The Trustees of Rollins College recently named Thayer School of Engineering Dean Lewis Duncan as the next president of the Winter Park, Fla. school.
Duncan, who has served as a dean at Dartmouth since 1998, will officially begin his presidency on Aug. 1. Duncan was introduced to Rollins College staff, students and faculty on March 19 in a ceremony at the college.
While excited about his upcoming career change, Duncan notes that he will miss Dartmouth.
"Leaving Dartmouth is bittersweet. I'm excited about the new opportunities and challenges awaiting at Rollins, but saddened by leaving the remarkable Dartmouth academic community. I will most miss the Dartmouth students, faculty and staff. This is an absolutely remarkable place," said Duncan.
Duncan was chosen from an applicant pool of more than 200 candidates. The nation-wide search for a new president began in October 2003 and was narrowed down to 10 finalists in January. Rollins trustees said in a written statement that they believe Duncan will serve the college well by building on the strong foundation laid by past presidents and advancing the college to the next level of academic excellence and national recognition.
Duncan will take over the presidency from Rita Bornstein, who served for 14 years as the school's first female president.
Duncan said he was drawn to Rollins because of its modern approach to liberal education.
"A modernized liberal education carries with it a responsibility for acting on knowledge -- of active citizenship in the modern world. Rollins has assumed a national leadership role in this ongoing debate, and I am excited about sharing in that discussion," Duncan said.
He is not the first Dartmouth dean to assume the presidency of Rollins. Thaddeus Seymour, who had served previously as a dean at Dartmouth and as president of Wabash College in Indiana, served as Rollins' president from 1978 to 1990.
Serving as dean of the Thayer School for six years prepared him well to take over the presidency at a small liberal arts college like Rollins, Duncan said.
"Because the Thayer School of Engineering functions quasi-independently, with a separate budget and almost self-contained services, serving as the Thayer dean has in many respects been like a micro-presidency," Duncan said.
During Duncan's tenure as a dean, Thayer experienced significant growth. The diversity of the school's student body, faculty, staff and Board of Overseers increased. He nearly tripled externally-funded research, improving opportunities for both students and faculty. Under Duncan's leadership, yearly fundraising and planned giving programs more than doubled while alumni participation rose to almost 50 percent.
Duncan made engineering more accessible to a wider cross-section of the student body by overseeing the implementation of first-year seminars in engineering and other introductory courses, including "Technology and the Future of Human Society," which the dean taught himself. Duncan also played an instrumental role in the realization of Dartmouth's wireless network.
Duncan said he hopes that Rollins' liberal arts and sciences program will meet with similar success.
"Dartmouth College's undergraduate arts and sciences program represents in many ways the model toward which schools like Rollins aspire," said Duncan.
While Duncan seeks to foster an academic environment that is on par with Dartmouth's, he said he looks forward to the flexibility offered by an upcoming liberal arts college.
"For a school like Dartmouth, it is sometimes difficult to be overly creative, or at least overly risk-taking, in trying new models of education delivery, simply because the school is already perceived as doing extremely well," he said. "At Rollins, we may have an easier time trying new ways of teaching, or perhaps bringing back some updated, older ideas."
While at Rollins, Duncan plans to stay involved in engineering research. He is particularly interested in U.S. defense policies regarding nuclear arms control and counter-terrorism. Duncan also will continue to research how upcoming technologies may affect society in the future.
