David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services, has resigned to become vice president for strategic initiatives at the University of Chicago, President Ruth Simmons announced July 25 in a campus-wide e-mail. Russell Carey '91 MA'06, vice president and secretary of the University, will become interim vice president for campus life and student services.
Greene's departure comes at an important time for the division of campus life, with planning underway for new residence halls and major capital projects such as the Nelson Fitness Center. Additionally, renovations are ongoing in Faunce House, the Sharpe Refectory and the Sciences Library.
Simmons wrote in the July 25 e-mail that she asked Carey to step in as interim vice president to ensure continuity for ongoing campus life initiatives.
"Given the progress that has been made in campus life, and the difficult and demanding planning and implementation urgently needed to address a number of student life needs, I want to ensure uninterrupted momentum over the coming years," she wrote.
Simmons wrote that Carey will serve as interim vice president for two years. The e-mail makes no mention of a search for a permanent successor to Greene.
Carey's new role returns him to the division in which he started his administrative career. After graduating from the University in 1991, Carey served as student life officer and was later assistant dean of student life. After leaving Brown in 1995 for a stint as an assistant district attorney in Northampton, Mass., he returned the following year and has since held a variety of posts in University Hall, including assistant to the provost, assistant to the president and, currently, vice president and secretary of the University.
Carey told The Herald he is excited about the opportunity to continue Greene's work in improving the resources Brown provides its undergraduates.
"David has really accomplished a great deal in his time here, and there's a lot more the president wants to do," Carey said.
Greene told The Herald he wasn't looking for a new job and assumed that he would be at Brown for many years, but "sometimes an opportunity comes along ... that is compelling enough that you really have to look at it and consider it. That was the case here," he said.
"Leaving Brown is very tough for me," Greene said. "I love Brown very much, and it is surprising to me how much Brown has gotten under my skin in a good way."
Greene said he has enjoyed working with Brown students and improving student life at the University. "Being part of the community has been for me a real honor," he said, adding that every time he walks across the Main Green he feels like he is "at one of the most important places in the world."
Greene's departure for UChicago marks the end of 10 years working for Simmons. In 1996, he became Simmons' assistant at Smith College, where she was president, and moved with her in 2001 to assume the equivalent role at Brown. He left the Office of the President in 2003 to become interim vice president for campus life and student services, and he took the post on a permanent basis the following year.
When he moves to UChicago next month, Greene will become the institution's first vice president for strategic initiatives. The newly created position is meant to ensure that the university's planning focuses on a specific set of carefully considered priorities and is well-coordinated among the institution's various units, Greene said.
"The primary (component of the job) is overseeing a series of major initiatives that will end up crossing different divisional and school boundaries at the university," Greene added.
Greene is the second senior administrator to leave the University this summer for UChicago. Brown's former provost, Robert Zimmer, became president of UChicago July 1.
The vice president for campus life and student services at Brown is "the senior advocate for students and their co-curricular needs, representing students in the President's Cabinet and other senior councils of the University," according to an April 2004 press release announcing Greene's appointment to the position on a permanent basis.
The vice president for campus life and student services oversees the Department of Athletics, the Office of Student Life, the Office of Residential Life, the Third World Center, the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, Dining Services, Health Services, Psychological Services and the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life.
Waite-Franzen takes post at Dartmouth
Also on July 25, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 announced in an e-mail to faculty and staff that Ellen Waite-Franzen, vice president for computing and information services, will leave the University Sept. 30 to become vice president for information technology at Dartmouth College. Waite-Franzen has headed CIS since 2002.
Terri-Lynn Thayer '81, currently assistant vice president for administrative information systems at CIS, will become acting vice president, according to Kertzer's e-mail. Kertzer will soon form a search committee to find Waite-Franzen's successor.
Bartini to leave financial aid office
On Aug. 4, Kertzer announced in an e-mail to senior administrators that Michael Bartini, director of financial aid, will step down Aug. 31 to become senior vice president for enrollment systems and management at the College Board. Bartini worked at the College Board for over 15 years prior to coming to the University in 1998.
A search committee to find a new director will be chaired by Dean of Admission Jim Miller '73. Committee members include Michael Goldberger, director of athletics and formerly dean of admission; Susan Howitt '80, associate vice president for budget and planning; Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president for campus life and dean for student life; Karen McLaurin'74, associate dean of the College and director of the Third World Center; and Michael White, professor of sociology.
Susan Farnum, associate director of financial aid, will serve as interim director while the search for Bartini's successor is conducted.
