This article is featured in the 2025 Winter Carnival Special Issue.
Eventually, everyone — including College Presidents — will retire. That was true in June of 2023 when former College President Phil Hanlon stepped down after 10 years in office. It’s a tall order to list all the ways Dartmouth changed under his administration. What Hanlon is more focused on these days is his next chapter: teaching, researching and finding new ways to connect to the Dartmouth community. The Dartmouth caught up with Hanlon to discuss his return to academia — Hanlon had years of experience as a University of Michigan math professor under his belt before he became an administrator — his presence in the classroom and his increased time with family.
How have the last 18 months been since stepping down as College President? Could you tell me about your sabbatical at the University of Oxford, as well as the classes you’ve been teaching at Dartmouth?
PH: The sabbatical gave me a chance to dive back into my math research. My wife and I were at Oxford — a great university and an awesome place to live — and the University of Miami, where I have a couple of long-time collaborators. Last year was great because it allowed us to enjoy ourselves in some nice places, and it allowed me to get back into my math clinical research.
This year, I’ve been teaching a full load, which I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve also been able to share some of the wisdom that I’ve accumulated over 25 years of administrative and leadership work with four of our peer universities. They have tapped me to advise them on campus issues and on the future of higher education and their strategy.
My wife Gail and I love the outdoors and an active lifestyle. We’ve been able to spend more time walking and hiking. In the summer, we kayak and golf. We’re going skiing next week in Colorado.
We’ve been able to see our kids and our grandkids more. And we got this new puppy, Tess, who’s nine months old. She’s a real sweetie. For decades, I played the piano just for my own enjoyment. About 15 years ago, I stopped because my work just became too intense. I just didn’t have the time to do it. Gail was kind enough to get me piano lessons as a present when I left the presidency.
Prior to becoming College President in 2013, you started your career as a professor at the University of Michigan. Now that you’ve revived your teaching career, how long would you like to continue teaching at Dartmouth?
PH: I don’t think it’s going to be a really long time, but I’d like to do at least a couple more years. I really enjoy it, and I really like interacting with Dartmouth students, because you guys are so bright, you’re so engaged, you have so much to offer. It’s a lot of fun.
Last year was a year of heightened tensions between students, faculty and the administration, as a result of protests on campus. As College President, did you experience periods of tension like this? How did you address similar issues during your tenure?
PH: When I first arrived in 2013, there was a lot of tension on campus around issues such as high-risk behaviors in the undergraduate social scene: high-risk drinking, sexual assault and violence. It was tearing the community apart. I knew I had to involve the community to make any kind of meaningful change. There was an initiative called Moving Dartmouth Forward. We first convened a group of faculty, students, a few staff and some alumni to make recommendations. They issued a set of proposals, which included a hard alcohol ban.
There was a group of students who were very motivated by social justice issues. Throughout my presidency, I tried to offer as much access to students — and to the whole community, but students in particular — as I could, through having open office hours, walks around Occom Pond and things like that. I met with students a number of times during my first year as president, and I understood why they were making the requests. I respected their views very much. I didn’t agree with all of them, but I certainly respected that they came from a place of good intentions. We may have disagreed on how to carry out what they wanted, but I really felt like they were a thoughtful and engaged group of students. They eventually decided they wanted to occupy my office as a gesture, which, because of all the conversations with the students, I knew was coming.
I knew it would be inconvenient for me, but I thought it was important that they were able to make their point in a way that the community could hear and see. But it was also done in a way that allowed the community to hear and then move on with its important teaching, learning and discovery work, rather than getting wrapped up about what was going on in Parkhurst Hall.
I consulted lots of people. I consulted former College President Jim Wright. I consulted my direct predecessor Jim Yong Kim, and my mentor Mary Sue Coleman, former President of the University of Michigan. Indeed, the student occupation of my office lasted about three days. That’s kind of dialing back to the very start of my presidency. I do believe that over the 10 years, the really high-risk student behaviors have decreased, and I hope tensions on campus, at least for my 10 years, have receded some.
You were the College President for the entirety of President Donald Trump’s first term. Could you describe any impacts that Trump’s first term had on Dartmouth, and do you have any predictions for how his second term might impact the College?
PH: I think the tangible impacts of the first Trump administration were quite minimal on campus during those four years. Psychologically, however, I think that was a different story. I really had concerns and empathy for our students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program who, because of the rhetoric, were just in constant fear that, somehow, they were going to be picked on or deported. I had a lot of empathy for them, and I understood their plight. Because we’re a private institution, we have more freedoms and latitude than a public institution would, so it didn’t have a big impact in any kind of either positive or negative way during his first term. We have to wait and see for his second term. It seems like Trump is being very assertive about presidential prerogatives in a way that I don’t remember from the first term.
You have held many roles at Dartmouth. You have been a student — you graduated in 1977 — the College President and now a professor. What have been your favorite aspects of each role?
PH: As a student, my favorite part was just the way Dartmouth opened my mind to the world. I grew up in a small mining town in New York, in the Adirondacks. It didn’t even have a movie theater. So, I arrived at Dartmouth knowing very little about the world. My Dartmouth experience really opened my mind to so many things. I forged my best friendships in life through it.
As a professor, it’s the things I love about higher education, the life of the mind, being able to have an environment where you can pursue whatever topics are of interest to you. To be able to teach Dartmouth students is really a privilege.
As president, being able to accomplish some of the things we did at the institutional level. Being able to say that we were going to be need-blind for all students, that we were going to be able to eliminate loans from undergraduate financial aid packages, through the generosity of so many alums and so many parents — that was really a thrilling part. I’m really proud that we returned to R1 status and were admitted to the Association of American Universities. Those are really big deals, and I think indicated the respect that the outside world has for our scholarly efforts here on campus.
What is the legacy you hope to leave behind at Dartmouth?
PH: I’m a big believer in our core mission as an institution: learning, teaching and discovery. I actually believe that the 10 years when I was president were the decade of the most rapid enhancement of our academic mission. That’s the legacy I’d like to leave: This was a period when we were laser-focused on the things that universities are supposed to do.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
