Colin Diver

Diver was born in Boston. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Amherst College in 1965, where he currently serves as a trustee. He later received an LL.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1968. He holds an honorary degree from Amherst.

Diver served as special counsel to the office of Boston mayor Kevin White and then held a series of positions in Massachusetts state government, including assistant secretary of consumer affairs and undersecretary in the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance. Diver then worked for 14 years as a faculty member at Boston University School of Law, where he served as associate dean (1985–88) and dean (1988–89). He was a visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and has held joint appointments in public policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Boston University School of Management.

Diver was named the Reed College's 14th president on October 5, 2002,{{Cite web|date=2005-12-30|title=Reed College Names Colin Diver Next President|url=http://www.collegenews.org/x214.xml|access-date=2022-05-07| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051230131021/http://www.collegenews.org/x214.xml | archive-date=2005-12-30 }} replacing acting president Peter Steinberger, dean of faculty, and succeeding Steven Koblik, who departed Reed to run the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.{{Cite web|title=Reed Magazine: Colin Diver Interview (1/4)|url=https://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/nov2002/features/diver_interview/|access-date=2022-05-07|website=www.reed.edu}} Diver stepped down in 2012.{{Cite web | url=http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2011/06/reed_college_president_announc.html | title=Reed College president announces he will retire after one more year | date=4 June 2011 }}

Under Diver's leadership, the college added a new major in environmental studies,{{cite web| url = http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2011/06/03/reed-college-president-diver-to-retire.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120503041842/http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2011/06/03/reed-college-president-diver-to-retire.html| archive-date = 2012-05-03| title = Reed College President Diver to retire - Portland Business Journal}} hired additional faculty, created the office of institutional diversity,{{Cite web|title=Reed Appoints First Dean for Institutional Diversity|url=http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/september2011/articles/eliot_circular/williams.html|access-date=2022-05-07|website=Reed Magazine}} and saw the four-year graduation rate reach a new high.{{Cite web|title=Sallyportal Home | Sallyportal | Reed Magazine|url=https://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/sallyportal/|access-date=2022-05-07|website=www.reed.edu}} Diver presided during a period of significant volatility in the stock market.{{cite web| url = http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/print-edition/2011/05/27/reed-college-endowment-begins-to-recover.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110530151433/http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/print-edition/2011/05/27/reed-college-endowment-begins-to-recover.html| archive-date = 2011-05-30| title = Reed College endowment begins to recover {{!}} Portland Business Journal}} Despite being launched during a recession, however, Reed's centennial campaign has raised more than $165 million {{Cite web |url=http://campaign.reed.edu/ |title=Reed College - Centennial Campaign |access-date=2012-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719152647/http://campaign.reed.edu/ |archive-date=2009-07-19 |url-status=dead }} towards its goal of $200 million.

Diver's area of expertise includes administrative law. Prior to Reed, he was dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1989 to 1999.{{cite web |url=https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/colin-s-diver/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330001533/https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/colin-s-diver/ |archive-date=2016-03-30 |title=Colin S. Diver {{!}} School of Law}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.law.upenn.edu/faculty/cdiver | title=Colin S. Diver }}

Though Reed College, an exclusively undergraduate institution, does not have a law school, in September 2005 it was announced that Diver would be the coach of the inaugural Reed College mock trial team.

In 2005, Diver submitted an article to the Atlantic Monthly outlining the adverse effects of the U.S. News & World Report college ranking system, called Is There Life After Rankings? The article outlines why Reed College chooses not to participate in the rankings competition process, and addresses the implication that non-participation necessarily handicaps colleges in competing for student applications and enrollment. In 2022, he published a book titled Breaking Ranks on the issue.{{cite book |title=Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about It |date=2022 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, MD |doi=10.56021/9781421443065 |isbn=9781421443058 |oclc= 1246674491 |url=https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12413/breaking-ranks |access-date=7 May 2022 |last1=Diver |first1=Colin }}{{cite news |last1=Diver |first1=Colin |title=The Rankings Farce |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-rankings-farce |access-date=9 May 2022 |work=The Chronicle of Higher Education |date=April 6, 2022}} {{subscription required}}

Among his publications, Diver is co-author of a multiple-edition textbook entitled "Administrative Law: Cases and Materials."

Diver and his wife lived and raised their sons in Boston during the 1960s in a neighborhood that was undergoing rapid gentrification. Their experiences with school desegregation and racial equality were chronicled in The New York Times journalist J. Anthony Lukas's Pulitzer Prize-winning book Common Ground. This in turn became a 1990 made-for-TV movie of the same name.{{Citation|title=Common Ground|date=1990-03-25|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099294/|type=Drama|publisher=Lorimar Productions|access-date=2022-05-07}}

• Administrative Law: Cases and Materials, 4th ed. Aspen Pub., Inc. (with R. Cass & J. Beermann) (2002)
• "Genophobia: What Is Wrong with Genetic Discrimination?" Univ. of Penn. Law Rev. 149:1441 (2001)
• "Seeking Higher Ground," Media Studies J. 12:120 (1998) (with Joan M. Diver)
• "Israeli Administrative Law from an American Perspective, " Law and Government in Israel, 4:1 (1997)
• "Regulatory Precision, " in Making Regulatory Policy (K. Hawkins & J. Thomas eds. 1989)
• "Presidential Powers, " American Univ. Law Rev., 36:519 (1987)
• "No Compromises, " J. of Policy Analysis & Mgt., 5:645 (1986)
• {{cite book |title=Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about It |date=2022 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, MD |doi=10.56021/9781421443065 |isbn=9781421443058 |oclc= 1246674491 |url=https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12413/breaking-ranks |last1=Diver |first1=Colin }}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.reed.edu/president/reed_presidents/diver.html Reed College Bio]

{{Reed College presidents}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diver, Colin}}

Category:Living people

Category:1943 births

Category:American legal scholars

Category:Amherst College alumni

Category:Harvard Kennedy School staff

Category:Deans of University of Pennsylvania Law School

Category:Presidents of Reed College

Category:Harvard Law School alumni