The Center for Social Impact recently appointed interim director Tracy Dustin-Eichler as its full-time director. Dustin-Eichler has been the interim director of the center since July and was previously the center’s assistant director.
Dustin-Eichler began working at the Tucker Foundation 15 years ago and continued working at the Center for Service following the foundation’s bifurcation into the Center for Service and the William Jewett Tucker Center in 2015. The Center for Service was officially renamed the Center for Social Impact at the beginning of this year under her leadership.
After the center’s previous director, Theresa Ellis ’97, left her position last year, Dustin-Eichler stepped in as the interim director, a position she held for over six months.
According to Dustin-Eichler, as the center’s director, she will be continuing much of the same work that she has been doing as interim director. She said that she has not felt an enormous transition moving into her new role.
According to its website, the Center for Social Impact “prepares students to be transformative leaders for the common good.” One of the newest program initiatives is the Social Impact Practicum, which is a “project-based experiential learning opportunity” allowing Dartmouth undergraduates to apply their classroom learning to community needs throughout the Upper Valley, according to the center’s website.
“I’m very excited,” Dustin-Eichler said. “I ... care deeply about this place and the work that we do, and engaging with Dartmouth students and supporting their desire to make the communities in which they work a better place.”
According to senior associate dean of student affairs Liz Agosto, Dustin-Eichler has been promoting “student-driven and student-focused work” and has “continued to push the agenda forward for the office.”
She said that it made sense for Dustin-Eichler to continue directing the center.
“It’s exciting,” Agosto said. “I’m really thrilled for her and the direction of the center.”
Agosto added that Dustin-Eichler’s directorship appointment had the full support of colleagues, students, alumni and other stakeholders who have been invested in the vision of the center’s future.
Recent alumna Emma Hartswick ’17, who first met Dustin-Eichler when she mentored Hartswick through the Upper Valley Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship, said she could depend on Dustin-Eichler for guidance.
“I really began to see her as somebody I could turn to for lots of different kinds of advice,” Hartswick said. “I can’t think of somebody better to direct the Center for Social Impact, because [Dustin-Eichler]’s been thinking about how to make a positive impact her entire life, and in her entire work at Dartmouth in the center in all its various forms.”
Marty Lempres ’84, chair of the board of advisors for the center, said all of the board members were supportive of Dustin-Eichler’s promotion.
“We are very confident that [Dustin-Eichler] is the right person to help the center ... we are thrilled to have her in this role, leading the center at this point in time,” Lempres said.
Dustin-Eichler said that she is happy with all the support she has received since the promotion.
“It’s only been a few weeks … I have been excited and it’s been heartwarming, all the support I’ve received both from my colleagues on campus and from our alumni stakeholders and from the students I work with,” she said. “That’s been uplifting.”
