"Over 150 Dartmouth students, faculty and community members gathered at a town hall on Wednesday afternoon to hear from outgoing interim provost David Kotz ’86 and Thayer School of Engineering Dean Joseph Helble, the new provost of the College," writes The Dartmouth. "Presenters also addressed the College’s reaccreditation process and the upcoming expansion of the Thayer School.

..."Helble spoke about his plans as provost, saying his role will be to remove barriers for those seeking resources and opportunities at the College and said he will focus on the ways the College will use the funds from its recent capital campaign.

"'We need to look at what the best use of the resources will be 10 to 25 years down the road,' he said.

"Helble also fielded questions from attendees. One audience member was concerned about Helble’s transition from his role overseeing the mainly graduate-level Thayer School to being provost over a majority of undergraduate students. Helble responded by saying that over 50 percent of undergraduates took an engineering class during their time at Dartmouth, and that engineering is often the third most popular undergraduate major on campus. Even so, he said he welcomed the new challenge.

"'I’m in a mode of learning,' he said. 'I would characterize it as an opportunity.'"