Dartmouth has been recognized as one of the top 100 character-building colleges in the nation by the John Templeton Foundation in their Honor Roll for Character Building Colleges. The Templeton Foundation recognizes colleges through its biennial "Colleges that Encourage Character Development: A Resource for Parents, Students, and Educators" book.

This fall marks the first time that Dartmouth was recognized. Over 1,000 institutions were reviewed for the 100 places on the most recent Character-Building Colleges Honor Roll. "Although particular practices and emphasis may differ, each of the 100 institutions exhibit a strong and inspiring campus-wide ethos that articulates the expectations of personal and civic responsibility in all dimensions of college life," according to the Templeton Foundation. In the Ivy League, only Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale were listed.

In its book, the Templeton Foundation says, "Dartmouth embraces action for the common good, welcomes the diversity of the modern world, and respects religious faith and practice within a secular, pluralistic institution through the character-building attributes of its various programs." It cites the College's close faculty and student relations, a high rate of volunteerism, Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors and Peer Education Action Corps programs and senior year programs such as the Senior Fellows and the Senior Symposium.

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Fifty years ago, President John Sloan Dickey contemplated a way to meet an educational need first expressed by William Jewett Tucker, Dartmouth's 9th President. Tucker was concerned at the start of the 20th century that the liberal arts focus of Dartmouth was eminently successful in stimulating the intellect, but lacking in the stimulation of the conscience. President Tucker said, "Be not content with the commonplace in character or intellectual attainment. Do not expect to make a lasting impression on the world through intellectual power without the use of an equal amount of conscience and heart." At mid-century, Dickey recognized a similar imbalance. Dickey responded to this challenge through the creation of the William Jewett Tucker Foundation "for the purpose of supporting and furthering in all ways and all areas the moral and spiritual work of the College." The creation of the Tucker Foundation with its special mission and its independent status was an unusual model for higher education in the 1950's. This unique structure provides the Foundation with the capacity to reach all areas in all ways.

The coming year marks Tucker's fiftieth anniversary. As we prepare to welcome new leadership to the Foundation, what time could be more appropriate than this spring to contemplate what if anything makes it unique. Although Tucker ranks well with its campus peers, some as old as the College and some as new as a year or three, with a half century of experience what are the features that merit retention as the building blocks for the next fifty years. The past deans could offer a long and varied list. This dean perceives four features unique to Tucker that are presented in ascending order.

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