Nancy Schrom Dye Presidential Papers, 1948-2007
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Nancy Schrom Dye (1947-2015) served as the thirteenth president of Oberlin College from 1994 to 2007. Selected from a national search, she accepted the presidency, leaving her position as dean of the faculty and professor of history at Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, New York).[1] Upon coming to Oberlin, she arrived “during what was considered a difficult period in the institution’s history: morale was low, the deficit was high, and the future was uncertain.”[2] She had her work cut out for her given the high expectations placed before her administration to establish a fresh vision and become a change agent for Oberlin College. Her personal style of engagement and communication contributed to a wide support base, as did her student-centered focus and progressive approach to address issues in higher education.
To describe the tenure of the first woman president, this history focuses on six particular subsets of the Dye administration: 1) reorganizing the role of senior staff; 2) creating two campus-wide strategic plans; 3) leading a $165 million capital campaign; 4) identifying new resources to expand the physical campus; 5) fostering valuable partnerships with the City of Oberlin; and 6) contributing to Oberlin’s global understanding and multicultural education. “Think one person can change the world? So do we!” initially became the slogan of Oberlin.[3]
Despite this administration’s advancements of engaged citizenship and global awareness, it experienced conflict and controversy stemming from personnel issues, financial strains, and later, reduced support from students and faculty members. The going became more difficult in the last half of the administration, and it began to lose some of its luster, especially after the difficult strategic planning process of 2004-05. Throughout the successes and difficulties, Dye formed a number of collegial relationships with confidants in administration, faculty, and staff. William (Bill) R. Perlik (d. 2006), who served on the Board of Trustees (1978-2000; chairman 1993-2000) and headed the search committee that led to her appointment, became her closest confidant and mentor.
Reorganizing senior staff, administrative units, and changing curriculum
The first administrative subset involves the naming of a senior staff team, and the subsequent changes to reconfigure administrative units and contribute to academic curriculum growth. Dye quickly set out to distance her administration from that of Starr’s presidency in important ways. After one year in office, Dye abolished the Office of the Provost (established in 1961) in an effort to give college and conservatory deans “more authority over their own division’s resources.”[4] To assist in leading in a fresh direction, internal appointment Clayton Koppes became Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and external appointment Andrew B. Evans became Vice President for Finance. (The provost had served as the financial officer.) Dye re-staffed the Office of the President, including high-level presidential assistants Kathryn Stuart and Diana Roose.
In the area of campus administrative offices, two notable additions were the Center for Service and Learning (1994) and the Office of the Ombudsperson (2000). In her October 1994 inaugural address, Dye voiced the indispensability of a liberal arts education coupled with civic engagement. An anonymous gift established a Center for Service and Learning and resurrected the meaning of the college’s “Learning and Labor” motto. In a campus environment that did not always easily arrive at a consensus, the Office of the Ombudsperson was formed to oversee two conflict resolution programs: the Oberlin College Dialogue Center and the student mediation program. Not to be overlooked is the reconfiguration of the Dean of Students (1997-98) and Dean of Studies (2002-03) offices.
To position Oberlin on the forefront of higher education, the administration acted on student and faculty appeals to advance a multicultural curriculum. For example, Dye and a select number of Oberlin students promoted global education with an emphasis on Middle East and North Africa (MENA) studies beginning in 2002. Additionally, a Comparative American Studies program, literally built from scratch, entered the curriculum in the fall of 2003. The final development was the Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP), established in 2006, which served as a twelve-month program combining graduate study with hands-on classroom experience in the Oberlin School District. Overall, the academic curriculum expanded to 1,000 course offerings.
Defining Oberlin College through long range planning
When the Board of Trustees requested a long range plan, Dye answered with a strong call for full campus participation to create a new vision for the college. Upon assuming office, she briefly attempted to revise her predecessor’s Strategic Issues Steering Committee (SISC) draft to craft “SISC Lite.” However, the revision was soon abandoned in favor of a new plan with input from fourteen planning teams consisting of alumni, faculty, staff, students, and trustees. Titled “Broad Directions for Oberlin’s Future” (1996-97), this eleven-point plan redefined the college’s mission by affirming traditions of exemplary education in art, science, and music. By combining a commitment to sustain a diverse community with a responsibility to foster civic engagement, the administration successfully elevated degrees of trust on campus and with Oberlin city.
In the introductory remarks to “Broad Directions,” Dye identified the need for the college to move in “the direction of a more supportive, cooperative and collaborative Oberlin, and an Oberlin with far more flexible and permeable boundaries.” Fully aware of the historic role played by Oberlin students as change agents, she understood she had to dissolve the boundaries between students and the president’s office. Early on, she established office hours for students to spontaneously drop in, selectively taught classes in women’s history and private readings, and served as an academic advisor to a small number of students. Outside of the office, her busy schedule included time to attend student art exhibitions, senior music recitals, and athletic contests. To support the multifaceted interests of Oberlin students, “Broad Directions” called for the need to educate the whole person (physically and mentally) through a “renewed commitment to the importance of sports, broadly defined.”
Eight years later in 2004-05, the college developed a third plan titled “A Strategic Plan for Oberlin College.” To keep Oberlin prominent in the competitive market of liberal arts colleges, the plan identified the need to increase internationalization (of students, faculty, and curriculum) and also to move toward environmental sustainability. Its accompanying financial plan called for reducing the number of student and faculty members in the two main divisions in an effort to improve the revenue line. When the General Faculty impeded the approval of the plan by debating various points, the administrative team regrouped and worked towards achieving a new consensus. In the end, the General Faculty approved the plan by a vote of 170-33, with two abstentions, on March 4, 2005.
Confronting financial issues
The Dye administration confronted ongoing financial issues – the size of Oberlin’s endowment and the bottom revenue line coming off of tuition. To remedy the need for an enlarged operation’s cash flow, the Board of Trustees increased draw on the endowment to support general operations and special projects. On the front side, Dye led a capital fundraising campaign and pushed the college’s sponsored programs office to solicit more corporate and foundation grants. Through the efforts of Young Dawkins, Kay Thompson, John Hays, and later on Ernie Iseminger of the Development and Alumni Affairs office, the “New Oberlin Century” campaign (1997-2004) exceeded the original goal of $165 million by ten million dollars. It was the largest campaign in the institution’s history. The college directed these new funds to four critical areas: student support (i.e., 127 endowed scholarships); faculty support (i.e., 14 endowed funds, 8 endowed professorships); facilities enhancement (i.e., Science Center, Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies); and current-use support (i.e., financial aid, faculty salaries, student support services).
An unstable U.S. economy after September 11, 2001, elevated financial pressures in higher education circles at Oberlin and elsewhere. Declining operating budgets, financial aid, and scholarship funds forced the Dye administration to make a second round of employee layoffs in 2002-03. Additional cost-saving cutbacks resulted in adjusting health care benefits to employees and imposing a college-wide hiring freeze. In early fall of 2002, Dye’s trustee-approved deferred compensation package was publicly announced. Immediate protests poured from community members as they connected the employee cutbacks with the very unpopular compensation package.
Expanding the physical campus
During this time, Oberlin’s physical landscape was altered and expanded. In the area of environmental studies, professor David Orr initiated the plan to construct the Adam Joseph Lewis Center, an ecologically designed 13,600-square-foot building located at 122 Elm Street. Upon its completion in 2000, this $7.2 million “design on the edge” became a green building model for other institutions. Second, a strong need existed to upgrade science classroom and laboratory facilities to attract top students in biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and physics. After much effort, the college constructed a $65 million, 344,620-square-foot Science Center to replace the aging Kettering Hall (built in 1961).
To advance the arts as well as sciences, Dye worked to carry forward four restoration phases of the Allen Memorial Art Museum, designed by Cass Gilbert in 1917 and expanded by a Robert Venturi design in 1977. This campus jewel was in a state of deterioration, and the inadequate environmental controls failed to preserve the building or the artwork contained in it. Improvements to both the interior and exterior of this structure were made from 1997 to 2005, with further revitalization steps planned. Finally, “A Strategic Plan” called for “a lively residential community” that returned a majority of students to campus housing. Construction of the 11-building Union Street complex in 2006 provided 132 students with village-style dorms.
Partnering with the City of Oberlin
Following in the footsteps of predecessor presidents, Dye sought to create valuable partnerships with the City of Oberlin and Oberlin School District. Her efforts in this arena not only exceeded previous commitments but also defined her presidency because she appreciated that the successes of the college and the town were intertwined. The flagship program, among many, was the Oberlin College – Schools Partnership program (2000). It initially paired college students with local school children for tutoring programs, writing assistance, and music lessons. The administration advanced the program by creating a full-tuition scholarship opportunity for qualified Oberlin High School graduates. A Graduate Teacher Education Program followed, in part, to elevate Oberlin School District’s academic ratings from the state board of education. Coupled with the efforts of the Center for Service and Learning, these initiatives provided students with opportunities for engaged citizenship at a local level.
The College’s additional community involvement included a partnership with the City of Oberlin and Community Health Partners to stave off closing the local hospital in late 2000. The college drew $2 million from its endowment to purchase the hospital’s land and buildings, and then leased the property back to the corporation for one dollar. Other examples of assistance: $300,000 for new equipment for the city’s fire department; $500,000 to ensure the building of a community aquatic center to be operated by the Lorain County Metro Parks; and administrative resources to ensure that a proposed expansion of the Lorain County airport (Oberlin) did not go forward.
Advancing a global and multicultural perspective
The final important subset of the administration identifies the advancement of diversity, multiculturalism, and internationalism on campus. As a historian and product of a liberal education, Dye not only recognized and appreciated Oberlin’s interracial and coeducational legacy, but she led from the front on these matters by calling for the Oberlin experience to reflect changing ethos of society. In her inaugural address, Dye claimed that the time was right to build “cooperation and mutual understanding…across the lines of social class, race, and ethnicity.” This commitment drove the administration’s actions and decisions for expanding curriculum, creating faculty appointments, and forming the student population.
To carry forward the diversity and multicultural agendas outlined in “Broad Directions,” the college assigned both monetary and staffing resources to new initiatives. In addition to the multicultural curriculum and Oberlin College – Schools Partnership (points one and five above), Dye gave attention to the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC). Following the death of Rachel Beverly, MRC director from 2000-03, a memorial fund was established to financially assist student-initiated projects relating to diversity and student engagement. Responding to concerns expressed by students about the fate of the MRC (after budget cutbacks of early 2000s), as well as national issues of affirmative action and civil liberties, Dye appointed a campus-wide Diversity and Multiculturalism Task Force (2002-05).
Dye, like her predecessors, grappled with the admission and retention of African American students. In one college study (1996-97), directed by her assistant Diana Roose, a committee assessed the reasons for lower graduation rates of this subset of the Oberlin community. Following the lead of other colleges and universities in the U.S., the administration later sought the assistance of the external organizations QuestBridge and Posse Foundation to attract promising African American students to Oberlin.
In addition to diversity and multicultural concerns, “A Strategic Plan” identified internationalism as a key element of an Oberlin education. During Dye’s trips to Asia and the Middle East, she formed global connections for Oberlin sparking her interest for curricular initiatives like MENA studies, an Arabic language course, and a musical exchange program with the University of Tehran in Iran. In 2006, she made a student recruitment visit to Karachi, Pakistan. She also gave service to a number of external organizations whose missions matched a commitment to global affairs, such as International Research and Exchanges (IREX) board of directors, Cleveland Council on World Affairs board of trustees, and Search for Common Ground.
Ending a thirteen-year administration
By academic year 2004-05, the Dye administration had lost some of its luster. Oberlin College faced a number of struggles to keep up with its peer-related schools in matters relating to financial endowments and national rankings and to maintain amiable working relationships with faculty, staff, students, and others. In December 2004, the sudden suspension of the Danenberg-in-London program was a decision quickly viewed as a violation of the college’s faculty governance system. Many in the faculty were also lukewarm towards the five-year financial plan that called for reducing the student population and eliminating twelve faculty and ten staff positions. In the spring of 2005, students too showed their waning support in the administration by passing a vote of “no confidence” in Dye, as part of a larger Student Senate referendum.
The accumulation of a number of bumps in the road through a long presidency led Dye on September 10, 2006, to announce her intent to retire, effective June 30, 2007. As Dye told the Alumni Magazine, ‘“Why am I leaving? Because it’s time.”’[5] In the final year, she distanced herself from campus while continuing development trips and international travel. To recognize her thirteen years of distinguished service, the Board of Trustees bestowed upon her the title of President Emerita, and at the May 2007 commencement exercises, she became the fourth president of the college to receive an honorary Oberlin degree. From February to August 20, 2008, Dye served as the first vice chancellor and president of the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Nancy Schrom Dye died on October 28, 2015, at her home in Lakewood, Ohio, after a lengthy illness. She was 68 years old.
Notes
[1] She also served as acting Vassar College president when Frances D. Ferguson went on sabbatical. Before joining the faculty at Vassar, Dye worked as a history professor and an associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky).
[2] Mike McIntyre, “Portrait of a President,” Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Spring 2007, 11-17.
[3] Not all areas of the Dye administration can be covered in this history. For additional details, see also the scope and content note and the series descriptions.
[4] Carol Ganzel, “President Dye is shaping a new administration,” Oberlin College Observer, April 27, 1995.
[5] McIntyre, 2007, 14.
Sources consulted:
Oberlin College Alumni Magazine, Spring 2007, p. 11-17.
Oberlin College Alumni Magazine, Winter/Spring 1994, p. 9-11.
Oberlin OnCampus, 28 October 2015.
The Oberlin Review, 8 February 2008, p. 3.
The Oberlin Review, 13 May 2005, p. 1, 5.
The Oberlin Review, 6 May 2005, p. 1, 4.
The Oberlin Review, 3 September 2004, p. 2.
The Oberlin Review, 11 March 2004, p. 1, 7.
The Oberlin Review, 6 September 2002, p. 1, 4.
RG 26, Development & Alumni Affairs, Subgroup II. Campaign, Series 5. New Oberlin Century, Box 1.
Author: Emily R. Lockhart Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The Nancy S. Dye presidential papers (1948 (1994-2007)–2007) cover the thirteen-year tenure of Oberlin College’s first woman president. Broadly, the official records document administrative actions and decisions made by Dye and her senior staff, with an emphasis on cultivating and developing the college’s relationships locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. In many ways, this voluminous record (125.68 l.f.) of two subgroups, 32 records series, and 81 subseries captures the process of creating and carrying forward a strategic vision for Oberlin College. The files document the implementation of fundraising efforts, including those leading to new building construction (i.e., the Science Center and the student housing on Union Street); the advancement of diversity and multicultural education agendas; and her formation and oversight of campus-wide committees and task forces (i.e., Sexual Education and Ethics Task Force). Captured here, too, is Dye’s management style when handling personnel issues across all employee lines – administrative and professional staff and union employees. Taken as a whole, this expansive record details both successes and challenges faced by a modern college president in American higher education.
Given the broad range of documentation for the Dye administration, a significant portion of it provides potential users with a window to understand the ways in which she created a senior staff and assigned roles for these high-level administrators. Records relating to the senior staff are found in the following three series: Series 5, Files Relating to Units Reporting to the President; Series 12, Emails; and Series 23, Personnel Files. Collectively, these series illuminate the relationship between the president and senior staff, some of whom became her trusted confidents. Due to the confidential nature of these records, Series 5 and 23 are marked restricted. Also of some consequence are the confidential legal files (Series 4), which cover a wide range of topics including campus incidents, personnel issues, and violations of student safety.
The record is particularly strong in its coverage of President Dye’s active campus presence. Probably more detail exists in these files than in any other record group of an incumbent president who established relationships with students at a number of levels (i.e., from attending athletic events and musical performances to art exhibitions). Her interest in welcoming international students is also evident in the record. Further, Dye was the first president to build a kiosk outside of the Cox administration building so that students could post questions and receive responses from her (Series 26, Files Relating to Students & Organizations). Finally, the administration’s development of a community service program as well as various student support units constitutes another well-documented example of the administration’s student commitment. A wealth of information on the Center for Service and Learning, the Office of the Ombudsperson, and the Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP) is found in Series 6, Academic Department & Administrative Office Files.
Inversely, a full run of primary sources, such as appointment calendars and itineraries, tell us much about how the president spent time away from campus to represent the college. Included are records documenting her attendance at fundraising events for the “New Oberlin Century” campaign; her international travel in an effort to create global connections; and her service to an overwhelming number of boards of external organizations to advance the Oberlin name (Series 19, Files Relating to Dye’s External Service). Categorically speaking, the following three divisions illustrate various layers of the administration’s external service: influential leaders in higher education (i.e., Association of American Colleges & Universities), foundations in the U.S. (i.e., Kresge Foundation HBCU Initiative), and service-centered organizations (i.e., Cleveland Council on World Affairs). Resources documenting individual organizations are uneven in size and character but provide a valuable gauge for measuring Dye’s external commitments.
Of particular interest to users are subject files accounting for the college’s role in the local community and in events of a national scope. As for the City of Oberlin, the college developed the Oberlin College – Schools Partnership Program (Series 28, Subject Files and Subgroup II, Series 1). These files provide in-depth information about the collaboration between the college and city school district for tutoring students in reading, writing, and music. Included in community relations subject files is the scholarship program, which enabled qualified Oberlin High School graduates to attend the college tuition-free. Issues of national significance affecting higher education (i.e., affirmative action in Grutter v. Bollinger, et. al.) are also documented in Series 28. Records detailing how Dye and the senior staff faced the community’s emotional reactions to September 11, 2001 are found in Series 12, Email, Chronological in addition to Series 28. Finally, the administration’s pivotal response to conflicts in the Middle East, the U.S.A. Patriot Act of 2001, and other unsettling developments relating to civil liberties on college campuses are important subject files of national scope.
Through the advancement of administrative initiatives and meaningful partnerships, the record also provides documentation to understand challenges faced by the Dye administration over thirteen years. The budget and fiscal files (Series 7 and 8) provide evidence of presidential accountability in handling campus expenditures, though it is not a comprehensive view of thirteen years. To shed light on how faculty and staff responded to the lay-offs and budget crisis of 2002-03, researchers should consult Series 8 and Series 12. Information is very thin concerning the board’s 2002 deferred compensation package for Dye. Also providing evidence of challenges facing the administration are the extensive strategic planning exercise files of 2004-06. These records detail how the administration worked with the faculty governance structure to build a five-year plan (Series 22, Long Range Planning Files).
Considering the record group as a whole, materials represent a broad range of documentation and file type. The most significant bulk consists of correspondence including thousands of letters and printed emails from a diverse audience. Other materials primarily consist of countless annotated documents (including drafts), multiple computer disks (various electronic files), many handwritten notes, carefully prepared reports (i.e., president’s reports to the board of trustees), meeting minutes (i.e., senior staff meetings), and so forth. The documentation variety is especially apparent in the labor relations and union files (Series 23, Subseries 3), in which interspersed among materials of high value such as agreements, formal letters with attorneys, and contract information are routine news clippings and email exchanges.
As previously referenced, Dye’s presidential records consist of two main subgroups. Subgroup I, Nancy S. Dye Records, comprise thirty records series: Annual Reports; Calendars, Logbooks, & Itineraries; Board of Trustees Files; Bylaws & Legal Files; Files Relating to Units Reporting to President; Academic Department & Administrative Office Files; Budget & Fiscal Files, Accounts, President’s Office; Budget & Fiscal Files, College-wide Accounts; Commencement Exercises Files; Correspondence, Daily Logbooks; Correspondence, Chronological Files; Emails (printed); General Correspondence Files; Alphabetical Correspondence Files; Letters of Recommendation; Invitation & Greeting Card Files; Councils, Committees, and Taskforces Files; Electronic Records; Files Relating to Dye’s External Service; Files Relating to Foundations & Memberships; Inauguration Files; Long Range Planning Files; Personnel Files; News Clippings Files; Self-studies & Consultation Reports; Files Relating to Students & Organizations; Speech Files; Subject Files; Writings Files; and Photographs. Subgroup II, Presidential Assistants Records, contains files that two presidential assistants created and received: Diana Roose (Series 1) and Kathryn Stuart (Series 2).
The voluminous correspondence files (both letters and email messages) are found in nearly every record series. When seeking written communication, researchers need to consult the following five series: Series 11, Correspondence, Chronological Files; Series 12, Emails (printed); Series 13, General Correspondence Files; Series 14, Alphabetical Correspondence Files; and Series 15, Letters of Recommendation. Additionally, a number of electronic letters were saved on CD-ROMs in Series 18, Electronic Files. The sets of correspondence files offer wide documentation on Dye’s opinions and decisions that relate to college business, campus incidents, and the myriad of issues faced in higher education in the U.S. Collateral information is also found in the email series. Often, a second copy of an email message or letter exists in the appropriate subject files (Series 28). The multi-tiered structure of Dye’s correspondence files, developed by the record creator and her staff, has added to the bulk and resulted in extra steps for potential users; yet, it also allowed maintaining the original organizational system. While generally organized by record format, some overlap does exist, specifically in the area of printed email messages, which were filed in general and alphabetical correspondence series. In a record group of this size, users are likely to find copies of correspondence (electronic or printed copy) residing in more than one series.
Given that Dye was the first Oberlin College president to use email as a primary communication tool, the email series lacked a comprehensive filing system or a method to preserve the messages in digital format. Broadly, email correspondents originate from all levels of the campus community. Her attention to students and parents, her professional relationships with senior staff and faculty, and her input regarding administrative offices dominates this discrete unit (Series 12). More than any other in the record group, this series provides a sense of her personality, opinions, and management style. Even so, problems in this rich series are abundant. Dye sporadically printed her email messages both sent and received. As a result, documentation is incomplete and uneven; some months may contain only sent or only received messages. Frequently, email attachments were not printed, creating further gaps in documentation. The series contains four subseries of overlapping date spans; researchers must consult each subseries when seeking individual correspondents or topics.
Although extensive in volume over a long presidential term, noticeable gaps exist in the record group. The administrative files covering Dye’s final ten months in office, for example, were modestly maintained against earlier years. Documentation is sparse given that Dye did not push forward any new business during her final year (2006-07). Accounting for the sparse number of annual reports (7) found in Subgroup I, Series 1, researchers will need to count on the information obtained from her summary reports sent to the Board of Trustees (Series 3). Another example of a gap is the daily logbooks for correspondence (Series 10). Due to the cumbersome nature of logging each letter received with date, sender, and replied date, office staff maintained only two notebooks (1994-95). Upon retirement, Dye requested that the Archivist allow her to retain many of her speech files, although a number (41) remain in Series 27. Given the need to reduce the bulk of this record group, series significantly reduced were Subgroup I: Series 2, Subseries 3, Itineraries; Series 19, Files Relating to Dye’s External Service; and Series 28, Subject Files.[1]
In addition to presidential assistants (Subgroup II), this record group contains the files of a number of other creators. There exists in this group the files created/received by Clayton Koppes, then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who served as acting president (July 1 to December 31, 2001). Some records produced by Koppes during Dye’s six-month sabbatical are located throughout the record group, specifically in the series of correspondence, itineraries, and subject files. Additionally, located here are records created by one of Dye’s presidential secretaries, Lisa Farrar, and they are found in Series 22 (Subseries 5) and Series 12 emails for the 2005-06 academic year.
Unlike previous twentieth century presidents, Dye asked the Archivist to accept the records on a yearly installment basis after her first year in office.[2] He extended this courtesy knowing that such a plan of action could lead to future arrangement issues (staff in the president’s office mostly arranged the files by academic year). In the end and as anticipated, the consecutive character of the discrete units was reassembled to build the levels of control of a very large record group. Some exceptions existed to maintain the original integrity of the records. For instance, in General Correspondence (Series 13), president’s office staff filed all correspondence with faculty for the 1994-95 academic year in alphabetical order. The following year, 1995-96, faculty correspondence was again filed in alphabetical order, regardless if the correspondent also wrote in the previous year. Simply put, when looking for an individual correspondent, researchers must consult files across the entire span of thirteen years.
Notes
[1] Additional actions were taken to reduce bulk. Through the use of sampling methods, specifically in Series 7, only a representative sample of invoices exists from the president’s office expenditures. Among the files removed from the record group were those identified as “personal” (7.5 linear feet) by the president’s office staff because the characteristics were non-institutional.
[2] Since the establishment of the College Archives in May 1966, presidential records - before being transferred to the Archives - were routinely kept in a storage room located on the Cox Administration building’s third floor. Archivist Roland M. Baumann negotiated the transfer of the presidential records of S. Frederick Starr and said group came to the College Archives shortly after he left office. The records of the three previous presidents, Emil C. Danenberg, Robert W. Fuller, and Robert K. Carr, were transferred to the Archives within a two-year span (1976-1978), several accessions represented different presidential records. Presidential records were often passed from one administration to the next, creating provenance issues.
NANCY S. DYE PRESIDENTIAL PAPERS, 1948 (1994-2007)-2007 (128.68 l.f.)
SUBGROUP I. NANCY S. DYE PRESIDENTIAL PAPERS, 1948 (1994-2007)-2007 (119.23 l.f.)
Series 1. Annual Reports, 1994-96 (0.1 l.f.)
Series 2. Calendars, Logbooks, & Itineraries, 1994-2007 (8.97 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Appointment Calendars, 1994-2007 (0.6 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Telephone Message Logbooks, 1994-2006 (3.37 l.f.)
Subseries 3. Itineraries, 1994-2006 (5 l.f.)*
Series 3. Board of Trustees Files, 1948 (1994-2007)-2007 (3.95 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Board Meetings Files, 1994-2006 (0.92 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Committees Files, 1994-2007 (0.83 l.f.)
Subseries 3. Name Files, 1948 (1994-2007)-2007 (2.2 l.f.)*
Series 4. Bylaws & Legal Files, 1973 (1994-2006)-2006 (7.9 l.f.)*
Subseries 1. Name Files, 1994-2006 (5 l.f.)*
Subseries 2. Subject Files, 1973 (1994-2006)-2006 (2.9 l.f.)*
Series 5. Files Relating to Units Reporting to President, 1993-2007 (2.05 l.f.)*
Subseries 1. Name Files, 1993-2006 (1.25 l.f.)*
Subseries 2. Senior Staff, Meetings of, 1994-2007 (0.8 l.f.)*
Series 6. Academic Dept. & Administrative Office Files, 1990-2007 (14.1 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Academic Departments & Programs, 1991-2007 (4.15 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Administrative Offices & Departments, 1990-2007 (9.95 l.f.)
Series 7. Budget & Fiscal Files, Accounts, President’s Office, 1994-2006 (2.5 l.f.)
Series 8. Budget & Fiscal Files, College-wide Accounts, 1994-2006 (0.8 l.f.)
Series 9. Commencement Exercises Files, 1995-2006 (0.8 l.f.)
Series 10. Correspondence, Daily Logbooks, 1994-95 (0.01 l.f.)
Series 11. Correspondence, Chronological Files, 1994-2007 (5.4 l.f.)
Series 12. Emails (Printed), 1994-2006 (9 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Email with Index, 1994-98 (1.25 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Email Incoming & Outgoing, July 1998-Feb. 1999, Nov.-Dec. 2003, May-Dec. 2004 (0.8 l.f.)
Subseries 3. Email, Chronological, 1996-2006 (6.65 l.f.)
Subseries 4. Email with Faculty, 2001-04 (0.2 l.f.)
Subseries 5. Website, Incoming Emails Through, 2000-03 (0.1 l.f.)
Series 13. General Correspondence Files, 1993-2007 (13.5 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Administrative Transition Files, 1993-95 (0.4 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Administrative & Professional Staff, 1994-2006 (0.8 l.f.)
Subseries 3. Alumni, 1994-2006 (3.4 l.f.)
Subseries 4. College & University, 1994-2007 (0.8 l.f.)
Subseries 5. Community, Letters to, 1994-2006 (0.2 l.f.)
Subseries 6. Faculty, 1994-2006 (3.2 l.f.)
Subseries 7. Government, 1999-2006 (0.1 l.f.)
Subseries 8. Regional: Oberlin & Lorain County, 1994-2007 (0.4 l.f.)
Subseries 9. Regional: Outside Lorain County, 1994-2006 (1.4 l.f.)
Subseries 10. Students & Parents, 1994-2006 (2.6 l.f.)
Subseries 11. Various Correspondence Files, 1994-2004 (0.2 l.f.)
Series 14. Alphabetical Correspondence Files, 1994-2007 (1.4 l.f.)
Series 15. Letters of Recommendation, 1988-2005 (0.8 l.f.)*
Subseries 1. Chronological Files, 1988-2003 (0.4 l.f.)*
Subseries 2. Name Files (alphabetical), 1998-2005 (0.4 l.f.)*
Series 16. Invitation & Greeting Card Files (Oberlin College), 1995-2006 (0.2 l.f.)
Series 17. Councils, Committees, & Task Forces Files, 1986-2007 (4.35 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Faculty Councils & Committees, 1986-2007 (2.9 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Campus-wide Committees & Taskforces, 1995-07 (1.45 l.f.)
Series 18. Electronic Records, 1995-2007 (0.6 l.f.)
Series 19. Files Relating to Dye’s External Service, 1994-2007 (6.25 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Academic Search Consultation Service, 1995-98 (3f)
Subseries 2. The Access Program, 1994-2004 (6f)
Subseries 3. American Council on Education, 1994-2007 (7f)
Subseries 4. American Council of Learned Societies, 1996-2007 (7f)
Subseries 5. Assoc. of American Colleges & Universities, 1994-07 (18f)
Subseries 6. Assoc. of Independent Colleges & Universities of Ohio, 1994-2007 (7f)
Subseries 7. Cleveland Council on World Affairs, 1998-2001 (2f)
Subseries 8. Consortium of Financing Higher Education, 1994-2007 (13f)
Subseries 9. Educational Leadership Program, Inc. (Troutbeck Program), 1994-2005 (13f)
Subseries 10. Five Colleges of Ohio, 1994-2007 (7f)
Subseries 11. Great Lakes Colleges Association, 1994-2007 (22f)
Subseries 12. Humanities Foundation, (Univ. of Kentucky), 1994-97
Subseries 13. International Research & Exchanges Board, 2005-07 (2f)
Subseries 14. Kendal at Oberlin, 1994-2007 (5f)
Subseries 15. KnowledgeWorks Foundation, 2001-02, 2006-07
Subseries 16. Kresge Foundation HBCU Initiative, 2000-02
Subseries 17. Lake Ridge Academy, 1997-2000
Subseries 18. Nat’l Association of Independent Colleges & Universities, 1994-2007 (6f)
Subseries 19. North Coast Athletic Conference, 1994-2007 (10f)
Subseries 20. Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education (formerly
Cleveland Commission on Higher Education), 1994-2007 (12f)
Subseries 21. Ohio Campus Compact, 1996-2003 (4f)
Subseries 22. Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges, 1994-2007 (14f)
Subseries 23. Ohio Rhodes Scholarship Trust, 2000-04 (4f)
Subseries 24. Pomona College, 1997-2006 (9f)
Subseries 25. Second Nature, 1996-98, 2000 (3f)
Subseries 26. United Negro College Fund, 2006-07
Series 20. Files Relating to Foundations & Memberships, 1994-2007 (4.15 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Foundations (Abington-World Bank), 1994-2007 (3.75 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Membership in Organizations, 1994-2007 (0.4 l.f.)
Series 21. Inauguration Files, 1994 (1.4 l.f.)
Series 22. Long Range Planning Files, 1988-2006 (7.15 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Strategic Issues Steering Committee, 1988-95 (1 l.f.)
Subseries 2. SISC Lite, 1993-95 (0.4 l.f.)
Subseries 3. “Broad Directions for Oberlin’s Future,” 1994-99 (2 l.f.)
Subseries 4. “A Strategic Plan for Oberlin College,” 2003-07 (2.5 l.f.)
Subseries 5. Lisa Farrar’s Files, 2003-06 (1.25 l.f.)
Series 23. Personnel Files, 1977-2007 (3.3 l.f.)*
Subseries 1. Search Files, 1994-2007 (1.25 l.f.)*
Subseries 2. Labor Relations & Union Files, 1977-2005 (1.25 l.f.)*
Subseries 3. Nancy S. Dye Personnel Files, 1994-2006 (0.2 l.f.)*
Subseries 4. Subject Files, 1994-2007 (0.6 l.f.)*
Series 24. News Clippings Files, 1993-2004 (0.2 l.f.)
Series 25. Self-studies & Consultation Reports, 1994-2006 (2 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Student Retention Studies, 1994-2002 (0.4 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Self-study, North Central Association of Colleges & Schools, 1994 (1997-98)-2006 (1.2 l.f.)
Subseries 3. Various Files, 1996-2006 (0.4 l.f.)
Series 26. Files Relating to Students & Organizations, 1994-2007 (1.1 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Student-related Files, 1994-2005 (0.5 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Student Organizations Files, 1996-2007 (0.6 l.f.)
Series 27. Speech Files, 1994-2007 (1.25 l.f.)
Series 28. Subject Files, 1957 (1994-2007)-2007 (12.5 l.f.)
Series 29. Writings Files, 1971-2004 (0.4 l.f.)
Series 30. Photographs, 1994-2007 (0.1 l.f.)
Series 31. Late Accretions, 1997, 2001, 2003-05 (3.0 l.f.)
SUBGROUP II. PRESIDENTIAL ASSISTANTS RECORDS, 1994-2007 (9.45 l.f.)
Series 1. Diana Roose’s Files, 1994-2007 (5.35 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Committees & Task Forces Files, 2000-07 (1.25 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Files Relating to Student Retention, 1995-2002 (1.65 l.f.)*
Subseries 3. Topical Files, 1994-2007 (2.45 l.f.)
Series 2. Kathryn Stuart’s Files, 1998-2002 (4.1 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Academic & Administrative Unit Files, 1998-2002 (0.8 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Convocations & Speakers Files, 1998-2002 (1.25 l.f.)
Subseries 3. Committee Files, 1998-2002 (0.4 l.f.)
Subseries 4. Topical Files, 1998-2002 (1.65 l.f.)
* RESTRICTED materials. Permission of the Archivist required.