Events to Focus on College's Strategic Master Planning Project

Graduate students, faculty members, and members of the Dartmouth community will have opportunities next week and beyond to learn about progress in the College's strategic master planning project—and to talk about the campus spaces that are important to them.

Graduate students are invited to attend a happy hour presentation and take part in a board-game style planning exercise on Nov. 6, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in the Lubrano Classroom, in Byrne Hall, at the Tuck School of Business.

"We are working hard to get graduate students engaged in our process," says Campus Planner Joanna Whitcomb. "We want to know what parts of campus are important to them and what they think we should consider as we look at the use of space around campus and beyond."

The plan, which hasn't been updated since 1998, will chart a course for campus preservation and development over the next 30 years, including buildings, landscape, open spaces, infrastructure, and real estate. In addition to planning for campus property, the master plan will look at land the College owns at Mount Moosilauke, in Warren, N.H.; the Second College Grant in Errol, N.H.; and adjacent to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.

The themes guiding the planning work: creating and improving spaces that support Dartmouth's mission; optimizing the efficiency of buildings and spaces, fostering community and campus life, preserving the character of the campus, enhancing connections between Dartmouth and downtown Hanover, and leveraging Dartmouth's presence in the region.

Also on Nov. 6, community members are invited to a presentation by planners followed by a Q&A session at 7:30 p.m. in Alumni Hall, upstairs at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.

On Nov. 7, faculty members are welcome at an 8-9:30 a.m. breakfast in the East Wing Reading Room at Baker-Berry Library at which campus planners and the consultants they are working with will present an exhibit of their work and talk about they've progress they've made since the work began this past February.

The exhibit will then be on display, from Nov. 7 to 14, in Berry Library's main street area. Planners will be at the display from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Nov. 7 to talk about the exhibit and the master plan process.

On Dec. 5, campus planners will travel to New York City to meet with alumni who are architects or work in design fields, to hear their feedback on the planning work. The gathering will take place at the offices of Beyer Blinder Belle, architects and planners in New York City who are working with the College on the master planning project.

Dartmouth planners expect to draft the master plan this coming winter and present a final plan to trustees for approval in the spring. More information about the plan can be found on the master plan website.

Susan J. Boutwell can be reached at susan.j.boutwell@dartmouth.edu.