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Message from Trustee Chair Elizabeth Cahill Lempres '83, Thayer '84

To: All Alumni
From: Elizabeth Cahill Lempres '83, Thayer '84
Subject: Give a Rouse for President Hanlon

Dear members of the Dartmouth community,

President Hanlon returned to lead Dartmouth, his alma mater, almost a decade ago. Today, he announced his plan to step down from his role in June of 2023. Along with all of the Trustees, I am immensely grateful to Phil for the tireless work he has done to steer the institution to ever greater academic excellence, inclusion, and impact.

An alumnus of the Class of 1977, Phil has initiated and led an unprecedented advancement in academic excellence since 2013. Thanks to his vision, we have recruited, promoted, and retained top faculty; strengthened Dartmouth's commitment to research, scholarship, and creativity by investing in programs and facilities; elevated the caliber of undergraduate, graduate, and professional admissions applications; and enhanced our commitment to staff. Our university has doubled down on attracting the most curious, innovative, and globally minded academic and research talent. Equally important, Phil has put Dartmouth on a firm financial footing for a strong and dynamic future.

I want to highlight here some of the many achievements that speak to Phil's singular commitment to build on the best of Dartmouth. Please also watch for a fuller account of everything our community has accomplished under his leadership in an upcoming feature on Dartmouth News.

  • Our annual research spending has increased by more than 50% since Phil took up his role, contributing to Dartmouth's recognition as one of the nation's leading research universities, and our outstanding faculty are regularly honored with academia's most prestigious awards.
  • Our admissions outcomes have soared, bringing us talented and engaging students across the institution. Selectivity is at an all-time high and we are more diverse than ever as well. Undergraduate applications are up 26% since 2013 and our yield is one of the highest in America. People of color now represent 24% of faculty and almost half of those accepted to the Class of 2025 identify as students of color, including students from 51 tribal nations and other Indigenous groups. A record 15% of the Class of 2025 are of the first generation in their family to attend college.
  • With the support of generous donors, we have made historic investments in Dartmouth's academic enterprise including new centers of excellence to advance research and our impact on some of the world's most pressing issues, from the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies (Dartmouth's first new school in more than a century) and the Susan and James Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. In parallel, we have developed the West End, now home to the Center for Engineering and Computer Science, the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, and the Tuck School of Business.
  • Phil's disciplined approach to Dartmouth's finances and his championing of The Call to Lead campaign mean we are on a strong financial footing that will allow us to invest in the future and position us for growth – and our endowment has more than doubled to a record $8.5 billion. This financial stability has enabled major investments in facility upgrades and new construction across campus. As important, it has strengthened our commitment to diversifying our student body and greatly expanded undergraduate financial aid, including extending our need-blind admissions policy to international applicants, as we just announced.
  • Since his first day as president, Phil has been a stabilizing force on campus and spearheaded several interlocking initiatives, including Moving Dartmouth Forward, Inclusive Excellence, and the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative, to create a culture that is more supportive and welcoming of every member of our community.

Phil knows first-hand the power of the very special interaction our students enjoy with faculty. It is why he has been a champion of experiential learning and continues to engage closely with undergraduates by teaching a mathematics class every year. For all his accomplishments in the service of his alma mater, it is characteristic of Phil that his focus is on what remains to be done. The Trustees and I look forward to working with him on completing The Call to Lead campaign, furthering the commitment to financial aid, diversity, and the arts, and other initiatives on his agenda.

We appreciate that Phil has given us ample time to find the next great president in the Wheelock Succession. We will be launching a comprehensive search, and I will be back to you with more details about that in a subsequent update. In the meantime, I invite you to join me and my fellow Trustees in celebrating Phil for his extraordinary work and thanking him for his unwavering dedication to Dartmouth.

Sincerely,
Liz

Elizabeth Cahill Lempres '83, Thayer '84
Chair of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees