The marked its 10th anniversary on Oct. 25 by bringing to campus more than 30 alumni who have dedicated their lives to building or rebuilding equitable, thriving communities.
at the Hanover Inn, which was attended by more than 200 alumni, students, and supporters, featured panels, workshops, informal networking, and a keynote address by noted civil rights attorney Maya Wiley ’86.
“Shining a light on the whole ecosystem of impact work at Dartmouth and showing students that there are folks who have forged that path and been successful—that model of hopefulness is really important,” said DCSI Director .
Over the past 10 years, emerging from the legacy of the Tucker Foundation, for hands-on experience in community outreach, including experiential classroom-based programs, immersive field study, summer programs for high school students, leadership development initiatives, alumni mentoring, and alliances with local nonprofit organizations.
At the summit, Chris Cundey ’59 accepted, on behalf of his class, a letter of appreciation for founding DCSI’s Dartmouth Partners and Community Service Program, which over the decades has supported internships for more than 1,000 students drawn to social impact work.
Through a growing number of such programs, DCSI has helped educate “transformative leaders for the common good,” said Dustin-Eichler. Many of their ongoing achievements are documented in a commemorative magazine, , which was distributed at the event, and will be mailed to DCSI’s network of alumni friends and supporters.
“Our new journal aggregates stories of innovative social impact stemming from the Dartmouth community, especially projects related to DCSI,” says Assistant Director .
The 42-page student-illustrated publication also includes a candid conversation between DCSI board member Warren Valdmanis ’95 and writer David Brooks, who authored a criticism of higher education in the December 2024 issue of .
In her , Wiley retraced the steps of her own journey from campus activist to president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. Wiley ran for New York City mayor in 2021, served as counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, and later became senior vice president for social justice at The New School, founding the Digital Equity Laboratory and chairing New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board.
“What is the cost of caring?” she asked the audience. “What cost are we willing to pay?”
Recalling encounters with fellow activists who were willing to risk their own safety and financial security to advance justice and defend freedom, Wiley said, “Sometimes our job is to encircle them, to lift up their stories. To be willing to stand with them and ask what they need.”
Earlier in the day, during a live recording of DCSI’s podcast, , hosted by Do Rosario, Wiley said that when she attended Dartmouth 40 years ago, Black students sometimes felt marginalized. But enlightened and supportive professors, she said, helped her plot a course toward a bright future.
“I think about being on campus and about how dark things felt to me, but also how many stars I saw,” Wiley told the podcast audience. “I think about how lucky I am to see change, to see seeds that were not only planted, but grew. In these times, our job is to understand that our work is not to demand that we see the seeds grow. It’s to know we’ve planted them.”
Throughout the afternoon, panelists addressed such topics as immigration, energy transitions, private capital for public good, global health, trends in education, and community organizing. At a session about careers, panelist Paul Vickers ’19 explained how a DCSI internship with San Francisco’s Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation led to the full-time job he holds now.
“I spend all my time in the development and rehabilitation of affordable housing,” he said. “The Center for Social Impact gave me the push I needed to get outside of my comfort zone. It gave me the courage and the opportunity and the resources to try something completely different without fear of failing.”
Ally Sartorius ’26, student director of DCSI’s , which sends Dartmouth students into local elementary schools to assist in classroom learning, said she got a lot out of the summit.
“I’m just really excited to have heard from such impactful people in their fields and I’m excited to reach out to them and ask more questions, because I see myself in some of the panelists, and I think they’re doing things that I want to do one day,” she said.
