Dickinson College is distinguishing itself in the landscape of liberal-arts education, and others are noticing. Faith Nussbaum ’06 has been hearing about her alma mater during classes at Harvard University, where she is pursing a master’s degree in higher-education administration.

“Last semester, the college was used as an example in three of my five classes as a liberal-arts school that has turned itself around and is getting things right,” she says. “In my class about college admissions policies, we read a couple of New York Times articles that quoted Bob Massa [vice president of enrollment and college relations] on Dickinson’s enrollment management strategies, including the use of merit aid and the preference given to male applicants. We then debated the pros and cons of such strategies.”

Another of her classes used Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education, in which David L. Kirp devotes a chapter to Dickinson College and President William G. Durden ’71’s efforts to turn the institution around.

“When my professor realized that I went to Dickinson, he asked if I had any insight into the book,” Nussbaum says. “I told him that the part of the chapter that explained how President Durden worked to make the college’s mission clear—making sure everyone on campus knew it—really resonated with me.”

Christoph Guttentag, director of undergraduate admissions at Duke University, was auditing that class. “He asked whether I remembered the mission,” she says. “I proudly launched into a three-minute explanation of all that Dickinson stands for. He seemed pretty impressed.”

At Dickinson, Nussbaum was an English and political-science major and a member of Wheel & Chain and Phi Beta Kappa. She recently received an internship with the dean of student retention at Pine Manor College, which has changed its mission and now focuses on enrolling students from low-income backgrounds.

“They’re trying a lot of different strategies to remain economically stable and to improve their retention rates,” says Nussbaum.

Her time at Dickinson and her studies of the college’s turnaround will prove valuable as Pine Manor navigates its new mission.