Underneath Susan Prager, the College's new provost, lies a soft-spoken and independent farmer's daughter who is as comfortable in the garden and kitchen as she is in academia.
Prager, who assumed her position as the College's second-highest ranking administrator earlier this month, was raised on a hop and prune farm in California's Central Valley near Sacramento.
"The hop harvest was exciting. I begged my father to go out before the sun came up with the first truck driver into the fields to cut down the tall vines and bring them back to the picking machine," Prager said. They would later sell the hops to breweries to flavor beer.
According to Prager, her father was most influential role model in her life. "He encouraged independence, and said for me not to pay attention to traditional roles in the era in which I went to college," she said.
While at Stanford, Prager helped found the Stanford and Washington Program for government internships.
As a result of her initiative, Prager worked during her junior summer on Capitol Hill on the legislative staff of California Senator Thomas Kuchel in 1963. She was offered a position to return to work for the Senator right after she graduated from Stanford in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in history.
"It was a great vantage point to be working [in politics]." She describes the political atmosphere of the time as "an exciting and important period because Kennedy was assassinated in the fall of my senior year, and Johnson was advancing his domestic policy of the war on poverty and civil rights."
She later returned to Stanford to earn a masters in history and later attended the law school at the University of California in Los Angeles.
In her last academic position prior to coming to Dartmouth, Prager served on the UCLA Law School faculty and then as the Dean for 16 years, at which point she began to ponder alternative positions.
"I wanted to pursue a leadership role in a university environment broader than a law school," she said.
As a result, she traversed the mainland from the West Coast to Dartmouth, basing her decision on the College's reputation and the quality of its faculty, with whom Prager interacts as Provost.
Prager took special interest in the Provost position once she "realized the qualities that characterize Dartmouth and the kind of person they needed," she said.
She describes herself as "irreverent" and "candid," with a love to collaborate and listen.
"My qualities are a good fit with Dartmouth. I like working with people openly and collaboratively to advances the whole institution," she said.
Officially, the Deans of three professional schools, the Dean of Faculty, the Head Librarian, the Hood and Hop Directors, among others, report to the Provost. In turn, she is their liaison to President James Wright.
With the unfolding of the revolutionary social and residential life initiative, Prager will assume multiple roles, working and listening collaboratively with students and faculty to enhance social and residential options, she said.
She, along with Dean of Faculty Ed Berger, will coordinate faculty comments as well as discuss future facilities and buildings.
"Realistically, rules only work well when the President and Provost support the same agenda," she said. "To be successful, the Provost must be completely in tune with President."
In addition, she credits Wright with being helpful in her smooth adjustment to the College.
"Having a President like Jim Wright, who is respected, loved and knowledgeable about Dartmouth, helped give me a invaluable insight into the College," Prager told The Dartmouth.
Amid her busy schedule, Prager expressly allocates time for her children, McKinley, age 20, and Case, age 14.
Gardening, cooking, and baking, especially fruit pies, are her hobbies. So far, the abbreviated growing season of New England, which hinders her gardening pursuits, is her only complaint. Her husband Jim, a businessman, and Case will complete Prager's successful relocation by moving to Hanover this summer.
