The Board of Trustees convened in a specially scheduled meeting in New York City yesterday to begin planning the search process for a successor to College President James Freedman, who is stepping down next summer.
The meeting was scheduled almost immediately after Freedman announced his resignation just two weeks ago.
Chairman of the Board Stephen Bosworth '61 said the search committee, once formed, will seek a candidate who will continue Freedman's devotion to liberal education as the "theme of the next presidency."
"I think intellectualism is the core of the Dartmouth being," Bosworth said. "We want someone who can be counted on to continue Dartmouth's upward trajectory as an intellectual institution."
Bosworth said much of the search process will remain similar to Dartmouth's last presidential search, conducted 11 years ago.
The composition of the search committee and the specifics of the search process will not be established until November at the next regular quarterly Trustee meeting.
Just as the last presidential search committee was, the committee is likely to consist of Trustees, faculty members, alumni, and one or two students.
"While the final selection is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees, we really want to involve other members of the College in the process," Bosworth said.
The search will be a national one -- advertisements for the position will be placed in large national newspapers as well as The Chronicle of Higher Education -- and Bosworth said he expects to review hundreds of candidates before the Board makes a final decision.
The Board considered 615 candidates in total during 1986 and 1987 before finally deciding on Freedman as the successor to outgoing College President David McLaughlin.
"We will be reaching out to all the constituents in the Dartmouth community as well as nationally at other institutions," Bosworth said. "We want someone who has demonstrated leadership capacity and will help Dartmouth grow not in size but in quality."
Bosworth said he expects the search to take approximately six months and the search results to be made public in the spring.
