October 24–26, 2013
Eighteen members of the Athletics Committee, led by chair Mike Vidmar ’03, met with athletic director Harry Sheehy ’55a and members of his staff. Sheehy kicked off the meeting with a general overview on the state of Dartmouth athletics. He presented a brief update on the Dartmouth Peak Performance (DP2) program, the scope of Dartmouth athletics, President Hanlon’s perspective on athletics, highlights from varsity and club sports, and student-athlete behavior issues and challenges. Bob Ceplikas ’78, deputy director of athletics, then gave an update on collaboration efforts with the Office of Alumni Relations, other alumni engagement activities, the new format for Wearers of the Green, facilities, recruiting, and resources.
Sheehy then introduced two varsity head coaches, Belle Koclanes (women’s basketball) and Chad Riley (men’s soccer), who provided some background on how they came to Dartmouth and their approaches to their sports.
The final part of the meeting was devoted to DP2 and the associated Leadership Program. Drew Galbraith, senior associate athletic director in charge of DP2, described in depth the three main areas of focus for the program: academic, athletic, and personal. He mentioned that Dartmouth now has two full classes of student-athletes who arrived since the launch of DP2. They are predisposed to this environment and are highly engaged.
Steven Spaulding, assistant athletic director for leadership, then described the Leadership Program, which focuses on the development of future leaders. The program is broken into three segments: be (character), know (values-driven skills), and do (actions). Much of the curriculum is based on experiential learning, and he explained that last summer he offered a program teaching leadership skills called DRIVE. DP2 and its associated programs have been well received on campus by the student-athletes, faculty, and staff.
The meeting concluded with Mike Vidmar soliciting ideas for projects to which this committee could devote its time and energy.