David T. McLaughlin - Dartmouth Presidency

Dartmouth Presidency

As an undergraduate McLaughlin was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and various student organizations such as Green Key, Palaeopitus, Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, and Casque and Gauntlet. He earned his A.B. in 1954 and his M.B.A. in 1955, at the Tuck School of Business. He served Dartmouth steadily after graduation, joining the Board of Trustees in 1971 and becoming chairman in 1977. Like his predecessor Ernest Martin Hopkins, the fourteenth president in the Wheelock Succession came from a business background.

President McLaughlin succeeded in carrying out an ambitious agenda for Dartmouth, striving to keep it in the forefront of liberal education. During his tenure academic and athletic facilities were improved; the Rockefeller Center, Hood Museum, and boathouse were built; classrooms were renovated; the Dartmouth Skiway was improved; and the Berry Sports Center was built. Academic initiatives included the establishment of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding and the Institute for the Study of Applied and Professional Ethics. Faculty salaries increased 43 percent over a five-year period, the college's "need-blind" admissions policy was continued and the endowment grew to a new high of $521 million. Dartmouth's professional schools also grew under President McLaughlin's tenure: the Thayer School of Engineering received a $15 million grant to expand and improve facilities; the Tuck School of Business was strengthened; and Dartmouth Medical School was brought into financial equilibrium, greatly increasing its sponsored research and fund raising efforts.

Dartmouth continued to progress under McLaughlin's leadership and his continued commitment to liberal education and undergraduate teaching.