Duke losing another key administrator: vice provost for academic affairs John Simon. Next week!

Please scroll down for other late breaking news. Hurricane heads toward Outer Banks and Duke makes initial preparations.

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Just ten days after shipping the Dean of the Fuqua Business School into obscurity and two days after announcing the retirement of the Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy, another surprise from Peter the Provost:

John D. Simon, who has served as Duke University's vice provost for academic affairs for the past six years, has been named executive vice president and provost of the University of Virginia, becoming that university's chief academic officer.

Short notice too: effective September 1. Luckily there are ten or so vice provosts remaining, including an executive vice provost in charge of keeping track.

Provost Lange ordered a quick start to the search for a replacement: deadline for nominations September 9.

And an unusually quick deadline for a search committee to make recommendations: September 26. Committee members include Peter Burian, professor of classical & comparative literatures; Susan Roth, vice provost for interdisciplinary studies; and Jim Siedow, vice provost for research.

There is also a search underway for a vice president for global strategy; and the replacement for Fuqua's Blair Sheppard holds only a two year appoint.

U.Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan cited Simon's success "in leading important, visible and complex initiatives during a period of tremendous growth in research and advances in quality at Duke."

And Peter the Duke Provost: "John has been a superb contributor to Duke's progress over the last several years. In his role he has been central to the development and implementation of Duke's strategic plan and priorities, to major interdisciplinary initiatives in the sciences, to the devising of new programs to support faculty research and teaching, and to the development of processes to meet our assessment requirements.

"John has also been a wonderful collaborator, working seamlessly with the provost's team, with the deans and with faculty throughout the university. As a leader and trouble-shooter, he has always been available to those with opportunities to exploit or challenges to meet. He will be sorely missed and U. Va. is lucky to have him as their new provost."

Prior to serving as vice provost at Duke, Simon chaired the university's chemistry department for five years. He also holds appointments in biochemistry and ophthalmology at Duke's medical center. He joined Duke in 1998 after holding a series of positions at the University of California, San Diego.