The Tech received the following today, June 2, 1998, annoucing the appointment of Dean of Engineering Robert A. Brown to the position of Provost, and Professor Lawrence S. Bacow to the new position of Chancellor.

The Tech will have full coverage in its Friday, June 5 1998 Commencement issue.

Provost and Chancellor Announcement for 6-3-98 Tech Talk
									
 	President Charles M. Vest announced Tuesday that he will
 	recommend to the Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation
 	that Dean of Engineering Robert A. Brown be appointed Provost
 	of MIT, and that Professor Lawrence S. Bacow be appointed to
 	the new position of Chancellor.  Both positions will report
 	directly to the President.  Their appointments will be
 	effective August 1, when Professor Joel Moses steps down as
 	provost.  Dr. Moses will return to teaching and research after
 	a sabbatical leave.  (See interview on page xx with Professor
 	Moses.)  Dr. Vest also noted that the search for an executive
 	vice president is continuing, with the expectation that an
 	individual to fill this position will be identified this
 	summer.

	Dr. Vest said his decision to appoint two senior officers with
	responsibility for academic administration was made in
	recognition of the increasing complexity and volume of issues
	faced by research universities.  "We are entering a period of
	increasing opportunity as well as challenge.  I believe this
	new structure will enable us to better support the faculty as
	they recruit the very best students and professional
	colleagues in the face of increasing competition, sustain a
	vigorous level of research support, and enhance the living and
	learning environment for our students."
	
	"I am delighted that Bob and Larry strongly support this
	concept, and I look forward to working with them to shape the
	agenda and garner the support necessary to accomplish our
	academic goals," he said.
	
	As Provost, Professor Brown will have responsibility for the
	five Schools, working with the deans to establish programmatic
	priorities, and maintaining responsibility for budgetary
	planning to meet those priorities.  He will have overall
	responsibility for faculty development, including the
	processes for recruitment, appointment, promotion and tenure,
	and will oversee the Institute's activities to recruit and
	support women and minorities in the faculty ranks.  Lincoln
	Laboratory and several other interdisciplinary centers and
	programs will continue to report to the Provost.

	As Chancellor, Professor Bacow will have line responsibility,
	and will play a central coordinating role, for education at
	both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  He also will be
	responsible for the overall management and development of
	MIT's large-scale institutional partnerships, both industrial
	and international.  In addition, he will play a major role in
	long-range strategic planning for the Institute, in education,
	research, and campus development.

	"I am very grateful to both Bob and Larry for taking on these
	new responsibilities", said Dr. Vest.  "While this is a new
	team, we have worked together in a variety of other
	capacities, and I look forward to working with them as we
	forge a strong recommitment to our core values, our sense of
	national and world mission, our academic excellence, and our
	learning community of students, faculty and staff."  The
	President said that over the next two months, they would work
	together to continue to refine and optimize the structure of
	the two positions.  In making the announcement regarding the
	provost, Dr. Vest said, "Bob Brown has exhibited the
	leadership, commitment to excellence, and sound judgment that
	will serve us all very well as he assumes his new role as
	provost.  As a member of the Academic Council, he has
	consistently displayed a strong interest in and understanding
	of our five schools and their different perspectives and
	cultures.  Indeed, his own scholarly activities have been at
	the interface of science and engineering.
	
	"Bob's commitment to diversity has been strong, continual and
	effective.  As dean, he has been a risk taker, and he has
	built consensus about bold new directions, including
	international activities, the engineering-biology interface,
	and relationships with industry.  In these and other
	activities, he nicely balances broad vision with consideration
	of important details and processes."
	
	Commenting on the position of Chancellor, Dr. Vest said, "This
	new position at the highest level of the administration will
	enable us not only to respond effectively to the educational
	challenges before us, but to lead in this core area of our
	mission.  The Chancellor will be critical to our ability to
	act on the forthcoming recommendations of the Task Force on
	Student Life and Learning." In its preliminary report, the
	Task Force emphasized the importance of building a learning
	environment based on a combination of teaching, research, and
	community.  "Larry's dedication, versatility and skill as a
	teacher in three of our Schools - together with his
	outstanding tenure as Chair of the Faculty from 1995 to 1997 -
	suit him exceptionally well for this position of educational
	leadership," said Dr. Vest.

	"The Chancellor will also enable us to better implement the
	recommendations of the Councils on the Environment,
	Educational Technology, Industry Relationships, and
	International Relationships.  Larry's deep dedication to
	academia coupled with his outstanding organizational and
	diplomatic skills will serve us well."  He noted that
	Professor Bacow had played a very significant role in creating
	a consortium on global environmental challenges, which, he
	said, is "an example of the kind of institutional partnership
	with industry we will see more of in the future." Major
	institutional partnerships developed in recent years include
	those with Ford, Amgen and Merck, to support research in the
	environment, design, and biological sciences.
	
	Commenting on this enhancement of the senior academic
        administration, Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education Rosalind
        Williams said, "this extends and fulfills the reorganization of the
        ODSUE which occurred in the fall of 1996.  Since then, ODSUE has come
        a long way in becoming a cohesive organization in support of
        education, both in the classroom and throughout the campus. Now we
        will be in a much better position to work for these educational goals
        because the administrative context focuses attention on them as never
        before."  

        Professor Brown, a member of the National Academy of
        Engineering, joined the MIT faculty in 1980, and is the Warren
        K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering.  He was head of the
        Chemical Engineering Department from 1988 to January 1996, when he was
        named Dean of the School.  An expert in fluid mechanics, transport
        processes and numerical methods, he has been very interested in the
        application of information technology in education and research and
        its impact on the roles of research universities. He also has been a
        leader in the formation of the Division for Bioengineering and
        Environmental Health, a new academic unit within the School of
        Engineering, and has played an important role in the fundraising and
        project leadership for the construction of the new complex of
        buildings to house faculty and students in computer information and
        intelligence sciences.  Known as a superb teacher, he received the
        Department's Outstanding Faculty Award from its students four times
        during the 1980s, and received the Graduate Student Council Teaching
        Award in 1985 as well.  Dean Brown lives in Winchester with his wife,
        Beverly, and their two sons, Ryan and Keith.  

        "I am very honored to have the opportunity to help the faculty and
        staff shape MIT for the coming years," said Dean Brown.  "I look
        forward to working with President Vest, Professor Bacow and with
        Academic Council to help MIT respond to the tremendous opportunities
        that are in front of us."

        Professor Bacow is the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of
	Environmental Studies in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
	Professor Bacow received his S.B. in Economics from MIT, his J.D. from
	Harvard Law School, and his M.P.P and Ph.D. from Harvard's Kennedy
	School of Government.  A member of the MIT faculty since 1977, his
	teaching and research span a number of fields including environmental
	economics and policy, regulation of the development process,
	bargaining and negotiation theory, and risk assessment.  This past
	year he taught courses in three of MIT's Schools (Sloan, Humanities
	and Social Science, and Architecture and Planning), and one of his
	courses was required for majors in environmental engineering.

	Professor Bacow was the co-founder of the MIT Center for Real
	Estate and served as its first faculty Director.  From 1995 to
	1997, he served as Chairman of the MIT Faculty, and currently
	serves as Associate Director of MIT's Center for Environmental
	Initiatives and co-director of the Consortium on Global
	Environmental Challenges.  He and his wife, Adele, live in
	Newton with their two sons, Jay and Kenny.

   	Commenting on his appointment, he said "Over the past several
   	years, the faculty - with help from our students - have worked
   	hard to plot a vision of the future through their efforts on
   	the Task Force on Student Life and Learning, and the Provost's
   	Councils.  I am honored to have the opportunity to work with
   	Chuck, Bob, and the Deans to help make this vision a reality."