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Laura Knoy of NHPR’s The Exchange interviews President Phil Hanlon ’77 about the challenges and changes he’s dealt with in his first year as Dartmouth’s president. He talks with her about his vision for the College, including the expansion of graduate programs and a focus on experiential learning; the Dartmouth Summit on Sexual Assault taking place on campus this week; and his plans to put to use an anonymous donor’s gift of $100 million, the largest in the history of the College.

President Hanlon tells Knoy that he’s spent the past year “reacquainting myself with Dartmouth,” and that he and his wife, Gail Gentes, have met in small groups with 3,100 students, 500 faculty members, and thousands of alumni.

Much has changed since he was an undergraduate, he notes, but more has stayed the same. One of the main things that has not changed is Dartmouth’s exceptionalism, he says, personified by alumni who hold leadership roles, including four members of the U.S. Senate.

“It’s still a small, tight-knit community,” he says, with a setting that is both beautiful and challenging enough to teach self-reliance. The faculty, he says, is dedicated to the undergraduate experience. “If you ask me why U.S. News & World Report has ranked Dartmouth as No. 1 in undergraduate teaching for five years in a row, I would say it’s the faculty’s dedication to the experience, and then our incredibly intelligent and passionate students.”

Listen to the full story, broadcast on 7/15/14 by NHPR.