Appointments To Key Spots Announced

Oberlin College President Nancy S. Dye announced in June that Alan Moran, director of communications since 1990, has been promoted to the Vice President for College Relations. Moran came to Oberlin in March 1990 to fill the posts of news-services manager and assistant to the director of communications and was promoted to director of communications five months later. "I have the utmost respect and admiration for Alan Moran's creativity, energy, administrative abilities, conscientiousness, and dedication to Oberlin," says President Dye. "I deeply appreciate how rare and valuable his skills are."

The Office of Communications changed its name to the Office of College Relations in July as part of a general restructuring.

Kay Thomson, former director of major gifts in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, is acting vice president of that department, replacing Young Dawkins who resigned from the position at the end of August. An experienced fund raiser, particularly in the area of foundation and corporate support for education, Thomson joined Oberlin's development staff in fall 1995. Her husband, Haskell Thomson '58, is director of the division of keyboard studies and professor of organ at the Conservatory of Music.

Edward K. Derby '87 assumed his role as director of the Oberlin Fund on October 6. Derby returns to his alma mater with excellent credentials in fundraising acquired at the University of Virginia's College of Arts and Sciences, where he served in a similar capacity. After graduating from Oberlin with a BA in English, he earned an MA in English, with a creative-writing emphasis, at the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1990, and began his professional career at UVA that same year. Derby says he is delighted to be returning to Oberlin, this time as a member of the staff.

Diana W. Roose, assistant to President Dye, has agreed to help coordinate the division of student life and services in the absence of former Dean Charlene Cole-Newkirk '74. Cole-Newkirk, named dean in July 1995 to replace Patrick Penn who retired, left the college's employment in mid-October. Roose has participated in several special projects with the associate deans in the past, and they have voiced full support for the interim plan. A search process for the new dean begins before the next semester.

Back to Around Tappan Square

Return to the OAM Fall 1997 Table of Contents