Hopkins Center Administrator

Peter Douglas Smith, former assistant vice chancellor of the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California, assumed the position of General Administrator of Hopkins Center on January 1. In that position, he will succeed Warner Bentley, director of the Center since its construction seven years ago and a member of the Dartmouth faculty for 40 years, who is scheduled to retire June 30.

Mr. Smith, a career administrator withual wide interests in the performing and vis ual arts, was born in Lowestoft, England. In 1956 he received a bachelor of arts degree with honors from the University of Birmingham, where he majored in English, and also did graduate work in education. Much of his time was devoted to the theater at Stratford-on-Avon and the Birmingham Repertory Theater. He also helped to found and sang in the Renegade Opera Group at the university. While serving as president of student government at Birmingham, Mr. Smith became interested in university administration tion and decided on a career in that area.

After graduation, he joined the administration of McMaster University in Canada, and became associate director of the Extension Division, which provided an educational program for part-time students. In 1963, Mr. Smith returned to England and earned the degree of Master of Letters at the University of Durham. Then in 1965 he became assistant to the chancellor of the University of California at the new Santa Cruz campus. As chairman of the campus committee on arts and lectures, he helped to organize a varied range of cultural programs and also played a major role in the development of a drama program. This past year, he served as assistant vice chancellor with administrative responsibility for the division of the humanities at Santa Cruz.