Forever New
The Speeches of James Wright, President of Dartmouth College, 1998–2009
9781611683325
9781611683332
Distributed for Dartmouth College Press
Forever New
The Speeches of James Wright, President of Dartmouth College, 1998–2009
Jim Wright is an unabashed optimist. Reading his speeches, it doesn’t take long to see that he believes in the fundamental values that shaped the American republic: opportunity and accessibility, individuality and a shared sense of community. He carried this idealism into his presidency of Dartmouth College and, indeed, throughout his career as teacher and historian. At heart, Jim Wright was always a teacher. His election to the presidency of Dartmouth College gave him the opportunity not only to lead the college he loved, but also to use the presidency as a bully pulpit to encourage his students to make a positive difference in the world. The speeches gathered in this collection, particularly the annual convocation and commencement addresses, illustrate that calling. It is in these addresses that he was the most intentional about his goals and his aspirations for Dartmouth, for the Dartmouth faculty, and ultimately for Dartmouth students.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments • Introduction by Sheila Culbert • APPOINTMENT AS PRESIDENT OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE • Remarks following the Announcement by the Board of Trustees, April 6, 1998 • Dartmouth: Forever New, September 23, 1998 • CONVOCATION ADDRESSES, 1999 - 2008 • September 21, 1999 • September 19, 2000 • September 24, 2001 • September 24, 2002 • September 23, 2003 • September 21, 2004 • September 20, 2005 • September 19, 2006 • September 25, 2007 • September 23, 2008 • SELECTED SPEECHES ON VARIOUS TOPICS, 1999 - 2009 • Address to First-Year Students, September 15, 1999 • Report to the General Faculty, October 18, 1999 • Class of 1950 Reunion Luncheon, June 10, 2000 • Libraries in the Cyber Age, July 12, 2000 • Growing and Preserving: A Mutual Challenge, November 26, 2000 • Remarks to the Alumni Council, May 18, 2001 • Address Delivered at Beijing Normal University, October 10, 2002 • Remarks to the Alumni Council, May 2, 2003 • Unleashed: Mobile Computing Conference, October 8, 2003 • Remarks to Class Officers, September 16, 2004 • Remarks in Memory of David T. McLaughlin ‘54 Tu ‘55, President Emeritus of the College, October 4, 2004 • The Leslie Conference on the Future of the Liberal Arts, November 6, 2004 • Dartmouth Lawyers Association, October 11, 2003 • Remarks at the Memorial Service for James O. Freedman, Fifteenth President of Dartmouth College, May 15, 2006 • Athletics and Life: Essay for the Class of 1964, on Its Fiftieth Reunion, 2007 • Honoring Veterans, October 6, 2007 • Eleventh Annual Report to the General Faculty, October 27, 2008 • The Yellow Ribbon Program and Private Colleges, February 2, 2009 • Veterans Day at the Vietnam Memorial Wall, Washington, D.C., November 11, 2009 • COMMENCEMENT ADDRESSES, 1999 - 2009 • June 13, 1999 • June 11, 2000 • June 10, 2001 • June 9, 2002 • June 8, 2003 • June 13, 2004 • June 12, 2005 • June 11, 2006 • June 10, 2007 • June 8, 2008 • June 14, 2009 • FAREWELL • Letter to the Dartmouth Community, June 29, 2009 • A Welcome to the Wheelock Succession, September 22, 2009