When she became president last July, Nancy S. Dye knew that several senior administrators would be leaving their positions after her first year, some having announced their intentions to do so even before her predecessor, S. Frederick Starr, announced his resignation. While finding replacements for these administrators, Dye has redefined some of the responsibilities of the new and continuing members of her staff--especially the financial responsibilities.
At present the directors of libraries and computing--who are in charge of academic facilities used by both the college and the conservatory--report to the provost, as do the director of the art museum and the registrar. Next year the directors of libraries and computing will report to both academic deans and the museum director and registrar will report to the college dean. After Provost Sam Carrier returns to the teaching faculty (Observer 16 February 1995), Dye will retire his title, which she says is confusing to the outside world: "provost" often denotes a university's chief academic officer. Oberlin's deans of the college and conservatory are its chief academic officers, and Dye wants them to have more authority over their own division's resources. "Philosophically, I believe in strong deans," she says. With control over "a large chunk of the institution's resources" they can "empower the faculty."
The provost's budgetary responsibilities will go to a new position--vice president for finance. According to the job posting, the vice president for finance will work closely with the treasurer in managing the college's investments and with the vice president for operations in overseeing facilities. The director of human resources, who now reports to the vice president for operations, will report to the vice president for finance and will not be part of the senior staff. The present director, A.G. Monaco, has announced his resignation.
Dye hopes the new structure will support a "collegial relationship" among the vice presidents and deans, who, with minimal overlapping of responsibilities, will have more freedom to work for the institution as a whole.
About 150 people have applied for the position of vice president for finance. Dye has appointed a committee to review these applications: professor of economics James Zinser, professor of history Clayton Koppes, dean of the conservatory Karen Wolff, controller Ronald Watts, treasurer Charles Tharp, and Joel Whitaker '96. A national search for the new director of human resources will open soon.
--Carol Ganzel