Paleontologist To Lead Museum Ph.D. Program

After receiving approval to create America's first doctoral program at a museum, the American Museum of Natural History announced that a specialist in the evolution of carnivorous animals, John Flynn, will lead the school forward.

Mr. Flynn, a lead curator at the museum for the past two years, was chosen as dean of the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the museum because of his varied experience as an administrator and his strong leadership qualities, the provost and senior vice president of the museum, Michael Novacek, said.

Mr. Novacek said the new dean is especially adept at managing and working with students, a quality that will be important as the nascent comparative biology program competes for students with established schools that offer a similar degree, such as Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Currently, Mr. Flynn holds faculty positions at Columbia University and City University of New York. He also served for a decade as the associate chairman of the evolutionary biology doctoral program at the University of Chicago.

On a recent expedition to the Andes Mountains in Chile, Mr. Flynn and his colleagues discovered South America's oldest and best-preserved primate skull and rodent skulls, according to the museum.

The Gilder school, which has raised about $50 million from three private donors and the city, will begin its comparative biology doctoral program next year. Mr. Novacek said the museum has already received letters of interest from prospective students around the world.

In his two years at the American Museum of Natural History, Mr. Flynn has catalyzed several refinements in museum policy, Mr. Novacek said. While instituting a more proactive approach in the museum's recruitment of new curators, Mr. Flynn has helped line up federal grants and boost museum funding.

Mr. Flynn was on an expedition in India yesterday and unable to speak with The New York Sun. He returns to New York today.