2024-2025
Summer 2024
Following the release of the proposal in the Spring, faculty committees submitted a response to the Steering Committee related to their concerns over the budget, graduate school, and other operations. The Project Leads and Steering Committee responded to these memos and prepared addenda to the proposal. The Project Leads also convened several Task Groups to further map and review potential implementation efforts. These Task Groups focused on an institutional registrar, undergraduate advising, business process continuity, graduate funding models, and A&S administration.
Fall 2024
Following the release of a revised proposal, the Project Leads continued to meet with the A&S faculty and other stakeholders about the revised proposal in preparation for the A&S advisory vote. The A&S advisory vote took place on October 30 and passed on the faculty floor with almost 80% approval (243 voting in favor and 63 voting against) and 55% turnout (out of 555 voting eligible members). Prior to making her final recommendation to the Board of Trustees, the President considered the FAS deliberations and advisory vote together with comments and suggestions from other schools. The Board of Trustees voted to approve the development of a new school of A&S on November 8.
Late Fall-Winter 2024-2025
Following a positive vote from the Board of Trustees, Project Co-Leads now look to determine subsequent implementation efforts. In the immediate future, deeper planning and mapping efforts that account for both organizational and budgetary structural updates will take place to ensure a smooth transitional period before more robust implementation efforts. The interim Dean of Arts and Sciences, who will be named no later than Spring of 2025, will convene implementation task force(s) and/or committee(s) that will further review efforts completed and those needed in pursuit of constructing the new organizational and budget models. This page will be updated as information is made available and additional efforts take place.
2023-2024
Summer 2023
President Beilock established a project steering committee to lead the project through its second phase, co-chaired by Provost David Kotz and Professor Nina Pavcnik. Building on the work of the first phase, the goals included answering questions about the organization and budget–raised by the first year’s exploration – needed to finalize the proposed models, and expanding the scope to look at the implications for other units and opportunities for collaboration outside of the Dean of the Faculty and the Student Affairs division. Task groups were established to advance the potential organizational and budget models. An important goal was to broadly engage the community on the progress and ideas around this initiative, and to ensure faculty, faculty governance, staff, and student perspectives were considered through an iterative process of consultations in the work of the task groups.
Fall 2023
Task groups met regularly to address open questions articulated by working groups in the prior phase. Steering Committee and Task Group representatives met regularly with faculty, staff, and other community members for feedback as they developed more refined organizational and budget models.
Winter 2024
Following the final task group recommendation reports submitted in late December, a draft proposal for a new A&S was initiated. The Steering Committee continued to meet with the task groups, faculty governance committees, the Dean of Faculty, Thayer, and Student affairs leadership, staff, and other key groups of stakeholders. The goal was to incorporate subsequent feedback and share a draft proposal with the broader community by the end of March.
Spring 2024
As planned, following the final task group recommendation reports submitted in December 2023, a detailed proposal for a new Arts and Sciences unit was created. To do so, the Steering Committee met with task groups, faculty governance committees, staff, and other key groups of stakeholders throughout the Winter to receive feedback and refine specific findings and recommendations.
After incorporating this feedback, the proposal was shared with senior Dartmouth leaders and the president at the end of March 2024. Presentations and town hall meetings in April and May provided more opportunities for community discussion. Following a meeting of the Faculty Coordinating Committee in early May, it was decided to delay the vote on the Future of A&S project until the Fall A&S Faculty meeting.
2022-2023
Fall 2022
Informed by peer organizational and budget structures and knowledge of Dartmouth’s culture and expectations, Working Groups developed potential organizational and budget structures for a new A&S unit. Their work focused on assessing potential organizational structures and reporting lines, the tenure and promotion process, offices serving undergraduate and graduate programs, the financial implication of different organizational scenarios, and a need for resources for strategic investment.
At the end of the fall term, the working groups recommended an initial “core” organizational and budget model for a single A&S entity, as well as potential alternatives in its structure, that would bring together scholarly pursuits, student support, and co-curricular expertise. Dartmouth senior leadership (Dean Smith, Provost Kotz, President Hanlon, and President-Elect Beilock) reviewed this recommendation and asked the groups to investigate additional alternatives in its structure in winter 2023.
Winter 2023
In the winter term, Working Groups evaluated the additional structural options, articulating potential modifications to faculty governance, assessing current levels of faculty support, evaluating different reporting lines for Student Affairs and enrollment management, and discussing student advising models.
The working groups also discussed scenarios for how tuition and financial aid might flow to a new A&S entity.
Building on working group and Executive Committee discussions and emerging institutional priorities, senior leadership drafted a set of potential organizational and budget models. The models were evaluated based on several stress tests related to budget scenarios and how they embody the project’s guiding principles and objectives.
Spring 2023
In spring 2023, senior leadership solicited insights and feedback on the potential models from the Board of Trustees, the Executive Committee, other Dartmouth leaders and stakeholders, and the working groups. During the remainder of the spring term, the working groups identified “open questions” about the potential models and suggested paths forward, all of which need further consideration.