About the Center

The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College is a catalyst for public policy research, teaching, and deliberation. Dedicated to providing an interdisciplinary perspective on policy-related topics, the Center fosters a commitment to the ideals of public service and informed public debate exemplified by Nelson A. Rockefeller, former governor of New York State and Vice President of the United States.

Public Policy Minor

The curricular offerings of the Rockefeller Center provide a wide variety of opportunities for students to engage with public policy in their area of interest. In addition to enrolling in one of the more than a dozen public policy courses offered each year, students have the ability to complete a public policy minor for in-depth exploration of the public policy process, policy research and analysis, and a targeted focus on a substantive policy area (e.g., health care, environment, education, social welfare).

The Center sponsors the Class of 1964 Policy Research Shop, a student-staffed, faculty-mentored research enterprise in which students conduct research at the request of New Hampshire and Vermont state, county, and local government officials, often with the opportunity to testify on their findings.

The Center also offers an exchange program with Keble College at Oxford University and grants to students working on senior honors theses in the social sciences.

Leadership Programs

The Rockefeller Center also provides students with robust co-curricular programs designed to build on their leadership skills and capacities. Programs help students to reflect upon, develop, and assess their strengths and their capacity to work in teams to achieve common good.

These programs include the First-Year Fellows Program, student-led discussion groups, funding for off-campus internships, the Management and Leadership Development Program, Mini-Grants that support special student initiatives, the Rockefeller Global Leadership Program, and Rockefeller Leadership Fellows.

Through our public programs, students meet and engage with speakers in fields related to current public policy or leadership issues.

Faculty Opportunities

Scholarly work of the Dartmouth faculty is supported through interdisciplinary workshops on health, law, foreign policy, gender and immigration, organizations and strategy, and the environment. The Center also hosts seminars where faculty and visiting scholars present their work.

The Center provides faculty funding opportunities for post-doctoral fellowships, research grants, conference grants, and classroom enhancement funding.

The most important social science and public policy issues span several traditional academic disciplines. To support this multidisciplinary approach, the Center has an array of programs to enhance the a faculty member's experience as a scholar and teacher at Dartmouth.