In an era when communication and connection have never been more important—or more challenging—Dartmouth is taking the lead to create a virtual forum for ideas, conversation, and shared learning for a curious global community.

Dartmouth NEXT offers a wide variety of programming for a multi-generational audience eager to learn more about pressing issues that cut across the arts and culture, the sciences, foreign policy, racial justice, and emerging technologies. Dartmouth NEXT features live and pre-recorded events that invite participants to learn from faculty and fellow alumni and to engage with the scholarship taking place on the Dartmouth campus and around the world. The select programs will offer interactive opportunities for audience members, including the ability to submit questions.

Dartmouth NEXT was launched in response to the demand for more online programming that featured Dartmouth’s faculty known for their excellence in both teaching and research.

“Within days from our announcement that we would move to remote learning almost a year ago, I began to hear from home-bound alumni who were hungry to continue learning with Dartmouth faculty,” says President Philip J. Hanlon ’77. “This confirmed for us that while other colleges may be for four years, Dartmouth is a learning community for life.”

In the past year, interest in virtual programming has surged, particularly among alumni and parents eager to participate in the kinds of learning experiences their own children are enjoying at Dartmouth. International participation has grown even more quickly: Alumni from more than 90 countries attended virtual homecoming events in 2020, and the number of people engaging with all Dartmouth online programs, including those presented by the professional schools, has tripled. 

“Dartmouth NEXT offers lifelong learning opportunities for our alumni and other members of the Dartmouth community,” says Cheryl Bascomb ’82, vice president for alumni relations. “Whether you graduated last year or 70 years ago, Dartmouth can still be your basecamp to the world, providing you with insights, analyses, and ideas you won’t find anywhere else.”

Dartmouth NEXT programming will feature several new series that feature well-known guest experts and Dartmouth faculty. One series will offer a contemporary take on the legendary Great Issues course introduced by Dartmouth President John Sloane Dickey in 1947 to foster global citizenship among the student body. Another will introduce faculty experts with brief insights on diverse subjects. Dartmouth NEXT also includes a curated sampler of campus-wide events presented by the professional schools as well as various centers and institutes at the university.

Great Issues, New Perspectives: a New Approach to a Dartmouth Classic

Dartmouth NEXT will debut a new live broadcast series on February 11. Great Issues, New Perspectives is a modern take on the Great Issues program that was once a fixture of the Dartmouth experience. Each month, well-known alumni experts will sit down with current faculty scholars for unfiltered conversations around some of the hardest questions that face us today.

The first episode of Great Issues, New Perspectives will feature a conversation between Latif Nasser ’08, Radiolab podcast creator and host of Netflix’s Connected: The Hidden Science of Everything, and Templeton Prize-winning physicist Marcelo Gleiser, a professor of physics and astronomy. The two will tackle the question, “Why does science matter?”

Upcoming episodes of Great Issues, New Perspectives will deliver a diverse mix of perspectives on current events, breakthroughs in technology, global challenges, and cultural experiences to alumni around the world.

Upcoming confirmed guests include

• March 4: former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson ’68
• April 15: MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed ’81
• May 13: Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Daryl Roth, P’93, GP’24
• June 17: Writer and Twitter Creative Lead Rembert Browne ’09

“Our faculty and alumni include some of the world’s foremost experts on the issues facing a complex world,” said Alumni Council President Rachel Bogardus Drew ’98. “Dartmouth NEXT offers our entire community an opportunity to access that expertise, and we are proud and grateful that the featured speakers are willing to share their insights with Dartmouth students and alumni.”

Faculty-Focused Programming to Come in Spring 2021: Short Talks on Big Topics

This spring, Dartmouth NEXT will add another series to the lineup called Short Talks on Big Topics. This faculty-led programming takes viewers inside their groundbreaking research, new teaching methods, and work on the frontier of knowledge. Designed in short, accessible segments, the series will introduce audiences to distinguished faculty across the liberal arts.

How to Access Dartmouth NEXT Programs

Dartmouth NEXT programs, which will be live-streamed on the Dartmouth NEXT website and Dartmouth’s Vimeo channel, are free and open to the public, and all programs will be available for viewing afterwards on the Dartmouth NEXT site. Upcoming programs will be promoted monthly to the 100,000 members of the alumni and parent community.

For more information, please visit next.dartmouth.edu