Isaacson, Miller Selected to Find New Provost for Dartmouth College
August 18, 2021 – Isaacson, Miller has been enlisted to find the next provost for Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. Partner Kate Barry and managing associate Elizabeth Dorr are spearheading the assignment. Former provost Joseph Helble recently stepped down to become president of Lehigh University. David Kotz, a professor in computer science who has held several senior administrative roles for the college, has been serving as interim provost since last month. “The new provost, as the chief academic and budgetary officer of the institution, will be charged with leveraging Dartmouth’s distinctive institutional character and position and its unique organizational structure to advance Dartmouth’s impact and academic excellence into the future,” said the search firm.
The new provost will report directly to the Ivy League institution’s president, Philip Hanlon, serving as his chief deputy responsible for the operations of the institution and is a key member of the senior leadership team. Together, they are responsible for long-range strategic planning and implementation of academic and student-life-related programs. The provost, working with the academic deans, has responsibility for supporting and advancing teaching and scholarship.
The deans of business, engineering, medicine, and the graduate school report directly to the provost and operate using a modified responsibility-centered management budget model. The dean of the faculty of arts and sciences is a dual report to the president and the provost. The provost also has the responsibility, working with the dean of the college and the academic deans, for supporting and advancing all student-related programs.
Budget Responsibilities
The provost holds significant fiscal responsibility and works closely with the executive vice president to manage the academic budget in addition to operational and capital planning initiatives, said Isaacson, Miller. The individual chairs the budget committee, and as chief budget officer ensures that resource allocations optimally serve the institution’s mission and priorities. In this role, the provost oversees the budgets of the schools and interacts with the respective deans and the senior leadership team to set university-wide priorities, link them to capital campaigns, and align administrative services with academic needs.
“Dartmouth seeks in its new provost a superb scholar and experienced administrator who combines an ability to communicate effectively with a commitment to collaboration and shared governance,” said Isaacson, Miller. “Candidates should have significant experience in academic leadership and a demonstrated ability to cultivate consensus and a sense of shared purpose in a diverse community.”
Prospects should also have a doctorate or equivalent terminal degree and a record of distinguished scholarship and teaching requisite for a tenured appointment as a full professor at Dartmouth. Successful and significant experience in academic administration is critical. Candidates are expected to have outstanding listening and communication skills. Budgetary experience and an astute understanding of university finances is also required.
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Dartmouth wants a provost with a proven commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including the capacity to successfully recruit, retain, and develop a more diverse campus community of faculty, staff, and administrators, said the search firm.
Experienced Recruiters
Founded in 1769, Dartmouth is a member of the American Association of Universities and consistently ranks among the world’s greatest academic institutions with a rich scholarly tradition. It educates 4,400 undergraduates and 2,100 graduate students with 937 faculty across the arts and sciences and four graduate and professional schools: the Geisel School of Medicine, the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, the Thayer School of Engineering and the Tuck School of Business.
A nationally recognized search firm focused on recruiting transformational leaders for mission-driven organizations, Isaacson, Miller has conducted thousands of placements over more than three decades. More than half of the firm’s work has been in academia, involving university presidents, college chancellors and deans. The firm has filled top leadership posts at Wellesley college, Washington State University, Miami University, Howard University, Bowdoin college, Dartmouth, NYU, Virginia State University, and the University of North Carolina, among others. John Isaacson, the firm’s chair, founded Isaacson, Miller in 1982.
Ms. Barry’s practice at Isaacson, Miller focuses on academic leadership positions, including numerous presidential searches for a wide range of clients. Since joining the firm in 2005, she has served Ivy League universities, liberal arts colleges, technology institutes, HBCUs and community colleges. She also conducts provost and academic dean searches, with which she has extensive experience, for public and private universities. She has also conducted numerous searches for the Isaacson, Miller’s business school dean practice. Previously, she was assistant director of alumni relations at Union College.
Ms. Dorr’s primary focus is higher education leadership. Since joining Isaacson, Miller in 2016, she has worked on searches for a number of influential and diverse institutions, ranging from community colleges to the Ivy League. While in graduate school, Ms. Dorr interned at the Harvard Graduate School of Education admissions office, supporting international recruitment, and managing student and alumni admissions ambassador volunteers. She has also served as a senior admissions counselor at Sea Education Association, an experiential study abroad program for undergraduates aboard traditional sailing ships. In addition, Ms. Dorr brings experience working for several environmental non-profits.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
