President James Wright has officially appointed Associate Provost Barry Scherr as Provost after the College's first choice, Robert Schnabel '71, declined an offer for personal reasons.
As Dartmouth's chief academic officer, Provost Scherr intends to continue the implementation of the Student Life Initiative, improve faculty and staff diversity issues and increase ties between College departments.
Wright, who has worked closely with Scherr as a faculty member and administrator, described him as "very hardworking" and "tremendously enthusiastic."
Although the College did not make a written offer to Schnabel -- who is currently the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic and Campus Technology at the University of Colorado at Boulder -- Wright made it clear to him that he was Dartmouth's pick for the second-highest position at the College.
"I had a real interest in pursuing this with him [Schnabel] ... on the recommendation of the search committee," Wright said. According to the president, if Schnabel had accepted the offer, the College would have appointed him provost.
"The president made it clear to me that he was strongly interested in me serving as provost," Schnabel said, adding that he had visited the campus on two occasions in connection with the search. "Personal reasons [were] the one and only reason why I wasn't able to take it."
Schnabel, who has two children that attend high school, turned down the offer because he did not want to move and disrupt his children's schooling careers.
He did point out that he was initially contacted by the College to consider the position and had made it clear from the start that "our family situation would make it difficult for me to move."
"I want to make it clear that I was
