We are thrilled to have this assurance that the Great Issues Scholars can continue, ensuring future incoming students this unique opportunity to globalize their time at Dartmouth.
Victoria Holt, Dickey Center Director “

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Russo Family Endows The Dickey Center's Great Issues Scholars Program

  • Dickey Center Director Victoria Holt with Georgina "Gina" Tugwell Russo '77 P'08 and Thomas "Tom" A. Russo '77 P'08

    Dickey Center Director Victoria K. Holt with Georgina “Gina” Tugwell Russo ’77 P’08 and Thomas “Tom” A. Russo ’77 P’08 at the Dickey Center. (Photo: Katie Lenhart)

  • Great Issues Scholars program - Ann Witkowski event

    Great Issues Scholars at a conversation between Dickey Center Director Victoria Holt and Anne Witkowsky, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations.

  • Great Issues Scholars visit Dartmouth's Ice Core Lab

    Lab Manager Jacob Ian Chalif introduces the Great Issues Scholars to Dartmouth's Ice, Climate, and Environment lab. 

  • Great Issues Scholars take part in several simulations each year

    The Great Issues Scholars take part in several simulations each year.

  • Great Issues Scholars at the Hood

    The Great Issues Scholars explore the extensive collection at the Hood Museum of Art.

  • Great Issues Scholars

    Great Issues Scholars build a strong community with each other, leading to lifelong friendships and a core support network throughout their undergraduate years. 

The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding lauds a new, sustaining endowment from Georgina "Gina" Tugwell Russo '77 P'08 and Thomas "Tom" A. Russo '77 P'08 for the Great Issues Scholars (GIS) Program. Their gift of $1.1M will underwrite one of the Dickey Center's signature student programs and strengthen our commitment to support international understanding at Dartmouth. 

Each fall, roughly 100 incoming undergraduates join the immersive GIS program and its array of offerings on major international issues—from speakers to simulations, field trips to discussions. Participants gain insights into diplomacy and international conflict resolution, global health and development, and climate change and the environment. 

Over 1,400 Dartmouth students have participated in the GIS program since 2010, with international students accounting for about half of the participants. Soon after the program begins each year, GIS students become a cohort across cultural and national divides, learning from one another—a model of global diversity and inclusion at the College. This year, 44 of our GIS students will live together in the GIS Living Learning Community.  

For many Great Issues Scholars, the program proves pivotal to their Dartmouth experience, inspiring them to take on international internships and explore a broad range of global career paths and future studies. Scholars build a strong community with each other, leading to lifelong friendships and a core support network throughout their undergraduate years. 

"We are absolutely delighted with Tom and Gina's gift to Dartmouth and the Dickey Center, and we greatly appreciate their continued support for the Great Issues Scholars," said Victoria K. Holt, the Norman E. McCulloch Jr. Director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. 

"In the 10 years since its inception, GIS has launched students in many directions, including as leaders at Dartmouth and beyond, and the program has provided a lifetime of learning and international engagement for its participants. We are thrilled to have this assurance that GIS can continue, ensuring future incoming students this unique opportunity to globalize their time at Dartmouth." 

The Russo Family are champions of interdisciplinary education and the enhancement of student experiences at Dartmouth and the Dickey Center in particular. Over the years, they have supported the Young African Leadership Initiative, the Dartmouth-Africa Co-Learning Lab, and the Global Health Initiative and named the Russo Gallery in the Haldeman Center. 

Learn more about the Great Issues Scholars program here, or contact Peter Jenkinson at the Dickey Center (peter.w.jenkinson@dartmouth.edu).