For most students, citations seem as elusive as a perfect 4.0 grade point average. But on average, more than 200 students receive citations each term, about 6.4 percent of those enrolled.
In the last three years the number of citations awarded per term, with the exception of summer terms, has fluctuated from a low of 183 in the fall of 1992 to a high of 279 in the spring of 1994.
Last spring, 228 citations were awarded.
According to the College's Organization, Regulations and Courses handbook, citations are awarded for an "excellent mastery of the course material" and a "very high degree of originality, creativity, or both."
Music Professor Bill Summers said citations are given to students who are "head and shoulders above everyone."
Chemistry Professor Roger Soderberg said he awards citations to students who do a superb job in lab or write fantastic papers and who demonstrate a true love for the subject.
"Some just do everything right," Soderberg said.
But citations are not necessarily given to the person with the highest grade in the class, Associate Registrar Nancy Broadhead said. Broadhead said she remembers one student who received a citation in a course he failed.
Many professors said they reserved citations only for special occasions.
English Professor Monika Otter said, "they are really a prize rather than a grade."
Otter said she gave one student a citation for an excellent audio tape of herself reading Chaucer in middle English and rewarded another to a student who wrote a comic-philosophical dialogue independent of the class.
According to History Professor Jere Daniell, he gave one student a citation in 1987 for "a superbly written independent research project."
The student, Leo Kropywiansky, researched the Portsmouth-Concord Railroad and became so engrossed in her subject that by the end of the term she had completed an 80-page paper that was later published.
Mathematics Professor Thomas Sundquist said he looks for students who work very hard, show extra interest in mathematics and come to office hours regularly when awarding citations.
But he also said the student must be a real stand-out who goes beyond the professor's expectations. According to Sundquist he has had five of these students in the last three years.
Psychology Professor William Morris said citations are important both to tell students' parents and friends that they deserve special recognition and to inform students of how well they are doing.
And Summers stressed the importance of citations as an acknowledgment of exceptional academic accomplishment.
He said schools tend to publicize athletic achievements, like the Ivy League player of the week, but sometimes overlook academic ones.
Summers said of the four schools he has taught at, Dartmouth is the only one that does not publish a dean's list.
He also said he was concerned that academic excellence is often something people hide.
