Teachers College Chooses New Provost

Thomas James will take over as provost of Teachers College on July 1 2007, school officials announced Monday. James is the outgoing dean of the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

James will also hold the titles of dean and vice president for academic affairs. Hig appointment comes after a search lasting several months after former Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs Darlyne Bailey left for the University of Minnesota. William Baldwin served as interim dean.

James notified his brother of the good news.

"My brother works for state government in Oregon and I sent a message about becoming provost," James said. "He said congratulations-what the hell is a provost?!"

"Among a group of truly superb candidates, Tom James has the best of all backgrounds-particularly in terms of his prior experience in New York City and as a dean at one of the nation's rising schools of education," Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman said in a press release, citing his experience as Vice Dean and Professor of Educational History at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education.

"I loved my work at Chapel Hill, there were no push factors there," James said. "I feel a very deep attraction to the potential of what Teachers College can do."

James said he is excited to join new leadership at the institution that was recently rated number one in education schools by U.S. News and World Report's annual ranking. "I'm looking forward to working with President Fuhrman in building the leadership team," he said. "She's the coach and we have a new team."

He said he looks forward to "working with the faculty and the students, and really helping to bring alive ... the academic community, to make it a place where people are intellectually charged and socially engaged." He added that he wants to help further relationships with the surrounding New York City schools.