College President James Freedman's traveling shoes may be wearing thin, but his off-campus itinerary remains long and diverse.
From addressing the alumni club of Iowa to opening a business program in Hanoi, in addition to his work on campus, Freedman is on call for Dartmouth around the country and overseas.
But Freedman remains dedicated to his office-related tasks while on the road. He said he receives faxes and mailings updating him on calls he needs to return and other duties he needs to perform.
"It certainly keeps you on your toes. You're always aware you're on the job for Dartmouth," he said.
Fundraising
Some of Freedman's travels stem from efforts to enhance the College's fundraising efforts.
"We've had a five-year capital campaign," he said. "There's no way to raise money without traveling."
Freedman said he was required to travel often for the $500-million Will to Excel capital campaign, which ended Monday.
"It may take seven visits to a donor to get a donation of a million dollars for the College," he said.
"We plant seeds and hope they will flower," he said, describing his visits to possible donors.
Freedman focused his trips on large cities like Boston, Atlanta, Denver and San Diego, which have the most Dartmouth alumni.
Freedman said the campaign was very successful.
"When we announce the figures on Friday or Monday, you will see how handsomely we did. It was a resounding success," he said. "My travels are just a small part. There were many others working on it."
Alumni visits
Now that the campaign is over, Freedman said he will travel much less, but visits to Dartmouth alumni clubs will still be in his schedule.
"The alumni are such a great strength to Dartmouth, which is why visiting is such an important thing," he said. "It's wonderful to see Dartmouth alumni across the country and the special enthusiasm they retain for Dartmouth."
At the alumni events, Freedman usually attends a reception and gives a speech about events that are happening at the College and his aspirations for the future when he visits the alumni clubs, he said.
"You learn a great deal. You see how much people remain deeply attached to Dartmouth and interested in what goes on here," Freedman said.
He said he tries to visit between 12 and 15 alumni clubs each year. Last year, he went to Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Next week, Freedman will visit the alumni clubs in Denver and Minneapolis.
In February, Freedman will become the first College president to address an alumni club in Iowa, he said.
While in Iowa, Freedman will also help the University of Iowa celebrate its 150th anniversary by delivering a speech titled "The Future of Higher Education."
Freedman was president of the University of Iowa for five years before he came to the College in 1987 and said he thinks it is rewarding to visit alumni he knew as students.
"The longer I'm here [at Dartmouth] -- I've been here 10 years-- the more I see a lot of alumni I knew as students who are now working all around the country," he said.
The alumni club meetings are very warm, Freedman said. "When a club presents an award to one of its members for leadership, it is very nice and touching to see."
Honorary editorial board member
Freedman's trips away from Hanover also bring him to editorial boards of newspapers and magazines.
Last spring, Freedman said he met with the editorial board of The New York Times for a "general discussion of higher education like the cost of education and the burdens of debt students graduate owing."
"I travel to meet with the editorial boards of newspapers like the Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune as well as news magazines like Time and Newsweek to tell Dartmouth's story," he said.
"Meeting with editorial boards is very important," he added. "It is important they understand Dartmouth and issues of higher education such as need-blind admission and Pell Grants."
Freedman said he learns about different views of higher education through his meetings with editorial boards.
Although newspapers and news magazines only occasionally publish articles about the College, "what they write about higher education affects Dartmouth and thousands of other schools," Freedman said. "All I really expect is to give them a favorable impression of Dartmouth."
Other off-campus activities
Freedman said he plays a part in supporting higher education when he travels to other schools.
"Traveling is also a part of the citizenship one does in higher education," he said. "I go to other universities to participate in events like panel discussions."
Freedman said he is chairing the team which is accrediting Brandeis University in Massachusetts.
Freedman's job also takes him to foreign countries.
Freedman will fly to Hanoi in March to open a program started by the Tuck School of Business Administration in conjunction with the National University of Vietnam. The program will train help Vietnamese business executives, he said.
In Hanoi, he will participate in two days of meetings and ceremonies at the university. He said he will also speak with the university's president and deans about the future of the school.
"I'm looking forward to it. I've never been to Vietnam," he said.
"I have done very little foreign travel. My trip to Vietnam in March is my first trip overseas for Dartmouth in a long time," he said.
"A few years ago, I went to Japan looking for corporation donations and I also visited the Dartmouth club of Japan," he said.
Freedman said he may travel more overseas in the future if there is justification for those trips. He added that the international recruiting program at the College does not require the president to travel.
Despite all the College-related traveling Freedman does, he still has time to take pleasure trips.
He took a vacation to Dublin for a week this summer. This was his first trip to Ireland.
"I wanted to see the sites of [Bernard] Shaw, [Samuel] Beckett, [William Butler] Yeats and [James] Joyce," he said. "It is such a city of literature and writers. I took a tour of Ulysses, which is a tour of the pubs Joyce writes about."
"In a week, I saw so much associated with these authors," he added. "I also visited Trinity College, which is the major university there."
