by Dave Orsman

The Alumni Council has chosen 11 alumni to receive 2011–12 Dartmouth Alumni Awards and Young Alumni Distinguished Service Awards for their surpassing volunteer service to Dartmouth, broader civic involvement, and career accomplishment.

Roger S. Aaron '64, '65Tu, Albert T. T. Cook Jr. '62, Ann Peters Duffy '77, David Mason Eichman '82, Susan M. Finegan '85, Leigh Miller Garry '84, John H. Mathias Jr. '69, and Curtis R. Welling '71, '77Tu will receive the Dartmouth Alumni Award. Aaron was chosen last year but is receiving his award this year as a result of a scheduling conflict.

Jeffrey B. Fine '99, Amy R. Henry '97, and Susanne M. Kandel '00 will receive the Dartmouth Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award. 

Collectively, these alumni have contributed thousands of hours of service to the College in over thirty roles, from affiliated group treasurer to club Webmaster to Association of Alumni president. They've helped fuel important volunteer work by their alumni classes, clubs, and affiliated groups; the alumni leadership organizations; the Dartmouth College Fund; professional school boards; and more Dartmouth organizations.

"I give back to Dartmouth, in large part, so that others can continue to have the same opportunities that I did," says Finegan. "No one from my high school had gone to Dartmouth, nor had anyone from my family. I so appreciated the opportunity to attend Dartmouth, and tried to make the most of my experience while there."

Kandel's volunteering grew out of her participation in the campus GLBTQA community as a student. "I was a leader of the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance, so it was natural for me as an alum to get involved with DGALA [the Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Alumni/ae Association]," she says. "The relationships I've since developed have inspired me to become even further involved. I'm also motivated to help make Dartmouth a better place than it was when I was a student, and encouraged to see how much it's changed in a relatively short period of time."

Eichman agrees. "Dartmouth has become a campus that values diversity in all forms, and provides resources for all students, to ensure that every student feels supported and valued."  His main motivation for volunteering, he says, is to "help make Dartmouth a welcoming place for all students."

Welling recalls his undergraduate experience, in the late 1960s, as "marked by paroxysms of change, the questioning of institutions." He adds, "Dartmouth was a formative place to be. I was working at WDCR radio, so I got to see this time in history as a participant and an observer. This experience was important for me in forming an attachment to the College.”

As varied as their student experiences of Dartmouth were, these alumni work as one for Dartmouth's future.

“There’s some combination of place, history and culture that inoculates many Dartmouth graduates,” Welling says. “Once inoculated, you carry that affinity for the rest your life.”  

The volunteer resumes of the award recipients are extensive. Here are just a few highlights:

Recipients of the 2011–12 Dartmouth Alumni Award