The John Sloan Dickey Center For International Understanding

Director: Victoria K. Holt

The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding unites the many strengths of Dartmouth — its students, faculty, undergraduate and professional schools — in addressing the world’s challenges, ensuring that a rigorous understanding of the world is an essential part of the Dartmouth experience. The Center honors the commitment to international understanding and social responsibility exemplified by President John Sloan Dickey’s lifetime devotion to liberal arts education, scholarship, and values.

The Dickey Center offers students opportunities to expand their knowledge of international issues, through international internships, research grants, and the opportunity to join student organizations and publications focused on foreign affairs. Students may choose to pursue the International Studies Minor (ISM) supported by the Dickey Center and/or further refine their international studies with courses and activities in global security and conflict (Initiative for Global Security), polar science, cultures, and climate change (Institute of Arctic Studies), and global health (Global Health and Development). A focus on global issues of gender are cross-cutting throughout these activities.

Through symposia, conferences, public events, the Rosenwald Fellows program in US Foreign Policy and International Security, and extended visits by practitioners and scholars, the Center brings leaders working on the vital issues of the day to campus. It enhances the intellectual life of the Dartmouth community, supports faculty research and publications and brings new opportunities to students through international studies.

The Center’s multidisciplinary approach to complex issues is exemplified by its research areas and special initiatives. The Institute of Arctic Studies promotes interdisciplinary scholarship in polar environmental science and engages the work of scientists, humanists, Indigenous communities, and policy makers. Global Health and Development is a collaborative enterprise with Geisel School of Medicine that marshals the talents of the entire campus and international partners to address global health and human development concerns. In its quest to understand the phenomenon of collective violence, the Initiative for Global Security, focusing on issues of global peace and security, incorporates the study of both the global state system as well as the varieties of human conflict, drawing on a range of fields and disciplines. Special initiatives include Dissent + Democracy (a speaker series with international dissidents), Powering Peace (a research collaboration looking at renewable energy in fragile states), and the Middle East Policy Initiative (supporting dialogue and engagement), among others.  

The Center benefits from the advice of a distinguished Board of Visitors. The offices of the Dickey Center are located on the first and third floors of the Haldeman Center.

•  International Studies Minor

•  The Institute of Arctic Studies

•  Global Health and Development

•  Initiative for Global Security