Even with College President-elect James Wright filling the top administrative spot, vacancies remain in four of the College's most powerful administrative positions -- dean of the College, provost, vice president and treasurer and dean of residential life -- priming the College for a period of administrative transition that will greatly determine the future of Dartmouth.
Second in command
Currently in the position of acting provost is former Dartmouth Medical School professor Constance Brinckerhoff, who stepped up to the post on Aug. 1.
Brinckerhoff is currently the College's second-highest administrator, and she will serve at this post until a new provost is selected.
"It's a privilege to do my best to serve the College and the professional schools," Brinckerhoff told The Dartmouth in May.
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.
At the announcement of Brinckerhoff's appointment in May, Wright told The Dartmouth he was "just delighted."
"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."
Dean of the College
Former Senior Associate Dean of the College Dan Nelson '75 has been serving as acting dean of the College since July, when former Dean of the College Lee Pelton left Dartmouth to assume the presidency at Willamette University in Salem, Ore.
Nelson will serve at the post until a permanent dean of the college is found.
Nelson previously told The Dartmouth he did not apply for the position, but rather Freedman asked him to step up.
"I was honored to be asked by President Freedman and delighted to have the opportunity to serve the College in this acting capacity," Nelson said.
Nelson graduated from the College in June 1976 and received his master's and doctorate degrees from Princeton University.
After serving on the faculty of Princeton, Mathey College and the St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., he returned to the College as an assistant dean and class dean in 1987. Nelson became associate dean of the College in 1994.
The dean of the College handles policy and undergraduate student issues in the deans' offices, ORL, Student Life, Safety and Security, Career Services, Health Services, the Outdoor Programs Office, the Dartmouth College Athletics Department, the International Office, the Native American Program, the Academic Skills Center, the Women's Resource Center and the Dartmouth Skiway, among others.
Vice President/Treasurer
Acting Vice President and Treasurer Win Johnson '67 has been serving at his post since June, when former Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton left to become vice president and chief financial office of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Johnson will remain at the post until a permanent administrator is found.
At the time of his appointment, Johnson told The Dartmouth that he was "looking forward to the new responsibilities, but with a little bit of awe."
His duties will include supervising endowment investment, College-owned real estate, Dash, DarTalk, payroll and the Hanover Inn.
In addition to his official duties at the College, Johnson is also Heorot's faculty advisor and serves on The Dartmouth's Board of Proprietors.
Johnson majored in economics, played intercollegiate lacrosse during his first year at Dartmouth and was a brother in Chi Phi fraternity, which is now Heorot.
Johnson was in ROTC while at the College and after graduation, served two years in the military, one in Vietnam. He later attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania for
his graduate studies.
"I enjoy being involved with students, and they are definitely very exciting here," he said.
Dean of Residential Life
Acting Dean of Residential Life Mary Liscinsky has been serving at her post since April, when former Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco left the post to finish two books she is writing.
Liscinsky will remain at the post until a permanent dean is found.
At the time of her appointment, Liscinsky told The Dartmouth that she wants ORL to "stay on the same road" it has been on under Turco.
Liscinsky joined ORL as an area director in 1989. She served in that capacity until 1992, when she left to work at the Living/Learning Center at Indiana University. While working at Indiana, she served on a contingent to the University of the Witswatersrand in South Africa.
In 1996, Liscinsky returned to Dartmouth as assistant dean of residential life in charge of residential education because she "missed the environment here," she said.
She referred to the atmosphere of the College as "challenging, interesting and motivated." She was appointed assistant dean
of residential life that year.
Last summer, when Associate Dean of Residential Life Bud Beatty resigned, Liscinsky became acting associate dean. Former Area Director Chris Chambers became assistant dean.
