Economics professor and Washington insider Andrew Samwick was appointed the next director of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center on Monday. Samwick will take office July 1, succeeding outgoing director Linda Fowler, who is also a government professor at the College.
Samwick joined the economics department at Dartmouth in the summer of 1994 after receiving a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has held numerous fellowships during his time in Hanover, and in 2000 received Dartmouth's Karen E. Wetterhahn Award for Distinguished Creative or Scholarly Achievement.
Samwick has written extensively on executive compensation, social security, pensions and saving and taxation and portfolio choice. He has also co-chaired the Social Security Working Group of the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1999 and is currently on leave, serving as the chief economist on the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, D.C.
Psychology professor Todd Heatherton, who has served as chair of the search committee for Rocky's new director, singled out "stellar scholarship and intellectual leadership" and an "articulate and thoughtful vision for the Rockefeller Center" as Samwick's crucial merits.
"We expect that he will not only maintain the strong programs that are currently ongoing but will work with students and staff to develop exciting new opportunities," Heatherton said.
Asked about his vision for Rocky, Samwick observed that "the Rockefeller Center has grown in a lot of important ways" since he came to Dartmouth and that there are many "good things to be continued about it."
He expressed his desire to use the public policy center to involve students in an examination of media accountability and the quality of journalism.
"I'd like to get students to be very savvy readers, listeners and watchers of the media," he said.
Samwick added that he aims to bring entrepreneurs to campus who have succeeded at doing "something very different from the status quo," such as Southwest Airlines co-founder Herbert D. Kelleher, who helped "redefine" what it means to be an airline. He expressed concern with a "disconcerting" trend on college campuses in which students only consider a limited number of career choices, and said he hopes these figures will inspire students to pursue innovative ideas and careers.
The announcement of Samwick's directorship Monday ended a lengthy and comprehensive search for current Rocky head Linda Fowler's replacement. Rocky is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary with a series of events titled "Civic Responsibility: Personal Action -- Public Impact."
