Acting Provost James Wright accepted permanent appointment as provost last week -- just in time to direct the library expansion and guide the searches for two professional school deans.
Wright, who has been serving as acting provost since January, was appointed to his new position without going though a search committee. Usually, selecting a new provost -- the most important academic position after the president -- involves convening a search committee and considering several candidates for the job.
It was the urgency of the search for two deans and the "critical stage" in the library expansion process that led to the deviation from the usual procedure, Wright said.
The Board of Trustees and College President James Freedman told Wright selection of a permanent provost was "terribly important" at this time and offered him the position, Wright said.
"It is not usual nor will it become usual," he said.
But Wright said his tenure as provost will probably last only one four-year term.
"I don't think I would serve any more than that," he said. "I have no interest in making a career of it."
In an announcement to the College on Friday, Freedman said because the provost oversees the different schools at Dartmouth, "this is a time where continuity in the Office of the Provost is important" as the College is currently in the midst of a search for a permanent dean of Dartmouth Medical School and about to begin a search for a dean of Thayer School of Engineering in the fall.
Wright said he worked to organize the current search for a permanent Medical School dean to replace Dean Andrew Wallace, who has announced he will step down in 1998.
Wright will also be working with Thayer School Acting Dean Charles Hutchinson in the fall to organize a search for a permanent replacement for Elsa Garmire, who announced her resignation earlier this term.
Wright will be essential to the searches since both deans will report to the Provost, Freedman said.
Wright said he will also be working in planning and directing the upcoming library expansion -- both the renovation of Webster Hall and the upcoming Berry Library.
Wright said he and Freedman had been discussing his taking over the position of provost permanently for the past month.
"I decided it was something I'd like to do and I was pleased to be asked," Wright said. "I've enjoyed working with the people in the provost office."
Wright said although his past position as dean of the faculty was "probably the best job on campus," he believed he would enjoy continuing to enhance the environment for faculty research, research activity and the arts at Dartmouth.
Wright brings extensive past administrative experience to his new position, having served as acting provost and dean of the faculty, as well as acting president during the first half of 1995 while Freedman was on sabbatical due to lymphoma.
"The fact that [Wright has] held all of those positions is a reflection of the high confidence faculty and the Board of Trustees and I have in him," Freedman said.
The appointment is "very good news for Dartmouth because Jim Wright has been an outstanding dean of the faculty and he's also been outstanding as acting provost," Freedman added.
Wright became acting provost this year following the January departure of former provost Lee Bollinger. Bollinger left the College to head the University of Michigan after serving as Dartmouth's provost for only three years.
Although administrative positions like the provost do not have defined terms, four years is usually considered a term because each position goes up for review every fourth year.
Dean of Faculty Edward Berger took over Wright's former position last month.
Wright, a professor of history, has been a member of the Dartmouth faculty since 1969. He served two consecutive four-year terms as dean of faculty from 1989 through June of this year.
During his tenure as dean of faculty, he supervised the first comprehensive overhaul of the curriculum in 70 years.
At Dartmouth, the provost is the second-highest ranking academic officer after the president with far-reaching responsibilities overseeing undergraduate academics and the College's three professional schools. Although there are individual deans with operating responsibility for each school, the provost has oversight responsibilities for all these areas.
Also, the provost has direct or oversight responsibility in many other aspects of College functioning including Admissions and Financial Aid, Computing Services, the Dickey Center for International Understanding, Facilities Planning, Grants and Contracts, the Hood Museum of Art, the Hopkins Center, the Libraries, Public Affairs and Student Affairs.
The provost also chairs the committee that prepares the institutional budget for future years.
