About Jennifer 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 recently launched an ambitious cross-campus initiative called Wisconsin RISE (Research, Innovation, and Scholarly Excellence) to expand educational opportunities and research at UW–Madison around significant, complex challenges affecting Wisconsin and the world.

She also has championed initiatives to increase access to UW–Madison, creating Bucky’s Pell Pathway, under which the university pledges to meet the full financial need of Wisconsin-resident undergraduates who qualify for Pell Grants. Nearly one-quarter of in-state undergraduates are now covered by one of the university’s full-need programs.

In 2024, she announced the most comprehensive environmental sustainability initiative in UW–Madison’s history and unveiled a new strategic vision to foster entrepreneurship and innovation across campus.

Prior to coming to Wisconsin, Chancellor Mnookin 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. She served on the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s (NASEM) Committee on Science, Technology and Law, and recently co-chaired a NASEM report on Facial Recognition Technologies.

She received her AB from Harvard University, her JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in history and social study of science and technology from MIT. She 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.