of Michigan School of Information. Rader also held appointments at Northwestern University and Michigan State University before returning to UW–Madison in 2023. 

Outside of academia, Rader is an avid hiker. Since returning to Wisconsin, she has hiked nearly 300 unique miles of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, with the eventual goal of completing the entire trail.

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