Opportunity Statement for Dickinson College's 28th President

The Dickinson Narrative
Dr. Benjamin Rush founded Dickinson College with a grand, yet pragmatic goal: He hoped to prepare promising students to become leaders in the newly established United States.

This was a tall order in 1783 America, a fledgling nation defining itself in the wake of the Revolutionary War. Bold revolutionaries such as Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and John Dickinson, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, laid the foundation for the new democracy; the next generation of Americans would need to further these democratic ideals in the New World. Dickinson College was founded to meet this noble goal.

Chartered at the birth of this new nation, Dickinson College forged a new frontier in higher education—one that broke from the traditions of Old World institutions. Under Rush’s model, students not only acquired knowledge, but also learned how to use that knowledge in a rapidly changing world.

The backbone of this revolutionary educational model is a solid foundation in the liberal arts. This liberal education teaches students to embrace new ways of thinking, solve problems creatively and address important social issues purposefully. Because of this, Dickinson students are poised to be leaders and contributors in fields such as the arts, community service, education, the environment, finance and business, government and public service, law, medicine and health services, the military, religion and scientific research.

“Distinctively Dickinson”
At the heart of Dickinson’s distinctiveness is its deeply held belief in the centrality of a liberal-arts education to understanding and addressing critical global challenges. Dickinson’s faculty comprises scholars and teachers committed to an intimate learning environment and engaged in the intellectual life and personal growth of their students. In this diverse and inclusive academic community imbued with a spirit of collaboration, trust and entrepreneurship, the students, faculty and staff demonstrate a sense of responsibility for the institution’s progress and bring a creative energy to the campus.

Dickinson’s commitment to forward-thinking learning is evident today in lively campus discourse, student and faculty creativity and programmatic innovation. Innovative dimensions of the curriculum include a strong commitment to interdisciplinary approaches; leading programming in global and sustainability studies; a willingness to tackle contemporary challenges through emerging fields such as community studies, health studies and security studies; a vibrant and diverse arts program; a nationally celebrated workshop/laboratory approach to science education; abundant student-faculty research opportunities; extensive internship, study-abroad and service-learning options; and a distinctive first-year seminar program. The college also demonstrates its commitment to innovation in newly constructed and planned facilities that incorporate state-of-the-art technology and sustainable design.

Dickinson’s governance model is strongly collegial, balancing the opportunity for strong leadership with a high level of transparency and student and faculty engagement. Students, faculty, administrators and support staff have the opportunity to serve on all-college committees, which collaborate with the president and senior staff to establish and administer institutional policy. The high level of engagement and participation in these four all-college committees—Academic Program and Standards, Enrollment and Student Life, Information Technology and Services, and Planning and Budget—illustrates the deep commitment the whole community has toward shaping the institution.

Dickinson’s Future
During the past decade, the Dickinson community has been reinvigorated: The quality and diversity of the student body have increased, alumni are more engaged, financial resources have grown and the college’s strong academic program has gained increasing regard. Dickinson does not intend to pause—the energy of this rising trajectory has engaged the community, and all are focused on continuing this momentum. As the college launches its search, it seeks a president who embraces the fundamental values of a liberal-arts education while recognizing the critical importance of change in 21st-century educational institutions. The next president must continue to engage and challenge the Dickinson community in analyzing and evaluating the critical knowledge, skills and fields essential to informed, productive citizenship in this rapidly evolving world. The president must be strategic, bold and ready to lead the college through the changing climate of higher education.

Strengthening the College’s Academic and Global Profile: Dickinson’s next president must be ambitious for the institution and prepared to leverage the spirit of innovation on campus toward forward-thinking academic and programmatic initiatives that will strengthen the college’s position. The leader must build upon Dickinson’s strong programs in the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences, as well as the college’s commitment to global education and sustainability. In partnership with the provost, the faculty and the college committees, the new president will be a catalyst in the discussion of the evolving needs of tomorrow’s global citizens and imperatives for the nation’s leading liberal-arts colleges. On the Carlisle campus, the new president will be charged with strengthening the residential experience of the diverse and inclusive community and ensuring that the programs and facilities support the intellectual life of the students. The town of Carlisle, the county of Cumberland, and the other local and regional institutions in the immediate area, such as the U.S. Army War College, the Penn State Dickinson School of Law and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, are key partners to the success of Dickinson College, and the next president will engage with these local leaders as well as with academic and public leaders on a national scale.

Resourcefulness: The strong sense of community, resourcefulness and revolutionary spirit, is as alive at Dickinson today as it was nearly 230 years ago. This campus does more with less, keeping up with—and even outperforming—aspirational peers with larger endowments and better facilities in some key areas. For Dickinson to continue to raise its profile, additional resources must be identified, raised and invested in strategic imperatives, some of which have been outlined in the college’s Strategic Plan III—this will require a continuing emphasis by the president on energizing and engaging the alumni and parent constituencies. Dickinson’s alumni giving, in particular, must increase to that of other leading liberal-arts colleges to achieve the goals set forth in the strategic plan and in the college’s campus master plan for new facilities. Therefore, the next president must be comfortable with and passionate about fundraising, including cultivating and securing leadership gifts for the institution. In addition to developing further the philanthropic foundation of the college, the next president must consider, with the community, where best to invest increased revenue to support the evolving concept of the useful liberal-arts education. Opportunities to develop new revenue streams and enhance operational efficiencies to continue the college’s longstanding commitment to affordability and invest in transformative programs must be explored. With strong operational and financial acumen, the willingness to think boldly and the ability to leverage resources where they count, Dickinson’s 28th president will set strategic priorities and present persuasive cases for future investments.

An Engaged, Community Citizen: Given Dickinson’s scale and culture, the president must enthusiastically embrace engagement and relationship building, recognizing that every interaction has the potential to have community-wide and personal impact. In a college with a strong internal community, the next president must be a visible, intellectual presence, both on the Carlisle campus and internationally. Given Dickinson’s global sensibilities, comfort in multiple cultural settings will be beneficial. On the campus, the president will be seen as an active member of the community, accessible to students, faculty and staff. As a key stakeholder concerned about the continued health and development of surrounding communities, the president will set the tone for the college, being an engaged participant with local and regional civic and institutional leaders. The next president must embrace the opportunity to speak on behalf of the importance of a liberal-arts education in general, and Dickinson in particular, on a national and global stage. Tireless and energized by dialogue and debate, the president must model intellectual engagement as well as passionate commitment to the ideals of a liberal-arts education and its significance to personal achievement and as the best hope for global peace and sustainability. To that end, the president must be comfortable interacting in multiple additional sectors, including, but not limited to, the arts, business, government, law, the military, science and technology.

Further Context
A highly selective liberal-arts college with a broad and innovative curriculum, Dickinson College enrolls 2,340 full-time students on its 180-acre campus in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The college’s 240 dedicated faculty members are committed to scholarship, teaching and developing strong mentoring relationships in this intimate atmosphere. In addition to the 42 majors offered, students may partake in independent research, certificate programs and self-developed majors. They also take advantage of graduate-school partnership programs with institutions across the globe.

Outside the college’s Carlisle campus, Dickinson’s students have an extraordinary array of global academic options. With 40 programs dispersed across six continents and 24 countries, the college makes its focus on globalization readily apparent; nearly two-thirds of Dickinson students, including many students majoring in the sciences, choose to study abroad. Globalism at Dickinson, however, means more than study-abroad programs. Global issues permeate the curriculum; international students and scholars are in residence, and students can enroll in on-campus globally oriented educational opportunities, including The American and Global Mosaics—intensive interdisciplinary, semester-long research programs designed around ethnographic fieldwork and immersion in domestic and global communities.  

Additionally, the college has been recognized as a leader in the area of sustainability. The college offers numerous sustainability-related classes across the entire curriculum—humanities and arts, social sciences, and natural and physical sciences. A $1.4 million grant received in 2008 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, supplemented by matching funds from the college, is helping to infuse sustainability into all facets of the campus by establishing Dickinson’s Center for Sustainability Education, adding faculty and staff, and providing resources to link classroom learning with co-curricular programs, the greening of campus operations and civic engagement. This is shown, for example, through the opportunities available to faculty, staff and students through the college’s 50-acre certified organic farm located six miles from campus. Dickinson’s growing renown in education and operations for a sustainable future is evidenced by recent grants and high marks from outside sources. These latter include the Sustainable Endowments Institute (SEI), Sierra Magazine, Forbes, and a “gold” rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) STARS assessment system.

Dickinson’s operating budget is approximately $105.2 million for fiscal year 2012, with an endowment of approximately $360 million. The college is in the midst of a $300-million capital campaign, more than half of which has already been committed. The campaign supports areas such as scholarships, faculty development, a new science complex, a new residential hall and the Annual Fund.

The Search Process
A presidential search committee, consisting of trustees, alumni, faculty and students, is working to advise the Board of Trustees on the selection of Dickinson’s next president. The members of the search committee are actively engaged in seeking input to identify the best candidates to lead the college. To that end, the search committee welcomes your comments, applications and nominations. The committee is interested in considering candidates with a broad range of experiences and the demonstrated skills to lead a complex organization.  

Dickinson College is an equal-opportunity employer and strongly encourages individuals of all backgrounds and cultures to consider this important leadership position. The college’s commitment to inclusiveness encompasses, but is not limited to, diversity in nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age and ability.

If you wish to submit your own application materials or nominate someone to serve as the next president of Dickinson College, please send an e-mail message with supporting materials to dickinsonpresident@spencerstuart.com.