Former MEAC Commissioner Named AD at Darmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - Charles S. Harris, who recently resigned as commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, has been named Dartmouth's Director of Athletics and Recreation.

Charles Harris

Harris becomes Dartmouth's seventh athletic director and will succeed Richard G. Jaeger, Dartmouth's athletic director since 1989, who will retire on June 30. Harris's appointment was announced today by Dean of the College James A. Larimore.

"Charles Harris embraces the role of athletics at Dartmouth as well as in the Ivy League, and he shares our values of academic and athletic excellence," said Larimore. "I am delighted to have an athletic director of Charles's caliber joining us."

"It is a privilege to be selected as the Director of Athletics and Recreation at Dartmouth College," said Harris. "From my perspective, the balance of academics and athletics that is manifested in the Ivy concept and at Dartmouth represents an ideal fit for my own beliefs about the role and mission of intercollegiate athletics."

"Athletics and athletes have always played an important role in the life of the College, and this appointment affirms and builds upon that tradition," noted Dartmouth President James Wright, who serves on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors. "Charles Harris has shown a commitment to competitive programs and a love for working with coaches and student-athletes. I have come to know him through his work as chair of the NCAA Division I Management Council, and I look forward to working with him at Dartmouth."

Harris was chosen from a pool of more than 180 candidates. "Dartmouth's search for a Director of Athletics and Recreation has been extensive, and we attracted an incredibly strong group of applicants," noted Larimore. "Their interest tells us a lot about the quality and potential of our athletic program. We went out looking for a director with a demonstrated track record of leadership and found one."

In announcing Harris's appointment, Dean Larimore also credited the nine-member search committee, chaired by Dartmouth biology Professor Carol Folt, that conducted the eight-month search and made recommendations that led to Harris's appointment.

"The Committee was very impressed with all of the candidates interviewed," said Folt. "We believe that Charles Harris will be a strong and successful advocate for the Department of Athletics and Recreation and that Dartmouth will benefit greatly from his great experience and understanding of the role of athletics and physical education within a liberal education."

As director of athletics, Harris will oversee 34 intercollegiate sports (16 women's sports, 16 men's and two coed) as well as 17 club sports and an intramural program in which nearly three-quarters of Dartmouth's undergraduates participate. Dartmouth athletics also includes physical education courses, the Fitness and Lifestyle Improvement Program, and recreational activities serving nearly 1,500 individuals per day.

A member of the Ivy League and the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC), Dartmouth received NCAA certification, required of all Division 1 institutions, in 1996.

Dartmouth is the nation's ninth-oldest institution of higher education, with approximately 4,300 undergraduates and 1,200 graduate students in the arts & sciences, business, engineering and medicine.

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