Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a multi-part series on the College's senior administration and the issues facing Dartmouth today and in the future.
The provost is in many ways at the helm of the academic experience of a university, even if most students may be unfamiliar with the job's duties. Since his appointment in 2001, College Provost Barry Scherr has been responsible for the oversight of Dartmouth's undergraduate and graduate programs. In addition to overseeing the College's curriculum and academics, Scherr presides over a division that includes departments as diverse as admissions and financial aid, the libraries, facilities planning and the Hopkins Center. In his interview with The Dartmouth, Scherr spoke on a number of important issues.
The Undergraduate Experience
The provost has a varied constituency. While the vast majority of the College is comprised of undergraduates and arts and sciences faculty, Dartmouth also boasts an array of respected graduate programs sometimes perceived as competing with the College's liberal arts program for money and other resources.
Scherr said he believes that Dartmouth is a university with a strong and unique undergraduate program -- a characteristic that sets it apart from other Ivy League schools.
Yet, he said that collaboration among undergraduates and graduates in areas such as engineering and the life sciences makes the College stronger.
He stressed the importance of research that the graduate schools have brought to campus and those faculties' interaction with the arts and sciences.
"There's been a real good synergy going back and forth," Scherr said.
Faculty Growth
Monday's annual faculty meeting highlighted College plans to enlarge the faculty by 10 percent. When asked why growth without intentions of enlarging the student body was necessary, Scherr cited enrollment pressures, but expressed the greatest enthusiasm at the prospect of enriching the curriculum through a larger faculty.
"If you have more people here you can start adding a number of interesting courses," Scherr said. "With all the interest in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary study right now there's more of a demand to teach courses that will bridge the knowledge areas."
The Libraries
Earlier this month the College announced the appointment of Jeffrey Horrell as the next Dean of Libraries. When asked what he expected of Horrell's leadership, Scherr stressed the need to keep Dartmouth libraries at the forefront of technology.
Scherr described a revolution in the library world that emerged with digitization and the desktop computer over the past two decades. He said the role of libraries has changed, posing new challenges for the library world.
"The way in which libraries are being thought of is very different from 15 to 20 years ago. For a long time libraries were the storehouse of materials. Now it's actually almost a facilitator of information, of getting it to you," Scherr said
In addition to guiding his staff, faculty and students, Scherr said he expects Horrell to deal with mounting challenges on issues of scholarly access to information and the organization of Dartmouth's multiple libraries.
Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning
Though not under the jurisdiction of the library, the new Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning will be housed in Baker-Berry Library and has received a large amount of publicity from College and independent media since it was announced in April of this year. Forecasted for opening in spring 2005 after several delays, Scherr said that Dartmouth now joins the rest of the Ivy League in offering a teaching and learning center that will primarily provide a resource for faculty to interact and test out ideas for teaching.
In addition to facilitating faculty interaction on issues of academia, Scherr said that DCAL will play an important role in helping faculty use technology in the classroom. He also said he believes that DCAL will be instrumental in bringing Dartmouth's academic resources together.
"We've offered a lot of support for teaching on the campus over the years at Dartmouth -- it's not that we haven't done that -- but it's always been something scattered," Scherr said. "We see DCAL as bringing that together."
Review of the Provost
College President James Wright also announced Monday that he and Scherr have agreed to institute an inaugural review of the provost's performance in accordance with standards in place for the deans of the professional schools and faculty of arts and sciences. The survey will be concluded early next year by Scherr's peers. When asked his personal thoughts on the matter, Scherr expressed curiosity rather than anxiety.
"I've been at the other end of review quite a bit here," Scherr said. "It's generally a good informative process. You find out what the strengths are of an individual, and you often do find one or two areas where people feel that the individual or the office could be improved in what its doing. I'll be curious to see what comes about in that regard."
On Academics
In spite of his many auxiliary roles, Scherr's primary responsibility is the academic mission of the College. In his mind, the greatest challenge for Dartmouth as a top-notch school is the constantly changing world of academia, especially in the age of technology.
"We must stay at the forefront of change," Scherr said, emphasizing that Dartmouth can and should lead the way.
"It's about trying to figure out where change is going to happen and staying one step ahead of things."
