FACULTY

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "The wireless network is changing life at Dartmouth It is subtly but profoundly altering teaching techniques, social interaction, study habits and personal security." -WIRED MAGAZINE, IN AN OCTOBER STORY ON DARTMOUTH'S CAMPUS WIRELESS NETWORK

PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND brain sciences Michael Gazzaniga '61 has been named by President James Wright as the College's dean of the faculty of arts and sciences. "I see the job as helping to guide and enable the current and prospective faculty to be the best they can be, not only for their own self-realization but also because the outstanding students at Dartmouth deserve to be surrounded with excellence," says Gazzaniga, who has taught at the College for 10 years. "Why else should one go to Dartmouth?"

Gazzaniga replaces Jam shed Bharucha, who left Hanover last summer for a new job at Tufts. As dean, Gazzaniga will oversee 575 faculty members, and he'll be a key force in deciding how the College can implement its plan to in-crease the number of tenured professors, currently at 350, by 10 percent. "Dartmouth must maintain its excellence in a number of areas, and it needs to focus resources on potentially excellent areas," he says. "The distribution of faculty will reflect these two goals. Across-the-board increases for everyone would do little to improve the intellectual life of Dartmouth." Funding for more faculty positions, he notes, has yet to be raised.

Gazzaniga brings to the job a long record of navigating the cutting edge. He jumped into the nascent field of "splitbrain" research while still an undergraduate, earned a Ph.D. at Caltech, then forged a new area of study of how the brain works. He christened it "cognitive neuroscience" and founded a society and journal to help it develop into the World-wide field it is today. He established programs in cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth Medical School in 1988 and the University of California at Davis in 1992, then returned to Dartmouth in 1996 to launch and direct its Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. He has written and edited more than 15 books and is an outspoken member of President George W. Bush's national council on bioethics.

"Mike is a rainmaker. He makes things happen," says psych professor Todd Heatherton, co-author with Gazzaniga of a new book, The Psychological Sciences. "Plenty of people sit around and say, 'Wouldn't it be great if...' and then let the idea drop. If you have one of those conversations with Mike, the next thing you know you're applying for a multimillion-dollar grant." And reaping the rewards: In the past six years Gazzaniga has helped secure more than $14 million in research grants for Dartmouth.

Despite the demands of his four-year term as dean, Gazzaniga plans to stay active in cognitive neuroscience. "I have discovered the value of always having several pots going," he says. "Without that, one can spend two hours on a decision that should take two minutes. Always having something you want to get back to creates an urgency that can be good."

So, does the new dean, an alumnus of Alpha Delta, the fraternity that inspired Animal House, think it's possible for students to multi-task between the life of the mind and the Greek system? "Sure, why not?" he says. "One can't think about Aristotle all the time. Fellowship is a good thing. Moderation is also a good thing."

Michael Gazzaniga