Beginning last week, Nels Armstrong '71 assumed his latest position as Assistant to the President for Special Projects, a position that will largely focus on diversity issues. Armstrong, who since 1995 has worked in the Office of Alumni Relations, most recently as its director, has stepped down from that post for the year "to give this position 100 percent of my attention," he said.
The director of Alumni Relations position will remain vacant during Armstrong's time as Assistant for Special Projects, he said. College President James Wright asked that he step down from that position to pursue his new post.
According to Armstrong, the special projects he will work on include a heavy emphasis on a sense of community at Dartmouth, as tied to diversity, as well as projects involving Dartmouth's history. Other projects may be in the works, but Armstrong said he is just becoming acquainted with the new position, which he officially began July 1, and is not yet certain what they will entail.
"Part of what [Wright] asked me to do is find ways of helping to make this community that much more comfortable for everybody," he said. That might include organizing a mentoring program for students who experience discomfort at the College, pairing them with staff, faculty or community members. He also hopes to improve retention rates, especially among faculty members of color.
Armstrong emphasized that he does not plan to devise and implement projects alone. He will meet with students, colleagues and possibly community members during his tenure as Assistant for Special Projects.
"All of those things give me an opportunity, in the long run, to make some recommendations."
"I think that it's important that we all understand that we are all people of color, so we all need to take it personally, Armstrong said. "Part of what I will try to do is find ways to cause people to appreciate that and take it to heart."
He also hopes to examine the College's history and "how we can tell that story more."
Armstrong emphasized the history of people of color at and around Dartmouth. "There's a lot to tell," he said. "People of color did not arrive here just in the 1970s."
Armstrong's appointment came shortly after the resignation of Ozzie Harris '81, who was both director of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity and Special Assistant to the President for Institutional Diversity and Equity.
Though Armstrong said his position will focus largely on diversity issues, he stressed that he is not taking over or replacing Harris's position.
"I haven't been asked to continue Ozzie's work," he said. "I don't feel like I'm stepping into the position that he [was] in. While there's an easy way to see overlap, it's not the same thing.
"I do hope to be informed by the work that he did. He is a very smart man, and he's been so good for Dartmouth that we don't want to lose his work at all," Armstrong said.
Michelle Meyers '83 is acting as interim director of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity.
In addition to his diversity interests at Dartmouth, Armstrong cites diversity in the surrounding community as a personal interest, though he is unsure whether it will be integrated into his position as Assistant for Special Projects.
"It would be interesting to me to take a look at the demographics," he said, noting that travelers now frequently use Manchester airport to travel to the Boston area, and that the trip from Manchester to Boston is the same distance as the trip from Manchester to Dartmouth.
"What does that do for people of color who may be interested in being in this part of the state?" Armstrong posited. "Does that change and traffic create an opportunity for more people who might see the middle of New Hampshire as somewhat isolated?"
