Alumni elected Jonathan Newcomb '68, the president and chief executive officer of a major publishing firm, to replace Ann Fritz Hackett '76 on the Board of Trustees, the College announced yesterday.
"I'm pretty excited about it," Newcomb said in a telephone interview yesterday evening. "I'm a little surprised honestly ... I'm happy to have a shot at helping Dartmouth."
Newcomb, a graduate of Columbia Business School, said he is very interested in the changing technology of higher education, which he said he has seen firsthand leading Simon and Schuster, Inc.
"I think in some areas, I can bring some instant knowledge and help," he said. "I've spent some time working with the computer science department in looking at some of the new ways to store and make textbooks ... and I think that's an exciting area."
While at Dartmouth, Newcomb was an economics major and a member of the Greek system. He has been a fund-raising volunteer at Dartmouth and is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.
He is also a board member of the Literacy Volunteers of New York City and of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
"I want to try to help the Board provide as strong a leadership as possible to the College," he said. "I have a lot of managerial experience -- that's kind of what I do -- and maybe I can provide some insight to the administration."
Although he said he does not "understand all of the subtleties of the issues that have been raised in recent years" against the Greek system, he said he thinks the College should provide "an environment where the Greek system can thrive."
Newcomb said he is "aware" of the proposals by Dean of the College Lee Pelton to attempt to reform the first-year experience by, among other things, creating primarily freshman residence clusters with a faculty member living nearby.
"Change in residential-life systems is not a bad thing to look at on an ongoing basis," Newcomb said. "I think its healthy to look at ways to change it."
Newcomb said he is interested in the diversity of the students and activities at the College. He said he especially is interested in the diversity of the arts at the College.
Newcomb beat out Roger Aaron '64 and Herbert "Barry" Grove '73 to win the seat. All three candidates were nominated by the Alumni Council, and the Association of Dartmouth alumni finished counting all the ballots this morning.
Newcomb's election must be formally approved by the Trustees when they meet this weekend.He would replace Hackett, who will step down in June after serving 12 years on Board.
Hackettserved two five-year terms and a special two-year term after Robert Reich '68 left in 1992 to become Labor Secretary.
