Editor's Note: This is the sixth in a multi-part series on the College's senior administration and the issues facing Dartmouth today and in the future.
While it often goes unnoticed, the business of Dartmouth College is a complex and enormous undertaking. For just over a year, Adam Keller has served as executive vice president for finance and administration, overseeing the financial and non-academic operation of the institution. Keller assumed the role after 25 years at the Dartmouth Medical School, serving as its chief operations officer before moving to Parkhurst Hall in 2003. In his interview with The Dartmouth, Keller spoke on the importance of priorities and his philosophy on maintaining the fiscal health of the College.
Past and Present
Beginning in 2002, Dartmouth struggled with budget and fiscal operations, which, according to Keller, were largely due to a decline in the College's endowment and the national stock market.
"That put a particular burden on other revenue sources and a particular management challenge on the entire College to really reduce the growth in expenses, and to focus those expenses toward activities dedicated to the mission [of the College]."
The budgeting solutions devised were met with widespread controversy, including consolidation of libraries and a decision to cut the varsity swim team, which was quickly overturned after a swarm of student protests.
Keller said that recent years have reversed the downward trend, and described the current state of the budget as strong.
"I think we're actually in a very healthy spot," Keller said, citing a "terrific" fiscal year 2004, which ended with a $5.9 million surplus that stemmed from an 18.6 percent endowment return, above-average annual giving and positive returns in investment income.
Despite the recent upturn in the College's budget, Keller said he remains focused on priorities even while pressure on expense management relaxes.
"From my standpoint, I see the challenge being to reduce administrative costs as much as possible and redirecting the savings from that toward enhancing the student learning experience and promoting the scholarly work of the faculty," Keller said.
The Road Ahead
By entering into the 2005 budget with a surplus, Keller said the College will focus on ensuring that the infrastructure of the institution is strong as it enters into "The Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience," Dartmouth's ambitious $1.3 billion capital campaign set to go public this weekend. By investing in facilities, information technologies and academics, Keller said, capital funds can build upon a strong base.
"When you think of the library, for example, it has to be strong fundamentally, or else you have to take some new money and go back and apply it to the infrastructure needs," Keller said. "First of all, that's hard to do, and second of all, it dilutes from the purpose of the new gifts."
Keller cited the spring 2005 expansion of the Kresge Fitness Center as one infrastructure improvement made possible by the 2004 surplus.
The Capital Campaign
While Keller has no role in soliciting funds for the capital campaign, he will eventually budget that revenue throughout the institution. Keller said he anticipates the benefits of the campaign in three capacities: increased focus on scholarship and financial aid, building and enhancing student social facilities and expanding the faculty.
Keller emphasized the importance of being able to recruit top students with strong financial aid packages. He also said that he believes that new dormitories and dining facilities will bring more students back to campus and enhance campus life. In terms of faculty enlargement, Keller said the immediate payoff would be an expanded array of courses and better resources available to faculty.
"In order to compete, we have to have the same scope of services that all those bigger institutions have. The financial challenge is around trying to maintain that competitive scope that students and faculty are asking for, while still maintaining the smallness which makes us special."
Student Input
One of the consequences of the swim team controversy was the creation of a Student Budget Advisory Committee, which reports directly to Keller on issues concerning the College budget. The remainder of his input, Keller said, comes from within the Dean of the College division.
"One of the questions I'm continually asking is, 'Well, what do the students say about that? Is that something they want, is that the way students want it implemented?'" Keller said. "I think those are the questions we have to keep asking -- and we should be asking them all the time."
Yet he admitted that this is a challenge. According to Keller, his remedy is to treat all new programs as pilot programs. Keller said he is constantly evaluating and asking whether programs are meeting the needs of their constituents.
"The old Yankee expression, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' That's just not something that plays well for me. I think you can always make things better."
