Andrew Harvard '71 will serve as director of Dartmouth's Outdoor Programs Office and associate dean of student life, the College has announced. A lifelong environmentalist and outdoorsman, Harvard says he plans to use his position to encourage outdoor experiences for all Dartmouth students.
As an associate dean of student life, Harvard says he will work to expand the mission of the outdoor programs and develop ways to bring positive outdoor and environmental experiences to the broadest possible group of students.
Another priority will be strengthening the links between outdoor programs and related academic departments such as environmental science and the natural sciences.
Harvard's initial task as the new director of Dartmouth's Outdoor Programs Office will be organizing improvement of facilities and programs that have grown in the past years.
He will be working with the full-time Outdoor Programs staff, who advise students and run education programs, part-time staffers who provide particular experience in specific teaching programs and the students who actually run the Dartmouth Outing Club programs. In addition, Harvard said he plans to work closely with active alumni.
While a Dartmouth student, Harvard was heavily involved in outdoor programs. He was president of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club, director of the climbing school and the first recipient of the Ledyard Medal.
The medal was awarded to Harvard for his public service as well as his spirit of exploration in outdoor trips. While at the College, he and a group of friends took a rafting trip down one of the tributaries of the Amazon.
Harvard said his experiences as a student involved in the Outing Club had a significant positive influence on his career and relationships. Through the outdoor clubs at Dartmouth, he developed skills of leadership and self-reliance and learned to teach them to others.
"The friendships I made then are still the strongest in my life and the experience that we gained opened the door to adventures and experiences around the world," Harvard said.
He cited the camaraderie and teamwork that students share in as one of the strongest aspects of Dartmouth's outdoor programs.
Harvard returns to Hanover as a full-time resident after 25 years of part-time residency in the area. He has served in a variety of career positions, from senior attorney at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York to river rafting operator in Nepal.
Although he has traveled all over the world, Harvard admits he has always thought of New England as home. For Harvard, the chance to return to Hanover in a job that combined supporting on-campus outdoor programs with exciting challenges in organization and administration was too good to pass up.
"I'm really excited to be back in Hanover and to have the opportunity to strengthen, enhance and expand the program and activities of what is, after all, the oldest and largest college outdoor program in the country," Harvard said.
