Five years after arriving in Hanover, Kurt Nelson, the Tucker Foundation's assistant chaplain, will depart for Colby College in the fall. At Colby, Nelson will fill the newly created position of dean of religious and spiritual life, according to The Colby Echo, Colby's weekly student newspaper.
Nelson said that the new position will offer him an opportunity to meaningfully influence the student body at Colby, though he regrets leaving the students at Dartmouth.
"It's an important job," Nelson said. "I'll have more substantial influence at Colby, and as it's a new position, I'll be able to offer some things that are not already present there."
After completing graduate studies at Yale Divinity School, Nelson began a 10-month position in 2007 as the multi-faith program advisor for the Tucker Foundation and continued to work for the College for the next five years.
As assistant chaplain, he works closely with the multi-faith program at the College, which includes the Multi-Faith Council, the Inter-Faith Living and Learning Community and the Faith in Action Alternative Spring Break program. In addition, during Winter term, he participated in the Rollins Ecumenical Christian Chapel service each Sunday.
"The students and colleagues I work with are really terrific," Nelson said. "I'll be sad to leave these relationships behind, as it's been surprisingly successful. More and more people are getting involved each year."
Rabbi Edward Boraz, associate chaplain and executive director of Dartmouth Hillel, commended Nelson's goal of promoting dialogue between different faith groups on campus.
"He tries to engage staff and students in serious conversation about the nature of religion and spirituality," Boraz said. "He was able to help break down the artificial walls that tend to build up in every religious dominion as faith differs in pathways to God so that people could find common ground."
Maryam Zafer '12, who was both a participant and later a co-leader of last year's Faith in Action ASB, said she is disappointed that underclassmen will miss out on the experience of working with Nelson.
"He's legitimately one of the coolest human beings," Zafer said. "He has a way of motivating people."
Zafer described Nelson as a "guiding, motivational force" when the students interacted with homeless people in San Francisco.
Chris Norman '13, Zafer's co-leader, said he was surprised by Nelson's departure.
"I think that for the Tucker Foundation, Kurt has been such a staple one of the most innovative people I know, always coming up with new ways to attract different types of people," Norman said.
Norman expressed confidence in the Tucker Foundation's ability to fill Nelson's role adequately but said he expects changes to occur in the ASB trip without Nelson acting as its advisor.
Alice Liou '13, who co-led the Faith in Action ASB trip this year, said she expects the ASB to continue to function well but that Nelson will be missed.
"There's just this magic sauce of Kurt," she said. "He's really connected a lot of people at Dartmouth by growing many different communities and then bridging them together."
She said that many student leaders on campus know and share his vision and said Nelson would never leave a program unless it was sustainable without his guidance.
Liou said that Nelson's move to Colby is a great career choice and one that she does not believe is fuelled by dissatisfaction with Dartmouth.
Other students also expressed their support for his decision, though emphasized that he will be missed.
"Kurt puts in so much work hours and hours of dedication, often out of a regular work day, too," Norman said. "His departure will be a huge blow. Colby is very lucky."
Nelson said that one of his priorities is to have flexibility in his schedule to meet with students and his approach at Colby will depend on relationships with the students and the faculty.
"We will certainly have an emphasis on multi-faith community and programming, and part of it is going to be to help establish a system and structure that works to help students," Nelson said.
He said he found his sense of meaning in the world by delving deeply and intellectually into religious studies and that he wants to recreate that experience for his students.
"I think the first thing Dartmouth can do to engage across lines of difference is to relax a bit and recognize there are lots of people with goodwill here," Nelson said. "It's important to remind ourselves that that's what's at the core of the Dartmouth student community, even though we might sometimes feel that the more shadowy things take over."
