Dartmouth College. Dean of Freshmen
Biography
Earl Gordon Bill was the first Dean of Freshmen, a position he held in conjunction with being Director of Admissions, 1921-1933. He was followed in this duel role by Robert Strong. After the death of Dean Strong, Stearns Morse became Dean of Freshmen in 1946, while the responsibilities of the Director of Admissions was transferred to Albert Inskip Dickerson. In 1956, Albert Dickerson was appointed Dean of Freshmen and served in that position until 1972. In 1975, Britta McNemar was the first woman to hold the position of Dartmouth's Dean of Freshman, and about this time the name was changed from Dean of Freshmen to to Dean of Freshman. In 1996, the office was renamed the Office of the Dean of First-Year Students.
The First Year Office has overseen several initiatives designed to support incoming students who need extra academic support. In 1968, the Summer Bridge Program was founded “in an attempt to alleviate the academic and social adjustment problems which beset minority students upon arriving in Hanover.” In the fall of 1970, the Structured Freshman Year (SFY) program replaced the Summer Bridge Program. SFY provided a longer period of extra academic and advisory support to freshman students deemed “culturally, educationally, or economically deprived.” The SFY program had poor results; the course requirements meant that students were often unable to graduate with their class, and enrollment in the program carried a social stigma. The Bridge Program was reinstated in 1972 and directed by the Student Counseling Office. In 1973 responsibility for the program was moved to the Dean of Faculty office. The Summer Bridge Program was discontinued after the summer of 1976 and was replaced by the Intensive Academic Support Program beginning in the Fall of 1977. The program enrolled approximately 100 students and was administered by the Freshman Office.
In April 1965 the faculty voted to establish a program of Freshman Seminars patterned after the highly successful English 2 seminars. Beginning with the class of 1969, all first year students were required to elect a writing-intensive seminar. The program was organized by a committee and had support from the Dean of Freshmen.
As of 2008, the First Year Office was responsible for administering First-Year Advising, First-Year Seminars, the East Wheelock Living-Learning Program, the Integrated Academic Support Program, the First-Year Summer Research Project, and summer mailings.