BACK TO THE BOOKS
Eleven-Day Alumni College OffersRe-charge for Liberal Arts Batteries
BAKER'S bells will again be ringing the call to class for former Dartmouth students, and their wives, when the doors open on August 16 for the first Dartmouth Alumni College. Designed for Dartmouth men and women with a keen interest in the world about them who would appreciate the exhilaration of a personal eleven-day educational experience with four of Dartmouth's finest teachers (the schedule will also allow for taking advantage of summer in Hanover), Dartmouth Alumni College is a return to the classroom with all the trimmings.
Here, in brief, is the essential information on Dartmouth Alumni College—1964:
Dates: August 16 through August 27. Housing: Massachusetts Row dormitories. Rooms will be available at no extra charge through the balance of the second weekend, August 28 to 30.
Dining: Thayer Hall (right next door to dormitories).
Faculty: Professor James F. Cusick, Economics; Professor Harold L. Bond '42, English; Assistant Professor Timothy J. Duggan, Philosophy; Associate Professor Joseph D. Harris, Physics.
Areas of Study: Science and Human Values, Literature and Contemporary Affairs, The Scientific Age, Current Economic Problems.
Advance Homework: The reading of seven books to be sent by the College to the registrant.
Daily Schedule: Lectures at 8 and 9 a.m.; coffee break 10 to 10:30; small group discussions 10:30 to noon.
Charges: Approximately $250.00 a couple (additional charge for children); about $150 stag. This includes room, meals, books, and tickets to selected events.
Children: Families enrolling children will live together in a separate dormitory. There will be a separate program for children.
Cultural Extras: Plays, concerts, exhibits at the Hopkins Center; and other events in conjunction with the Summer Term.
Administration: Former Ambassador Ellis O. Briggs '21 is Chairman; J. Michael McGean '49, Associate Secretary of the College, is Director.
Dartmouth has long sought opportunities for the "continuing education" of its graduates. For many years a Hanover Holiday series of lectures was offered in connection with the annual class reunions. Faculty speakers, alone and in groups, have spoken before alumni club gatherings about their special fields. Back in 1916 in his inaugural address President Ernest Martin Hopkins proposed for the alumni "something in the way of courses of lectures by certain recognized leaders of the world's thought. . . whereby the college can periodically through their lives give [the alumni] opportunity to replenish their intellectual reserves."
This has been a continuing concern of the College, so much so that in the 1958 report by the Committee on Alumni Relations, Prof. Carlos H. Baker '32 of Princeton University, chairman of the subcommittee on "Intellectual Interests and Activities," wrote: "The success of the summer conferences in liberal education for executives of the AT&T and for bankers indicates that a similar service might be rendered by the College to its alumni. There could be worked out a series of two-week curricula including lectures, reading, and discussion for those alumni who could come to Hanover for a brief period. ... By this means many alumni could renew their intellectual contact with the College, and Dartmouth would show its concern for the follow—through of liberal education among its alumni."
That's what the Dartmouth Alumni College is all about. It's a modest step in the field of adult education, an organized effort that will involve common residence, prepared reading assignments, lectures, and small discussion groups. Dartmouth Alumni College should not be thought of as a vacation in a favorite spot but as a serious striving for intellectual refreshment involving responsible preparation and participation. The College believes that the complexities of our time make imperative a continuing educational effort on the part of each alumnus so that he might understand and contribute to his society. Dartmouth Alumni College is designed to help some alumni and their wives.along this path.
Dartmouth Alumni College, it is hoped, will encourage participating alumni and their wives to share an educational experience. The common experience of reading the same books, hearing the same lectures, and discussing them with others of similar interests, but diversified backgrounds, should be both stimulating and an encouragement to a continued sharing of such intellectual experiences.
The academic program begins when the books arrive in the registrant's home.
The Faculty...
It continues in lectures and small discussion groups led by faculty members who have "had experience with this type of education. Past programs of a similar nature with groups of business leaders have shown that these small group discussions encourage the frank and vigorous expression of personal analysis and position. A group of adults have a richness of experience and appreciation of values and the courage of conviction which make such discussion more meaningful than a comparable discussion in student days.
There is one unique aspect of the educational offering of the Dartmouth Alumni College. The faculty members responsible for the reading and lectures of the four academic areas began meeting in January to discuss, under the leadership of the specialist in each particular area, each of the books being assigned to alumni students. In these meetings, to be carried on through June, the faculty will seek the relationships between the areas of study, and this interrelatedness will be stressed in both lectures and discussions.
In addition to the four academic topics to be pursued there will be lectures or panels in the field of international relations under the leadership of the program's chairman. Ellis Briggs, retired U.S. Ambassador to Greece and many other countries and a Career Ambassador, the Foreign Service's highest rank, will conduct such meetings in the evening. As mentioned earlier, the many public events of the Summer Term and at the Hopkins Center will be available, and since the Democratic Convention falls during the Alumni College session, wide-screen television and optional lectures pertaining to political affairs will be scheduled.
An effort will be made to keep the afternoons free from organized activity so that these hours may be used for independent study in Baker Library, or elsewhere, or for the many recreational advantages so readily available on campus and in the nearby lakes and mountains.
Here are the courses and the men teaching them:
Science and Human Values: Professor Duggan
Philosophy deals with the effort to answer in rational terms man's questions of ultimate concern. What is man? What is man's relation to the universe? What is man's relation to fellow man? This topic will stress the impact on modern man of the scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th Centuries and the technological revolution of the 19th and 20th Centuries. It will deal with the shift from the Medieval World View to the Modern World View. Formerly man viewed the world as a rational order guided by a supernatural purpose. Recent developments in science and technology have caused many to call into question the entire concept of divine, cosmic purposefulness. There is a sense of displacement, loss of identity, and "aloneness" pervading the consciousness of modern man. In dealing with the modern world view there will be reference to the problems of contemporary religious belief, freedom and determination (especially in the light of psycho-analytic theory), and the problem of ethical relativism versus ethical absolutism.
The book to be used is W. T. Stace, Religion and the Modern Mind.
Assistant Professor Timothy J. Duggan (Ph.D., Brown) is Chairman of the Philosophy Department. He joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1957. In 1961-62 he studied in Edinburgh, Scotland, on a Faculty Fellowship and is currently writing a book on Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid and his work. He has been a member of the Great Issues Steering Committee and has taught in the management development course three summers.
Literature and Contemporary Affairs: Professor Bond
The books to be read are all notable works which offer not only the intellectual and emotional excitement of great literature, but also reveal the efforts of creative spirits to deal imaginatively and symbolically with man's universal concerns. They are on the one hand timeless and on the other timely.
The books to be read are: Thoreau, Walden; Hone (editor), The Voice out ofthe Whirlwind: The Book of Job (the original and a collection of interpretative articles); Shakespeare, As You Like It (this play will be produced in the Hopkins Center at the time of its discussion); Golding, Lordof the Flies.
Professor of English Harold L. Bond '42 (Ph.D., Harvard) is an authority on Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline andFall of the Roman Empire. He has recently written a book on his World War II experiences, Return to Cassino, and earlier wrote The Literary Art of Edward Gibbon. He received a Faculty Fellowship in 1961-62 to travel to England to prepare a critical biography of Gibbon. He has been at Dartmouth since 1952.
The Scientific Age: Dream and Reality: Professor Harris
This topic (offered by a theoretical physicist) will develop an intelligent appreciation of the spirit of science and the impact of science on man's institutions, thought, and values. The discussions will be carried on in general terms and will make no effort to undertake a disciplined study of a particular science. It will lay the foundations for such understanding by first examining the intrinsic possibilities contained in the contemporary scientific world view. What strange and novel vistas are now appearing in the world of science and technology? What do the most imaginative scientists regard as the limits of the possible? What does every scientist regard as in principle impossible? It will then turn from the technically possible to the socially and economically feasible, confronting the long-term vision of the scientist with the shorter-term visions of the man of affairs. It will conclude by raising such questions as: Are present trends desirable? How will they change the quality of our lives? Does modern science offer promise or threat? Is the government placing too much emphasis on scientific and technological development?
The books to be used are: Clark, Profilesof the Future; Lewis (editor), Of Men andMachines.
Associate Professor of Physics Joseph D. Harris (Ph.D., Purdue) is also a lecturer in biochemistry at the Dartmouth Medical School. He taught at Purdue and Utah State University before coming to Dartmouth in 1959. In 1960 Professor Harris was awarded a grant of $31,600 by the National Science Foundation to conduct a three-year study of how nerves conduct impulses or stimuli. He is the author of several articles on theoretical physics.
Current Economic Problems: Professor Cusick
This topic will be concerned with the impact of science and technology on man's economic, social, and political life. It will offer an introduction to some of the current developments in economic theory and suggest that public policy in the area must be formulated in the light of social, political, and ethical considerations.
The book to be used is Galbraith, TheAffluent Society.
Professor of Economics James F. Cusick (Ph.D., Harvard) came to Dartmouth in 1935 after teaching five years at Amherst. Many alumni have taken his "Money and Banking" and "Money and Foreign Exchange" courses, among others. He has served as director of the Great Issues Course, 1957-59; has been a consultant to the Ford Foundation and many other private and governmental bodies, including the National Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association.
A mailing on the Dartmouth Alumni College with more particulars than can be offered here and an application form is being prepared and will be mailed soon to all alumni. Because there is a limit to the number of alumni and wives who can be accommodated - and can participate effectively in the type of educational experience planned - applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Chairman Ellis O. Briggs '21
Prof. Harry Bond '42, English
Prof. Joseph Harris, Physics
Prof. James Cusick, Economics
Prof. Timothy Duggan, Philosophy
ALUMNI wishing to assure themselves of a reservation for Dartmouth Alumni College may send their names to J. Michael McGean, 205 Crosby Hall, Hanover, N. H., in advance of the printed announcement and application blanks scheduled to be mailed to all alumni in the next month or so.
