diff -urp a/openscholar.profile b/openscholar.profile
--- a/openscholar.profile	2010-08-24 20:16:19.000000000 +0000
+++ b/openscholar.profile	2010-10-16 01:00:00.000000000 +0000
@@ -35,16 +35,43 @@ function openscholar_profile_modules() {
   );
 }
 
+
+/**
+ * Returns an array list of core contributed modules to be installed first.
+ */
+function _openscholar_core_modules_first() {
+ $contrib_modules = array(
+  //cck
+    'content',
+    'content_copy',
+    'diff',
+    'date_timezone',
+    'date_api',
+    'date',
+    'date_popup',
+    'filefield',
+    'fieldgroup',
+    'imagecache',
+    'imagecache_ui',
+    'imagefield',
+    'link',
+    'text',
+    'number',
+    'nodereference',
+    'nodereference_url',
+    'optionwidgets',
+  );
+  return $contrib_modules;
+}
+
+
 /**
  * Returns an array list of core contributed modules.
  */
 function _openscholar_core_modules() {
  $contrib_modules = array(
-  // sites/all/contrib
-    'activity',
     'addthis',
     'advanced_help',
-    'calendar',
     'litecal',
     'context',
     'context_contrib',
@@ -83,7 +110,6 @@ function _openscholar_core_modules() {
     'stringoverrides',
     'strongarm',
     'token',
-    'trigger',
     'transliteration',
     'twitter_pull',
     'ucreate',
@@ -95,38 +121,17 @@ function _openscholar_core_modules() {
     'views_attach',
     'vertical_tabs',
     'wysiwyg',
-  
-  //cck
-    'content',
-    'content_copy',
-    'diff',
-    'date_timezone',
-    'date_api',
-    'date',
-    'date_popup',
-    'filefield',
-    'fieldgroup',
-    'imagecache',
-    'imagecache_ui',
-    'imagefield',
-    'imagefield_crop',
-    'link',
-    'text',
-    'number',
-    'nodereference',
-    'nodereference_url',
-    'optionwidgets',
-
     'install_profile_api',
     'schema',
- 
     // Optional Development Resources
-    //'admin_menu',
+    'admin_menu',
     //'devel',
     //'devel_generate',
-    
+    'calendar',
+    'trigger',
+    'imagefield_crop',
+    'activity',
   );
-  
   return $contrib_modules;
 }
 
@@ -190,8 +195,6 @@ function openscholar_profile_task_list()
   global $conf;
   $conf['site_name'] = 'OpenScholar';
   $conf['site_footer'] = '<a href="http://openscholar.harvard.edu">OpenScholar</a> by <a href="http://iq.harvard.edu">IQSS</a> at Harvard University';
-  
-  
   $tasks = array(
     'openscholar-configure' => st('openscholar  configuration'),
   );
@@ -206,11 +209,15 @@ function openscholar_profile_tasks(&$tas
   $output = '';
 
   if ($task == 'profile') {
+
+    $modules_first = _openscholar_core_modules_first();
     $modules = _openscholar_core_modules();
     $modules = array_merge($modules, _openscholar_scholar_modules());
-
     $files = module_rebuild_cache();
     $operations = array();
+    foreach ($modules_first as $module) {
+      $operations[] = array('_install_module_batch', array($module, $files[$module]->info['name']));
+    }
     foreach ($modules as $module) {
       $operations[] = array('_install_module_batch', array($module, $files[$module]->info['name']));
     }