Welcome to Fall Term

Dear colleagues,

It was great to see so many of you at our Welcome Back reception on Tuesday. I hope this message finds you energized to begin the fall term.

As we embark on a new academic year, I want to extend a warm welcome to each of you, especially the 24 new tenure-line faculty members who join 16 departments and programs this year, and the 60 new staff members we recently welcomed to Arts and Sciences.

Our strong sense of community remains Dartmouth's greatest strength, and I am excited for the collaborations and connections our talented new colleagues will catalyze.

Looking towards this academic year, we have several exciting initiatives to look forward to.

The Future of Arts and Sciences

The Arts and Sciences Future project will take center stage again this fall. On Oct. 30, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will vote on whether to recommend that the Board of Trustees form a new school of Arts and Sciences. Faculty committees will be reviewing the updated proposal in advance of Oct. 30, and I encourage you to stay engaged and informed. Mark your calendars—I hope to see a strong turnout for the vote.

Over the summer, several groups continued to work on this project, including our own finance and operations staff, who are helping to ensure that we have appropriate resources in place for this new organization's success.

Faculty and Staff Support 

As always, my office continues to identify ways to support faculty scholarship and teaching and to support the staff who are critical to our mission. I hope you'll join me in welcoming two new members of our community who will be key resources for faculty and staff, Olivia Jaras and Sarah Wasserman.

Olivia joined us in May as director of human resources, with responsibility for all staff-related personnel issues and processes. She oversees talent acquisition and the payroll team, and has been meeting with department chairs, developing position descriptions, and working with central Human Resources on the ongoing project to review Dartmouth's staff positions.

Sarah joined us in August as our inaugural assistant dean of faculty affairs. She serves as an impartial resource for faculty in supporting a range of areas, including mentoring and conflict resolution. She will also work closely with Michelle Warren, our senior advisor for faculty development, diversity, and inclusion, to build community through faculty orientation and professional development programming. Additionally, Sarah will serve as the central point of contact for academic policies and procedures, including the Faculty Handbook.

Finally, it brings me great pleasure to highlight a special resource to support faculty research and professional development that I announced at our Welcome Back reception. 

Over the past year, President Sian Leah Beilock heard from faculty that the Faculty Research and Professional Development Funds (FRPDF), provided to faculty after they have exhausted their start-up funds, have not always been sufficient to support their research, such as travel to a conference or to research sites.

I am pleased to share that thanks to a proud Dartmouth alumnus from the Class of 1938 and his wife and family, new annual grants of $2,000 per faculty member will be available to all tenure-line faculty (at the rank of associate and full professor) over the next two years. This increase in the FRPDF—we estimate it may be $1.2 million—will be supported by a new endowment established this summer to support faculty excellence.

I extend sincere gratitude to the family and President Beilock for these additional research funds. 

The Dialogue Project

It was a privilege to collaborate with many of you on the launch of the Dialogue Project last year, and I look forward to building on this important work.

Over the summer, Kristi Clemens took on a full-time role as the project's executive director, joining me as director of faculty partnerships and academic engagement. Our primary objective is to foster the respectful and open exchange of ideas by providing students, staff, and faculty with the skills to engage with different perspectives and take part in constructive dialogue. Programming develops not only critical thinking skills, but also emotional and social skills which allow individuals to participate as empathetic listeners.

This year we are ramping up our Dialogue Project workshops for staff, faculty, and students through a new partnership with the Constructive Dialogue Institute. Cofounded by social scientist Jonathan Haidt, CDI develops research-based educational tools to equip universities and workplaces with practical skills to engage constructively across differences.

We also continue our collaborations with DCAL and StoryCorps' One Small Step. As you may know, One Small Step brings two people with different political beliefs together for a conversation: not to debate politics, but simply to interview each other and get to know one another as people. Initial recordings among students were facilitated last winter, nearly 30 more conversations were recorded in May, and we've started to engage with alums. Staff, faculty, and students are all invited to participate, and I hope you'll take advantage of this meaningful opportunity.

Finally, we are moving forward with our speaker and special topic series. (Our incredibly successful first special topic series, Middle East Dialogues, will continue as an initiative within the Dickey Center for International Understanding.) We plan to announce this year's special topic and speakers soon—stay tuned!

Campus Construction

If you've been away for the summer or just arrived, you've likely noticed that there seems to be construction everywhere. I ask for your patience as we navigate these temporary inconveniences, keeping in mind that the campus projects underway are critically important.

Construction projects include better housing for our students, the exciting renovation of the Hopkins Center for the Arts, and work related to the Classroom Rapid Refresh program, which has been essential for keeping our teaching spaces updated. Additionally, several projects relate directly to Dartmouth's ambitious decarbonization goals, which President Beilock announced in April. You may find it helpful to review updates and FAQs about construction projects. 

Looking Ahead

With a U.S. presidential election poised to aggravate an already divided country, and continued violence and political unrest around the world, some may approach this new term with a sense of trepidation.

Amidst these challenging times, I ask that you imagine the anxiety and sense of uncertainty our students must experience. They look to us for direction and sometimes reassurance. The work our faculty do to teach students not just the historical facts about a particular situation, but also how to think critically about a problem from multiple perspectives, remains essential. 

Students look to all of us not just for information, but also as role models for how to engage in discussions with people with whom they may disagree; and how to take part in productive conversations aimed at solving real problems. There are an exciting number of speakers coming to campus this year, and our students will want to engage with you as they continue to process what they experience and learn from many different voices.

Finally, as we begin this new academic year, I am grateful for the confidence I feel in you—that regardless of our different perspectives and any disagreements we may have along the way, we will continue to support our educational mission.

I also want to thank many of you who participated in the provost's working groups on Dartmouth's freedom of expression and dissent policies, as well as policies on institutional statements. I know that we all look forward to receiving an update on this important work.

You are some of the most creative and inspiring people I know, and I count myself fortunate to be your colleague. 

Wishing you a meaningful and rewarding fall term and academic year!

Warm regards,
Elizabeth