Share

About the William Jewett Tucker Center

The William Jewett Tucker Center cultivates spiritual and ethical lives, builds relationships and understanding across identities, and engages in dialogue on meaningful issues that will make a profound difference on campus and beyond.

Tucker is inclusive and affirming of all students, faculty, staff and alumni and offers caring, thought-provoking opportunities to grow a sense of connection and purpose through reflective personal exploration and intentional community engagement. 

Tucker has many students groups and programs for you.  Check us out!

  • Students light candels during the Hindu Festival of Lights.

    Students participate in the Diwali Hindu Festival of Lights. (Photo by Robert Gill)

Spiritual and Ethical Living

Tucker is inclusive and affirming of all students, faculty, staff and alumni including those who identify:

  • With a particular faith or tradition
  • As questioning or searching for a spiritual/religious path
  • As atheist or agnostic or no faith
  • As spiritual but not religious
  • Seeking to understand and appreciate diversity 

Tucker is an intersectional meeting place of intellectual inquiry, personal reflection on the heart and spirit, and lived daily experiences. Opening multiple doorways and welcoming diverse perspectives, Tucker collaborates and partners with academic  departments, campus centers, House Communities, and numerous student groups to host programs such as story-telling, lectures, dialogues, films, music, and theater programs to explore questions of meaning, purpose and humanity.

Tucker provides a unique experience to each person who enters our doors. Come make your home with us.

Mission

The William Jewett Tucker Center inspires and supports members of the Dartmouth community to cultivate a deep sense of meaning and purpose through spiritual, ethical and moral exploration and engagement.

Vision

The William Jewett Tucker Center aspires to:

  • Affirm and support religious and spiritual identity and development
  • Deepen religious understanding and mutual respect through interfaith dialogue, scholarship, and action
  • Encourage each Dartmouth student to develop character, conscience and vision
  • Serve as a vital partner in the larger Dartmouth community around issues of conscience
  • Actively collaborate with all sectors of Dartmouth to improve the quality of community by fostering meaningful connections across difference
  • Provide support and guidance to individuals and the community in times of celebration and need

History

The William Jewett Tucker Center is an outgrowth of the William Jewett Tucker Foundation, created in 1951 in honor of William Jewett Tucker, the ninth president of the College. The Foundation's original mission was to serve as the spiritual and moral authority of the College. Over the years, the Foundation evolved while staying dedicated to educating Dartmouth students for lives of purpose and ethical leadership, rooted in service, spirituality, and social justice.

In reviewing the mission of the Tucker Foundation in 2013-2014, it became clear that the Dartmouth community and Dartmouth students, in particular, would be best served by creating two new centers: one to focus on service and social entrepreneurship and the other to foster spiritual and ethical living. Thus the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact and the William Jewett Tucker Center were born.

The Tucker Center carries on the essence of the founding principles of the Foundation, adapted to the changing times and needs of the 21st century. It is no longer focused on being the spiritual and moral authority of the College so much as fostering an environment for each of us to examine what it means to grow spiritually and to live ethically.