Upon joining the college faculty in 1879, Van Hise began collaborating with his former geology professor, Roland Irving, on a study of the Pre-Cambrian rock of northern Wisconsin.

Four years later, he completed and presented reports to the USGS in seven volumes which served as Van Hise's doctoral dissertation.

[1] Van Hise retired from teaching and research and was elected by the Board of Regents to become the president of the University of Wisconsin on April 21, 1903.

He succeeded Charles K. Adams, who had died in 1901, and Edward A. Birge, who had served as acting president for the prior two years.

During his tenure, UW's medical college was established, the number of faculty doubled and the university's revenue increased fourfold.

"[5] Writing in After Seven Years, his 1939 account of his role as an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Raymond Moley credited Van Hise with the underlying philosophy of the New Deal's National Industrial Recovery Act, stating: "The source of that philosophy, as I've suggested earlier, was Van Hise's Concentration and Control, and it was endlessly discussed, from every angle, during the 'brain trust' days.