MADISON, Wis. — One month after Wisconsin welcomed a new athletic director, the scientist who led that nationwide search is sharing what drove her to the table — and how an unexpected end to her own athletic career made it possible.
Lauren Bishop is an associate professor at UW-Madison and a Faculty Athletics Representative to both the Big Ten and the NCAA. Inside the Waisman Center, she studies aging in autistic people — work that demands the same discipline and precision she once applied as a competitive rower.
"I am without question where I am because I was an athlete," Bishop said.
Rowing took Bishop to Duke University with dreams of competing at the Olympics. A career-ending injury changed everything.
"Active for two years and then had a career-ending injury and had to figure out what was next for me?" Bishop said.
That crossroads led her to science — but never away from sports. She now serves on Wisconsin's Athletic Board in addition to her faculty representative roles.
"I think that for all athletes you go through this period of transition after you really walk away from competition and your sport and walk away from training where you have to redefine who you are," Bishop said.
Her connection to athletics eventually brought her to the policymaking level.
"For me, it was this way to give back and to sort of to help understand the student-athlete experience as it has evolved and as it is evolving and to be at the policymaking table," Bishop said.
When Wisconsin launched its search for a new athletic director, Bishop chaired the process — going directly to coaches and student-athletes to shape what the role required.
"I went out to a bunch of practices. I talked to a bunch of coaches. I talked to student-athletes… and we were able to use that information that we gathered to write a leadership profile of what this next leader for Wisconsin Athletics needed to be," Bishop said.
Watch: How UW-Madison scientist Lauren Bishop is shaping Badger Athletics
The lessons from her time as an athlete, she said, still guide her today.
"I feel like one thing that being an athlete taught me is that there's some things that you can control and then there's some things that you have to let happen. Right? And you can control the work that you do," Bishop said.
Bishop's research at the Waisman Center focuses on how autistic people age compared to non-autistic people — and what can be done to support healthy aging in the community.
"My research is trying to get out the question of do autistic people age at a similar pace and start aging in a similar time compared to non-autistic people, and then, more importantly, what can we do to help people age well in their community?" Bishop said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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