Boston may be the Athens of America and the most collegiate of American cities, but our mayor doesn't get by on professorial aloofness. Tom Menino is an old school, roll up the sleeves politician.

That being the case, the Globe has some fun (your eyes do not deceive you: fun at the Globe) with the news that he's one of many who have been nominated to be the next chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Mayor Menino earned an associate's degree in 1963 from Chamberlayne Junior College (now part of Mount Ida College) and a "degree in community planning" from UMass-Boston in 1988.

As the 109th highest paid city employee, Menino would enjoy the new salary scale: the UW job pays "between $370,000 and $452,000 per year."

Still, Menino told the Globe that "he is not going anywhere and doesn't know who nominated him." But we think he should at least take an interview or two. As we always say, there's no place like Wisconsin in April.