Ruth Adams To Be Vice President

Ruth M. Adams, president of Wellesley College since 1966, has accepted Dartmouth's invitation to become Vice President of the College to assist in inaugurating the education of undergraduate women under the new program of coeducation that begins next fall.

Miss Adams, who in August announced her resignation as ninth president of Wellesley College, effective June 30, 1972, was asked by President Kemeny last month to become the first woman vice president in Dartmouth's 202-year history and will begin her new duties July 1.

As vice president, Miss Adams will advise and consult with Dartmouth faculty and administrators on implementing coeducation and assist in increasing the employment opportunities for women at Dartmouth in both faculty and administrative positions.

Miss Adams, an authority on Victorian literature, will also hold an appointment as Professor of English at Dartmouth, and, like Mr. Kemeny, will teach one or two courses a year as she has at Wellesley.

Expressing his delight at Miss Adams' acceptance of the twin appointments, President Kemeny said that when the Dartmouth Trustees adopted coeducation they stressed the importance of providing both an outstanding education for women and men, and an atmosphere of sensitive concern for the overall quality of campus life.

"Dartmouth is fortunate and honored," he said, "to have such a distinguished woman educator to assist us in carrying out that mandate and smoothing the transition to what I am confident will be a significant new chapter in the Dartmouth experience."

Miss Adams said that she looked upon her new appointment as an "exciting opportunity to promote the excellence of education for women at Dartmouth. Dartmouth has long been known for preparing men for leadership, and I am confident it will do the same for women."

It is expected that approximately 350 women—about 150 freshmen, 75 upperclass transfers, and 125 exchange students—will be studying at Dartmouth next fall in the first year of a four-year buildup to 1000 or more undergraduate women and 3000 men by 1976. Dartmouth has already had some experience in the education of women through participation with Wellesley and other institutions in the Twelve College Exchange Program, under which up to 150 women exchange students have studied at Dartmouth each year for the past three years, while its graduate programs and graduate schools are already coeducational.

Miss Adams came to Wellesley in 1966 from Douglass, where she had served as dean for six years and directed the educational program for its 2750 students. Previously she had taught English at the University of Rochester and was director of the honors program.

Miss Adams, a native of New York City, began her teaching career following her graduation, magna cum laude, from Adelphi College in 1935, becoming a teaching fellow and tutor at Harvard in 1944. She received her M.A. degree from Columbia University in 1943 and her Ph.D. from Radcliffe in 1951. At a special ceremony prior to its 200 th anniversary commencement, in June 1966, Rutgers conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. upon Miss Adams, who also holds the L.H.D. from Adelphi and St. Lawrence, a Litt.D. from Russell Sage College, and a D.H.L. from Bates College. In June 1970 she was awarded an honorary LL.D. by the University of Massachusetts at its 100 th commencement.

Miss Adams is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and of the Modern Language Association. Currently she is serving in the Phi Beta Kappa Associates Lectureship Program and on the Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges Committee. Miss Adams is an art collector and a lover of music and outdoor life.

The appointment of the retiring president of Wellesley as a high level officer at Dartmouth adds a new dimension to the close ties developed in recent years between the two colleges 130 miles apart, particularly since the start of the Twelve College Exchange Program. Within the framework of that program, initiated three years ago to facilitate student exchanges among comparable institutions in this country, President Adams and President Kemeny had worked together to arrange an augmented exchange between Wellesley and Dartmouth.