Jennifer L. Mnookin (born 1967) is an American legal scholar and academic serving as the tenth chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison since 2022.
[12] She was the primary investigator for a National Institute of Justice project that sought to develop objective metrics for measuring the difficulty of fingerprint comparisons.
[15][16] Mnookin co-chaired a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) study assessing the current capabilities, future possibilities, societal implications, and governance of facial recognition technologies.
In January 2024, NASEM published the study group’s report,[17] which called for the federal government to take action addressing privacy, equity and civil liberties concerns in light of facial recognition technology capabilities that have outpaced laws and regulations.
As Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mnookin has focused on student access, expanding research and education, and championing pluralism and civil dialogue.
Mnookin has championed open, civil dialog and pluralism on campus, encouraging students to engage across difference to expand their understanding of each other and the broader world.
In 2023, she supported a pilot program, Deliberation Dinners, which provides undergraduates the opportunity to discuss and debate important political and social issues over monthly dinners with ideologically and demographically diverse peers, along with Badger Dialogues, gatherings of students from different identity groups to provide direct feedback.
[23] The program’s focus is research and education in three areas: artificial intelligence (RISE-AI), sustainability and resilience (RISE-EARTH) and improving wellbeing across the healthspan (RISE-THRIVE).
[25] On April 29, 2024, students and community members established an encampment on Library Mall to protest the ongoing war in Gaza.
[28] Campus leaders asked protesters multiple times[29] over several days to bring their demonstration into conformity with the law, which prohibits camping on UW grounds.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester praised Mnookin on X, "for doing the right thing by enforcing campus policies and standing up to the unruly mob.
I’ve heard of both students and community members bleeding, clothes being torn, with safety being just an afterthought.” Govindarajan represents the UW campus area on City Council.