Dartblog

Just when we had our hopes up. Given his choice here, it seems that President Kim is not as far along the administrative learning curve as we had imagined.

October 14, 2009

Dear Members of the Dartmouth Community,

I am delighted to announce that Dean Carol Folt will serve as Acting Provost (effective October 26) as we search for a permanent Provost. Carol also will continue as Dean of Faculty. We are very fortunate to have someone of her academic and administrative caliber who is willing to take on this additional responsibility at this critical time for Dartmouth. […]

I want to thank Carol for her willingness to take on this additional responsibility and look forward to her leadership and guidance over the coming months.

Sincerely,

Jim Yong Kim
President
Dartmouth College

We have previously mentioned the good Dean Folt here and here. After 26 years in Hanover, one wonders what new “leadership and guidance” she has up her sleeve.

Department of Wicked Speculation: In about 6-8 weeks from now, might Dean Folt discover that she, too, wishes to return to academic work?

JOE MALCHOW adds: Carol Folt became Dean of the Faculty after serving as Acting Dean of the Faculty. In that latter position, then-President Jim Wright ballied her to the search committee as an excellent choice for actual Dean of Faculty. And, lo, she was awarded the job. Will she become Provost after serving as Acting Provost? Almost certainly no; the provostship is an office in want of upgrading, and it is plain that President Kim is aware of it.

In fact, I interpret this latest move as merely generosity on Dean Folt’s part; she is on her way out, the new regime is on its way in, and the bit players from the previous leadership are being funneled out the cyclotron, each clutching some c.v.-friendly explication for their departure—a living, breathing, monikered golden watch with business cards the color of bone.

A creative, nimble, and business-minded administrator is needed in the Provost’s office; a marqueed academic slugger is needed as Dean of the Faculty. (Remember who was our last Dean of the Faculty.) Even this latest move suggests that President Kim is moving his inherited people around in a way that will let him recruit aggressively—a fashion Dartmouth hasn’t embraced for a while—for the Deans of College and Faculty, and the Provostship.

President Kim now has breathing room to find superlative people for these top jobs—he must do it swiftly—and each of the outgoing executives meets an elegant end. (The sole exception, of course, is the star-cross’d Tom Crady, who deserved far better.)