Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism.
The Dartmouth
July 15, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Kim forms study group to examine higher education

Editor's Note appended

College President Jim Yong Kim said in an interview with The Dartmouth Editorial Board on Tuesday that he has formed a "study group" to examine and potentially reshape the College's approach to undergraduate education. Kim said he hopes to pursue an "evidence-based" approach to higher education, applying cutting-edge educational ideas from across the country to the College's curriculum.

"We plan to really dig in, look at all the available evidence and over time say, These are the greatest innovations in higher education,'" Kim said.

Kim stressed the group's informal structure, emphasizing that it is "not a committee," but rather a group of professors and administrators meeting to discuss approaches to undergraduate education.

Kim said he does not know exactly what issues the group, which will be led by economics professor Bruce Sacerdote, will discuss, as it is still in its early stages.

Kim said that while no students currently serve on the ad hoc study group, students have been involved in providing input to committee members.

Kim, in the interview with the Editorial Board, said the College has maintained a consistent commitment to undergraduate teaching and that he aims to ensure that this commitment remains constant so that Dartmouth can continue to produce generations of leaders.

"I think that we can be even more focused and more intentional, and think about what it is that you need to be able to take on any problem any scale of problem and be able to really have an impact," he said.

Kim said he modeled the group on the principles of evidence-based medicine, where doctors choose among a variety of treatment options based on published analysis and research. Bringing the best educational ideas to Dartmouth, he said, will allow the College to better equip its graduates to tackle social challenges like climate change and poverty.

History professor emeritus Jere Daniell '55, in an interview with The Dartmouth, praised Kim's aspirations, drawing comparisons between Kim and former College President William Jewett Tucker. Tucker modernized the College's curriculum in the 1890s and helped bring the College to national prominence.

Daniell also said, however, that any ideas about curricular changes may be difficult to implement.

"The faculty is what shapes the curriculum," Daniell said, adding that "faculties are very conservative entities."

Daniell said he is impressed by Kim's ambition, but that he is also concerned that Kim's broad support among students and others in the Dartmouth community may not necessarily translate to faculty support.

"It's going to be good theater," he said.

**Editor's Note: The original headline of this article, "Kim forms study group to examine curriculum," incorrectly stated the goals of the College president's new study group. The group's aim is to examine innovations in higher education, not to conduct an internal review of the College's curriculum.*