The College

Ralph N. Manuel '5B is the new dean of the College. Named to replace Carroll Brewster, now president of Hollins College, Manuel is seventh in the succession of Dartmouth deans and the first alumnus to occupy the Parkhurst office since Lloyd Neidlinger '23 resigned in 1952.

As dean, Manuel, who pledged "total and unflinching dedication to the job," embarks on his third career at Dartmouth. From 1962 to 1968 he was assistant director of admissions, also serving as a member of the Trustees' committee on equal opportunity with special responsibility for recruiting students from disadvantaged backgrounds. He left Hanover in 1968 to study for a Ph.D. in higher education administration at the University of Illinois, returning to Dartmouth in 1971 as associate dean of freshman and director of counseling. Manuel became dean of freshman a year later following the death of Al Dickerson '30.

Some 300 applications were received for the post vacated by Brewster. Screening responsibilities fell to a special search committee aided by an undergraduate committee of 13 students who interviewed the top five candidates. In announcing the selection of Manuel, John Kemeny said, "I have witnessed one of the best organized, most intensive and highest level searches in my years at Dartmouth."

One of the new dean's first tasks, according to President Kemeny, will be to undertake a reorganization of the office, bringing various student services into closer administrative alignment. Manuel's long association with Dartmouth, the President said, provides a "thorough understanding of this institution. ... The next two years must be years of consolidation for the College, just as the past three have been years of change."

As an undergraduate, Manuel majored in economics, was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and Sphinx, and played first base for the varsity.

Opposite: an inside view of a reunion talkon the front porch of the Hanover Inn.