Frequently Asked Questions

• The Future of Arts and Sciences Project, launched more than two years ago, has sought to understand the challenges of the current structure of the Arts and Sciences faculty and undergraduate experience model and to identify a new path forward. The project’s goal is to propose a new structure that gives Arts and Sciences leadership strategic control over the holistic scholarly and educational mission of the Arts and Sciences; increased budgetary and operational agency; and expanded ability to pursue its aspirations. 
• The need for this project has become more apparent over time, as various groups addressed challenges in institutional priority setting and budgeting under the current model. This culminated in a specific charge from President Hanlon to the dean of the faculty in January 2022, which was subsequently endorsed and expanded by President Beilock in fall 2023.

Dartmouth offers world-class undergraduate education built upon the excellence of the teaching and scholarship of the Arts and Sciences faculty, in partnership with our talented staff. However, it has become clear that the Arts and Sciences, long the core of Dartmouth’s identity, is operating on an antiquated framework that limits its development. We can enhance Arts and Sciences excellence if we more closely align academics and the undergraduate student experience, while providing greater incentive for collaboration, innovation, and distinction in faculty-led scholarship and teaching.

• In 2022, Dean Elizabeth F. Smith first worked with an Executive Committee to identify the project’s Guiding Principles and then established three working groups comprised of faculty and staff focused on organizational structure and governance ( faculty success, student success), and budget. The groups evaluated multiple organizational and budgetary models, identified potential options, and posed a series of questions to be addressed. 
• In July 2023, Provost Dave Kotz and Nina Pavcnik, the Niehaus Family Professor in International Studies, began co-chairing a Steering Committee for the next phase of the project. They established seven task groups, composed of faculty and staff experts, who are focused on specific questions exploring structural changes to the Arts and Sciences. These groups examined areas ranging from advising and student support to enrollment strategies and collaboration. To inform their work, the groups consulted with standing committees and individual faculty and staff as necessary and appropriate.
• Over the two years, the work of these groups benefited from many thoughtful comments, questions, and suggestions throughout an iterative process of consultations and feedback consisting of over 170 large and small engagements with faculty committees, staff groups, and student leaders.

The Steering Committee is collecting its recommendations into a formal proposal. There will be opportunities for the Dartmouth community to engage with the proposal and opportunity for discussion during the spring term. The Arts and Sciences Faculty, as a governing body, may choose to take an advisory vote on the proposal to establish an Arts and Sciences unit, which we anticipate would happen in the second half of May. The proposal will then go to the president, who will consider the Arts and Sciences deliberations and advisory vote together with comments and suggestions from other schools before making her final recommendation to the Board of Trustees.

• The creation of a new leadership structure will allow for the development of an overarching strategy and priorities for the Arts and Sciences, which will, in turn, provide opportunities for greater advocacy, new support, and more focused investment in Arts and Sciences needs. 
• The dean of the faculty, who will be part of the new leadership structure, is expected to have increased capacity for providing oversight on faculty-related matters, including but not limited to recruitment, compensation, professional development, and tenure and promotion of faculty. In addition, the dean of the faculty will work in close collaboration with leadership on matters related to the coordination of faculty scholarship and teaching within the overall undergraduate student experience. The goal is to provide a clearly defined and articulated reporting process that gives capacity to those who will be focusing on the success and development of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
• In the new proposed structure, faculty will continue to control the undergraduate curriculum.

This process is designed to elevate and benefit the efforts of a variety of academic and administrative staff, including Student Affairs staff and staff in the Arts and Sciences, engaged in and contributing to Dartmouth’s undergraduate mission. For example, areas of particular interest are the ways in which these staff members coordinate and collaborate with one another, and with faculty who are on the front lines of student support.

A guiding principle of these efforts is to “champion liberal arts education,” wherein enhancing the student experience, including curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular offerings, is a core tenet. The student experience will benefit from the integration of the Divisions of Faculty, Undergraduate Education, and Undergraduate Student Affairs, explicitly combining intellectual, social/emotional, community-based, and professional development within a holistic experience. This model encourages collaboration across units that support the undergraduate mission, guides innovations and investments in that mission, and gives Dartmouth greater flexibility to adapt to evolving student profiles and needs.

Peer institutions have a wide variety of organizations, structures, and budget models that have evolved in their particular circumstances to support undergraduate education, so there is no single standard for supporting this work; however, the working groups have benchmarked specific areas of interest. And one thing that is clear is that many of the nation’s most selective colleges and universities have gone to great lengths in recent years to rethink and enhance the undergraduate experience.

We plan to engage alums as this project takes shape over the 2023-2024 academic year.

Yes. Thayer faculty, an administrator, and staff served on the 2022-2023 working groups and Thayer representatives continue to be involved in the 2023-2024 task groups.

As this process moves forward, this website will be updated with new information and opportunities for members of our community to engage. If you have particular questions or ideas you want to share, please email artsci-future@dartmouth.edu.