Alumni Council

Four years in Hanover passes quickly, especially as we look back decades later. But that defining time creates a lifelong relationship with our alma mater. So many of us choose to give back in different ways. We commit our time and energy to making Dartmouth an even better place and to strengthening our alumni community.

The Dartmouth Alumni Council, in existence since 1913, remains dedicated to those goals with the work of 125 councilors representing more than 78,000 alumni around the globe. Engaging alumni during our own brief time on the council remains our highest priority. We hope you will reach out to your councilors with questions and concerns and take some time to digest your councilor’s reports.

The council’s alumni liaison committee released its eighth annual report to the board of trustees in September summarizing alumni sentiment collected by the council, including a recap of more than 1,300 alumni emails. President Phillip J. Hanlon ’77 and the trustees greatly value your input, and it’s extremely important to us that we hear from you and keep your concerns in mind.

During our 211th meeting of the Alumni Council in October, we were privileged to recognize five Alumni and Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award winners for their exemplary service to the College. Our congratulations go to Patricia E. Berry ’81, Ellie Mahoney Loughlin ’89, Ellis B. Rowe ’74, S. Caroline Kerr ’05 and Michael J. Vidmar ’03. We heard from President Hanlon, greeted students, discussed the value of a liberal arts education and the financial model of higher education and gave our input for the ongoing formation of the residential house system, which launches next fall. We also heard from four members of the board of trustees, including chair Bill Helman ’80, Ben Wilson ’73, Emily Bakemeier ’82 and Bill Burgess ’81.

Our two newest Alumni Council committees are also hard at work planning alumni engagement for the future. The alumni service committee announced that a second annual Alumni Day of Service will be held on May 7. Alumni around the country, along with family members and friends, volunteered in their communities for last year’s event. I hope you’ll consider engaging with your local club, class or other Dartmouth affinity group to make this an even bigger event this spring. Please register (http://alumni.dartmouth.edu/leadership/DayofService) to help lead these efforts as a service project coordinator or to volunteer on that day. This is a great way to give back to your community and meet other Dartmouth alumni in the process.

And on behalf of our professional development committee, I invite you to join the Dartmouth Career Network to share your advice and expertise with Dartmouth students as they begin to make their own way in the world. You’ll also have the opportunity to share information with fellow alumni about jobs, career paths and graduate schools.

Also, the enrollment and admissions committee is working with the alumni relations staff to help recruit and steward alumni volunteers for the admissions ambassador program.

The Alumni Council will meet again in Hanover May 12-14 and we’ll be expanding our reach in social media by live tweeting during the meeting. You can find us using the hashtag #DartmouthAC.

I hope you’ll contact your representative to share your feedback before and after the session. I also welcome your emails at any time. An informed alumni body is our utmost goal. In closing, I ask you to think about Dartmouth’s sense of place and the strength of its community and find ways to bring that into your own lives wherever you reside around the globe.

president, 6068 Blunt Alumni Center, Hanover, NH 03755; alumni.council.president@dartmouth.edu