Karl Scholz

19th President, University of Oregon

John Karl Scholz is the 19th president of the University of Oregon. He began his tenure on July 1, 2023, after the UO Board of Trustees unanimously selected him as president on March 13, 2023.

Prior to joining the UO, Scholz was the provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a position he had held since August of 2019. While at UW-Madison he also served as the dean of the College of Letters & Science at UW-Madison from 2013 to 2019. He joined the university’s department of economics in 1988 and was later named the Nellie June Gray Professor of Economic Policy. He directed the Institute for Research on Poverty at UW–Madison from 2000-2004. 

Scholz served in two presidential administrations. From 1990 to 1991 he was a senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisors, and from 1997 to 1998 he served as deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis at the US Department of the Treasury.  

Scholz is an internationally respected economist who writes on diverse topics including household saving, the earned income tax credit, low-wage labor markets, financial barriers to higher education, and bankruptcy laws. His research has appeared in leading general interest economics journals. 

He earned his economics undergraduate degree from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and his PhD from Stanford University.