October 24–26, 2013
The meeting was called to order by John “J.B.” Daukas ’84, Student Affairs Committee chair. After brief introductions, the committee chair reviewed the agenda, which included a presentation from the dean of the College as well as a student panel.
The dean of the College, Charlotte Johnson, and associate dean of the College, Inge-Lise Ameer, presented on student advising and career services. Dartmouth’s office of career services has been renamed the Center for Professional Development. New director Roger Woolsey offers the philosophy that career development starts freshman year. Though Dartmouth’s participation in student internships is No. 1 in the Ivy League, we are still looking to increase our number and build on an already vibrant program. Woolsey is working with the Office of Alumni Relations to develop career-immersion programs as well as a way to maximize the new, extended winter break. There are hopes to change the physical location of the Center for Professional Development to an on-campus location so that it can play an active role in students’ day-to-day lives.
Academic advising is another area the dean and her team are addressing. Currently, pre-major academic advising has a two-prong model: Every student is assigned a first-year dean and every student is assigned a first-year faculty advisor. Even though every first-year student is part of the two-prong advising model, the experience is not equal for everyone. A new advising model, Advising 360, was piloted last year with great success. Advising 360 currently has two test groups composed of 100 students and 10 faculty members each. Dartmouth faculty commit to two years of advising and work with students until they declare a major in their sophomore year. Advising 360 has brought together faculty, deans, the office of academic skills, and the Center for Professional Development. In the past, these groups worked in silos; now they work together to offer a complete and holistic approach to student advising and guidance. The dean of the College’s office is eager to scale this program to the entire first-year class, but it has the potential to be extremely costly.
A panel of six students (three undergrads and three graduate students)— Michelle Khare ’14, Janine Leger ’15, Ethan Portnoy ’14, Ronald’16A&S, Richard Lopez ’16A&S, Steven Reinitz ’09,09Th—discussed their activities at Dartmouth outside of the classroom.