Opening statement by Dean of the College James Larimore at a news conference announcement of Josie Harper as Dartmouth College's Director of Athletics and Recreation

Posted 06/27/02

Thank you all for being here. It is a personal honor for me to announce Josie Harper's appointment as the Director of Athletics and Recreation at Dartmouth College. Josie will begin her official duties on July 1, though it will not surprise you at all that she has already been hard at work preparing for her new responsibilities.

Josie is a recognized leader with an outstanding record of accomplishment in college athletics. She is a dedicated and effective advocate who will move our athletic and recreation programs forward. She knows our strengths, she knows our needs, and she is ready to help advance our men's and women's athletic programs as well as our recreation programs.

She is an administrator and educator who cares deeply about the educational experiences of our students. She is a champion of the Ivy League ideal of excellence in athletic and academic pursuits. She is a trusted advisor to colleagues around the country on matters related to coaching and college athletics, as I well know from my time at Stanford.

In my conversations with our coaches, students, faculty, alumni and staff over the past few months I have made it clear that we share a common interest in strong leadership for this department. Dartmouth has an important place in American higher education and I like to think that we can model an effective balance in pursuing excellence in- and outside of the classroom.

As you know, I asked the Search Committee to scour the country to identify the best candidates for this position. They brought five outstanding candidates to the campus for interviews, each possessing significant strengths. Coaches, alumni, faculty and students provided valuable input about each of the candidates, assessing what each would bring to the position.

Over the past two weeks, as I assessed the qualifications of the candidates, conferred with people who share an interest in Dartmouth athletics, and received a wealth of friendly advice from people scattered around the nation, it became clear to me that I needed to look no further than our final candidate pool to make this appointment. And Josie Harper stood out as the right person for this important position.

I shared my decision with President Wright late last week. Jim has great faith in Josie's abilities as a leader. Jim is not able to be with us today, but his personal enthusiasm for Josie's appointment is obvious. He phoned Josie this morning to congratulate her. Likewise, Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg has expressed his excitement and how much he is looking forward to working with Josie to strengthen our programs. I'm excited that Karl is excited.

It is now my pleasure to introduce Josie Harper, Dartmouth's new director of athletics and recreation and the first woman to serve as AD in the Ivy League.