Robin A. Douthitt served as dean of the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 2001 to 2012, a tenure marked by sustained academic growth, expanded community engagement, and the transformation of the school’s physical home. She joined the UW–Madison faculty in 1986 as an assistant professor of Consumer Science, having completed her PhD in microeconomics at Cornell University and previously serving on the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan.
In 1999, when the school’s previous dean stepped down, Chancellor David Ward asked Douthitt to serve as interim dean at a critical moment — enrollment was declining, funding was uncertain, and the school’s future as a distinct academic unit was far from secure. She stepped forward, and after more than a year in the interim role, her appointment as dean was made permanent in 2001 by Chancellor John Wiley, who noted that she was “well-known and well-respected throughout the campus and community.” The school she took on was historically ranked among the top five human ecology programs in the nation; her charge was to maintain that standing while expanding its reach and relevance.
A productive scholar throughout her career, Douthitt’s research addressed child support policy, consumer attitudes toward agricultural biotechnology, and methods for assigning economic value to unpaid labor — work grounded in microeconomic analysis and oriented toward real-world policy impact. She was affiliated with the UW–Madison Institute for Research on Poverty and recognized with a number of distinguished scholarly honors: She was named a UW–Madison Vilas Associate in 1997, appointed the first Vaughan Bascom Professor of Women and Philanthropy in 1999, received the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Cabinet 99 Faculty and Staff Recognition Award in 2000, and was named a Distinguished Fellow by the American Council on Consumer Interests in 2002.
Beyond her research, Douthitt was a committed advocate for women and families on campus and beyond. She founded the UW–Madison Women Faculty Mentoring Program in 1989, which measurably improved retention of female faculty across the university and became a model for peer institutions nationwide. She also championed the Nancy Denney House, the nation’s first cooperative residence for undergraduate single parents and their children, and served on the UW–Madison Athletic Board as a faculty representative to the Big Ten.
As dean, Douthitt oversaw a decade of growth in research productivity and academic programming while leading the school’s most ambitious undertaking: the renovation and expansion of its home on Linden Drive. The resulting Nancy Nicholas Hall, a $52.5 million facility and the first school/college building at UW–Madison named for a woman, doubled the school’s footprint and brought all of its programs together under one roof for the first time. The project was completed through a decade-long philanthropic campaign drawing on hundreds of individual donors.
Upon her retirement, the School of Human Ecology established the Robin A. Douthitt Graduate Teaching Fellowship, funded through the Robin A. Douthitt 100 Women Fund. The fellowship supports PhD students in gaining classroom teaching experience under faculty mentorship, reflecting Douthitt’s longstanding commitment to graduate education and the development of the next generation of scholars.
