At Tuck we believe the world today calls for a special kind of leadership: confident yet humble, empathetic, courageous. This belief animated our founders more than a century ago and drives us still. But just as the world has changed so too has the means by which we bring our mission to life. It is this commitment to innovation—to dynamic change rooted in historic strength—that has allowed Tuck to thrive and continues to guide and ground us as we look to the future.

I am writing at this moment because we are at an important inflection point in our work. Today marks the launch of The Tuck Difference: The Campaign for Tomorrow’s Wise Leaders, a $250-million philanthropic endeavor to secure Tuck’s distinctive leadership and ready tomorrow’s wise leaders to take on the world’s most pressing challenges.

It is an ambitious goal—part of Dartmouth’s $3-billion comprehensive campaign—but Tuck is an ambitious place. To achieve it we must invigorate our historic commitment to the people, programs, and places that make Tuck unique.

The order of these priorities—people, programs, places—is important. Our most cherished asset is talent. The dynamism and diversity of our students and our faculty are why Tuck thrives. They are the reason increasing our ability to attract the very best students and scholar-educators to sustain a world-class learning community comes first.

Tuck’s success also rests on our ability to anticipate and adapt to the changing world. This is the innovative spirit that has kept Tuck at the forefront of business education for generations. To ensure we remain there, we must secure the excellence of our MBA program and seek out innovative new opportunities for pre- and post-MBA learners.

Ensuring the vibrancy of our physical spaces is critical to our distinctive learning community. And today we find ourselves at an important moment for the places we hold dear. The coming years will see the Dartmouth College campus enriched by the creation of the new Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society and an expanded Thayer School of Engineering that will also house the college’s Department of Computer Science. Strategic investments in new and technologically advanced spaces for research, teaching, and learning at Tuck will be essential for us to thrive within the heart of this vibrant new crossroads of opportunity.

We greet the future from a position of strength. Through the reach and vitality of an extraordinarily loyal and generous alumni network, our graduates are a powerful part of our success. They are today’s wise leaders forging the path for tomorrow’s. In fact, as of this moment Tuck’s alumni and friends have already given $132 million toward our campaign goal, proving they are the force that advances our mission and quickens our steps. I am greatly inspired by this campaign progress thus far, which has already surpassed the total of Tuck’s previous campaign.

For Tuck and for the world, the stakes are great. But so are the opportunities. With your help, together we can deliver on our promise to the world and secure our legacy as the preeminent business school that creates, teaches, and applies life-changing knowledge.

That is The Tuck Difference, and at this moment we invite everyone in the Tuck community around the world to join us.

Sincerely,
Matthew J. Slaughter