With Dean of the College Lee Pelton's decision to take the president's job at Willamette University in Oregon this July, three of the top administrative posts at the College will turn over before the year is out.
College President James O. Freedman announced last term he will resign at the end of this academic year, and Provost James Wright has said he will step down June 30 after serving just over a year in the position.
Freedman said it is possible, but unlikely, that a new dean could be selected by July, because it would be difficult for applicants to leave their school and start here so soon unless they are selected internally.
But vacancies in upper level posts are not infrequent during the periods when new presidents take office.
Soon after Freedman was selected College president in 1987, Professor of Engineering and Medicine John Strohbehn took over the vacant provost's office and Mary Turco became the new dean of residential life, among other changes.
Pelton, Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton and former Dartmouth Medical School Dean Andrew Wallace also filled vacancies a few years after Freedman's inauguration.
When Strohbehn accepted a job as provost of Duke University in 1994, he was replaced by Lee Bollinger, who left last year to serve as president of the University of Michigan. Wright was appointed acting provost and then received a permanent appointment in August, but now he, too, is leaving.
Freedman said the current openings in upper-level administration do not represent a dearth of College management.
"I would very much dispute those who say there is a leadership vacuum at Dartmouth," Freedman said. "All major positions are filled and will be until [a presidential] appointment is made, but it produces anxiety when there is going to be a lot of change in major positions."
In fact, Freedman said, the administrative turnover could be beneficial.
"This does give the new president an opportunity to appoint a good many of his or her own senior officers," Freedman said.
Pelton agreed, saying his "departure will provide an opportunity for the new president to shape an administrative staff."
While the provost and dean of the College positions have opened up since Freedman's announcment of his plans to resign, other posts became vacant earlier.
Wallace announced his intention to step down as DMS dean back in 1996, though his successor, John Baldwin, was not announced until the end of last term.
Freedman said he hopes the Thayer School of Engineering's new dean will also be selected before the next president is chosen. Thayer's last permanent dean, Elsa Garmire, resigned last year after about two years in the position.
Engineering Professor Charles Hutchinson, who had previously served as Thayer dean, is serving temporarily until a permanent replacement is named.
Pelton places his departure in a timeline of change for the College.
"Dartmouth will survive my leaving," Pelton said. "It's in the nature of institutions to change, and this institution is in a period of transition."