By Heather Kamins
Daily Staff Reporter
Signifying University President Lee Bollinger's first step in reconstructing his constantly changing administration, Rackham Dean Nancy Cantor has been selected to serve as University provost - the University's second-in-command.
The provost position has been up for grabs since early March, when Provost J. Bernard Machen announced to The Michigan Daily his intention to leave the post in August when his contract expires.
The announcement was just one shift in a University administration that, during the past 10 months, has looked more like a game of musical chairs than a stable governing body of one of the nation's leading universities. Nominations to other top University positions are expected to occur through August and September.
When he confirmed Cantor's nomination in July, Bollinger said Cantor comes to the job with a great amount of experience; she has served as vice provost for academic affairs-graduate studies, as well as Rackham dean.
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Cantor, whose nomination was approved in the July meeting of the University Board of Regents, will have the distinction of acting as the University's first female provost.
"I am very excited and honored," Cantor said. "It is a position with great opportunity and a lot of challenges. The provost position has both a facilitator side of bringing people together and has a strong mandate to set policy."
Regent Andrea Fischer Newman (R-Ann Arbor) said Cantor brings the necessary experience to the job to ensure a smooth transition.
"I think she'll make an excellent provost," Newman said. "I think you can expect that she will be approved. I am really pleased that it is someone inside the University. She knows a lot about the issues and will hit the ground running."
In comparison to provost positions around the nation, the University's office has often been considered much more difficult because of the depth of responsibility it holds. Princeton University President Harold Shapiro, who served as both University president and provost, described the University's provost position as a job of great complexity.
"In the context of the University of Michigan, the provost is an extremely important job," Shapiro said. "The overall challenge is to provide academic leadership - to articulate and make real intellectual leadership and allocation to the various schools and colleges. They all look to the provost."
Shapiro, who served on the University's faculty with Cantor and later appointed her chair of the psychology department at Princeton, said he is confident in her ability to manage the intricate role.
"I think it's a marvelous appointment," Shapiro said. "It is a very imaginative and wonderful appointment. She will serve the University very well. She will bring tremendous wisdom to the job."
Cantor earned her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 1974 and her Ph.D from Stanford University in 1978. She joined the University faculty as an associate professor of psychology in 1983 before leaving for Princeton. She returned to the University in 1996, after being appointed dean of the Rackham School of Graduate Studies.
Among her accolades, Cantor received the 1979 Dissertation Award of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award. At the University she was the recipient of the Henry Russel Award in 1987 and the Faculty Recognition Award in 1987.
Vice Provost of Academic and Multicultural Affairs Lester Monts said he has "nothing but praise for her leadership and her ability to deal with the complex nature of the University."
"She is a person of high integrity with superior intellectual abilities and a dynamic force for constructive change," Monts said.
Cantor said she is anxious to enhance the way in which the University can serve its community.
"The provost needs to be as open to the concerns of the community as possible, and you get them from all sides so that can be challenging," Cantor said. "I feel very strongly that we have to operate as a University community, with all parts working together. The provost is one person that needs to help create these connections between the constituents of the University."
Associate Rackham Dean Steve Kunkel said Cantor will serve as an excellent provost, concentrating on the concerns of the faculty.
"She's an extremely good people person," Kunkel said. "I am sure that she will be a provost interested in bricks and mortar, but more interested in making sure that the faculty are taken care of."
A major responsibility of the provost is to communicate with the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs. SACUA Chair Louis D'Alecy, a physiology professor, said he is pleased with the outcome of the search.
"I think the president and search committee did a really good job," D'Alecy said. "They looked inside and out of the University. We've had a really good working relationship with the current provost. We hope this will continue with Nancy."
In his time as provost, Machen has been credited with helping heal wounded relations with faculty and administrators, which were somewhat strained during the leadership period of President James Duderstadt and Provost Gilbert Whitaker.
Machen, at the time of his announcement, said he would step down in order to make room for Bollinger to assemble his own administrative team.
"Bernie Machen has won the hearts and the admiration of all of us in serving with such devotion and distinction as provost during the past two years," Bollinger said in a statement released in July. "He has been particularly helpful in easing my transition into this office, for which I am deeply grateful. The University is in his debt."
Machen was one of three top officers who left the University immediately before or after Bollinger stepped into office. The list of departed officials includes former General Counsel Elsa Cole and Farris Womack, the University's highly regarded executive vice president and chief financial officer.
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