April 29: Berkey to become new president at WPI

Boston University Provost Dennis Berkey will become the new president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute on July 1, leaving BU after 30 years to become WPI's 15th president.

The WPI Board of Trustees named Berkey to the position on April 29 after accepting his unanimous recommendation from the Presidential Search Committee.

The 12-member search committee composed of trustees, faculty members and two students selected Berkey from 130 nominated candidates. The committee was formed last September after current WPI President Edward Alton Parrish announced his plans to retire on June 3 after serving as president for nine years.

Berkey said in an email that he is very excited about his appointment and looked forward to begin work on July 1.

"Like Boston University, WPI has excellent faculty and staff who care deeply about students and about the university," he said.

Berkey said when the search committee contacted him about including him as a candidate he was unsure whether or not he wanted to become a presidential candidate.

"I was first contacted by the firm staffing the search and then by the Trustee chairing the search committee and finally by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees," he said. "I hesitated to respond for a long period, but finally decided that this was too important an opportunity not to examine."

Berkey said he received a phone call from the WPI Board of Trustees Chairman F. William Marshall last week while he was in the United Kingdom attending African Presidential Archives Research Center Roundtable.

Marshall said he was "thrilled" Berkey accepted the position, according to a WPI news release.

"Dennis Berkey's extensive and successful background makes him the ideal person to lead WPI," he said. "He is highly regarded nationally as an educator, and he has a vision well matched to that of this university."

Berkey said while he feels sad about leaving BU because of his friends in the faculty and staff he feels he has accomplished many things during his 30 years at the university.

"I do feel a certain sense of completion to my work here, and a great deal of pride in how the University has developed, in ways that are so important to students and faculty," Berkey said.

President ad interim Aram Chobanian sent a letter to the entire BU faculty and staff announcing "with great pride and sadness" Berkey's new position.

In the letter Chobanian said Berkey's "significant contributions, academically and organizationally, will impact our university long after he has taken up residence in central Massachusetts. I would like to thank him personally for helping to make Boston University a stronger, more diverse and internationally recognized institution of higher education."

Berkey has been at BU for 30 years and served as provost since 1996. He also served as provost from 1987 to 1991 and dean of Arts and Sciences from 1987 to 2002. Berkey has served as an administrator at BU for more than 20 years and founded the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Office. He was awarded BU's Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1978.

WPI was founded in 1865 and offers more than 50 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in liberal arts, engineering, science and management. WPI has an enrollment of 3,800 students in its graduate and undergraduate programs.

BU has not announced any plans on how Berkey's position will be filled but Berkey said the decision would ultimately be Chobanian's.