A new director of admissions was named on July 1, when Maria Laskaris '84 was promoted from senior associate dean of admissions.
The admissions office has gone without an actual director for the last five years, Laskaris said.
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg said, "The position is filled from time to time to recognize an outstanding member of the staff."
Furstenburg said Laskaris was promoted because "she's exceedingly capable ... This is just recognition."
Laskaris said she was thrilled to have been chosen for the job.
"It's great," Laskaris said. "I'm really excited and pleased that I was promoted."
Laskaris said she will continue her managerial role in the office by overseeing the day-to-day affairs in addition to some new duties which are still not fully defined.
"We're still working it out" she said.
Furstenburg said that his position differs from Laskaris' because while he is in charge of both the admissions and financial aid offices, which can often play a joint role at the College, Laskaris focuses solely on admissions.
The two will act as a team, nonetheless, he said.
"I work with Maria in determining the major directions that we're going to go," Furstenberg said, adding that certain aspects of the job are his territory alone.
"The admissions decisions are my responsibility," he said. "I get all the grief."
Laskaris has worked in Dartmouth's admissions office since the fall of 1987, when a friend of hers who worked in the office moved away and suggested Laskaris take her position.
At the time, Laskaris was teaching elementary school classes for kindergartners through fourth graders in a single-room school in Orford.
Although she said she enjoyed being a teacher, she decided to switch jobs and try out admissions at Dartmouth. Since she returned to her alma mater, she has had a very positive experience working with admissions, she said.
"I'm really motivated by the job," Laskaris said.
She said she enjoyed the responsibility of sorting out applicants because she believed that she was "affecting the character of the College" this way.
A resident of Norwich, Vt., Laskaris has been married to Glee Club director Louise Burkot for 11 years and the two have two daughters, Alexandra age three, and Christina age seven.
Laskaris come from Athens, Greece.
