Tuck Sets $250M Goal For Capital Campaign

Tuck School of Business

Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business tonight (April 27) launched a $250 million capital campaign in support of more MBA scholarship funds, deeper investments in faculty, program innovation and campus improvements. The Tuck campaign is part of a Dartmouth-wide initiative to raise $3 billion overall.

Dubbed “The Tuck Difference: The Campaign for Tomorrow’s Wise Leaders,” the campaign has already reached more than half its ultimate goal, with alumni supporters pledging $132 million. The $250-million goal is more than double that of Tuck’s last capital campaign, concluded in 2009 under Dean Paul Danos, which raised $125 million against a target of $110 million.

Only two months ago, the school announced that alum Paul Raether and his family had donated $15 million in support of scholarship funding — matching the record for the largest gift ever given to Dartmouth Tuck. The Raethers officially made the gift in December, the biggest chunk of what Tuck officials now call “a banner year” for fundraising. At the end of the fiscal year last June, the market value of Tuck’s scholarship endowment was $87.6 million; by the close of December, thanks mostly to the $15 million from the Raethers, an additional $20 million had been raised for scholarships. That is an important metric of the school’s ability to lure the best and brightest applicants to its prestige MBA program during a time when some deans say there is an “arm’s race” with scholarship dollars to attract the best students.

TOP PRIORITIES INCLUDE INVESTMENTS IN STUDENTS, FACULTY, PROGRAM INNOVATION AND CAMPUS IMPROVEMENTS

Matthew Slaughter

Dean Matt Slaughter, who took over the school’s leadership in 2015, said the top priorities of the campaign announced today are new investments in students—increasing Tuck’s current scholarship abilities—as well as investments in support of faculty excellence, program innovation, and campus revitalization. The school also released a new video in support of the campaign (see below).

“The order of these priorities—people, programs, places—is important,” he said in a statement. “Our most cherished asset is talent. The dynamism and diversity of our students and our faculty are why Tuck thrives. They are the reason increasing our ability to attract the very best students and scholar-educators to sustain a world-class learning community comes first.”

Slaughter said that Tuck will also make sustaining investments in its centers of learning and application, leadership and global curriculum, and programs aimed at learners who are at key inflection points of their career.

DARTMOUTH CREATING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY HUB WITH COMPUTER SCIENCE AT THE END OF THE TUCK MALL

“Tuck’s success rests on our ability to anticipate and adapt to the changing world. This is the innovative spirt that has kept Tuck at the forefront of business education for generations. To ensure we remain there, we must secure the excellence of our MBA program and seek out innovative new opportunities for pre- and post-MBA learners,” Slaughter added, citing the TuckGO global requirement and Tuck’s Next Step program for military veterans and elite athletes as recent examples.

There are enhancements ahead for Tuck’s physical spaces as well. The coming years will see the Dartmouth campus enriched by the creation of the new Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society and an expanded Thayer School of Engineering that will also house the college’s Department of Computer Science. To be located at the end of Tuck Mall, this interdisciplinary hub for technology, design, engineering, entrepreneurship, and leadership will create synergies across the Dartmouth community.

Tuck has long been a leader in alumni support. The Tuck Annual Giving campaign raised a record $7.5 million for general use in 2017, up 5.6 percent over the previous year. The participation rate of alumni who contribute to the annual fund exceeds 70%, the highest level of support for any business school in the world.

“This is an ambitious goal,” Slaughter acknowledgeD of the campaign, “but Tuck is an ambitious place. Our graduates are a powerful part of our success. They are today’s wise leaders forging the path for tomorrow’s.”

 

DON’T MISS: MEET DARTMOUTH TUCK’S MBA CLASS OF 2019 or A NEW DEAN AT TUCK, A NEW REFINED VISION FOR THE SCHOOL