While freshman probably do not know many people at the College yet, there are administrators they should be familiar with.
In the administration buildings, there are a number of very public figures who are working at the top levels of management. While most students seldom interact one-on-one with these officials, they are the ones who are shaping the College's present and future.
And there are other people in many other offices whose work will directly affect your life at the College during your first-year.
Finally, there are upper-class students who are working with top administrators, leading the student governing bodies and heading up student interest groups.
Administrators
College President James Freedman is the Big Kahuna of the Parkhurst Administration building, which houses key College administrators.
Although most students rarely see Freedman outside of formal occasions like Matriculation and Convocation, rest assured that he is playing the leading role in shaping campus policy and direction.
Freedman, who was educated at Harvard and Yale Universities, is a legal scholar who clerked under the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Assuming the presidency in 1987, he has strived to foster intellectualism on the campus.
Freedman has also had his hand in such diverse projects as the North Campus expansion project, increasing and managing diversity at Dartmouth and the College's $425 million Will to Excel capital campaign.
Freedman will be taking a six-month sabbatical beginning next January and in his absence Dean of the Faculty James Wright will be acting president.
Two other administrators who work closely with the President are Provost Lee Bollinger and Dean of the College Lee Pelton.
The provost is the chief academic officer and his work is mainly behind-the-scenes as far as most students are concerned.
Pelton is a very public figure who can be seen playing hoops in the gymnasium during his lunch hour. When he is not taking jump shots, he is overseeing virtually all facets of student life.
The Freshman Office is the principal source of academic and personal guidance this year for freshman.
Dean of Freshman Peter Goldsmith came to the College in 1993 from Princeton University. Goldsmith compared the first year of college to "stepping off a cliff to adulthood" and he, along with Assistant Dean of Freshman Tony Tillman, are there to make that transition easier.
Mary Turco oversees the Office of Residential Life in the basement of Parkhurst. ORL manages on-campus housing and the College's Greek houses and can be both your best friend or your worst enemy, depending upon your room assignment priority number.
The Office of Student Life in Collis Center, run by Holly Sateia, works to improve campus life through the regulation of student organizations and the coordination of student activities.
Finally, Registrar Thomas Bickel is the administrator in charge of maintaining academic records. The office is also where students select and change courses, file majors and change their enrollment patterns.
Students
The Student Assembly is the governing group for the student body and acts as a critical link between them and the administration.
Elected this past spring to head the Assembly is Danielle Moore '95. Moore is a Native American student who has promised to rid the Assembly of divisive in-fighting. It is also likely that she will work on the enhancement of life at the College for minority groups.
Rukmini Sichitui '95 is the Assembly vice president. Grace Chionuma '96 and Kenji Sugahara '95 also are public figures.
Chionuma has been active in campus politics since coming to the College and is Assembly president this summer.
Sugahara is also active on various levels in the Student Assembly, but is probably best known for sending out a list of weekend events over the College's electronic mail system every weekend.
Class Councils are another important level of student government. Alyse Kornfeld and Hosea Harvey are the president and vice president, respectively, of the Senior Class Council.
Chris Donley '95 is president of the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council, the governing body of the College's Greek organizations.
Representing another group of students is Claire Unis '95. A former editor of the feminist publication Spare Rib, Unis has been outspoken on topics concerning women's issues.
There are student groups representing nearly every minority group on campus. James Hunter '95 is the president of Afro-American Society, the College's black students organization.
On the lighter side, perhaps the first student leader you will encounter is Gen Kanai '95, who heads the Dartmouth Outing Club's trips.
