The Dickey Center for International Understanding unites the diverse strengths of Dartmouth College—students, faculty, undergraduate and graduate schools—in addressing the world's challenges. We broaden the scope of learning through advanced study, interdisciplinary collaboration, research innovation, and respect for a diversity of viewpoints.
The Dickey Center for International Understanding was established in 1982 and dedicated to the memory and values of Dartmouth College President John Sloan Dickey (1907-1991, College President from 1945-1970).
The Dickey Center oversees a minor in International Studies, a certificate in Global Health and courses focused on environmental change and security.
The Dickey Center offers a wide range of opportunities for research funding for faculty and students, internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, and fellowships for undergraduates and postdocs. See our funding page for a full list of funding opportunities for research and internships and the various pillar pages (environment, gender, health, human development, security) for focused opportunities.
The Dickey Center brings many national and international scholars and public figures to campus to address pressing international issues.
In recent years, the Dickey Center has hosted, among others: Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Secretary of State, First Lady, and 2016 Democratic nominee for president ; Secretary of Defense James Mattis; Timothy Geitner, former Secretary of the Treasury; Jake Sullivan, former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department, and National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden; Gayle Smith, former Administrator of USAID; William Burns, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State; General (Ret.) Carter Ham, President and CEO of the Association of the US Army, and former Commander, US AFRICOM; Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Equity, Rwanda; Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Emily Haber, Germany's Ambassador to the United States; and Susan Rice, Ambassador to the United Nations, and U.S. National Security Advisor to President Obama.
Many of our events can be viewed on the Dickey Center's YouTube Channel.
Victoria K. Holt is the Norman E. McCulloch Jr. Director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. She joined Dartmouth in September 2021, with a background in public policy, leadership and diplomacy. In Washington, DC, she served as Vice President at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a research and policy institute focused on international affairs, and directed the Transforming Conflict and Governance program. Earlier Holt was tapped to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security, Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO), and served at the State Department from 2009 to early 2017. In that role, she was responsible for policy and guidance for actions in the UN Security Council and oversaw the Offices of Peace Operations, Sanctions & Counterterrorism and UN Political Affairs. Holt led the development of U.S. diplomatic initiatives, including the 2015 Leaders' Summit on U.N. Peacekeeping, hosted by President Obama to increase capacities for UN operations.
Holt's track record includes research, writing and teaching. She joined Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in 2018, where she has taught graduate seminars on U.S. policy on conflict prevention in the post-Cold War world. Before 2009, she co-directed the Future of Peace Operations program at Stimson, writing and speaking widely on UN and regional peace operations, the protection of civilians and atrocity prevention, targeted sanctions, rule of law and U.S. policy. Holt served on the Genocide Prevention Task Force as the lead on military options and wrote a pioneering report on UN missions and the protection of civilians.
During the Clinton Administration, Holt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, following a role as Executive Director of a bipartisan diplomatic campaign to pay U.S. arrears to the United Nations. Previously, she served on Capitol Hill for members of the House of Representatives, first as Senior Legislative Assistant to Rep. George Hochbrueckner and then as Legislative Director for Rep. Tom Andrews, both members of the House Armed Services Committee, from 1987 to 1994. Holt also worked at Washington-based policy institutes on international affairs and nuclear weapons issues. She is a graduate of the Naval War College and Wesleyan University
