The chair of the Will to Excel capital campaign yesterday said an $8 million donation will allow the implementation of a new curriculum that was delayed last spring because of a lack of funds.
College Trustee Dick Page, who chairs the $425 million capital campaign, yesterday said the Board of Trustees had decided to use part of the gift, willed to the College by the wife of the late Harvey Hood '18, for the new curriculum.
"The income from the $8 million will be in part used to help implement the new curriculum," he said.
Administrators predicted that the new curriculum will be in place by September for the entering Class of 1998.
The curriculum was originally planned for the Class of 1997, but was postponed last spring because the endowment portion of the capital campaign was not growing fast enough.
Endowment funds will pay for at least 16 additional tenure-track professors to fully staff seminars and other courses required by the new curriculum.
The first overhaul of the curriculum in more than 70 years will radically change the structure of a Dartmouth education and, according to Dean of Faculty James Wright, will cost approximately $1.5 million a year.
Registrar Thomas Bickel said yesterday that the new curriculum will most likely be in place for the Class of 1998.
The new requirements will fundamentally change the courses students will have to take to graduate from the College. For instance, under the new requirements students will have to take 10 distributive courses in more narrowly defined fields like technology, literature, arts and laboratory science.
A previous donation from the Hood family helped build the Hood Museum of Art. The $8 million gift has insured that the College can afford to offer more courses.
College Spokesman Alex Huppe said the donation given by Barbara Hood will be used for arts education and to kick-start the new curriculum.
Although the donation was not earmarked for the new curriculum, the College decided that it would be the "most appropriate use" of the funds, Page said.
The new curriculum is "a very high priority for all of the trustees, presidents and faculty. It was a very opportune gift," he said.
Administrators cautioned that implementation of the new curriculum still is not certain. Wright must first certify that the College has enough money to hire the 16 new professors to staff the new courses.
David Lagomarsino, an assistant dean of faculty, said the dean of faculty office, the vice president and treasurer's office and the development office are currently analyzing the situation.
The estimated cost of $1.5 million each year means the College must have $30 million in endowment funds to pay for it. Interest from the endowment, not the endowment funds themselves, is used to fund specific programs.
Lagomarsino said April is the latest possible date that Wright can announce whether the new curriculum will be implemented. At that point, incoming freshmen are mailed specific details about their course requirements.
Lagomarsino said he expects an announcement soon.
The Committee on Instruction, which is responsible for implementing the curriculum changes, is working to finalize the reclassification of courses mandated by the new curriculum.
"We're proceeding with the assumption that it will be in place next year," said Bickel, who is acting chair of the Committee on Instruction.
The committee will meet tomorrow to review course classification proposals by individual departments recommending how courses fit new distributive and world culture requirements.
Bickel said the committee has classified half of the courses in the Organization, Regulation, and Courses book and will try to finish the second half Thursday.
Under the new curriculum, students must also complete a world culture requirement, which is divided into three categories: non-western, European and North American. Bickel said these courses will augment the current non-western requirement.
Students will also be required to take an interdisciplinary course that analyzes issues from a variety of different viewpoints, Bickel said. And students will be required to complete a "culminating experience" such as a thesis.
The committee will also discuss modifications to the new curriculum.
"The committee will go back to the full faculty with some tinkering modifications in the spring," Bickel said.
Bickel said the changes would be minor. He said the committee is planning to recommend students be allowed to take lab courses outside the natural sciences division.
Bickel also said it is likely that the international and comparative study requirement may be modified or removed altogether.
Many courses that fall under the international and comparative study division also fall under other divisions, Bickel said. He cited Religion 1 as a good example because it falls in the philosophy/history/religion division -- but is also an international and comparative study course.