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Posted 10/28/02, by James Donnelly
Gail Zimmerman, dean of first-year students
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"This work is about the students," says Gail Zimmerman, dean of first-year students. The work she refers to is shepherding the thousand-plus incoming freshmen—some confident and outgoing, others nervous, bewildered, or even a little scared—through their first year at Dartmouth. "It's about helping them to feel welcome, accepted, part of the community. We want them to have a sense of ownership here—not just 'I'm here at Dartmouth' but 'I'm part of Dartmouth. I have a place here. I belong.'"
Zimmerman's office helps new students, many living away from home for the first time, make academic, social, and personal adjustments to college life. Her office on the ground floor of Parkhurst Hall makes her highly accessible. A page on the office website encourages students to visit Zimmerman and her staff often.
"We often try to have our contacts with the students early on, before crises develop, but there are times when the first I see of students is when they run afoul of the rules," she says. She is quick to note, however, that even when discipline is merited, the focus is always on helping the student involved. "The resiliency of students is quite amazing—to see the ways they grow and change and overcome adversity. It's a very rewarding part of the job," she says.
The first-year office also provides guidance and support when students need it most. "There is no cookie cutter for Dartmouth students. They come in all shapes and sizes and require varying levels of support," says Zimmerman. "The important thing is gauging how a particular situation may affect a particular student."
Over the course of the summer and into early fall, Zimmerman and her staff read the files of every matriculating student to get to know the entire class and to help identify those students who might benefit from an early offer of support. She notes that contrary to the belief that students who are having a hard time adjusting to college are those who need the most help, students who appear almost too well adjusted, reveling in newfound freedoms, are equally in need of a helping hand.
As the school year progresses, her days are spent meeting with students in half-hour blocks, trying to solve problems and identify priorities. As a result, she feels she gets to know all the incoming students, both individually and as a group. By the time spring rolls around and the locus for the class's support shifts to an upper-class dean's office, she and her staff will have met personally with as many as 80 percent of the students in the class. "I'm always sorry to see a class leave," says Zimmerman. "I'm often envious of the upper-class deans who have the chance to spend three years with their classes, who see them through the whole process and on to graduation. But the excitement of the first-year class is more than adequate compensation."
- James Donnelly
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