The Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience
Institutions of higher education are increasingly aware of their responsibility to prepare students to think critically and to act for the common good. Dartmouth College’s Tucker Foundation is charged with supporting and furthering the moral and spiritual work of the College. The mission of the Tucker foundation is to educate Dartmouth students to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community through service, character development, and spiritual exploration. At present, the Tucker Foundation provides the following student programs and initiatives:
- Nearly 50 local community service programs
- Coordination and support to more than 27 student religious organizations
- 65 international fellowship and internship leave-term opportunities
- 5 Alternative Spring Break teams
- A variety of annual social justice initiatives
The Foundation strives to increase the percentage of Dartmouth students involved in Tucker programs and initiatives from approximately 60% to more than 90%. To achieve this ambitious goal, additional funding is needed. This Tucker Foundation goal is included as a campaign priority in the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience.
The Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience is a major fund raising initiative, launched by the College on November 14, 2004. The campaign is intended to allow the College to accomplish the following: to strengthen Dartmouth across its academic disciplines, make critically needed improvements in residential and campus life, and preserve Dartmouth’s preeminence in providing the finest student experience in the world. According to President, James Wright '64A,
"Dartmouth produces extraordinary graduates...... critical thinkers poised for leadership in their professions, communities, and personal lives. Like generations of Dartmouth people before them, they make their mark in the world through service in critical fields, including medicine, law, science, government, education, business, journalism, religion, technology, sports, finance, and the arts. By investing in the Dartmouth Experience, you ensure that the historic work of the College and its graduates continues - work that engages, solves, and inspires. Work that can change the world."
The Tucker Foundation established several priorities that are deemed critical to achieving its goal. These priorities include the following:
- To accommodate increased interest in long-term, intensive individual and group community service efforts. These include fellowships, Dartmouth Partners in Community Service (DPCS) internships, local community service projects and developing initiatives such as Social Justice Lectureships.
- To facilitate joint faculty-student projects and mentor relationships geared towards community service, social change, diversity, cross-cultural education, and service programs.
- To support Religious and Spiritual Life through an endowment for the College Chaplain, endowment of the Rabbinate, and resources for spiritual expression on campus through interfaith dialogue and religious services.
A brief outline of the Tucker Foundation’s priorities for the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience are described below. While the profiles presented represent only a fraction of many programs and work of the Foundation, the heart of the Foundation’s efforts lie beyond any one program or office; it lies in a commitment to connect passion with practice for the entire Dartmouth community -- across boundaries, cultures, and time.
COMMUNITY SERVICE EXPERIENCES
"Only months ago, these children were on the streets digging and searching for food. We rarely stop and look at what we have -- we are often wasteful. But here everyone shares. Nothing is in excess but love... I used to be convinced of the power of policy, resources, opportunities to affect change in lives and situations, but now I place more stock in the human component." -- Jennifer Wilson ’05 (Honduras Spring Break) and Jonathan Tullis ’05
Community Service in college life is about the stewardship of timeless ideals and about teaching students to be community builders working for positive change in their lifetime. Students in our new millennium will be challenged by a world that is faster paced and more culturally complex. Leading and serving in this world requires courage, compassion and the conviction that individuals and social and democratic institutions can make a difference. Our objective is to support Dartmouth students while they form connections to the whole human family, starting with service to Dartmouth, the Upper Valley and reaching nationally and internationally. To that end, the Tucker Foundation offers in depth programs that deepen the civic engagement of students, stretch their moral imaginations, and very often transform their lives through community service.
INTELLECTUAL ENGAGEMENT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP
"I think the Tucker Foundation is the most important organization on campus for teaching Dartmouth students to become good global citizens. I continue to this day to take my daughter to visit a local nursing home and have worked on environmental issues in both the professional and volunteer sides of my life. We all know that the rewards of volunteering and service are not something that can be taught in a lecture. They must be experienced firsthand" – Celia Chen ’78
Dartmouth students and faculty members combine their intellectual scholarly interests with a passionate commitment to social justice. The demands of teaching and doing research at a first-rate academic institution such as Dartmouth, however, can leave faculty with little or no time or resources to pursue projects directed towards social change. Professional demands upon faculty are such that faculty members can be forced to choose between understanding the world and working to change it. The Tucker Foundation’s mission to nurture the "heart and soul" of Dartmouth students will be greatly enhanced by making it possible for faculty to join with students in making the world a better place for all. A committee of students, faculty, and staff will determine appropriate projects for these funds.
TUCKER FELLOWSHIPS AND DARTMOUTH PARTNERS IN COMMUNITY SERVICES INTERNSHIPS
"My Fellowships experiences, in union with the Tucker activities, were the seed of social activism and the desire for change and human dignity. They are still a piece of my mosaic of understanding, which is continually influenced and inspired by my current peace and justice work. I guess what I’m saying is the fellowship ‘definitely’ continues to influence my vista, but I am more directly involved in the tasks today and the work of tomorrow." - Dartmouth Alumnus
Endowment gifts will provide funds to Dartmouth students who take part in service trips or who serve as term-long fellows – programs which affect both domestic and international communities. These funds would be allotted for students who would otherwise be unable to participate in Tucker Foundation programs due to financial need. This fund allows the Foundation to develop equal program access by enabling all Dartmouth students to participate in community service and civic engagement.
RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL LIFE
"It was eye-opening to learn that two faiths are so similar and so strongly believed in. To realize we were raised in different ways according to different faiths with different beliefs, and yet here we were, two college students with the same morals, the same way of looking at things, believing with all our heart that our religions made us who we are." – Carolyn Johnson ’05
Exploring the dimensions of religious and spiritual life has long been a central purpose of Dartmouth College and the Tucker Foundation. The Foundation’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, under the leadership of the College Chaplain, support these efforts on both a programmatic and personal level. Through interfaith dialogue, as well as through worship, study, service and reflection, the community continually asks questions about life’s meaning and purpose. Many faith traditions are represented at Dartmouth. Supporting these particular expressions of faith in the context of interfaith inquiry is an essential – but under-funded – part of the Tucker Foundation’s mission
SERVICE SCHOLARSHIPS
"The Cross Cultural Education and Service trip to Siuna, Nicaragua, has brought aspects of my life and reality into question. I have learned that a lot of what I valued before – the things that excited me-were quite superficial. Educationally, the trip has reinvigorated my determination to do well so as to use my privilege to improve the situation of others." - 2002 CCESP Trip Member
The Tucker Foundation seeks to obtain endowment gifts to increase opportunities for Dartmouth students to take part in student service trips. These funds will be designated for students who serve the greater community on both a short and long-term basis. This fund will in part be dedicated to finance discrete student service trips both domestically and internationally to make a difference in a variety of ways – from building a healthcare center in Nicaragua for an underprivileged community to constructing a shelter in North Carolina. Endowment funds will also support scholarships for SEAD students.
If you are interested in supporting any of the Tucker Foundation campaign priorities, Please Contact Dean Stuart Lord at 603-646-3350.
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