[CTcard]

I find this idea that provosts are obscure characters to be odd. Of the names on the list in Yvonne's link, the only two unfamiliar to me are Douglas Whitaker, who left the job just a year after I was born, and James N. Rosse. (I must have been asleep that decade.) Seriously -- have you never heard of John Etchemendy, the current provost?

I guess I should clarify.

I didn't mean to imply that Provost's are obscure characters. They are certainly not obscure to faculty members (as the go to person to ask for anything), and are not obscure to folks who care about the operations of the university at a high/broad level - which tends to include alumni (and Daily writers?).

At this point I know most of the names on the Stanford provost list, though to be sure many of them I know for other reasons (several became president, I believe Hastorf was involved in founding Hum Bio as Psych Dept Head).

However, as an undergraduate student I never really though about the Provost - certainly not enough to decide whether I liked the Provost or not. They were not figure heads who tended to make public appearances and glad-hand with students (at least Hastorf and Rosse were not), they didn't appear to make decisions that affected undergrads (not true but I didn't know), and were just not discussed among students I knew.

As a graduate student that started to change. As an alum that changed moreso. I have always suspected the change was my perspective associated with my own role and relationship to Stanford. Of course it could also depend upon the personalities of presidents and provosts and particular issues that arise.  It's also possible that I was particularly unaware as an undergrad.

[CTcard]

I find this idea that provosts are obscure characters to be odd. Of the names on the list in Yvonne's link, the only two unfamiliar to me are Douglas Whitaker, who left the job just a year after I was born, and James N. Rosse. (I must have been asleep that decade.) Seriously -- have you never heard of John Etchemendy, the current provost?

I guess I should clarify.

I didn't mean to imply that Provost's are obscure characters. They are certainly not obscure to faculty members (as the go to person to ask for anything), and are not obscure to folks who care about the operations of the university at a high/broad level - which tends to include alumni (and Daily writers?).

At this point I know most of the names on the Stanford provost list, though to be sure many of them I know for other reasons (several became president, I believe Hastorf was involved in founding Hum Bio as Psych Dept Head).

However, as an undergraduate student I never really though about the Provost - certainly not enough to decide whether I liked the Provost or not. They were not figure heads who tended to make public appearances and glad-hand with students (at least Hastorf and Rosse were not), they didn't appear to make decisions that affected undergrads (not true but I didn't know), and were just not discussed among students I knew.

As a graduate student that started to change. As an alum that changed moreso. I have always suspected the change was my perspective associated with my own role and relationship to Stanford. Of course it could also depend upon the personalities of presidents and provosts and particular issues that arise.  It's also possible that I was particularly unaware as an undergrad.