In a school-wide email on Aug. 9, College President Sian Leah Beilock announced changes to her senior leadership team. These changes, which will go into effect on Sept. 1., include an inaugural health and wellness officer, as well as a redistribution of responsibilities as Executive Vice President Rick Mills prepares to leave office at the end of August.
The announcement comes one day after Beilock invited the Dartmouth community to a discussion with current and former U.S. Surgeons General on “The Future of Mental Health and Wellness” next month. In today’s email, Beilock emphasized health and well-being as one of her administration’s “top priorities.”
“For many years, as institutions, we put physical and mental wellness to the side,” she wrote. “At Dartmouth, we will bring it to the fore.”
Beilock also wrote that the inaugural health and wellness officer will both report to and advise her and the senior leadership team on issues regarding health and wellness on campus — including issues affecting all undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and staff. In addition, the officer will oversee the Dartmouth College Health Service, the Student Wellness Center and Employee Wellness.
At the end of August, Mills will leave his position as Executive Vice President — a role he has had since 2013 — to become president and CEO of the United Educators insurance company, according to the email. As Executive Vice President, Mills oversaw Dartmouth’s administrative, campus services, financial and human resources functions.
The responsibilities of the executive vice president will be redistributed across several senior leadership positions, Beilock wrote. On Aug. 1, Jomysha Delgado Stephen began as Executive Vice President for Strategy and Special Counsel to the President, in which she oversees accessibility, compliance, equal opportunity, human resources, Safety and Security and Title IX. Josh Keniston, who has served as vice president of campus services since September 2020, has been promoted to senior vice president for capital planning and operations with a focus on housing and child care, the email stated.
The email also discussed the success of the Call to Lead campaign and outlined two new senior advancement roles that will help advance alumni service and philanthropy Bob Lasher ’88 will serve as the president’s strategic adviser for university advancement — a role that involves acting as the trustee-liaison,, coordinating engagement with alumni and Dartmouth’s gifts program and developing Dartmouth’s main initiatives. Meanwhile, Ann Root Keith will serve as the interim chief advancement officer to oversee advancement services, alumni relations and development while a national search is conducted for the permanent position, according to the email.
Root Keith will help develop an advancement strategy that will support a new configuration of the Arts and Sciences. In July, President Beilock introduced this project’s second phase, which seeks to strengthen the impacts of Arts and Sciences faculty research and teaching through new organizational and budget models. Task groups will be created to consult faculty and staff on these issues and Beilock “will be engaged throughout,” according to the Office of the Provost’s website.
Justin Anderson, who has led strategic communication across Dartmouth’s organizations since 2015, has been promoted to senior vice president of communications.
In the email, Beilock also wrote that Lee Coffin, who previously served as vice provost of enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid, has been promoted to vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid. In the email statement, Beilock cited recent “legal” changes nationally as one motivation for Coffin’s promotion.
“As legal and demographic changes dramatically redefine university admissions, it is essential that we think strategically about the makeup of incoming classes and the resources we have in place to support them,” she wrote.
Beilock also wrote that she looks forward to working with this new leadership team “to debate, refine and implement” a vision for Dartmouth’s future.
Correction Appended (Aug. 10, 10:15 a.m.): A previous version of this article stated that Root Keith will continue the project to develop a new configuration of the Arts and Sciences. The article has been updated to indicate that Root Keith will help develop an advancement strategy that will support the new configuration of the Arts and Sciences, but she will not lead the project itself.
