The College appointed Scott Brown as the new dean of the Tucker Foundation this month, and Brown is already working to expand the foundation's programs and develop its national reputation.
Brown was chosen through a search process that began last year, said Patricia Moffitt, administrative assistant to the provost.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton headed the search committee that selected Brown, but could not be reached for comment.
In his first term, Brown said he hopes to establish a new vision for the Tucker Foundation and develop a five-year plan for the foundation.
Brown hopes to make the Tucker Foundation an organization recognized around the country as a leading provider of community service programs.
"Within five years, I'd like the Tucker Foundation to be known nationally as a leader in community service and spiritual leadership, with our level of student participation to be one of the highest in the nation," Brown said. "I'd like the Tucker Foundation to become one of the reasons why students choose Dartmouth over other schools."
Since 1951, the Tucker Foundation has overseen the College's chaplaincies, religious student organizations, community service organizations and other organizations that focus on social issues.
"The overall mission of the foundation is to promote the moral and spiritual work of the College," Brown said. "The foundation offers opportunities for students to work on projects that will help them fulfill a moral or spiritual need."
"It is perhaps the only organization with programs that combine religious and spiritual issues with moral and community services programs," he added.
Brown said he wants to extend participation in the foundation's programs to "the whole Dartmouth community, including not only the students, but the faculty, alumni and their families as well."
He also plans to increase the number of programs and opportunities offered through the foundation by fivefold.
"My primary hope at the Tucker Foundation is to help students create a balance in their lives -- to focus on themselves and others in the community around them," he said. "Most Dartmouth students have within them a strong desire to help others and a strong sense of idealism. I want to make sure they don't lose that as they develop their career paths."
Brown also plans to expand the fellows program, which funds student community-service leave-term internships. He said he wants to create a program called, "alternative spring breaks," which are opportunities for students to work with community organizations during the interim period between terms.
Brown related his previous work experience in international relations management and conflict resolution to his plans to work with students at Dartmouth.
Brown came to the College from the Conflict Management Group in Cambridge, Mass.
He said he gained a sense of what is possible from his work in conflict resolution.
"We can create a program that can make a deep impact on social issues," Brown said. "I'd like to create that confidence in students and inspire them to be more active, to pursue goals more aggressively."
Brown graduated from the College in 1978 and from Harvard Law School in 1982.
Brown lived in Toledo, Ohio, before coming to Dartmouth as an undergraduate. "The mid-west is a community-oriented region of the country," he said. "I believe that I developed a lot of sense of community and responsibility there."
Associate Dean of the Tucker Foundation Jan Tarjan has been acting head of the Tucker Foundation since James Breeden vacated the post in August 1995.
