Lori Arviso Alvord '79
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In the 1970s, when Lori Arviso Alvord '79 decided to attend college, the
first in her generation to do so, she was an exception among high school
graduates in Crown Point, an impoverished town in a Navajo community in
northwest New Mexico. At Dartmouth, new worlds opened up to her and she began
to discover a passion for medicine. She went on to obtain her medical degree
from Stanford Medical School, eventually becoming the first Navajo woman to be
board certified in surgery.
Alvord is one of 51 college graduates recently profiled in Take a Closer Look: Opening
Doors, Changing Lives, a publication produced by the Consortium on Financing Higher Education
(COFHE), a 31-member consortium of private colleges and universities, including
Dartmouth, that "seek ways to improve the quality and effectiveness of
these institutions and to reinforce their efforts to remain affordable and
accessible for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds," according to
the publication.
Maintaining accessibility to students from all backgrounds is a priority at
Dartmouth, where students are admitted without regard to their ability to
finance their educations. In 2006, 57 percent of Dartmouth students received
financial aid. "Providing generous financial aid is a critical component
of the mission of Dartmouth," says President James Wright. "I
understand firsthand its importance, because I was a first-generation college
graduate."
The introduction of Take a Closer Look reads, "The 51 men and
women profiled in this book span a broad range of ages, backgrounds, and
accomplishments; but they have three things in common. They attended some of
the nation's oldest, most prominent and best endowed colleges and universities.
They came from lower-and middle-income families and paid for college through a
combination of work and financial aid, most of which came from the institution
they attended. And in their lives and careers, they have demonstrated a
lifetime commitment to the service of others."
Alvord gave back to her community by practicing general surgery at the
Gallup Medical Center in Gallup, New Mexico for six years. There, working with
Zuni and Navajo patients, she drew upon her expertise in both traditional
Navajo customs and conventional Western medicine, developing a unique approach
to healing that she detailed in an award-winning book about her life and her
work, The Scalpel and the Silver Bear.
"Ultimately, Lori's vision of the healing arts is an elegant and
credible one: a trusting relationship with the patient and harmony in the
operating room are as necessary as the correct procedure to the success of the
surgery and the recovery process," reads her biography in Take a
Closer Look. Today, Alvord is assistant professor of surgery and associate
dean for student and multicultural affairs at Dartmouth Medical School.
Dartmouth and the other members of the COFHE institutions serve a public
trust, according to Take a Closer Look, and they fulfill that trust,
in part, "by opening wide the doors of opportunity and by sending forth
graduates-like the ones profiled in this book-whose college experiences
inspired them to help make the world a better place for all of us."
Put more succinctly, President Wright says, "The students need our
support, and the world needs our students."
By STEVEN J. SMITH
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