Kim addresses Dartmouth community on Green

ZACH INGBRETSEN / The Dartmouth Senior Staff / The Dartmouth Senior Staff In a public address to the Dartmouth community on his first day as College President, Jim Yong Kim said that it was the passion he believes Dartmouth students and alumni hold for the College that inspired him to forgo other career opportunities and accept the position of Dartmouth's 17th president. "When I was first asked, there were other things in the wind," Kim said in his speech, hinting at another opportunity, which he called a "complicated" job in "very big city down South." Kim told the students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered on the Green that it was his belief in the ability of Dartmouth students to take on global problems broader than those of his own work that led him to forgo those other career possibilities. "It's a gamble for me but it's a gamble that I took knowing that we were going to win," Kim said, referencing his confidence in the potential of the College's students. Since being announced as Dartmouth's 17th president, Kim has met with alumni, students and faculty, which he said has allowed him to understand the special bond that the College fosters. "I was convinced that if I could do a good job, we together as a community would do things the likes of which the world has never seen," Kim said in his speech, adding later, "Every single [member of the Class of 2011] can change the world, and indeed must change the world and make it a better place." In an address at the Tuck School of Business earlier in the day on Wednesday, Kim said he believes that Dartmouth offers the best undergraduate education in the world, pointing to the College's commitment to need blind admissions for all applicants as one of the College's particular strengths.

JIM YONG KIM TAKES OFFICE AS PRESIDENT

Quality of education, recognition among priorities

Construction plans to move forward

Emily Van Gemeren / The Dartmouth Staff The Office of Residential Life currently lacks sufficient collateral to take out loans for new construction projects, but the College is moving forward with scheduled construction plans, according to Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman.

Wright serves last day at College

DHMC outlines plan for collaborative group

ZACH INGBRETSEN / The Dartmouth Staff The Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic will form a collaborative health care system, known as "Dartmouth Hitchcock Health," to help health care providers share resources, improve the efficiency of patient care in New Hampshire and Vermont and increase access to the academic medical center, according to DHMC's Media Relations Manager Jason Aldous. The hospital and the clinic are both part of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The new system will increase the availability of specialized care in the region and will increase efficiency among local health care providers, by increasing communication and availability of specialists to participating centers and the sharing of information, and shortening redundancies in services, Aldous said. "Individuals who see health care providers participating in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health won't see their basic experience of going to their regular doctor change, but they should have an increased access to the assets of an academic medical center," Aldous said. Under the new system, hospitals will be able to share personnel and equipment and patients will have increased access to clinical trials, he said.