Dear '63s,
My first Alumni Council meeting in Hanover last month as Class of '63 representative did not disappoint. It extended from Thursday afternoon (December 3) through noon on Saturday (December 5) and was packed with a well balanced combination of presentations, committee meetings and social events. A summary of the Council meeting is presented below and complete minutes can be found online at http://alumni.dartmouth.edu/default.aspx?id=1828. However, there were two things that particularly impressed me that I want to highlight: 1) the process that the Council's Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee undergoes in selecting nominees for the position of College Trustee and 2) the positive attitude and leadership qualities of President Jim Yong Kim.
As many of you know by now, the election of two members of Dartmouth's Board of Trustees will be conducted in early 2010. The Board of Trustees consists of the President of the College, the Governor of New Hampshire, sixteen Charter Trustees (nominated and elected by the Board itself) and eight Alumni Trustees (elected by Dartmouth alumni and presented to the Board for approval). It is the responsibility of the Alumni Council's Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee to undertake a process that leads to the presentation of one or two candidates for each Alumni Trustee position to the full Alumni Council for their vote. Upon receiving majority approval by the Alumni Council, the candidates' names are placed on a ballot for voting by the entire alumni body. In addition to the Alumni Trustee candidates selected by the Alumni Council, petition candidates for Alumni Trustee can have their names placed on the ballot presented to the alumni body for their vote. The candidate for each Alumni Trustee position who receives the majority of alumni votes cast is then presented to the existing Board of Trustees for their approval. Assuming majority approval by the Board of Trustees (such approval has occurred in all previous trustee elections), each successful candidate becomes a trustee. The Council's Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee (11 members) went through a rigorous, two-year process to finalize nominees for the two Alumni Trustee spots. More than 400 alumni profiles were reviewed in the course of 14 meetings held during the 12-month period ended November 2009. Search criteria included: excellence in one's chosen field, bringing a unique skill set that would be accretive to the existing board, previous board experience, a commitment to Dartmouth and higher education, and willingness to serve. At the conclusion of this process, the two candidates selected for nomination were Mort Kondracke '60 and John Replogle '88. Both candidates briefly addressed the Alumni Council at the Friday morning session before being voted upon as the nominees being put forward by the Alumni Council (the Council vote was 89-1 to approve these two candidates). I spoke with both candidates at the reception Friday evening. Based on that discussion, their credentials and their presentations earlier in the day, I can honestly say that they appear to be both highly qualified and enthusiastic trustee candidates. Their bios and candidate statements can be found at www.mort4dartmouth.com and www.john4dartmouth.com, respectively. Because petition candidates are anticipated (probably one for each of the two Alumni Trustee positions), only one nomination was made per open trustee seat. This will ensure head-to-head elections can be held. Petition candidate nominations must be made by February 4, 2010. Alumni will have the opportunity to cast their ballots for trustees between March 10 and April 7, 2010. Please visit www.voxthevote.org for more information about the candidates and the election. I encourage you to vote in this election. In recent elections when Alumni Trustee seats were being contested, less than one-third of Dartmouth alumni have voted. As an alumni group, we certainly can do better than that.
I believe we, as alumni, should be very pleased with the selection of Jim Yong Kim as President of the College. He strikes me as having a rare combination of talents that makes him part idealist and part pragmatist, with a strong, affable personality that appeals to students, faculty, alums and non-Dartmouth people. He addressed the Alumni Council twice and stood in a receiving line for 45 minutes prior to Friday's dinner. He is accessible, warm and seemingly loves the place at least as much as you and I do. He recognizes that, first and foremost, education is the business of the College. He wants Dartmouth students to leave Hanover upon graduation with a passion and commitment to take on and solve the most challenging problems the world has to offer (here's the unabashed idealism). He is also the leader who is faced with a diminished endowment and distasteful budget reduction decisions to make. Personnel changes are needed to address the current situation. His pragmatic side was revealed when he told Alumni Council members that the College hasn't been through a real transition in over 20 years. In addressing the personnel changes made to date (including the Provost and Executive Vice President), he said "I am not apologetic about it. There will be more to come." My initial impression of President Kim is very positive, and I feel that Dartmouth will be an even better place under his leadership.
Some other items of interest
College ranking - US News and World Report does an annual ranking of colleges and universities. Dartmouth is included in the national universities category. For the 2010 rankings, Dartmouth was ranked first nationwide for undergraduate teaching. During the 2001-2007 period, the College averaged 9th place in overall ranking; during the 2008-2010 period Dartmouth has averaged 13th place overall. It was explained that peer assessment has a weighting in the rankings and that unattractive publicity, lawsuits, etc. can affect ranked position.
Alumni interviews for admissions - There were approximately 18,000 applicants for the Class of '13. Of these, 10,000 received alumni interviews. The top two categories for applicant evaluation by alumni interviewers are "outstanding" and "highly desirable", and approximately half of the interviewed applicants were rated either outstanding or highly desirable. The College's admissions hurdle is high and, for the Class of '13, only one out of three outstanding applicants and one out of five highly desirable applicants gained admission. The overall admission rate for all 18,000 applicants was slightly below 13%. Over the past decade, approximately 50% of students granted admission have decided to attend Dartmouth. Since there currently is no applicant interviewing on campus, the efforts of alumni interviewers are greatly appreciated. To volunteer for alumni interviewing, please go to http://www.dartmouth.edu/~interviewers/ and click on "Sign up for Interviewing". We're definitely not too old to do this, as is evidenced by the positive feedback from interviewed applicants.
Budget situation - The problem is very simple; the solution is not. The problem is that expenses are exceeding revenues ("financially structurally unbalanced" as David Spalding, VP of Alumni Relations, described it). Spalding stressed a twofold need for the College's endowment: 1) more realistic returns and 2) more sustainable withdrawals. Actions being taken include the following: Fiscal year ending June 30, 2010 (FYE '10) – expense cuts (amount not quantified); FYE '11 - $50 million in expense cuts; FYE '12 – Preserve the $50 million in expense cuts from FYE '11 and add another $50 million in expense cuts in FYE '12. The specific steps being initiated are workforce reductions, examination of staff and faculty salaries, slow or freeze hiring staff and faculty, and halt capital expansion (except for two facilities that have third party prefunding). Expense reductions will be strategic and not across-the-board. It will be a priority to do selective cost reduction that enables continuation of the Dartmouth experience.
Board of Trustees representative - Sherri Oberg '82 Tu'86 – Oberg is a Charter Trustee, who has served on the Board since September 2008. She used illustrations to clarify the role of the Board of Trustees. For example, the Board has fiduciary responsibility for the strategic direction of the College, approving the budget and strategic direction. The trustees do not involve themselves in the day-to-day activities of the College, such as the alcohol policy and admission process. The Board meets five times a year, for two-day sessions. The major focus for recent Board activities is protecting the endowment, managing the spend rate of the College, and exploring options with the budget cuts. With respect to the reappointment of trustees following their initial four-year terms, Oberg said that two of the three petition candidates who were subject to this process were reappointed by the Board.
As mentioned above, the complete minutes of the Alumni Council meeting are available online.
If there are questions or reactions to the items discussed above or contained in the complete minutes, please contact me (phone: 215-862-9102; email: mjbowne2@comcast.net). One of the main roles of the Alumni Council is to facilitate the exchange of information and sentiment between the alumni and the College. As your Class representative on the Council, I want to make sure this happens.
Best regards,
Marty Bowne