The University announced last week that Prof. Laura Brown, English, will become the next Provost for Undergraduate Education in July. The announcement came almost four months after Brown's predecessor, Michelle Moody-Adams, accepted the position as Dean of Columbia College.

Brown is currently the John Wendell Anderson Professor of English. Throughout her 28 years at Cornell, she has served as a director of the graduate program and chaired the English department from 2002 to 2005. She was also involved in the Provost's Committee on the Status of Women about 20 years ago and recently served on the Faculty Senate.

Cornell’s top dogs will face some of the tightest budget constraints of all those on the hill. And while the financial outlook is discouraging, we see opportunity in the possibility of an overhaul and centralization of Cornell's highest posts — particularly the bureaucratic infrastructure that is maintained by the Office of the Provost.

President Skorton announced Sunday night that the office will face a dismal 10-percent cut in its expenditures. The drastic cutbacks, however, are riding on the coattails of a decade that saw some of the most expansive initiatives and increases in administrative spending to reduce what they saw as relative decentralization of the administration.

On Jan. 1, Kent Fuchs replaced Biddy Martin as Cornell’s provost after serving as dean of the College of Engineering. Chris Ober, who was the associate dean of research and graduate studies, took over as interim dean for the engineering college when Fuchs vacated the position.

Fuchs has assembled the Engineering Dean Search Committee, which is comprised mostly of engineering faculty. Vice Provost John Siliciano is acting as committee chair. Other faculty serving on the committee include Director of Institutional Research and Planning Michael Matier, who is serving as search manager, and Director of Human Resources for the College of Engineering Julie Delay, who is helping staff the search.

Kent Fuchs, dean of the College of Engineering, will be Cornell's 15th provost, President Skorton announced at this morning's State of the University Address. Fuchs has been dean since 2002, and his term as provost will start in January 2009.

"I look forward to serving Cornell's faculty, students and staff, and working to fulfill President Skorton's vision for our campus. We are blessed with wonderful leadership across the University, and I will devote all my energy and time to helping those leaders enhance Cornell's stature, scholarship and teaching,” Fuchs stated in a press release. He succeeds Carolyn “Biddy” Martin, who is now the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Check cornellsun.com for updates.

As a gift to the outgoing provost, President David Skorton proclaimed that the dining room in the A.D. White House would now be called the “Carolyn ‘Biddy’ Martin Room.”

The announcement was made yesterday at a special event, where about 150 staff, faculty, students and alumni gathered under a large, white tent on Bailey Hall plaza to bid farewell to Martin, now chancellor of University Wisconsin-Madison, her alma mater.

“A.D. White House is where I have spent some of my best times at Cornell. It is one of the most beautiful and important houses on campus. And to have something related to the humanities named after me means the world to me,” said Martin.

As an administrator, former Provost Biddy Martin was devoted to improving the lives of students, faculty and staff. As President David Skorton’s first deputy officer, she pioneered initiatives to increase financial aid, appoint new deans and increase communication and cohesion across our large and disparate University. It’s because of her stellar academic and administrative record at Cornell that we’re disappointed to learn of the controversy surrounding her appointment as the new chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Two weeks ago, a blog post on the National Review Online criticized Martin as a “self-indulged, theory-laden, post-modern scholar.”

While many Cornell students, faculty and staff have offered both praise for Provost Biddy Martin as she prepares to assume the position of University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor in September and lamentation in the wake of her absence at Cornell, the chancellor-elect has become the brunt of harsh criticism amidst a highly publicized battle between members of Wisconsin’s state legislature.

On May 30, the National Review Online ran a blog post questioning if Martin — who the author described as an “obscure, self-indulged, theory-laden, post-modern scholar” — has what it takes to be chancellor of UW-Madison.

Following yesterday’s announcement that University Provost Carolyn “Biddy” Martin has accepted the position of University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor, the University is in the most preliminary stages of searching for Martin’s successor. Martin will continue to serve as provost during the summer.