Richard Wells is serving on the response panel. He took office in 2000 as the tenth Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from William Penn College, his M.A. from the University of Arkansas and his Ph.D. in Sociology from Texas A & M University.

Before Oshkosh, he had 18 years of college teaching experience including appointments at the University of South Alabama, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina before working at Indiana State University and West Chester University.

He is the author of "American Sociology: Theoretical and Methodological Structure" and of many scholarly articles, which have appeared in journals such as Sociology Inquiry, Rural Sociology, Criminology, and Research in Higher Education.

In the spring of 2001, Dr. wells received the John R. Emens National Award for Support of a Free Student Press from Ball State University for his efforts relating to preservation of the independence and autonomy of the "Advance-Titan," the student newspaper at UW Oshkosh.