Admissions Director To Move to B-School

Director of Admissions Laura G. Fisher will leave Byerly Hall to assume the newly created post of director of admissions and financial aids at the Business School, officials at both offices said yesterday.

Starting in the fall, Fisher will be responsible for overseeing MBA admissions and "thinking about ways and new ideas of selecting the class," said John Lynch, currently director of admissions at the Business School.

"It was a wonderful opportunity for me," said Fisher. "It's going to enable me to develop in ways I haven't been able to develop in the past. You always look for challenges, the possibility for growth."

As director of Business School admissions, Fisher will be in charge of the entire admissions process. "She'll be pretty much running her own shop as the person selecting the class and making the decisions," Lynch said.

Lynch, whose position Fisher will be filling, said that he had been planning to leave the Business School and "disappear into the woods of New Hampshire" to start a small business.

For about a year, the B-School had been planning to develop a closer relationship between financial aids and admissions, Lynch said. After "a low-key search," the Business School approached Fisher in June with an offer of the combined job.

Fisher said that she was not planning to leave the College, and the Business School move was "a hard decision to make." She said, "I worked in the College for a long time and I have strong loyalties to it."

Besides working three years as the Director of Admissions-the last of which was without a dean-Fisher served as senior tutor of Eliot House and a senior admissions officer, spending a total of 15 years in the College.

Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons '67 said, "For our terms, it's a very big loss. It's a terrific gain for the Business School." He added, "She brought a great sense of excellence toeverything she did. You would be hard-pressed tofind a harder worker than [Fisher.]"

Fitzsimmons said that the Admissions Officewill institute a search and hopes to name a newdirector of admissions by next July. The officewill remain without a director for the comingyear.

For now, the staff will divide theresponsibilities between them, said Fitzsimmons."We just have to make the adjustments," he said.

Over the River

Fisher said that one of the adjustments shewill have to make will be in dealing with studentsof a different age group than those that theundergraduate Admissions Office handles. She saidthat in the Business School, she will "have fewerapplications, longer applications. You know moreabout the students."

"This is an opportunity that I felt some of myabilities might develop. I might, in fact, have animpact, an influence," Fisher said. "Perhaps I'llbe able to make a difference.