New president and provost take U. helm

Highland Park High School '92 Highland Park, IL The University administration will experience tremendous turnover this summer, as both a new president and a new provost step in on July 1. Former Yale University Provost Judith Rodin is the first woman to head an Ivy League institution on a full-time basis, as she takes over the University's presidency. Rodin is the University's seventh president. She replaces Interim President Claire Fagin, who served a one-year term after former President Sheldon Hackney accepted President Bill Clinton's nomination for chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities. President Search Committee Chairperson Alvin Shoemaker said the Trustees' Executive Committee unanimously voted to nominate Rodin, following a seven-month search that reviewed 300 nominations and interviewed 60 candidates. Rodin is a native of Philadelphia and a 1966 graduate of the University. Fagin immediately praised Rodin as a great successor. "I think it's fabulous to be followed by a woman and a Penn grad," Fagin said. Rodin is 49 years old and recently remarried, with an 11-year-old son, Alex. She has been at Yale since 1972, serving as a professor, chairperson of the psychology department, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and finally Provost. She is also a noted research psychologist, publishing more than 200 articles in academic journals and authoring or co-authoring 10 books. In her words, Rodin's "first -- and most important -- appointment" came when she named University of California at San Diego Associate Vice Chancellor Stanley Chodorow as the University's new provost on April 20. He replaces Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson, who served a one-year term after former Provost Michael Aiken stepped down to become Chancellor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chodorow is a noted medieval legal historian hailing from Roslyn, New York. He received both a bachelor's degree in government and a doctorate in medieval history from Cornell University. Chodorow has been at San Diego since 1968, serving as a faculty member, professor and dean of arts and humanities. Outside the academic world, he is an expert chef, an avid cyclist and a huge sports fan. In her announcement, Rodin had nothing but praise for the new provost, whom she called a "great partner." "[Chodorow's] career and his values have all been driven by his zeal for academic excellence -- in research, in undergraduate teaching, in doctoral and professional education, in faculty development and in community service," she said. "These shared values will be the hallmark of our administration." After the announcement, Rodin said she and Chodorow want to focus on two priorities in the first months of their administration: publicizing those University areas which have achieved unparalleled excellence, and seizing opportunities for change across campus.