"It seems to me there's never been this kind of widespread publicity," Chinese professor Susan Blader, who joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1978, said.
The two-day program has been tightly scripted, with some events limited to only invited students, alumni and faculty.
In addition to local radio, television and print outlets, College officials have also sought out national and international attention.
"I think it's a really extraordinary moment for the school to explain itself, get a lot of positive attention and really come across," Dartmouth vice president for communications Diana Pearson said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Journalists from the Associated Press, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Bloomberg News are all expected to cover the inauguration.
The Office of Public Affairs also expects several Korean media outlets, including Chosun Ilbo, the Korean daily with the largest circulation in the country, the Yonhap News Agency, a Korean wire service, Korea Daily and Maeil Business Newspaper to report on the event.
"I think it's a very good representation; the fact that we have the first Asian American to lead an Ivy League institution is drawing interest from Asia that wouldn't have existed in 1998 or 1987," Adams said, referring to the inaugurations of former College Presidents James Wright and James Freedman, respectively.
Visiting journalists will have the opportunity to interview pre-selected students in a special media event arranged by Public Affairs Tuesday morning, according to Roland Adams, director of media relations at the College.
"We think that they're going to come away with not only having gone to a ceremony, but also having heard the stories of 20 students over the course of about 90 minutes," Pearson said.
Unlike inauguration programs in years past, Kim's inauguration has been heavily shaped by themes valued by the incoming administration, including leadership and social change.
Kim's inauguration is also the first in recent years to feature a special panel discussion. That panel, titled "Reflections on Leadership for Social Change" was held Monday afternoon in Spaulding Auditorium and was open to the Dartmouth community.
Student Body President Frances Vernon '10, who will deliver an address at convocation on Tuesday, said she did not receive guidelines from the College on how her speech should be written, although she said she did receive editing suggestions from Public Affairs officers and a member of the Class of 1988 when she presented her speech to them on Monday.
The alumnus worked with her to improve the flow of her speech, she said, adding that "it wasn't a suggestion to change content or the message of the speech."
Vernon said that Public Affairs also suggested that she edit one part of her speech, but said she decided not to rewrite the segment.
Monday night also featured a series of smaller panel discussion dinners on topics including the global economic crisis and biomedical research that were also invitation-only.
Government professor Lucas Swaine, a panelist at one of the dinners, acknowledged that this portion of the inauguration program was "limited to some segments of the Dartmouth community."
"These are events to engage members of the Dartmouth community who are coming to campus for inauguration," Swaine said, noting that the discussions could shape the course of Dartmouth academics and research accessible to the rest of the Dartmouth community. "They're not intended to exclude anybody from discussion."
The inauguration program on Monday included a special performance showcasing Dartmouth alumni and students in the performing arts.
The performance was invitation-only, though a watch party featuring a live video feed was held for Dartmouth students in Alumni Hall.
Kim's inauguration will also be shorter than in years past, Pearson said. Previous inaugurations have included two nights of private dinners followed by the inauguration ceremony, while this year's program features only 24 hours of events, starting Monday afternoon.
The Office of the President, which plans the event in conjunction with the Inauguration Steering Committee and the Inauguration Working Group, has focused on conveying a sense of inclusion throughout the inauguration events, Pearson said.
"It's like inauguration 2.0," she said. "It's much more interactive. It's getting the whole community to talk and really have a dialogue about [ideas such as social change and leadership]."
