The 2007 Baccalaureate service will be held Saturday June 7, 2008 at 3 PM.
Eboo Patel is the founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based international nonprofit working to build mutual respect and pluralism among religiously diverse young people by empowering them to work together to serve others. He is the author of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, released by Beacon Press in June 2007. Dr. Patel holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes Scholarship. He writes “The Faith Divide,” a featured blog on religion for The Washington Post, and also has written for the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Chicago Tribune, Clinton Journal, The Review of Faith and International Affairs, Journal of College and Character, and National Public Radio.
Dr. Patel serves on the Religious Advisory Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Committee of the Aga Khan Foundation USA, the Advisory Board of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center, and the Board of the Chicago History Museum.
A sought-after speaker, he delivered the keynote speech at the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Forum and the commencement address at Augsburg College in 2007. He also has spoken at the Compassion Forum, TED Conference, Clinton Global Initiative, and Nobel Peace Prize Forum, as well as at universities around the world.
Dr. Patel is an Ashoka Fellow, part of a select group of social entrepreneurs whose ideas are changing the world, and was named by Islamica Magazine as one of ten young Muslim visionaries shaping Islam in America. He was selected as one of “Five Future Policy Leaders” featured in the Harvard Kennedy School Review in spring 2008 and has been profiled by PBS and several other media outlets.
The Baccalaureate service seems to have originated in a 1432 Oxford University statute, which required each bachelor to deliver a sermon in Latin as part of his academic exercise. Because the earliest universities in this country were founded primarily to educate ministers, the British practice of a Baccalaureate Service was continued.
At Dartmouth, it was an integral part of Senior Week until Commencement itself was moved from Wednesday, when it had historically occurred, to Sunday, at which time it absorbed the Baccalaureate. This change occurred in 1939 to conform to weekend customs of the outside world.
Today, the Baccalaureate service is an multi-faith occasion of thanksgiving and celebration for the completion of the undergraduate and graduate careers. The service is intended to incorporate a variety of traditions, languages, and perspectives.
Campus ministers and advisors representing many of the religious traditions and student religious organizations at Dartmouth join the selected speakers on the dais. Also on the dais are representatives from the Dean of the Faculty and the Dean of the College offices.
The 2007 Baccalaureate service was held Saturday, June 9 at 3pm in Rollins Chapel. The speaker was Fred Berthold, the first Dean of the Tucker Foundation and teacher emeritus of Dartmouth.
The Rev. Dr. Fred Berthold Jr. is Preston Kelsey Professor of Religion, Emeritus, and served as first Dean of the William Jewett Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth.
After receiving an A.B. in psychology from Dartmouth in 1944, Berthold continued on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1947 and a Ph.D. in religion from the University of Chicago in 1954.
Berthold joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1949 as an instructor in philosophy. He moved to the religion department in 1950, subsequently chairing that department from 1951 to 1958 and again from 1960 to 1967. His religion department classes covered such subjects as "Kierkegaard and Religious Existentialism," "The Christian Tradition," and "Luther and the Protestant Reformation." In addition to his work in the religion department, Berthold served as associate dean of the faculty for the humanities from 1975 through 1980.
Instrumental in the founding of the Tucker Foundation, Berthold served as its first dean from 1957 to 1962.
A specialist in philosophy of religion and modern religious thought, Berthold's areas of interest include theodicy (the problem of evil), religion and science, and modern existentialism (from Kierkegaard onward). Among his books are God, Evil, and Human Learning, which revises the traditional free will defense regarding the existence of evil in the world of a loving God, and The Fear of God, which examines issues in the relationship between psychology and religion. Berthold currently is working on another book that analyzes the relations between the religious right and secular humanistic believers in modern science.
Ordained by the United Church of Christ in 1949, Berthold has preached often in local and regional churches. He has been married for 61 years to Laura Berthold, M.Div., and takes great pride in his four children, all of whom, he writes, "reach out to help people in need."
The 2006 Baccalaureate speaker will be Robert K. Goodwin, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Points of Light Foundation.
The Reverend Robert K. Goodwin is president and chief executive officer of the Points of Light Foundation, an organization that, together with the Volunteer Center National Network, mobilizes millions of people in volunteer service designed to help solve serious social problems in communities throughout the nation. Goodwin has headed the Points of Light Foundation since 1995.
In 1997, Goodwin was instrumental in the development of the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future, which celebrated a commitment to improve the quality of life for this nation’s youth. He also created Connect America, a collaborative effort led by the Foundation and a diverse group of national and local organizations—nonprofits, civic associations, local governments, businesses, labor unions, fraternal organizations, news media, an others—to engage every American in helping to solve serious social and community problems through volunteering.
Prior to joining the Foundation in 1992 as its executive vice president and chief operating officer, Goodwin served as executive director of the U.S. Department of Education’s White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In this role, Goodwin brought together representatives from the federal government, historically black colleges and universities, other colleges and universities, and the private sector to formulate and implement strategies for strengthening the nation’s black institutions of higher education.
Goodwin also has served as assistant deputy chancellor for external affairs for Texas A&M University, as associate vice president for university relations at Prairie View A&M University, and as publisher of his family-owned weekly newspaper, the Tulsa Oklahoma Eagle.
After graduating from Oral Roberts University in 1970, Goodwin received his M.A. in philosophy (Christian ethics) from the the San Francisco Theological Seminary. He has completed course work for an M.A. in Social Psychology at The University of Tulsa and has engaged in further graduate study at Texas A&M University. While a student, Goodwin served as associate pastor at several churches in Oklahoma and California.
Goodwin serves on the boards of the Interdenominational Theological Center, National Assembly, National and Community Service Coalition, National Urban Fellows, Inc., Salvation Army, Youth for Understanding, and Generations United.
In 2001 Goodwin received the Award for Excellence in National Executive Leadership from the National Assembly of Health and Human Services Organizations. For eight years in a row, he has been named by the NonProfit Times as one of the fifty most influential people in the nonprofit sector. Among other distinctions, he has received honorary doctorates from LeMoyne-Owen College, Ripon College, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and the University of Notre Dame.
Goodwin and his wife, Ruth, reside in Fairfax, VA.
President, National Council of Churches, 2000-2001
Chairman, Goodworks International, Atlanta, Ga.
Ambassador Andrew Young is chairman of Goodworks International, a specialty consulting group based in Atlanta, Georgia, that provides strategic services to corporations and governments operating in the global economy. He serves as a member of the boards of directors of numerous organizations and businesses including Delta Airlines, Argus, Host Marriott Corporation, Archer Daniels Midland, Cox Communications, and Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Now the National Council of Churches' Immediate Past President, Ambassador Young served as NCC President -- a part-time, non-salaried leadership post -- in 2000-2001. His NCC presidency brought him full circle, as he had served as associate director of the Department of Youth Work of the NCC’s Division of Christian Education from 1957-61.
Ambassador Andrew Young is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He has published two books, A Way Out of No Way, Thomas Nelson, and An Easy Burden, Harper Collins. His awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom and many honorary degrees. He served three terms in the US Congress from the 5th district of Georgia. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter named him Ambassador to the United Nations. He served two terms as Mayor of Atlanta and was Co-Chairman of the Centennial Olympic Games in 1996.
Ambassador Young was a top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, was involved in its inception, and served as Vice-President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He presently serves on the Board of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change.
The Baccalaureate speaker for 2004 was Diana L. Eck, a professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard Divinity School. The sermon, which was delivered at Rollins Chapel, is now available online in Microsoft Word format.
The following are Word documents.
Dartmouth College Baccalaureate 2003. Fanaticism, Faith and a Third Way. by Fleming Rutledge
Baccalaureate Prayer by Paul Feeney, Orthodox Campus Minister
What does life amount to? Richard R. Crocker, Ph.D., College Chaplain
