Hiring Bytes

Harvard University has announced that it will endow a visiting professorship in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender studies, thanks to a $1.5-million gift from the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus, The New York Times reports. The F.O. Matthiessen Chair — named for a gay Harvard scholar and literary critic who committed suicide in 1950 — is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States.
James L. Oblinger, chancellor of North Carolina State University, announced today that he is resigning, making him the latest casualty of the controversy over the hiring of Mary Easley, wife of a former North Carolina governor, Michael F. Easley, the Associated Press reports.
The longtime president of Seton Hall University, Msgr. Robert Sheeran, has said he will step down in June 2010, after 15 years in the top job, The Star Ledger reports. See the university’s Web site for details.
Another longtime president, Mark R. Hamilton, who has led the University of Alaska for 11 years, announced his retirement on Friday, the Associated Press reports.
David J. Ramsay, president of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, announced on Thursday that he is retiring after 15 years on the job, the Baltimore Business Journal reports. He will remain in his post until the university hires a successor.
The president of Alma College, Saundra J. Tracy, plans to retire next year, reports the local newspaper, The Morning Sun.
Ohio University has selected Pamela Benoit, vice provost for advanced studies and dean of the graduate school at the University of Missouri at Columbia, to be its new provost, Columbus Business First reports.
Dipak Jain, dean of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, has announced that he will step down on September 1 after eight years on the job, the Chicago Tribune
reports.