Chancellor announces membership of Presidential Selection Committee

Brown University Chancellor Stephen Robert has announced the membership of the Presidential Selection Committee, which will identify and hire the University’s 18th president. That committee, composed of trustees and fellows, will be assisted by a 13-member Campus Advisory Committee of students, faculty and staff, to be appointed during March.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Brown University Chancellor Stephen Robert today (Saturday, Feb. 26, 2000) announced the membership of the Corporation’s Presidential Selection Committee, which will work to identify and hire Brown’s 18th president, succeeding E. Gordon Gee. The committee, composed entirely of trustees and fellows, will be assisted by a 13-member committee of faculty, students and staff to be appointed during March.

“Selection of a president is one of the most important and complex tasks a university can undertake,” Robert said. “We intend to consult broadly and seek out the views of faculty, students and staff. Our selection process will honor the University’s educational values of participation and open discussion.”

Robert and other members of the Corporation began the process on Thursday, Feb. 24, by holding three open forums at which members of the campus community could comment on the process and discuss the qualities and characteristics they considered important in the selection of Brown’s next president.

Members of the Presidential Selection Committee, which Robert will chair, include:

• Nancy L. Buc ’65, trustee, attorney and partner in Buc & Beardsley, Washington, D.C.;
  
  
• Elizabeth Z. Chace ’59, fellow, co-founder of Residential Properties Ltd, Providence, R.I.;
  
  
• Spencer R. Crew ’71, trustee, director of the National Museum of American History, Washington D.C.;
  
  
• Timothy C. Forbes ’76, fellow, chief operating officer of Forbes Inc., New York;
  
  
• H. Anthony Ittleson ’60, trustee, president of the Ittleson Foundation, Great Neck, N.Y.;
  
  
• Artemis A. W. Joukowsky ’55, fellow, chancellor emeritus, Providence, R.I.;
  
  
• Marie J. Langlois ’64, trustee, partner in Phoenix Investment Management, Providence, R.I.;
  
  
• Frederick Lippitt, fellow, chairman of the Providence Plan, Providence, R.I.;
  
  
• Matthew J. Mallow ’64, trustee, attorney and partner in Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom of New York;
  
  
• Steven L. Rattner ’74, trustee, deputy chairman of Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, New York;
  
  
• Stephen Robert ’62, trustee, chairman of Robert Capital Management LLC, New York;
  
  
• Charles M. Rosenthal, trustee, a partner of the First Manhattan Co., New York;
  
  
• Charles M. Royce ’61, trustee, president of The Royce Funds, New York;
  
  
• Anita Spivey ’74, trustee, attorney in private practice, Denville, N.J.;
  
  
• Wendy J. Strothman ’72, fellow, executive vice president of Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston;
  
  
• Jerome C. Vascellaro ’74, trustee, Brown Alumni Association president, senior director of McKinsey & Company, New York;
  
  
• Alva O. Way ’51, fellow, chancellor emeritus, chairman IBJ Whitehall Bank & Trust Co., New York.

Robert, Langlois, Mallow and Strothman will serve as ex officio members. They are, respectively, chancellor, vice chancellor, treasurer and secretary of the Corporation.

Brown’s Charter of 1764 specifically charges members of the Corporation with responsibility for electing the president:

And furthermore, it is enacted, ordained, and declared that this Corporation ... shall and may elect and appoint the President ... and upon the demise of [him or her], ... their resignation or removal [from office,] ... others to elect and appoint in their room and stead.

In practice, however, the Corporation has sought assistance in the selection process from an advisory committee of faculty, students and staff. At its meeting today, the Corporation approved creation of a 13-member advisory committee to include five faculty members to be appointed by the Faculty Executive Committee; one hospital-based faculty member to be appointed by the Medical Faculty Executive Committee; three undergraduate students to be appointed by the Undergraduate Council of Students; one graduate student to be appointed by the Graduate Student Council; one medical student to be appointed by the Medical Student Senate; and two administrators to be appointed by the interim president. Those appointments are expected to be as soon as possible but no later than March 30.