CHAMPAIGN — Chancellor Phyllis Wise said Tuesday that she's proud of the University of Illinois for its proactive handling of a law school data problem; she was aware of an earlier scandal, Category I, but it didn't figure into her decision to join Illinois; and promised to go on a listening tour of the campus.

"I want to build on the strengths of the university" by listening to a wide variety of people in the community about what they'd like to see, and what they'd like to leave behind here, Wise said in an interview with The News-Gazette in her Swanlund Building office. "I want to know what their passions are."

She noted that she is a permanent chancellor. On her second day in office, Wise, 66, said she intends to stay longer than the five years required to gain a $100,000-a-year bonus.

(She will earn $500,000 as chancellor, slightly more than she received as provost at the University of Washington.)

After 32 straight years of National Institutes of Health grants, Wise said, she will not be conducting research in her field, which includes women's health.

She and companion Richard Meisinger have moved to a home in mid-town Champaign. In his new job, he will report to the Vice President for Research.

Meisinger was an assistant dean at the University of Washington School of Medicine and also worked with Wise when they were at the University of California-Davis.

They've been together for nine years.

Wise has already been to her first Illini game, one of the best in recent memory, with a come-from-behind victory over Northwestern.

"I helped coach it," she jokes.

As provost at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wise displayed formidable negotiating skills.

She persuaded the Washington Legislature to allow her university and other state schools to set their own tuition rates, instead of state lawmakers.

The new authority led to large tuition increases (UW's tuition is still lower than the UI's, Wise said). But some of that tuition money has been set aside for student scholarships — something she endorses here.

Wise said she'll stay on the board of Nike Inc., which was the main controversy during her time at Washington.

In 2009, UW senators drafted a resolution asking her to step down from the board of directors. The faculty leaders argued that there was a conflict of interest with Wise, as chief academic officer of the university, being financially compensated by Nike, which they argued violated the UW code of conduct by failing to pay severance to factory employees in Honduras.

"I kept a firewall between Nike and UW, and I will continue to do so at the UI," she said. "I will not bring it to the fore here."

The chancellor said she is upholding her social responsibility by serving as Nike's chair for corporate responsibility.

In turn, Nike is committed to her, funding a campaign to woo shareholders to vote to keep her on the board.

The first female president of the University of Washington, and now one of three female chancellors in the UI system, Wise is used to being a leader from the front.

At Illinois, she's already looking for replacements for interim Provost Richard Wheeler and interim Vice Chancellor for Research Ravi Iyer.

She said the law school problem, which the UI has been investigating since August, is a good example of how a university can respond quickly, openly and responsibly to a failure in the system.

"I think the campus sets an example" for other universities, she said.

The UI has corrected the inflated scores, and the American Bar Association has already been here to investigate the issue, which the UI self-reported in August, she said.

In the past 10 years of College of Law test scores and grade point averages, the UI has found that inaccurate data were reported for four of those years.

Paul Pless, assistant dean for admissions in the law school, has been place on administrative leave.

When she was serving as interim Washington president and Robert Easter was serving as interim Urbana chancellor, she knew of the Category I admission scandal, wherein students with political connection were pushed for admission.

Wise said the scandal did not dissuade her from taking on the Urbana job, in small part because she believes the UI "may not be the only place where this happened."

She said she was setting out on an intensive learning mission which will begin a lengthy "listening and learning tour" where she will meet with the Urbana community, including students and staff, in small groups.

Wise expanded on that mission in a campuswide email this week:

"I want to learn about what is important to you, what you are passionate about, what you believe makes the university distinctive, what our core values are and what might need to change."

More of Wise's interview will be in Sunday's News-Gazette.