President of Reed College:
Colin Diver

Colin Diver, the Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., Professor of Law and Economics, and former Law School dean, was recently elected president of Reed College in Portland Oregon. He will become Reed's 14th president on July 1.

An expert in administrative law and regulation, Professor Diver received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Amherst College, where he currently serves as a trustee and his LL.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law. He also holds an honorary degree from Amherst and will be the fourth Amherst alumnus to serve as president of Reed College.

President Judith Rodin said, "Colin has served Penn as a respected dean, an institutional leader and a valued member of the faculty. While we regret losing a man of his caliber, we are pleased that he has the opportunity to lead such a prestigious institution."

Law Dean Michael Fitts added, "Colin Diver was a superb dean at Penn Law for a decade. There is no better person to lead a fine institution." While dean from 1989-99, he increased and strengthened the Penn Law faculty, improved the physical plant and access to technology, helped raise more than $110 million in new gifts and pledges, worked to attract some of the most able students and added new programs in public service, interdisciplinary teaching and research, and clinical legal education.

His civic and charitable involvement includes service as a trustee of the Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, member of the advisory board of the West Philadelphia Collaborative Program for Child Health, and chairman of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission.

Reed College, founded in 1908, has a rigorous undergraduate program and has produced 31 Rhodes Scholars--a number exceeded by only one other small college in the U.S. Among liberal arts colleges it is the first in the nation in production of Ph.D.s in all disciplines.

The chairman of the Reed board of trustees, Walter Mintz said, "Colin Diver is a superb teacher-scholar and an acknowledged leader in American higher education; his integrity, strength of character and commitment to intellectual openness are emblematic of the highest standards of American higher education."