This is the first in a three-part series highlighting some of the stories that shaped the Dartmouth community in the College’s 250th year. Read part two, highlighting stories about students’ accomplishments in 2019, and part three, highlighting faculty accomplishments.
It was a year of celebrations: Dartmouth kicked off its 250th-anniversary festivities across campus on Jan. 10—the first in a series of events across the country and the world. The Call to Lead campaign passed the $2 billion mark, and students, faculty, alumni and staff heeded the Call to Serve, volunteering more than 250,000 hours to nonprofit organizations and communities in in 37 countries and all 50 states. The College convened its first-ever global summit in London, where, among other things, President Philip J. Hanlon ’77 announced a $25 million dollar gift to support the Tuck School of Business’ global learning program, TuckGO—the largest gift in Tuck’s history.
Back on campus, a renovated and expanded Hood Museum of Art reopened to the public after three years of construction. The College launched the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative (C3I), aimed at creating a learning environment free from sexual harassment and the abuse of power—the third pillar in a series of initiatives Dartmouth has launched in recent years to decrease high-risk behavior (Moving Dartmouth Forward) and increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (Inclusive Excellence). And Dartmouth joined the Association of American Universities, a consortium of 65 of America’s leading public and private research universities.
At commencement 2019, internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma urged graduates to use their power and privilege “thoughtfully, with restraint, and with good intention.” Dartmouth News remembered Fred Rogers ’50’s 2002 address, in which he urged graduates to stand for love, peace, and justice.
During the year, a dozen contenders in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary—and two in the Republican—made first-in-the-nation stopovers on campus, including, in February, Dartmouth’s own Kirsten Gillibrand ’88. The football team traveled to Yankee Stadium in November, where they beat Princeton 27-10. Several members of the faculty won major awards, including Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy Marcelo Gleiser, who won the Templeton Prize, and Associate Professor of Computer Science Xia Zhou, who received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Ecologist Kathryn Cottingham and theoretical physicist Robert Caldwell were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Researchers from Thayer School of Engineering embarked on a historic expedition to gather data in Arctic. And Dartmouth News went on the road with the Stretch, the Earth sciences department’s storied off-campus program—following students from mountain glaciers in the Canadian Rockies to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
View a list of top stories. And watch for tomorrow’s story, showcasing the year’s student accomplishments, and Wednesday’s story, focusing on faculty.
Hannah Silverstein can be reached at hannah.silverstein@dartmouth.edu.
