Where Do We Go From Here?
The reaccreditation process kelps the College assess its strengths—and address its weaknesses.
When I became president, one of my early assignments was to prepare for the reac creditation of Dartmouth by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The reaccreditation process, which happens every 10 years, provides us with an opportunity to reflect on our strengths and opportunities and to gain some experienced outside counsel and advice as we think through priorities and directions for the future. The first stage in the process is for the institution to undertake an analysis of several areas of particular importance to the accrediting agency, including the curriculum, the faculty, admissions, facilities and financial resources. In addition, the institution is asked to choose three particular areas for self-study.
For the purpose of self-study, I chose to focus on undergraduate research, internationalism and computing. These have been areas of traditional excellence for Dartmouth, and it seemed prudent for us to determine if we were as strong as we thought we were.
Undergraduate research has a deep history at Dartmouth. President Ernest Martin Hopkins'01 setup the Senior Fellows program in 1929 with an eye to encouraging students to work independently on a topic of particular importance to them. Since that time, Dartmouth has established numerous other programs that provide our undergraduates with the chance to work either on their own research projects or with faculty members. President James Freedman established the Presidential Scholars Program, which has been enormously successful as more than 100 students a year work oneon-one with faculty on research projects. Other programs include the Women in Science Project, the First Year Research Program, senior theses and the E. E. Just '07 Internships.
Our reputation in international studies dates at least to the beginning of the presidency of John Sloan Dickey '29. Certainly, Dartmouth students study in off-campus programs in proportions that are among the highest in the country. And our faculty, both in the College and in the professional schools, have connections and contacts across the world. President David McLaughlin '54 established the Dickey Center to build up this international strength.
President John Kemeny '22 A had established Dartmouth's accessible computing environment, and we continue to at tract students who wish to study computing. I was delighted last year when two of our students won the top national awards in computer science for undergraduates.
We completed the internal phase of the reaccreditation process early in the fall term. Each of the self-study committees provided us with recommendations on how we should proceed (the reports are available on the web at www.dartmouth.edu/~reaccred/). The committee on undergraduate research reported that in 1999, 327 students participated in independent research and about 45 percent participated in either not-for-credit independent research or research for credit. But the committee noted that the sciences provide many more research opportunities for their students than do the humanities or social sciences. This is something that we will need to look at. We also need to examine why our students do not fare as well as we might expect in getting outside fellowships, such as the Rhodes or Marshalls.
The committee on internationalism encouraged us to consider further developing Dartmouth's international profile and to review the foreign-study programs to ensure that they are fully integrated into the Dartmouth experience. The committee suggested that students and faculty should take even greater advantage of the Dickey Center.
The self-stUdy on computing forced us to confront the fact that it will take considerable resources for the College to maintain and strengthen the kind of accessible and increasingly sophisticated computing environment our students and faculty need. The self-study committee looked at both the academic program and the overall computing environment at Dartmouth, and its report will help us to map out a plan for recapturing a leadership role in this area.
We completed the internal part of the process at the beginning of the fall term and were then visited in October by an external review committee. Chaired by Hugo Sonnenshein, president of the University of Chicago, the committee included faculty and administrators from several of the top institutions in the country. They met with faculty, students and administrators, and I had several opportunities to meet with them as well. The feedback that they will provide us early in the winter will be extremely useful for the College. I look forward to sharing their key recommendations with you
