Associate Academic Dean Julie B. Wilson, speaking to The Crimson last week, said the search was “very tightly-held internally.”

She said Summers was “very generous in reaching out widely” to students, administrators and faculty.

But while Summers culled input from a broad range of sources, he kept details of the search close to the vest.

Ellwood said Summers officially offered him the post in a telephone conversation over the weekend.

The decision to accept, Ellwood said, “was not very hard. I love this place.”

Newman was informed of the selection Tuesday night, and Summers announced the appointment to the KSG faculty just minutes before appearing with Ellwood in the JFK Jr. Forum yesterday afternoon.

“There’s been an element of anxiety about not knowing who the new leader of the school is going to be,” Newman said, adding that “people are not only relieved but delighted” by Ellwood’s selection.

Summers said he had vetted “many strong candidates...it has been a tremendously educational and satisfying process for me.”

“It’s the mark of a great institution that when a great person decides to step down, that there are other great people ready to take his place,” Summers said.

SHOULDERS OF A GIANT

“We all will be standing on the extraordinarily broad shoulders of Joe [Nye] as we look into the future,” Ellwood said yesterday.

Seeking to highlight the remarkable changes Nye brought to the school, Ellwood said that “those of us who were around eight-and-a-half years ago can hardly recognize the place.”

Nye took KSG’s reins in December 1995, 19 months after his predecessor Albert Carnesale was elevated to the title of University provost.

“At that time, the biggest challenge was that the Kennedy School might become Harvard’s second business school,” Nye said.

In 1996, Nye’s first full year as dean, 45 percent of the KSG’s master’s of public policy (MPP) class took private sector jobs upon graduation. Nye increased funding for the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) to provided financial aid to alums who pursue public service careers.