In January 2024, Dartmouth established the Office of Student Time Away. The formation of this office followed approximately two years of work:

• Reviewing national best practices
• Examining relevant institutions' policies, and
• Gathering feedback from stakeholders, including students who take time away and the staff faculty who support those students.

The Office of Student Time Away centralizes support for all students taking and returning from time away. 

The office's first priority in 2024 was implementing Dartmouth's institutional policy for students Taking Time Away fro Medical Reasons (TAMR), with was developed and launched alongside the formation of the office. The time away office continues to work with key stakeholders to: 

• Refine the Time Away fro Medical Reasons (TAMR) process
• Implement the institutional policy for students taking Time Away for Military Service (TAMS), and
• Implement an institutional policy for students taking Time Away for Personal Reasons (TAPR).

Dr. Estevan Garcia was hired to the newly created Chief Health and Wellness Officer (CHWO) role in March 2024. As health and wellness is a leading priority of President Sian Beilock, the Chief Health and Wellness officer reports directly to the president. 

A Division of Health and Wellness has been formed under Chief Health and Wellness Officer (CHWO) Estevan Garcia. The following entities have been situated within the Division of Health and Wellness to serve student and employee needs:

• Dartmouth College Health Service (Primary Care, Counseling Center, Inpatient Nursing Department, and Pharmacy)
• Student Wellness Center
• Time Away Office
• Equal Opportunity, Accessibility, and Title IX Office

As part of this restructuring, the Director of the Student Wellness Center now reports directly to CHWO Estevan Garcia. This elevates the standing of the prevention-oriented Student Wellness Center within the Division and enables the three arms of the Student Wellness Center to grow into departments, which will better serve the long-term prevention-oriented interests of the Dartmouth community. 

Wellness at Dartmouth, which serves employees, remains situated in Human Resources and has a formal tie to the Chief Health and Wellness Officer. 

The Office of Student Time Away, which reports to the Chief Health and Wellness Officer, was created in January 2024. The office consists of director Gary Xia and a full-time administrative assistant. 

As of February 2025, the Office of Student Time Away is handling all Time Away for Medical Reasons (TAMR) cases for all students (undergraduate, graduate, and professional students). 

Postvention refers to the response after a community member death occurs. At Dartmouth, a review of best-practice guidelines in Spring 2023 revealed limited national guidance to inform the practical details of implementation in a tailored community context. Dartmouth employees closely connected to the implementation of Dartmouth's postvention processes met with Jed Foundation Senior Clinical Director John Dunkle for further guidance, who likewise acknowledged the limitations of national guidance on this topic and acknowledged Dartmouth's adherence to the best-practice guidelines that do exist. 

Small-scale listening sessions conducted with Dartmouth students, staff, and faculty in Spring 2023 identified some initial opportunities for improvement within the Dartmouth context. Postvention procedural updates have been made since. 

Dartmouth will pursue further work on this action in 2025 in connection with other actions in Commitment to Care pertaining to grief. 

In Summer 2024, Jennifer Rosales joined Dartmouth as the institution's inaugural Senior Vice President (SVP) of Community and Campus Life. The William Jewett Tucker Center, Outdoor Programs Office, and the Office of Community Life and Inclusivity were resituated under her purview. Previously, these entities reported to undergraduate leadership. Situating these entities under the SVP of Community and Campus Life will facilitate expanded, more equitable access for graduate and professional students over time. 

FOr example, the Outdoor Programs Office's newest coordinator, who started in December 2024, has been tasked with outreach to the graduate schools in order to learn more how OPO can best support their students. 

Since the release of Commitment to Care in October, 2023, Dartmouth has continued to offer new faculty trainings and launch new inter-departmenal collaborations that are supportive of student wellbeing in academic contexts. 

Some examples of work led by the Student Wellness Center since 2023 include:

• A four-session Intro to Mindfulness course for faculty and staff to expose those employees to mindfulness approaches that they can use and integrate into their work with students.
• A Power of the Pause training for Thayer School of Engineering faculty and staff

Some examples of collaborations between the Student Wellness Center and specific Dartmouth courses are:

• The Student Wellness Center has collaborated with faculty from Anthropology and Sociology departments on two research projects to examine the impacts of implementing wellbeing practices into coursework on student wellbeing and learning.
• In Spring 2024, the Foreign language Offering Wellbeing (F.L.O.W.) faculty leaders from the German department and Student Wellness Center presented to Dartmouth's foreign language program directors to introduce the methods used for possible expansion across languages.
• In Fall 2023, partnership with Writing 5 faculty, the Student Wellness Center visited multiple sections of Writing 5 to offer a "Tune in to Take Care" in-class experience, aimed at helping students tune into their own emotions action with intention and efficacy. 

The Registrar did a detailed analysis of the opportunities and constraints for adding a break day to each of the four academic terms in the undergraduate calendar. The issues and nuanced and the constraints challenging. 

The Undergraduate Deans Office and the Dean of Faculty Office reviewed a broad slate of potential changes to class schedules, exam schedules, registrar deadlines, and other details of the academic calendar, and as of March 2025 are currently studying several promising ideas for possible implementation. 

At Dartmouth the breadth and selective and non-selective social communities encapsulates a very large breadth of student groups relevant to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. As such, as of April 2025, a comprehensive assessment of selective and non-selective social communities has not been undertaken. Instead, efforts to make initial improvements based on already-identified opportunities for improvement are underway. 

In summer 2025, as noted in Action 3B.2, the undergraduate Office of Student Life will launch a Summer Leadership Program to support student leaders in being better equipped to manager their organizations. In this first summer, the focus will be on Greek organizations and governance organizations (e.g., Programming Board, Collis Center Governing Board, Dartmouth Student Government). Along with several other topics, the Summer Leadership Program will help students develop a greater understanding of how their organizational activities can shape student mental health and well-being. With goals of mental health and well-being in mind, the Summer Leadership Program will also help participants to identify strategies that they can use for cultivating healthier and more inclusive practices within their organizations. 

Additionally, as of March 2025, Dartmouth as funded and seeks to fill a new Assistant Director for New Member Education and Chapter Development position within the Office of Greek Life. This position will provide leadership and guidance to Greek organizations and student societies, ensuring that they foster an inclusive, sage, and values-driven environment for students. 

In Summer 2025, with leadership from Jennifer Rosales, Senior Vice President for Campus and Community Life, Dartmouth will form a working group on Greek Life to examine Dartmouth's Greek Life system and how: 

• Positive aspects of Greek Life like community-building can be further supported and accentuated
• Challenges such as unhealthy and unacceptable behavior can be prevented and stemmed
• The experiences of all students, including those who are not part of Greek Life, can be improved

More information about this work group's aims and process will be available in Summer 2025. 

In order to create a Mental Health and Wellbeing website, many mental health and well-being resources were catalogued and classified according to the student populations served (e.g., all students, undergraduates only, Geisel, Guarini, Thayer, Tuck). Presenting this information on a consolidated student-facing website is a step towards enhancing accessibility of those resources for students.

As of March 2025, any more targeted work on this action is on pause to prioritize other actions in the Commitment to Care strategic plan that pertains to evaluating, sustaining, expanding, and/or enhancing mental health and well-being resources. 

Starting in September 2023, Advance Transit extended its weekday evening service hours and added Saturday services. 

Dartmouth has updated the campus map to make ADA entrances easier to locate. By clicking on the upper right-hand corner layers icon (which looks like three pieces of paper), users can identify ADA accessible entrances/exits.

Work with Research Computing is underway to create a digital ADA wayfinding app. Using Dartmouth's ESRI (ArcGIS) data, the app will identify accessible route(s) to help users navigate from one point to another. 

Improving campus signage is a multi-step process. In 2024, Dartmouth did community testing with some of the signage under consideration to ensure that it would be easy to read and understand. 

The implementation of some signage improvements will unfrld in tandem with the completion of larger campus renovations. 

Under the direction of Josh Keniston, Senior Vice President for Operations, Dartmouth is incorporating best-practice safety and well-being practices into the design of new facilities and the sequenced renovation of existing facilities, such as undergraduate residences. An updated design guide that formalizes these practices will be developed over the 2025/2026 academic year. 

In Summer 2024, working with the Dartmouth Student Government, Dartmouth installed eight accessible picnic tables around campus, including four picnic tables on the Green. 

In Winter 2025, Dartmouth completed renovations to the Collis Center patio, which includes a larger patio surface and improved accessibility for increased student engagement. 

Smaller scale examples of increasing well-being supportive outdoor features on the Dartmouth campus in Hanover include, driven by leadership across the campus include:

• In August of 2023, Allen and School Houses supported students in creating The Little Green Food Forest and Garden outside The Cube. The project has since grown into a COSO recognized student group with student leadership beyond School and Allen Houses. All fruits, vegetables and herbs are open for picking by the community, in the true spirit of a food forest and community care.
• In Summer 2024, John "Jack" Wilson led an Architecture 1 class in creating vertical herb and vegetable gardens for display and community use outside of the Black Visual Arts Center. Students in this class collaborated with the Dartmouth Organic Farm to plan and grow seedlings and then undertook multiple steps to design and build the planters, which stayed on display through the middle of Fall 2024 for the community's use and enjoyment.

Additionally, in 2024, the President's Office increased funding to expand access to no-cost outdoor activities, which vary by season. This makes existing outdoor features and programs accessible to more students. For example: 

• In Summer 2024, Dartmouth covered the cost of kayak, canoe, and paddleboard rentals for all enrolled students at the riverfront Ledyard facilities and the costs for several undergraduate lifelong sport offerings (e.g., golf, pickleball, fly-fishing).
• Starting in Summer 2024, Dartmouth eliminated enrollment fees for swim lessons and has continued to cover this cost for students each term since.
• In Winter 2025, Dartmouth expanded funding for a longstanding program that provides no-cost ski equipment rentals and instruction to students with the greatest financial need.
• In Winter 2025 and agreement to enhance the mountain bike trails at Oak Hill was completed. This will provide additional opportunities for outdoor recreation, especially at the beginner level. 

Furthermore, the Outdoor Programs Office (OPO) was secured funding to cover gear rentals for graduate and professional students. In doing so, OPO saw 78 graduate and professional students rent equipment in the Fall 2024 term, whereas in the past OPO has also opened other resources to all active Dartmouth ID holders (including employees), such as skate rentals at the Dartmouth Outing Club House on Occom Pond. 

In October 2024, Dartmouth launched a mental health and well-being website consolidating information from at least 200 webpages to make it easier for students to identify resources available to them within Dartmouth College and, in some cases, outside of Dartmouth in the nearby community. 

This website has been promoted to students via messages from Estevan Garcia, Chief Health and Wellness Officer, and Jennifer Rosales, Senior Vice President for Community and Campus Life, as well as other channels like e-newsletters, the VOX, and the undergraduate admitted students website for the incoming Class of 2029. 

Additional work to enhance and maintain the website will occur in 2025. 

In Fall 2021, with support from student leaders and the Greek Life and Student Societies (GLASS) office, 397 students completed StandUp for Hazing. Based on the favorable results of that pilot project, the GLASS office now requires students to complete the StandUp to Hazing module as a prerequisite for joining a Greek letter organization or student society. Since Fall 2024, 1001 students have completed the module. Additionally, new measures have been implemented to verify that students are up-to-date on their Sexual Violence Prevention Project requirements as a prerequisite for joining these organization. 

Beyond this work, in Fall 2024, the Office of Greek Life and Student Societies, together with the Office of Residential Life and the Dean of the College Office, co-sponsored a talk by guest speaker Byron Hurt about the harmful effects of hazing and importance of culture change. This talk was attended by approximately 120 Dartmouth students and other community members. 

To build upon these and other hazing prevention efforts, Dartmouth is also working with the Hazing Prevention Consortium and will join its next cohort of institutional members in September 2025. This is a multi-year research-to-practice initiative to support colleges and universities in campus-wide hazing prevention while also helping to build a stronger evidence base for hazing prevention. 

After running two searches to fill a Prevention and Harm Reduction Coordinator position with dual competencies in alcohol and violence prevention, the Student Wellness Center (SWC) was unable to identify a candidate with the level of expertise needed in both areas. Therefore, the SWC is updating the job description to have a more targeted focus. 

A working group of students and staff from multiple departments began review on the Alcohol Management Policy and Program at the end of Winter Term 2025. Recommendations regarding the policy and program are anticipated before or during Summer term, with changes taking effect in Fall 2025. 

Other related initiatives include: 

• Starting in Summer 2023, Dartmouth began offering no-cost seltzer water to undergraduate events registered through the Alcohol Management Program. Typically, Dartmouth provides about 33,000 cans of seltzer water each quarter to registered student organizations that have registered their organizational events for serving alcohol.
• In April 2024, Dartmouth's Student Wellness Center hired a curriculum design specialist to further develop the Sexual Violence Prevention Program experience for upper-level students (juniors and seniors), as discussed in Action 3E.1.
• In Spring 2024, nursing staff operated a nursing station at the Green Key Block Party. At this station, students could receive nursing advice, hydration, snacks, and sunblock. Choosing non-alcoholic beverages in place of alcohol, hydrating with non-alcoholic beverages to reduce the risk of dehydration, and eating food to slow the rate of alcohol absorption are all evidence-based strategies for reducing the risks associated with alcohol consumption. Nursing staff present at the station could provide these resources and advice to help students make more informed decisions about alcohol consumption and other topics. 

In August 2024, Dr. Seun Olamosu joined Dartmouth as the inaugural Director of International Student Experience Office. This role, together with a program coordinator, makes up the newly created International Student Experience team. The Director plays a crucial role in fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for Dartmouth's international student population. With time, the International Student Experience Office will serve as a centralized hub dedicated to advocating for and addressing the needs of international students at all levels. This includes developing resources, programs, and services that support their transition, retention, and overall well-being. 

In 2024, staff at the Student Wellness Center began a structured review of other higher education institutions' websites to identify programs and resources available at other institutions that may have applicability at Dartmouth. Most of the resources identified at other institutions exist in similar or more developed forms at Dartmouth. In light of these findings, further preparatory work to identify and vet evidence-based practices in preparation for stakeholder engagement sessions is on pause while staff address other Commitment to Care actions that are also intended to support the inclusion of all students in enriching Dartmouth experiences. 

Dartmouth again hosted the Unwind Your Mind resource fair in Spring 2024, with participation from numerous student groups (Student Government, Graduate Student Council, SAPA) and campus partners (ASC, Student Life, OPAL, Tucker, Health Service Departments). Approximately 300 Dartmouth students attended. 

Additionally, the Dartmouth Counseling Center has begun organizing a smaller-scale resource fair with many of the same partners each fall, with an emphasis on raising awareness of resources for incoming students. 

These resources are in addition to many other types of outreach programs that the Counseling Center leads or participates in every year that raise awareness for their resources. 

In October 2023, Dartmouth's first Intercultural Engagement Conference was held, with the theme "Every culture has a story. Every community has a story. Every person has a story." 

This conference was open to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and was organized by leaders in the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, Geisel Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement, and the William Jewett Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Living. Participants had an opportunity to learn about cultures and communities similar or different from their own, gain skills and insight, and create connections. 

Balancing the success of this first conference with the aspirations of the leading offices to deliver other novel and ongoing programming to reach a wide range of students, in the future this conference will be offered every-other year. 

A memorial tree for all members of the Dartmouth community was planted near the Rollins Chapel and was dedicated in May 2024. A public service led by Rev. Nancy Vogele, College Chaplain and Director of the Tucker Center dedicated the tree. In June 2024, a memorial bench for members of the Class of 2024 was dedicated adjacent to the tree. 

In April 2024, the Office of Sustainability celebrated Dartmouth's $500 million climate commitment with a community dinner that showcased faculty and student leadership addressing climate change. 

Also in April 2024, the Office of Sustainability hosted a guest lecture "Falling in Love with Mother Earth: Engaged Mindfulness for a Creative and Spiritual Response to the Climate Crisis" and dinner as part of a weeklong visit by eleven monastics from the Plum Village tradition. 

Some other examples of climate hope oriented programming are: 

• The Office of Sustainability has begun a program of Community Lunches, with the intention of supporting mental health through community connection. These events bring students together to share a meal, in community - without their phones - with the intention of building a community of climate hope.
• The Office of Sustainability ran several programs focused on maintaining hope while working on climate and sustainability, including a book club focused on Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's book, What If We Get It Right?

The Office of Sustainability is also setting up a climate hope activity area in its office space. 

Other actions have been prioritized to-date, such as developing the range of well-being course offerings available to undergraduate students as Dartmouth moved from a Physical Education (PE) to a Wellness Education (WE) graduation requirement. 

In 2023, Dartmouth re-launched an undergraduate interfaith Living and Learning Community (LLC) with six first-year residents. In addition to regular interactions with one another as roommates and hallmates, residents participated in termly experiences organized by the Tucker Center. For example, in Spring 2024, members of the Interfaith LLC participated in a photo-voice project, in which they exhibited their photography in the Baker Library. 

In Fall 2023, Hillel piloted the E-motion grief processing program, facilitated by Dartmouth alumna Myra Sack. This movement-based grief group brought together ten students who had experienced life-altering loss. Over the course of ten, 75-minute sessions, students had the opportunity to process their emotions and build community by engaging with E-motion's three core components: a guided grief curriculum, meaningful rituatl and a ten-week walking and/or running program. 

Since June 2023, the Tucker Center has provided mentorship to undergraduate student Abigail Burgess '25, who leads a grief processing support group for students experiencing the loss of a loved one. Since Fall 2024, the Tucker Center and Abigail have been developing a transition plan to ensure the peer support group's long-term continuation, under the Tucker Center's continued mentorship. 

In March 2025, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to participate in a four-part (20 hour) Dialogue Facilitation Certification program co-hosted by the Constructive Dialogue Institute and the Dialogue Project at Dartmouth. This program is intended to help participants: 

• Understand the mindsets of constructive dialogue, including humility, curiosity, and a commitment to sustaining conversation amidst deep disagreement.
• Learn to plan and facilitate constructive dialogue for students.
• Build the confidence and readiness to address and manage tense or controversial situations constructively. 

Some other examples of Dartmouth Dialogue Project programming that support faculty and staff in building skills to engage in difficult conversations include:

• In January 2024, Dr. Marc Brackett, Founding Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, discussed the intersection of self-awareness and communication as the Dartmouth Dialogues keynote speaker in a talk open to all members of the Dartmouth community.
• In October 2024, in partnership with the Dartmouth Center for Advancement of Learning, Dr. Alyssa Hadley Dunn came to campus to work with faculty and staff on topics related to her book Teaching on Days After.
• In February 2025, Mónica Guzmán, a journalist known for her work helping people understand each other across political divides, led a workshop for faculty and staff and a public talk open to the general community.  
• In March 2025, organizational psychologist Adam Grant came to campus to discuss his book, Think Again, which examines the vital art of rethinking and reconsidering. 

Senior Vice President (SVP) of Community and Campus Life Jennifer Rosales, together with Hopkins Center Director Mary Lou Aleskie and Outdoor Programs Office Associate Director Willow Nielson, have convened a committee of approximately 20 staff and faculty to:

• Discuss the opportunities already in operation to promote social connection through the arts and through the outdoors and
• Explore opportunities for further growing opportunities 

This committee began meeting in February 2025. 

Additionally, the Hopkins Center has:

• Intentionally integrated wellness and community-building into numerous visiting artist events, such as:
  • Dance Heginbotham's You Look Like Fun Guy (Fall 2024), in collaboration with the Sustainability Office, bringing nature-focused performance experiences to Dartmouth on the former golf course and surrounding natural environment
  • Violinist Johnny Gandelsman's This is America series, featuring termly concerns (2023-2024) in which audience members were invited to reflect on the meaning of community for them
• Continued support for the development and production of the The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist opera, which focuses on healing and community and was originally co-commissioned by the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth and Stanford Live
• Continued the Hopkins Center's student workshops (Ceramics, Jewelry, and Woodworking) for hosting individuals and student groups

Meanwhile, the Hood Museum has added:

• Prompt-driven participatory activities at many exhibits to promote creativity, personal expression, and connection to self and others
• Yoga and meditation sessions in the art galleries, offering groups a shared space for personal practice, community-building, and connection to exhibits
• Student Art Lending, which allows students to borrow museum-quality works for their dormitory rooms or other living spaces, bringing art beyond the museum's walls and into the heart of student's daily lives
• Greater investment in - and capacity to deliver - several long-standing initiatives:
  • Student-designed and student-led programs for fellow Dartmouth students
  • Museum Club (student group), which meets weekly at the Hood to socialize, learn, and develop museum experiences and events for their fellow students.
  • Collaborations with Dartmouth departments and affinity groups to broaden student access to art and opportunities for dialogue at the museum (e.g., Black Legacy Month Pop Up Exhibition and Dialogue with students in OPAL)

From Fall 2023 through Fall 2024, the Dartmouth Center for Advancement of Learning and the Student Wellness Center convened a faculty learning community on an approximately monthly basis. This learning community was open to any interested faculty member. Attendees has opportunities to process experiences, raise questions, develop awareness, share strategies, and learn practices for supporting their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of their students. 

Since Fall 2024, the Dartmouth Center for Advancement of Learning and the Student Wellness Center leaders who convenes this group have been processing the lessons learned through this forum and are working to develop more intentional next steps for supporting faculty in the identified areas. 

The Dartmouth Center for Advancement of Learning (DCAL), in partnership with Learning Design and Innovation, and Student Accessibility Services, continues to offer Universal Design for Learning (UDL) trainings, including its UDL Institute for Dartmouth educators that can be paired with an Accessible Dartmouth Initiative (ADI) course grant, which provides a $1500 stipend for instructors or staff who complete additional steps, supported by a UDL expert, to apply their learning to a course, program, or co-curricular learning experiences. Starting in 2025, DCAL will pilot a new method for faculty and staff to learn about UDL and receive an ADI course grant. In lieu of attending the multi-day UDL Institute, instructors will be able to use ADI's newly published book, Practicing UDL in Higher Education, to develop their knowledge of UDL. Instructors who wish to receive an ADI course grant using the workbook may apply for the grand and complete the other requirements (i.e., consultations, artifact creation, and narrative).

In partnership with the Dialogue Project, the Student Wellness Center added a third Motivational Interviewing training to its 2023 and 2024 calendar, yielding increased faculty and staff participation over the undergraduate spring break. In 2025, the Student Wellness Center staff will continue to offer Motivational Interviewing training, with a frequency to be determined.  

In September 2023, the new Time Away for Medical Reasons (TAMR) policy was announced to all students, staff, and faculty via email from Provost David Kotz. In addition to providing a link to the relevant policy, that email included a description of the most notable updates to the policy. The new Time Away policy took full effect in January 2024. 

Since January 2024, an Office of Time Away website has been built, and information about that office and policy has been communicated with an emphasis on reaching the staff and faculty most closely involved in supporting students taking Time Away from Dartmouth. The Director of Student Time Away, Gary Xia, has presented to staff and faculty, providing education on the office's work and identifying ways to support students taking and returning from Time Away for Medical Reasons (TAMR). 

In 2025, the Office of Time Away will continue its work disseminating information about the Time Away policy. 

In October 2024, Dartmouth hosted two on-campus trainings by Jeff's Place, a nonprofit organization with expertise in grief processing and grief education. Approximately 30 staff attended a two-hour foundational training on grief. Another training was offered for students, with fifteen attending. These trainings were well-received by both employees and students, and as a result, additional trainings will be organized in 2025. 

Allocating staff expertise toward developing an online mental health educational module under Action 4A.2 and developing a mental health and well-being website for students under action 1E.1 have been prioritized over this action. 

Although Action 4A.2 emphasizes training for newly hired employees, the learning module under development will be available to employees already working within Dartmouth, as well. 

Once Actions 4A.2. and 1E.1 are both operational, staff can revisit this action to better address gaps that may remain in making mental health guidance more readily available to faculty via online platforms. 

Dartmouth is committed to supporting students with disabilities at all phases of their education. To meet this commitment, Dartmouth has adopted a whole student model of disability supports and resources for undergraduate and Bachelor of Engineering students. In the whole student model, undergraduate and bachelor of Engineering students make disclosures and requests for all aspects of their Dartmouth experience (e.g., academics, dining, housing) to the Student Accessibility Services Office (SAS). This reduces the number of offices a student must work with to receive accommodations and promote greater awareness of the impact a single condition may have for a student. 

Additionally, Dartmouth's ADA/504 Coordinator works with graduate students in Guarini, Thayer, and Tuck to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities, as well as faculty and staff. The ADA/504 Coordinator has worked with the Disability Access Professionals at each school to ensure consistent application and processes exist for all students. 

As noted under Action 3A.2, as part of the Accessible Dartmouth Initiative, the Dartmouth Center for Advancement of Learning (DCAL): 

• Is training faculty and staff on Universal Design in Learning (UDL) through multiple pathways (e.g., one-time workshops, more intensive institutes)
• Has published a workbook on Universal Design in Learning to expand the reach of these practices to more faculty and staff at Dartmouth and beyond. 

Through the resources above, faculty and staff engaged with Universal Design in Learning principles and practices that are recognized best practices for supporting students with disabilities. In these contexts, UDL (or components of it) are presented as a toolkit for addressing or reducing barriers to learning for students with disabilities. 

Regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is discussed with the greatest attention in the UDL multi-day institutes, which are held two to three times per year, and in the workbook. Participants learn about the Americans with Disabilities Act at a high level, with goals to:

• Raise awareness
• Connect students or others with the appropriate offices at Dartmouth (e.g., Student Accessibility Services)
• Clarify the nature of accommodations that are required by law.

In shorter offerings, aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act material is incorporated, when appropriate. 

All undergraduate New Student Orientation Leaders and International Student Mentors complete a Dimensions of Wellness training with in-person skills practice to: 

• Understand the components of a holistic conception of wellness
• Identify resources at/around Dartmouth to support different dimensions of wellness
• Learn and develop skills related to basic empathetic listening and peer support
• Learn when/how to refer peers/mentees to appropriate resources

Additionally, undergraduate New Student Orientation Leaders, International Student Mentors, and Indigenous Peer Mentors complete training on:

• Motivational Interviewing skills
• Inclusive language skills
• Title IX and Sexual Violence Prevention Project requirements
• Academic requirements through the Undergraduate Deans Office

Undergraduate Indigenous Peer Mentors under the leadership of the Native American Program complete a two-day retreat the covers overlapping themes, including: referring students to resources, Indigenous leadership and mentoring, maintaining healthy boundaries, and a session with One Small Step focused on building connections and effective communication with mentees. 

All Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) and undergraduate First Year Trips leaders complete an online training course developed by the Outdoor Programs Office that covers risk management, group dynamics, and managing mental health in the wilderness. This online training is followed by a live, scenario-based workshop where the student leaders put the content learned online into practice. 

In addition to the work for undergraduate first-year student leaders outlined under Action 3B.1, leaders at the Office of Student Life are working to develop an undergraduate Summer Leadership Program, which will be piloted in Summer 2025. 

Work on Action 3B.2 will begin after action 3B.1 is further solidified and when staffing capacity permits. 

In 2024, staff at the Student Wellness Center began a structured review of other higher education institutions' websites to identify programs and resources available at other institutions that may have applicability at Dartmouth. Most of the resources identified at other institutions exist in similar or more developed forms at Dartmouth. In light of these findings, further preparatory work to identify and vet evidence-based practices in preparation for stakeholder engagement sessions is on pause while staff address other Commitment to Care actions that are also intended to support the inclusion of all students in enriching Dartmouth experiences. 

Since Fall 2023, newly matriculated student ID cards have been issued with the 988 logo, and all students requiring ID replacements have the 988 logo on their replacements. The Jed Foundation recommends having the 988 number on student IDs. 

As noted for action 4D.3, based on input from students, staff, and the Jed Foundation, communications resources in 2024 and early 2025 have been prioritized for the following student-facing purposes, rather than a recurring communications campaign: 

• Creation of a holistic mental health and wellbeing website to help students navigate resources, including Health Service resources
• Email updates from senior leaders, which provide students with information about key Health Service updates and other resources

Other ways that the Health Service has circulated information about its services, include:

• Weekly "Medi-Quick" table at the Collis Center, staffed by representatives of the Health Service
• Structured mental health trainings like Creating a Culture of Care, Campus Connect Suicide Prevention, Sexual Assault Peer Alliance, and Dartmouth Peak Performance trainings.
• Over 1000 hours of other educational programs and other outreach programs each academic year from the Health Service, including Primary Care, Counseling Center, and the Inpatient Nursing Department

As noted for Action 3D.2, based on input from students, staff, and the Jed Foundation, communications resources in 2024 and early 2025 have been prioritized for the following student-facing purposes, rather than a communications campaign focused on perceived norms and data about service utilization:

• Creation of a holistic mental health and wellbeing website to help students navigate resources, including Health Service resources
• Email updates from senior leaders, which provide students with information about key Health Service updates and other resources

As noted under action 4A.3, normalizing service utilization to encourage help-seeking behavior has been addressed through other channels such as peer mental health panels. 

A newly established Curriculum Design Specialist role, filled in April 2024, allows Sexual Violence Prevention Project (SVPP) to begin developing and implementing years and three and four of the four-year undergraduate curriculum. The Junior-Year Experience is now under development, with input from SVPP staff, the Student Advisory Board, and student focus groups. It will expand students' leadership and interpersonal skills, preparing them to navigate complex relationships, social responsibilities, and ethical decision-making. The SVPP team aims to launch small-scale pilots with juniors Fall 2025. 

Providing students with the skills to increase their capacity for deepening self-awareness is the foundation of the Student Wellness Center's wellbeing offerings such as:

• Weekly wellbeing classes (e.g., yoga meditation, iRest yoga nidra)
• Four-week Intro to Mindfulness courses
• Request-a-Workshop
• Half-day and overnight wellbeing retreats

In recent years, the Student Wellness Center increased the frequency with which these programs are offered and generated increased participation through strategic partnerships across campus (e.g., House communities, Outdoor Programs Office, Hood Museum, Sustainability).

For undergraduates, the move from a Physical Education (PE) graduation requirements to the Wellness Education (WE) requirement also expands the range of personal growth options available to students.

Examples of Wellness Education (WE) credit offerings that address self-awareness skill-building include:

• Thriving at Dartmouth
• The Mindful Academic
• iRest Yoga Nidra
• Foundations of Mindfulness
• Wellness Education Sampler

Additionally, in March 2025, the Student Wellness Center hired a Mindfulness Program Manager, which upgrades a previously funded wellbeing coordinator position. The Mindfulness Program Manager will play a leading role in supporting the expansion and sustainability of the mindfulness ecosystem at Dartmouth. 

Guarini's Graduate Student Peer Mentorship Program is an opt-in initiative led by the Guarini Graduate Student Fellow and supported by Guarini, which is designed to ease the transition for first-year graduate students. Experienced mentors provide guidance on academics, research, housing, and campus life. As part of this program, Guarini covers the cost for mentors and mentees to dine at the '53 Commons Dining Hall together once per term. A student survey yielded overall favorable feedback, with some identified areas for improvement. Starting in 2025, Guarini's Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Services will provide additional leadership for this program. 

In Fall 2023, the Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Living piloted the Interfaith Passport program, a program open to any interested undergraduate, graduate, or professional student. Over a series of sessions, the Interfaith Passport program introduces students to multiple worldviews and the sacred spaces at Dartmouth where students of different worldviews may practice their beliefs. Participating students are also provided with opportunities for individual reflection and dialogue. 

In 2023, six students participated in this program, and in 2024, ten students participated. Beginning in Fall 2024, undergraduate students can earn Wellness Education (WE) credit if they participate in both the Interfaith Passport Program and an online interfaith leadership module. 

In Spring 2024, six students participated in an Interfaith Spring Break trip to Washington, DC organized by the Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Living. The theme of this trip was "the Interfaith Living History of the United States."

In Spring 2025, eleven students are scheduled to participate in an Interfaith Spring Break trip to New Mexico on the theme "Spiritual Wisdom on how to Lead a Healthy and Fulfilling Life."

These Interfaith Spring Break trips are open to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students through an application process. 

Based on the results of focus groups facilitated by the Center for Program Development and Evaluation, Geisel is phasing out its stand-alone Coaching Program in favor of a Learning Collaborative structure. The Learning Collaborative model will include a house system, developed with input from students, faculty, and staff. Each house will include faculty mentors and senior career advisors. 

This structure is intended to integrate coaching functions within small groups settings, thereby:

• Enhancing horizontal connections among peers
• Strengthening vertical connections across the different stages of medical training and professional development
• Ensuring a consistent curriculum through scheduled Learning Collaborative activities, in part by combining coaching and career advising roles

As described under Action 3F.1, Guarini's Graduate Student Peer Mentorship Program is an opt-in, initiative led by the Guarini Graduate Student Fellow, which is supported by Guarini and designed to ease the transition for first-year graduate students. International students who opt into this mentoring program are paired with an international student mentor and receive additional support with their transitions into graduate school, for instance via a peer mentorship session provided online prior to their arrival to campus. A student survey yielded overall favorable feedback, with some identified areas for improvement. 

The Dartmouth Counseling Center continues to offer multiple mental health trainings for employees and students, and from Fall 2023-Winter 2024, has delivered:

• 8 Creating a Culture of Care trainings - 68 participants (49 employees, 19 students)
• 15 Campus Connect trainings - 242 participants (53 employees, 178 students, 11 alumni)
• 5 Campus Connect Booster - 92 participants (52 employees, 40 students)

Additionally, the Dartmouth Counseling Center has:

• Introduced a 30-minute check-in for any groups requesting a Creating a Culture of Care training to ensure that the delivered training aligns with specific needs.
• Worked with the undergraduate Mental Health Student Union and other campus partners to develop a Peer Support Wellness Education as noted under Action 4D.8
• Continued to use feedback forms to continuously refine and improve trainings.

In 2024, to grow Dartmouth's Mental Health First Aid facilitation team, three employees were trained as facilitators for their respective grausate and professional schools: Geisel School of Medicine (1) and Tuck School of Business (2).

Since the release of the Commitment to Care strategic plan in October 2023, Dartmouth has organized 9 Mental Health First Aid trainings with 136 participants completing the training (86 employees and 50 students).

Mental health content area experts from the Counseling Center, Student Wellness Center, Human Resources, and communications have reviewed externally developed online training modules and determined that a custom-developed module is needed to ensure that content is:

1. Available to the large number of employees who enter the Dartmouth system each year,
2. Appropriately tailored to the Dartmouth context, and
3. Delivered efficiently.

As of March 2025, content for a custom module is in the early stages of development, with a projected launch timeline of Fall 2025. 

In the meantime, employees continue to have the option of completing interactive trainings such as Creating a Culture of Care, Campus Connect, and Mental Health First Aid, which will remain options after the launch of the online module. 

In May 2024, two peer mental health peer panels were held for students:

1. The undergraduate Mental Health Student Union, with support from the Student Wellness Center, hosted a panel at the Collis Center for undergraduates
2. Geisel fourth-year medical students hosted a mental health peer panel for Geisel students. 

In November 2024, the undergraduate First Generation Office hosted a peer panel and dinner. 

Dick's House Primary Care implemented use of the UCLA loneliness scale in Fall 2023. 

The UCLA loneliness scale facilitates identification of students who may be experiencing loneliness, whose social and emotional difficulties may be below a threshold that would be captured by other mental health screeners like those for depression of anxiety. With this early identification, Dick's House employees can provide appropriate support and connection to resources and potentially prevent concerns from escalating due to prolonged loneliness. 

In September 2023, Dartmouth eliminated fees for overnight observation at Dick's House Inpatient Nursing Department. 

Dick's House Primary Care has long used mental health screenings, including screening for suicide risk. In Fall 2023, Dick's House Primary Care began administering the Columbia Suicide Severity Screener as an additional layer of suicide risk screening for students. 

In Spring 2024, Dartmouth developed a poster about the Good Samaritan policy to highlight key facts and direct students to the relevant Dartmouth website with further information. Copies of this poster were distributed to House Communities for display in accordance with Dartmouth's policy for posting information in the residence halls. Copies were also made available to Greek organizations and posted in other campus locations such as the Collis Center. 

Since 2023, the Dartmouth Health Service (Dick's House) sends resource letters to matriculating students who report histories of mental health diagnosis (including eating disorders and/or substance use) on the health history paperwork that they submit to Dick's House as part of their matriculation. 

This practice had been in place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but was discontinued temporarily due to the volume of other health and wellness communications going out to students during the pandemic and other demands on staff time. Before resuming this practice in 2023, Dick's House Primary Care and Counseling Center employees updated the letters to use language more inclusive of graduate and professional students and reflect newer resources. 

The integrative care team at the Dartmouth Students Health Service is comprised of a physician assistant from the Primary Care Department (Kaitlyn Jennings), clinical case manager from the Counseling Center (Roni Finkelstein), and the associate director of the Counseling Center (Alex Lenzen). They have developed a structured and systematic process for assessment, planning, coordination, and monitoring of students with mental health concerns to ensure that each individual receives the necessary support and services to address their mental health needs. The team meets weekly to discuss students of concern with acute or chronic mental health needs to help monitor and coordinate a comprehensive plan of support. 

In Fall 2024, Dartmouth renewed its teletherapy contract with Uwill for two years. Through this renewed contract, Dartmouth students retain access to an unlimited number of Uwill therapy sessions and the Uhelp crisis line. Under the new contract, students now have a choice of 30-minute or 50-minute appointments. 

For students with ongoing, high level care needs that cannot be met via the Dartmouth Counseling Center or Uwill teletherapy, the Dartmouth Counseling Center's case manager and other staff continue to work with students on an individual basis to identify other options for support, such as:

• Case managers in the Undergraduate Deans' Office and Geisel School of Medicine
• Community-based options outside of Dartmouth. 

In advance of Green Key Weekend (Spring 2024), Bonfire (Fall 2024), and Winter Carnival (2025), Dartmouth worked with the State of New Hampshire and other local entities to distribute additional naloxone medications through the Alcohol Management Program registration process. When available through state and regional sources, fentanyl and xylazine test strips were also provided to help prevent overdoses. 

Naloxone is already routinely available to all students through the Student Wellness Center, Dick's House pharmacy, a 24/7 Dick's House vending machine, all Dartmouth Dining Services locations, and all Greek Houses.

In Summer 2024, the Student Wellness Center worked with Dartmouth Emergency Management Services (EMS) to launch a pilot project installing opioid overdose rescue kits within Greek houses. Dartmouth EMS is monitoring and replacing expired medication. 

In 2025 Dartmouth will be obtaining and installing additional AED devices in all residential facilities and these AED stations will have opioid overdose rescue kits inside. Once these AED overdose rescue stations are installed, the pilot opioid overdose rescue kits now in Greek houses will no longer be needed. Dartmouth EMS will continue monitoring and replacing expired medication along with monitoring and maintaining the AEDs.

All Dartmouth students have access to no-cost therapy sessions with licensed mental health professionals (e.g., via the Dartmouth Counseling Center, Uwill teletherapy). In January 2024, Dartmouth established a contract with Therapists of Color New England to provide 17 hours of therapy per week to Dartmouth students at no cost to students. In January 2025, this contract was expanded to cover 20 hours of student therapy per week. Students can see any therapist within this practice, which as of February 2025 provides a choice from among nine therapists. 

As of February 2025, the Dartmouth Counseling Center provides therapy in eight languages: Bengali, English, Hebrew, Hindi, Hindustani, (Hindi + Urdu), Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Taiwanese.

As of February 2025, Dartmouth students utilizing Uwill teletherapy from New Hampshire can access therapy in five languages: English, French, Hebrew, Japanese, and Spanish. Language options may be different for students accessing Uwill from other states or international locations. 

In Fall 2024, Dartmouth renewed its contract with Uwill for a term of two-years. This decision was reached in conjunction with student organizations (e.g., Dartmouth Student Government, Mental Health Student Union), who helped to solicit input from their members and peers and endorsed renewal of a Uwill contract. Under the new Uwill contract, students now have a choice of 30-minute or 50-minute appointments. 

As of February 6, 2025, Dartmouth students have completed 8,316 sessions with Uwill by video, telephone, and chat since the launch of the Uwill relationship in November 2022. Date from Uwill indicate and overall student satisfaction score of 9.37 out of 10. 

In April 2024, the Dartmouth College Health Service successfully filled its clinical case manager position by hiring licensed clinical social worker Roni Finkelstein. This role helps to reduce the iimpact of mental illness and/or chronic phycial illness on students' academic and personal pursuits by providing case management and coordination of care between campus and community resources. This role also helps students to access mental health care from community-based providers when referrals are needed and helps coordinate hospitalizations, hospital discharge, and after-care planning in instances where a student requires a higher level of care. 

In the Undergraduate Dean's Office, case management staffing has also increased with the hiring of two care managers, one in January 2024 and one in March 2025. With these positions, the Undergraduate Dean's Office now has four case managers, each of whom will be assigned to one graduating class to provide continuity of care across students' experiences. 

Additionally, Geisel School of Medicine hired its first-ever case manager in 2024. 

Over summer and fall 2024, Dartmouth's Student Wellness Center, Counseling Center, and Primary Care staff have worked with the undergraduate Mental Health Student Union to rethink the delivery of Peer Support Wellness Education course for undergraduate students. 

As in the past, any interested undergraduate student can continue to take the Peer Support Wellness Education (WE) credit course that covers a range of mental and physical health topics. 

For students interested in applying those skills in a structured and supported format, starting in Spring 2025, any student who has completed the Peer Support course can now apply for a paid internship with the Student Wellness Center. In the first term of this pilot program, the Student Wellness Center can hire 3-5 student interns. The selected interns will receive additional training in the first phase of their internship and then go on to provide peer wellness check-ins on evenings and weekends, to supplement the options already available to students through the existing Student Wellness Center wellness check-in program. 

At the Geisel School of Medicine, the inaugural case manager, who began in 2024, now provides increased support to the Geisel Student Government Mental Health Reps, for instance, by delivering Mental Health First Aid training and collaborating to develop educational materials that can better meet student informational needs. 

In November 2024, a half-time Director of Mental Health Evaluation and Assessment was hired. Dartmouth's first quantitative data analysis priority in 2025 is to understand Dartmouth's Fall 2024 Healthy Minds Study (HMS) survey data, which Dartmouth obtained from the University of Michigan in January 2025. Better understanding these data and other data already being collected at Dartmouth are essential early steps toward defining meaningful quantitative metrics that can be used to track Dartmouth's Commitment to Care progress longitudinally. 

As of February 2025, the work outlined under Commitment to Care Actions 5A.1. and 5C.1 are Dartmouth's first Commitment to Care priorities for data collection and analysis. Once the data already available to Dartmouth through those channels are more thoroughly analyzed, more thoughtful attention can be given to where additional qualitative methods may be helpful for deepening understanding of student experiences, interests, and needs. 

Chief Health and Wellness Officer Estevan Garcia meets with the undergraduate Access Dartmouth, Dartmouth Student Government, Mental Health Student Union, and Nathan Smith Society student leaders on an approximately monthly basis. He also meets with Dartmouth Emergency Medical Services (EMS) on a monthly basis. 

He has also met with leaders of the graduate and professional school student governments, mostly in Fall 2024. 

Dartmouth has hosted multiple programs that convene faculty and staff to explore the intersection of mental health research and practice, such as the:

• Surgeons General Panel Discussion on Mental Health at Dartmouth College (September 2023)
• Surgeons General Panel Discussion on the Future of Health Care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (September 2023)
• Artificial Intelligence and Student Mental Health Symposium (March 2025)

In October 2025, Dartmouth will host the United Nations Healthy, Wealthier, Yet More Unhappy symposium on subjective wellbeing and global development. 

For faculty and staff engaged in mental health and wellbeing work across Dartmouth, these efforts strengthen familiarity with frameworks used across disciplines, knowledge of data trends, and professional connection across departments and divisions. 

Under the leadership of Chief Health and Wellness Officer Estevan Garcia, further work bridging research and practice to address Dartmouth student mental health and wellbeing will advance in 2025. 

Across Dartmouth, internal and external funding opportunities for faculty, staff, and students are available, monitored, compiled, and circulated to the intended audiences through a variety of channels (e.g., websites, newsletters, the VOX), as part of routine practice. 

In 2025, this action will be further considered in conjunction with the Division of Health and Wellness's broader aims to connect Dartmouth's mental health and wellbeing research and practice (Action 5B.1).

In Spring 2024, the Office of Institutional Research and multiple departments collaborated to revise the biannual Dartmouth Health Survey, with input from student leaders from undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students. Typically, this survey is administered every-other spring to a random sample of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. It covers a range of topics including sexual health, hazing, sleep, and mental health.

In Fall 2024, Dartmouth administered the University of Michigan's Healthy Minds Study (HMS) survey to all enrolled, on-campus undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, as part of its four-year enrollment in the Jed Campus program. This survey looks closely at student mental health. 

Cooperation between the Office of Institutional Research and the Division of Institutional Diversity and Equity (IDE) allowed for some streamlining of the HMS survey to avoid duplication with the Gallup Climate Survey, administered on a regular schedule through IDE.

Student leaders from Access Dartmouth, Dartmouth Student Government, Geisel Student Council, Graduate Student Council, Graduate Students in Need of Decompression (GRiND), Mental Health Student Union, and Thayer Student Council played key roles in encouraging student participation in the Healthy Minds Study Survey.

In 2022, Dartmouth developed a Tableau dashboard that enabled key Dartmouth leaders to review Healthy Minds Study (HMS) survey data collected for all participating Dartmouth students and compare those data across schools and a limited selection of other demographic data. 

In January 2025 Dartmouth received its Fall 2024 HMS data file from the University of Michigan. As of March 2025, the early stages of data file review and formatting are underway to make the data useable and presentable in a dashboard format. 

In 2025, Dartmouth will begin development of a dashboard so that members of the community can gain a sense of Dartmouth's Commitment to Care progress with greater efficiency. In the meantime, the color-coded narrative information provided on this website in March 2025 serves as a public-facing update on all 73 actions. 

In Summer 2025, under the leadership of Chief Health and Wellness Officer Estevan Garcia, Dartmouth will make updates to the Commitment to Care strategic plan to: 

• Adjust the language of some broadly worded actions for enhanced clarity and scoping to guide actionable next steps
• Incorporate additional actions that reflect Dartmouth's increased capacity and emerging priorities since the release of Commitment to Care in October 2023