Colgate names new provost, dean of the faculty

Colgate University’s aggressive plan to position itself as the premier liberal arts university in the nation, while many other colleges seem to be standing pat, was one of the factors that led Lyle D. Roelofs to take the position of provost and dean of the faculty.

Roelofs’ appointment as the university’s chief academic officer was announced today by university President Rebecca Chopp. He will join the administration July 1.

Roelofs has served as associate provost at Haverford College, located just outside Philadelphia, for the past three years. He also is a physics professor and the Haverford Distinguished Professor of Computational Science.

‘He is a great fit for Colgate at this time in its history,’ said Chopp. ‘A distinguished scholar, Lyle is a prizewinning teacher who has a reputation as being successful at helping students learn. A person of integrity, Lyle’s administrative talents are highly regarded by all who know him.’

As provost and dean of the faculty, Roelofs will have the primary responsibility for faculty personnel, curriculum, information technology, and supervision of instructional budgets. He also will serve as the chief officer of the university in the president’s absence.

He replaces Jack Dovidio, who has held the position for the past three years.

Roelofs will be called on to help implement Colgate’s strategic plan, a working blueprint that will guide the university for the next three to five years. The plan spells out a vision for Colgate that combines the best characteristics of the liberal arts college and the research university, employing tactical objectives to achieve the goal of making the university truly unique.

‘I admire the strategic plan’s design for fostering academic excellence, because it will carry the institution forward by taking advantage of the very accomplished faculty already in place at Colgate,’ said Roelofs. ‘The plan emphasizes new opportunities for the faculty to develop interdisciplinary combinations and initiatives that will be productive and energizing.’

Roelofs has been a member of the faculty at Haverford since 1982, moving through the ranks of assistant professor, associate professor, and professor positions. In 1993, he was named the Haverford Distinguished Professor of Computational Science and was reappointed to that position in 1998. His research is in the area of surface physics, the study of the outermost atomic layers of solid materials.

Haverford is a coeducational undergraduate liberal arts college founded in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). It has 1,100 students, compared to 2,700 enrolled at Colgate.

Both schools emphasize academic excellence, Roelofs said, though ‘Quaker humility’ keeps Haverford  reticent to really emphasize that sufficiently.

He believes Colgate should make it known that it has aspirations for becoming the very best school of its kind in the nation.  ‘I regard the willingness to be clear to the world as a positive attribute,’ he said.

One of the projects that Roelofs was heavily involved in at Haverford was the construction of the Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center, which houses all of the school’s science departments.

Roelofs helped generate funds, design, and monitor construction of the center, which was completed in August 2002 when the final department ‘ physics ‘ moved in.

The center has paid huge dividends, he said, citing the improved interdisciplinary work and curricular development that has emerged from having all the departments under one roof, and the more stimulating atmosphere for science majors.

‘The combined library and the common social spaces bring students from the different majors together much more regularly. There is more collaboration on all levels,’ Roelofs said.

Colgate’s strategic plan calls for construction of a similar interdisciplinary science building on its campus.

Another initiative, the creation of new institutes of advanced study, cites the need for overcoming the logistical difficulties of bringing together faculty who do not frequently interact or collaborate.

Roelofs is excited about the prospect of working with the faculty on the creation of new institutes, which would support faculty scholarship, bolster the university’s reputation, and increase the potential for greater student involvement.
 
‘For those to work well, the impetus initially has to come from faculty. The role of the provost/dean in that area is working with the faculty to define and prioritize the opportunities,’ he said.

He also plans to participate in an examination of faculty governance at the university, which includes the processes for hiring, making appointments, and tenure. He said that issue was raised by several faculty members during his interview process.

One of the differences between Haverford and Colgate is the level of athletic competition. Haverford teams are in Division III, while Colgate competes in the more demanding Division I.

Colgate recently restructured the way athletic aid is distributed. Starting with this fall’s class, Colgate will offer a limited number of athletic scholarships to be divided among selected sports. The financial aid allocation to athletics is not increasing, but rather the new system, which also is part of the strategic plan, is seen as a more effective way to use the aid.

Roelofs said he is eager to work with the athletics department on the new scholarship initiative to ensure that it is helping coaches in recruiting athletes with the combination of skill in their sport and academic standing necessary for success as scholar-athletes at Colgate.

It is the business of academic institutions to provide an array of activities in which students can strive for excellence, Roelofs said.  All students should be succeeding in their academic pursuits, but the educational process is enhanced if students are developing their interests in at least one other area, whether that is in sports, orchestra, drama, student government, the campus newspaper or something else on campus.

‘Athletics is one of several things that students should consider as activities that help broaden them, make them more complete young adults. It is another playing field, one could say, for achieving excellence.’

Roelofs said that athletics also helps build close relations with alumni, and that bond is critically important to the long-term health of a university community. 

Eager to get to campus this summer, Roelofs said he is hopeful that he will be able to continue to be involved in teaching and research, most likely through sponsoring students to participate in his research program, though that will ultimately depend on the demands of his new job.

He is excited about how the strategic plan will ‘stretch’ Colgate at a time when other universities have been preoccupied with getting through the recent economic downturn rather than looking to improve.

Members of Colgate’s faculty are equally excited about Roelofs’ coming to Hamilton.

‘I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of this search, which began in April 2003,’ said Rich April, Dunham Beldon Jr. Professor of geology and chair of the search committee. ‘Members of the search committee worked very hard selecting the best candidates from a strong field of more than 100 applicants. In the end, Lyle emerged as the search committee’s first choice to fill the position.’