Koblik leaving; presidential search committee named

At the beginning of January president Steven Koblik announced that he will be leaving Reed this summer to become the president of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California.

In a letter to Reed friends and colleagues Koblik said, “It is with genuinely mixed emotions that I have informed the chairman of the Reed board of trustees of my decision to resign as of August 31, 2001. My years at Reed have been wonderful. Together we have accomplished a great deal. I am convinced that Reed offers the finest undergraduate education in the country.”

During Koblik's presidency the college has added 15 new tenure-track positions, enhanced campus facilities, and seen the endowment triple in size to $350 million.

The school's recently completed $100 million Campaign for Reed College raised more than $112 million, primarily in support of financial aid, faculty development, and student research.

The presidential search committee was recently named to choose Koblik's successor. Alumnus and trustee Stephen McCarthy ’66, proprietor of Clear Creek Distillery in Portland and vice chairman of the Reed board, will chair the search committee. This is a command performance for McCarthy, who chaired the search committee that brought Koblik to the college in 1992. Other members of the current search committee also served on that committee.

“We are not going to let time drive the process. Last time it took us a year and a half to find a president, but we got what we wanted,” said McCarthy.

Nominations are being actively solicited and may be sent to the Presidential Search Committee, Reed College, PO Box 82129, Portland OR 97282-0129.

The following are the members of the search committee:

Trustees:
Stephen McCarthy ’66, chair; Daniel Greenberg ’62, chairman of the board and CEO of Electro Rent Corporation in Van Nuys, California; Linda Howard ’70, administrative assistant corporation counsel, New York City Law Department; Michael E. Levine ’62, member of the Harvard Law School faculty and chairman of Rohn Industries in Woodbridge, Connecticut; Brett Wilcox,president of Northwest Aluminum Company in The Dalles, Oregon; Laurel Wilkening ’66, retired chancellor of the University of California-Irvine; and as an ex officio member Walter Mintz ’50, chairman of the Reed board of trustees, consultant, and retired founding partner of Cumberland Associates in New York, New York.

Faculty members:
Robert Brightman ’73, Ruth C. Greenberg Professor of American Indian Studies; Virginia Hancock ’62, professor of music; Patrick McDougal, professor of chemistry; Nigel Nicholson, assistant professor of classics and humanities; Daniel Reisberg, professor of psychology; and Lisa Steinman, Kenan Professor of English and Humanities.

Observers:
Andy Bruno ’03, student body president; Edwin McFarlane, Reed vice president and treasurer; and Sally Snyder Brunette ’83, president of the Reed College alumni association and owner of Giving Matters in Bellevue, Washington.