Updated Appended
College Provost Carol Folt's six-year tenure as dean of the faculty was distinguished by academic reforms, but also saw some professional controversy. Folt oversaw an increase in the size of the faculty and the creation of new academic leadership positions, while also witnessing the resignation of several prominent professors who cited incompatibility with her administration as the reason for their departure.
Folt, who became Dartmouth's first female dean of the faculty in 2004 and who was appointed provost last week, made expansion of the faculty a priority in order to reduce overcrowding in popular departments, The Dartmouth previously reported.
In order to increase the size of the economics department which contained 15 percent of undergraduate majors in 2006 Folt added four new economics professors in 2006 and 2007.
In an effort to bolster the College's digital humanities program, Folt created the first chair of the digital humanities program at the College, appointing film and media studies professor Mary Flanagan to the position in 2008.
Folt also created a new dean position the associate Dean of the Faculty for Arts and Sciences to encourage interdisciplinary study at the College, The Dartmouth previously reported.
The success Folt encountered in her initiatives was not unexpected, according to biology professor Roger Sloboda.
"She was a very strong proponent of strong teaching and research, always looking out for faculty salaries and benefits," he said. "She was a good representative of the faculty in discussion with administration. She's not the kind of person to advertise everything she's doing and brag about it."
Despite Folt's background in science, she did not allow her research to interfere with her duties as dean of the faculty, according to Sloboda. Folt began teaching biology at the College in 1983 and was appointed dean of graduate studies in 2001.
"When she was a dean of faculty, she's not just representing scientists," Sloboda said. "She couldn't have every decision she made filter through her research scientist background."
During her tenure, some professors criticized Folt as an "ineffective" administrator, according to Jon Appleton, a music professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz who taught at Dartmouth for 38 years.
Appleton who is known for having co-invented the first self-contained digital music synthesizer while at Dartmouth said his decision to leave the College was in part due to Folt's "dishonesty."
Appleton said Folt inflated the grades of his Music 003 class in order to appease a wealthy alumnus whose son had received a poor grade in the class, according to Appleton.
"The student approached me and told me that his dad was paying my salary and that his dad was going to complain to the dean of faculty," Appleton said. "I guess he did, so [Folt] changed all the grades in the class, actually. They did that without talking to me. It was motivated by the desire for fundraising from wealthy alums."
Appleton called Folt a "puppet" whose sole interest was her "career in administration," he said.
"[College President Jim Yong Kim] doesn't want someone who is going to challenge his decisions or his friend Kadish," Appleton said of Kim's decision to promote Folt to provost.
Appleton said he believed that Folt contributed to a decline in the intellectual climate at Dartmouth.
"I think it was the benign neglect," Appleton said. "I don't think she was interested in lowering the standards at Dartmouth, but she wasn't interested in enhancing. She's not an evil person, she's just an administrator interested in her own career."
Appleton attributed the resignation of other prominent faculty members during Folt's time as dean of the faculty to what he said was Folt's inability to work cohesively with professors.
Speech professor Jim Kuypers resigned in 2005, claiming that Folt and other administrators told him he could either accept the limited resources for the Office of Speech or quit, The Dartmouth previously reported. Kuypers currently works at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Folt ignored Kuypers's requests for more faculty members in the Office of Speech, The Dartmouth previously reported.
"She made what I considered to be a bad decision," Kuypers said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "It effectively killed the 75-year-old tradition of an independent department for Office of Speech at Dartmouth."
Other professors interviewed by The Dartmouth came to Folt's defense, noting that in an institution as large as Dartmouth, not every faculty member will be satisfied with all administrative practices.
"There's 350, 400 faculty that she oversaw as dean of faculty," Sloboda said. "She can't please everyone someone will always be upset. But that's just the way it goes."
Sloboda said he expects Folt will continue to create new initiatives as provost after budgetary concerns are alleviated.
Sloboda said he "wouldn't be surprised" if Folt changed the reporting structure among some dean positions, including the dean of graduate studies.
"The dean of graduate studies reports to the dean of arts and sciences, but should report to the provost instead," he said.
At peer institutions, the dean of graduate studies traditionally reports directly to the provost, he said.
Several professors said they believed that given Kim and Folt's extensive backgrounds in science, the new dean of the faculty should be someone with different academic interests.
Sloboda said he believed that the position should be given to an individual "from the humanities."
Although Kim announced that the search for the dean of the faculty would begin immediately following Folt's appointment as provost, professors interviewed by The Dartmouth said they did not know whether the search process had started.
"I haven't heard that a committee has formed yet," Sloboda said. "I think the provost plays a role in forming the decision on committee members, so I think that's going on now."
The Committee on Organization and Policy is currently soliciting names for faculty members who might serve on the search committee, according to chemistry professor Russell Hughes. Hughes was a member of the 2006 search committee that recommended Folt for the permanent dean of the faculty position.
Although all remarks made during the search committee hearings remain confidential, Hughes said that her service as interim dean of the faculty from 2004 to 2006 was a factor in the committee's consideration.
"[Folt] had been dean of the faculty," Hughes said. "She was sort of an incumbent dean of the faculty. She knew the job, obviously."
Before Folt became dean of the faculty, the position was plagued by the rapid departure of several of Folt's predecessors. Cognitive neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga '61 resigned in 2004 after receiving a no-confidence vote from the faculty's committee of chairs, The Dartmouth previously reported. Former Dean of the Faculty Jamshed Bharucha left the position after two years resigning in 2002 to become provost of Tufts University.
The length and stability of Folt's tenure as dean of faculty was important after the preceding administrative changes, according to professors interviewed by The Dartmouth.
"It's important to have someone there who knew how the job worked," Hughes said. "You need some level of continuity and stability. You want to have someone there who the faculty and the president have confidence in, and you want them to serve full terms in that position."
Former Provost Barry Scherr left the position in 2009 to pursue academic interests. Folt has served as acting provost since Scherr's departure, and will continue to act as dean of the faculty until the position is filled.
Flanagan did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
