James Wright, College provost and former dean of the faculty, will succeed James Freedman as the sixteenth president of the College, Board of Trustees member William King '63 announced to the faculty Monday afternoon.
Wright will take over the presidency Aug. 1.
Freedman, who has served as president since July 1987, announced his resignation Sept. 25, citing the job's heavy toll on his personal and intellectual life.
In his address to the faculty, Wright called Dartmouth a "research university in all but name." He added, "we are not going to be deflected from our purposes."
Wright, who served as acting president of the College during Freedman's six-month sabbatical in 1995, first came to Dartmouth as an assistant history professor in 1969.
In 1987, Wright chaired a committee on residential life which issued the "Wright Report" -- recommending the College build a new campus center, increase the cohesiveness of residence hall clusters and reduce the influence of Greek organizations on campus social life.
Wright also spearheaded efforts which led to an overhaul of the curriculum, including new distributive requirements for graduation, implemented for the Class of 1998 and following classes.
Wright received a standing ovation when King, who chaired the presidential search committee, announced his appointment to a standing-room-only crowd of faculty and students in Alumni Hall this afternoon. More than 700 people watched the address via closed-circuit television in Spaulding Auditorium as well.
"As we looked at hundreds of candidates, we could find no one as capable as Jim [Wright]," King said.
The commitee recommended fewer than five candidates to the Board of Trustees but did not rank them, King said.
The Trustees interviewed the candidates over the weekend and notified Wright around noon Sunday that he had been selected, King said.
"I consider myself, first and foremost, and will always consider myself a faculty member, a teacher and a historian," Wright said.
In addition, Wright said he "strongly reaffirmed" the College's commitment to affirmative action and diversity.
"The world is diverse, and so must we be," he said.
"I am privileged to be at a place where the soul is indeed filled with hope," Wright said. "I would be honored to be the president of an institution so richly endowed with people who share in that sense of optimism and promise."
While many faculty members said they were pleased with the choice, some students expressed concern.
"It didn't seem that he was that concerned with undergraduates ... Wright is more in favor of Dartmouth University," Adin Kawate '98 said.
Kate Cunningham '01 was worried after the meeting about the "inbreeding of presidents."
"They should have drawn someone with experience with the community outside Dartmouth," she said.
The state of the school
Wright will take over a school with few high-ranking administrators after his inauguration in July:
--Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton resigned last week to become vice president and chief financial officer for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, Ill. Associate Treasurer Win Johnson will take over as the College's acting vice president and treasurer June 15.
--The provost's position will be empty as well. Freedman appointed a search panel to find his replacement near the end of Winter term, but said the search would wait until the new president was named.
--Dean of the College Lee Pelton is stepping down to assume the presidency at Willamette University in Salem, Ore.
--Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco announced at the beginning of the term that she will step down from the position this month to complete a book she is writing about female athletes.
--Associate Dean of Residential Life Bud Beatty left last year for a job at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and has yet to be replaced.
--The Thayer School of Engineering is still without a permanent dean following Elsa Garmire's resignation last summer.
At a press conference following the faculty meeting, Wright said he wants to get the searches for a new dean of the college and provost under way this week.
Wright as provost
Wright served two consecutive terms as dean of the faculty, starting in 1989, and filled in as acting provost after Lee Bollinger left the position to become president of the University of Michigan in the beginning of 1997.
Wright served as both dean of the faculty and provost for the first half of that year until Ed Berger was appointed the new dean of the faculty.
Shortly after that, Freedman appointed Wright to permanently fill the provost's position -- without going through a search process -- in order to oversee the selection of new deans for the Thayer School and Dartmouth Medical School.
Two months later, Wright informed Freedman that he would step down after June 30 of this year after members of the faculty criticized Freedman's deviation from normal search procedures.
"Your exceptional service and record as President should not be marred by a contentious argument within the faculty, and I will not allow myself to become an instrument for such an unfortunate development," Wright wrote in the letter to Freedman announcing his resignation from the provost's position.
Soon thereafter, close to 60 percent of the faculty signed a petition supporting Wright for a full four-year term as provost.
Wright has been at the College since John Sloan Dickey's presidency. Wright obtained his undergraduate degree Wisconsin State University and his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
