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The Dartmouth
July 14, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Great Issues Scholars to study security this fall

The Dickey Center for International Understanding's Great Issues Scholars Program will introduce 51 recently-selected members of the Class of 2015 to current international issues this year, according to Amy Newcomb, the student programs officer at the Dickey Center. The program, now in its third year, offers a variety of opportunities for discussion through lectures, conferences and trips, Newcomb said.

"It allows first-years the opportunity to engage and connect with faculty at a deeper and richer level," Newcomb, who helped develop the program, said.

As in past years, the program will offer a different theme each term, including "security" this fall, "environment" in the winter and "global health" in the spring, according to the Dickey Center website. The themes, which do not change from year to year, fall in line with key research at the Dickey Center, according to the website.

The program works "like a great tapas meal each of the students gets a little taste of many different dishes," according to government professor Daryl Press, who is also the coordinator of the Dickey Center's war and peace studies program.

This fall, Great Issues Scholars will take part in a two-day off-campus retreat that simulates a global conflict and will be run by an unspecified U.S. State Department war games expert, according to the website. The scholars will also have numerous discussion opportunities, including lectures by Anne-Marie Slaughterand, a politics and international affairs professor at Princeton University, and Aqqaluk Lynge, a former Greenland Parliament member and current president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, according to the website.

Scholars will have the opportunity to tour the ice-core research labs in the winter to explore the effects of climate change, and will attend the annual Global Health and Innovation Conference at Yale University next spring, according to the website.

The Dickey Center has implemented a new mentor system this year to build a team atmosphere and create a stronger peer network among scholars, Newcomb said. Eight former scholars from the Class of 2014 will assist in faciliating the program and act as advisers to the new students, she said. The mentors were required to make a two-term commitment and were self-selected.

"Great Issues Scholars was a great game changer for me," Gina Greenwalt '14, a mentor this year, said. "I came in with [little] knowledge about international issues and the topics, and my biggest goal was to learn about the things I never gave time to think about."

In order to allow students who were not selected to participate in the program, the Dickey Center will increase the number of events open to all first-year students this year, Newcomb said.

The scholars were selected through a blind application process, which allows the Dickey Center to assemble a group with both significant international experience as well as an enthusiasm for learning, according to Newcomb. This year's scholars represent 11 nationalities and include 26 female students and 25 male students, while the 149 applications received remain consistent with numbers from past years, Newcomb said.

Kelsey Henry '15, a scholar this year, said her interest in human rights was a major factor in her decision to come to Dartmouth.

"One of my primary concerns about choosing a college was having a peace and conflict study, and my broader college goal is to have a better understanding about international issues," Henry said.

The program was created to further first-year students' "energy and enthusiasm" for international studies, Press said.

Prior to the creation of the Great Issues program, first-year students interested in international studies did not have a way to pursue such work in an academic setting, according to Press.

"During the Fall term Dickey Center Open House, we'd essentially tell [students], Come back next year when you are interested in internships or perhaps becoming a War and Peace Fellow,'" Press said.