Oberlin College President Nancy S. Dye Will Take Sabbatical Leave Beginning July 1, 2000 By Scott Wargo
			FEBRUARY 7, 2000--The Oberlin College Board of Trustees has approved a semester's sabbatical leave from July 1, 2000, to January 1, 2001, for President Nancy S. Dye, announced Board Chairman Thomas J. Klutznick. President Dye will spend much of her sabbatical in Asia, where she will visit the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association program sites. The Shansi Memorial Association promotes understanding and communication between Asia and the United States through educational programs and community projects. Nancy Dye became Oberlin College's president in 1994. Several of her many noteworthy accomplishments to date include successfully directing a campus-wide long range planning process to identify the basic principles and priorities that will guide Oberlin's decision-making over the next quarter century; significantly enhancing Oberlin's admission and financial aid programs; initiating and funding a new 229,000-square-foot science center that will include enhanced teaching and research facilities for the College's biology, chemistry, biochemistry, neuroscience and physics programs; presiding over the building of a new environmental studies building which sets new standards for ecological design; very significantly enhancing Oberlin's endowment and fundraising; and planning for and leading a new campaign to raise an additional $165 million for endowment and facilities. President Dye used a $150,000 Presidential Leadership award granted her by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to create a new collaboration between the College and Oberlin's public schools. Her active commitment to community service inspired a $3 million gift to Oberlin to establish and endow Oberlin's Center for Service and Learning to foster student community service as part of a broad educational experience. "Nancy Dye is doing a tremendous job of guiding Oberlin and enhancing Oberlin's leadership role in American higher education," said Klutznick. "Her sabbatical is richly deserved." The Board of Trustees named Clayton Koppes, dean of Oberlin's College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History, to serve as acting president during Dye's sabbatical. "Over the past four years, Clayton Koppes has served Oberlin exceptionally well as dean of the College. He will lead Oberlin well as acting president," said Klutznick. Dean Koppes joined Oberlin's faculty in 1978. In his years at Oberlin, he has established a strong reputation as a teacher and scholar of modern American history. As dean, Koppes has stressed "building Oberlin's traditional strengths including enhancing its receptiveness to cultural diversity." A graduate of Bethel College, Koppes earned an M.A. degree at Emory University and a Ph.D. degree at the University of Kansas. Before coming to Oberlin, he spent four years as a senior research fellow at California Institute of Technology.
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