Labyrinthine

The first job Frank Smallwood '51 had in Hanover was putting food on an elevator at Mac's Restaurant on Main Street in the late forties. Now, more than 25 years later, the last item on his resume is Norwich fenceviewer.

In between that part-time student job at Mac's and afternoons settling boundary disputes on the other side of the Connecticut, Smallwood has become the Elliot Richardson of the Dartmouth community. He is now on 14 committees and has served in eight administrative posts - not to mention his two years in the Vermont senate, his position as Dryfoos Professor of Government and his latest assignment, vice president and dean for student affairs. "It's been very exciting," Smallwood said, "and it's been very exhausting." It also is exhausting to thumb through his three-page resume, so we decided a short visit with him in Parkhurst Hall would be a better way to review a career of such labyrinthine proportions.

Smallwood warned us it was a long story. "It's been pretty varied, and I've moved around a lot." He was working for the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington and also putting in time on a doctoral thesis when a letter came from President Dickey offering him a job as his executive assistant. He accepted.

Then three senior government professors left in 1960, and Smallwood, who "had always wondered about teaching," joined the department. He was, he said, "more than fair game for committees" because of his considerable administrative experience. He was chairman of a planning committee for the College's Bicentennial, one of the founders of the Urban Studies program and the Dartmouth-M.I.T. urban studies program, twice associate dean of faculty for the social sciences, acting dean of the faculty, director of the Public Affairs Center, and co-chairman of the Environmental Studies program.

Instead of doing research during his sabbatical, he ran for the Vermont senate and was elected. "The first year was a nifty experience," he said. "The second year was terrible because my sabbatical was over and I was teaching again. It became obvious I couldn't keep it up. I decided to unload some of the stuff so I got out of the senate."

"I wanted a more normal faculty experience," he continued. "I was coasting along fine until John Kemeny asked me to take this job [dean and vice president] on for a year." He agreed last month to serve one more year in Parkhurst Hall. Then he'll return full time to teaching - "until," he added quickly, "the next bizarre twist comes along."

Smallwood, whose name often pops up when a political or. university post becomes open in Vermont, now directs-the office of student affairs and coordinates elements as diverse as the Tucker Foundation, financial aid, Dick's House, athletics, Kiewit, the library system, outdoor affairs and the deans' offices. All that, including nearly 400 employees, seems like a full plate to us. But Smallwood managed to do some teaching this year, too. And a book, Freeand Independent: The Initiation of a CollegeProfessor into State Politics, comes out this spring.