Dartmouth Medical School Professor Constance Brinckerhoff will take over as the College's acting provost when James Wright begins his presidency this summer, College President James Freedman announced yesterday afternoon.
Brinckerhoff, a medicine and biochemistry professor, will become the College's second-highest administrator Aug. 1, and she will serve until a new provost is selected, Freedman said.
Wright took over as acting provost at the beginning of 1997 when Lee Bollinger left the position to become president of the University of Michigan.
Freedman then appointed Wright to a full term as provost, but amidst controversy over the appointment process, Wright said he would not serve past the end of June as provost.
Brinckerhoff said she is excited about the job. "It's a privilege to do my best to serve the College and the professional schools."
She said she is looking forward to helping the new president of the College during the first months of his term.
Brinckerhoff, who learned of her appointment on Friday, said she has no plans as yet for what she hopes to accomplish as acting provost.
"I'll be meeting with President Wright and the associate provosts to get some feel for what the current issues facing the College are," she said.
Freedman said he thinks Brinckerhoff is an "outstanding appointment" with "unusual ability."
"She's an extraordinarily talented person as a scholar and an administrator," Freedman said. "She has a distinguished record as a scientist and as associate dean of the medical school."
Wright said he is "just delighted" with Brinckerhoff's appointment.
"I've worked with her in a variety of ways over the last several years," Wright said. "I think it's wonderful that she has agreed to serve."
"She is interested in pursuing the same goals we all have for the College," he said.
The provost is the College's chief academic officer and oversees the operations of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, the Thayer School of Engineering and DMS.
The provost also oversees diverse departments of the College, including the College's library and computing systems, the Hopkins Center, the Hood Museum, the Dickey Center for International Understanding and the Tucker Foundation.
The committee searching for a permanent provost, named in February, is chaired by Religion Professor Ronald Green and includes Brinckerhoff, Art History Professor Kathleen Corrigan, Business Administration Professor Sydney Finkelstein, Engineering Professor Ursula Gibson, DMS Professor George Langford and History Professor Leo Spitzer.
