President Sian Leah Beilock announced the formal launch of the Dartmouth Tribal Sovereignty Institute on July 27, which will build on Dartmouth’s founding charter commitment and its ongoing partnership with Native American and Indigenous communities to support tribal nations in advancing their own economic, cultural, and environmental priorities; foster collaborative knowledge creation; and host convenings that lead to actionable outcomes.
A $5 million lead gift from Tom ’77 and Gina ’77 Russo will endow the Thomas A. 1977 and Gina T. Russo 1977 Executive Director position to provide strategic leadership and long-term vision for the institute.
“In alignment with our original charter, Dartmouth has taken significant steps over the past several decades to deepen our partnership with Native communities—advancing solutions to endemic issues faced by Indigenous communities and those far beyond,” President Beilock said in her announcement at Dartmouth’s third annual Tribal Leadership Academy welcome breakfast.
“The Dartmouth Tribal Sovereignty Institute represents the next big step forward, as it will be a lasting center for collaboration, bringing leaders together at a critical nexus to deepen understanding, expand scholarship, and develop new knowledge.”
The need and the opportunity
Native and Indigenous communities face challenges that are among the most complex and consequential in American public life in governance, economic development, health, environmental sovereignty, and cultural continuity. People living in Tribal nations experience poverty at significantly higher rates than the national average.
Fewer Native students earn bachelor’s degrees compared to national averages, education systems on many reservations remain under-resourced, and nearly half of Tribal nations lack access to reliable broadband.
These are not problems that yield to academic study alone; they require interdisciplinary work grounded in on-the-ground knowledge, and genuine partnership between institutions and the communities themselves.
Supporting Native leaders and their communities has been a key priority for Beilock since the outset of her presidency. The Dartmouth Tribal Sovereignty Institute draws on the institution’s distinctive strengths—including the Department of Native American and Indigenous Studies, the Native American Program, the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth Libraries, the Institute of Arctic Studies, and the Native American Visiting Committee—to advance that work.
This commitment is rooted in Dartmouth’s 1769 charter to educate “Youth of the Indian Tribes” and was revived in 1970 under President John Kemeny. Since then, Dartmouth has graduated 1,500 Native students—one of the highest numbers in the Ivy League—and each year the College enrolls approximately 200 Indigenous students representing more than 70 Tribal nations.
Drawing from the knowledge and leadership of Dartmouth’s extensive Native American alumni and family community, the institute will create opportunities to connect leaders from Tribal communities across the country with people, tools, and partnerships that can help address the wide-ranging priorities identified by Indigenous leaders and their communities.
Building on a history of success
The institute will make permanent two pilot programs launched during the tenure of President Emeritus Philip J. Hanlon ’77.
The Tribal Services and Solutions Project, launched in 2022, provides funding to students and recent graduates to partner directly with Tribal nations to address community priorities and needs. The program has placed 18 student fellows and interns with 14 Tribal nations, working on projects ranging from analysis of Tribal public finance and Native access to capital to revitalizing traditional buffalo herds on Native lands.
The Tribal Leadership Academy, launched in 2023, is a one-week intensive professional development program that has convened 45 sitting and newly elected Tribal leaders from 43 nations. The Dartmouth Tribal Sovereignty Institute plans to expand both programs significantly over the next decade.
“Native communities understand the challenges they’re facing, and they know which solutions will work for them,” said Casey Lozar ’03, an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and vice president and director of the Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
“Dartmouth’s continued investment in Tribal leaders who are already doing that work is powerful,” said Lozar, who is a former co-chair of the Native American Visiting Committee.
More than 175 donors, including Native alumni, parents, and friends, and gifts from two alumni classes, have already given more than $3 million in program support to the Tribal Services and Solutions Project and Tribal Leadership Academy. The Russos’ $5 million endowment gift anchors a total of $5.5 million in commitments secured thus far toward a $15 million goal to fully fund the institute.
Recruiting a founding leader
For Tom Russo, endowing the executive director position was an investment in the leadership needed to guide the institute as it grows and evolves.
“Dartmouth’s charter established a promise that continues to shape the institution today,” Tom Russo said. “The Dartmouth Tribal Sovereignty Institute is an opportunity to honor that commitment in ways that will have lasting impact. Gina and I look forward to this transformative leadership, which we hope will develop highly valued networking opportunities among the tribes.”
“The Dartmouth Tribal Sovereignty Institute is a powerful expression of Dartmouth’s commitment to its identity,” said Gina Russo. “We were honored to support an effort that will strengthen Native leadership and expand opportunities for Tribal communities.”
A search is underway for the institute’s inaugural executive director, who will be a national leader in establishing Dartmouth’s place in the global conversation on Indigenous scholarship and advocacy. Dartmouth is seeking nominations for the role, which can be submitted directly on the executive search firm’s website.
Sarah Harris ’00, the first Mohegan member of Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees, is among those championing the institute. “Dartmouth’s commitment to Native communities is not only part of our history,” Harris said. “It continues today through efforts like the Dartmouth Tribal Sovereignty Institute, which uses our institution’s unique resources to support Native leaders and Tribal communities as they define their priorities and pursue solutions of their own.”
How to give
Dartmouth welcomes gifts to the Dartmouth Tribal Sovereignty Institute and the Native American House renovation, which is being undertaken during 2026-27.