News: College picks Carolyn Dever as next provost
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Carolyn Dever, dean of the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University, will serve as Dartmouth’s next provost, the College announced Thursday. Dever, who will begin on July 1, has served in administrative roles in higher education for over a decade.
As provost, she will work with academic deans to support and advance scholarship across the College and its graduate schools and help oversee academic budgeting. Dever will also join the English department at the College, and she said she hopes to teach at Dartmouth in the near future.
Dever said her primary goal as provost is to ensure Dartmouth’s continued success in academics, student life, teaching and research.
“I conceive of my role now, and I conceive of my role going forward, as a person who’s responsible for facilitating the success of others, to make sure that every Dartmouth student has the best possible experience and to make sure that every Dartmouth professor develops to the very best of his or her ability,” she said.
Dever, who will serve as College President Phil Hanlon's chief deputy, said Hanlon is transparent and an excellent communicator.
At Vanderbilt, Dever manages academic departments, research centers for the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities, faculty and staff members and an annual budget of $180 million. After arriving at the university in 2000, she was appointed to her current position in 2008.
Her accomplishments include starting regional and national partnerships for humanities postdoctoral positions and facilitating partnerships with historically black colleges and universities.
Fostering diversity among students, faculty and staff is crucial throughout American higher education, Dever said, calling the effort an “uphill battle.”
“We need to build pipelines that draw the most talented students to Dartmouth from all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds,” she said. “We need to build pipelines that will draw the very, very best faculty and staff talent to the Dartmouth campus and will bring diversity of perspective and experience and academic quality at the same time.”
An external pick, Dever said she plans to make a concerted effort to familiarize herself with “the history, the practices, the policies, the culture, the quirks of Dartmouth College” during her first few months in Hanover.
Eight of the past 10 Dartmouth provosts were selected internally. These provosts, on average, served in the role for longer than those selected from other colleges and universities.
Dever said she sees her imminent move to Hanover as “something of a homecoming,” since she is originally from the Boston area. Her husband Paul Young, who currently teaches English and film studies at Vanderbilt, will join Dartmouth’s film and media studies department.
“We’re looking forward to being a part of this community that we’ve already received such a warm welcome from and feel really embraced,” she said.
Dever was selected after a nearly eight-month search by executive search firm Isaacson, Miller and the College’s search advisory committee, led by Native American studies chair Bruce Duthu. While Dever accepted a second five-year appointment for her current role at Vanderbilt last March, she said that her selection as Dartmouth’s next provost involved the support and knowledge of her colleagues.
Martin Wybourne has held the role of interim provost since July 2012, when former provost Carol Folt began as interim College President.