Board approves budget, policies at June meeting
The Dartmouth Board of
Trustees, at its meeting June 8 through 11 in Hanover, expanded the
College's nondiscrimination policy, approved operating and capital budgets for
the 2007 fiscal year, and reelected three members for additional service.
William
H. Neukom '64, who has chaired the board since 2004, was elected for an
additional year as chair, and Christine B.
Bucklin '84 and Pamela J.
Joyner '79 were reelected to four-year terms on the board. Neukom, former
chief legal officer for Microsoft Corporation, is chair of the Seattle law firm
Preston Gates & Ellis. Bucklin, a resident of Manhattan Beach, Calif., is
chief operating officer of Internet Brands, Inc., a leading operator of media
and e-commerce sites for "large ticket" consumer purchases, such as
cars and mortgages. Joyner, of San Francisco, is the managing partner and
founder of Avid Partners, LLC, advising investment managers and private
investment groups on investment strategy.
The Dartmouth nondiscrimination policy was expanded to include "gender
identity or expression" as prohibited bases for discrimination, and the
protection for disabled and Vietnam-era veterans was broadened to bar
discrimination based on "military or veteran status" more
generally.
Dartmouth joins many corporations, state and city governments, and
educational institutions in extending its policy to include gender identity and
expression. The College's practice had been to interpret its policy against sex
discrimination as covering gender identity and expression, but the explicit
inclusion "reinforces Dartmouth's commitment to full equal opportunity and
inclusiveness among our students, faculty, staff, and alumni," says President James Wright.
Wright also underscores the importance of the change that affects veterans.
"I believed it was important that we broaden the policy to make clear that
the College does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's military or
veteran status, for Vietnam-era veterans or for any veterans," he
says.
In other business, the board approved a fiscal 2007 College (excluding the
professional schools) operating budget of $384.9 million, with resources
directed primarily to faculty- and student-related priorities, operating costs
for new facilities, information technology, and alumni relations and
fund-raising. Among the priorities in those areas are:
The trustees also approved an institution-wide capital budget that includes
funding in fiscal 2007 for $80.6 million in College-related projects, $24.1
million for real estate development, $20.1 million for Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) facilities,
$9.4 million for Tuck School of
Business programs, and $3.4 million for Thayer School of
Engineering projects. Conceptual plans were presented for the medical
school's Translational Research Building and Center for Evaluative
Clinical Sciences facility, to be constructed on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center campus in
Lebanon.
Responding to a proposal by DMS for a new curriculum in biomedical science,
the board approved a new Ph.D. program in experimental and molecular medicine.
The program includes faculty from the pharmacology/toxicology and physiology
Ph.D. programs under one umbrella, in addition to new training faculty from
clinical departments and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center.
The curriculum is designed to strengthen interdisciplinary training for
graduate students at the interface of basic science and clinical medicine.
The trustees approved the establishment of the William H. Neukom 1964
Distinguished Professor of Computational Science. The endowed chair, created in
conjunction with the launch of the Neukom
Institute for Computational Science, will be held initially by Richard
Granger Jr., a University of California, Irvine, scientist recently appointed
director of the institute (see story).
Following the meeting, the trustees participated in various commencement
activities, including Class Day exercises, the Baccalaureate service,
various professional school ceremonies, and the main Commencement ceremony.
By WILLIAM WALKER
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