File:Ralph N. Manuel, Distinguished Citizen 1983 (2).jpg

Brunswick Distinguished CitizenDistinguished Citizen 1982

from Dartmouth News April 2008,

Dartmouth 2008 Honorary Degree Recipient Ralph N. Manuel '58 (Doctor of Humane Letters) Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release Posted 04/22/08 • Media Contact: Genevieve Haas • (603) 646-3661

Former Dean of the College, Dartmouth College and Retired Head of Schools of the Culver Academies Ralph Nixon Manuel, Ph.D., is a native of Brunswick, Maryland, and a graduate of Brunswick High School. He is a member of the Dartmouth Class of '58 where he majored in Economics, was a three-year varsity letter winner in baseball, social chairman of his fraternity, and a member of the Naval ROTC Unit and the Sphinx Senior Society. He is a 40-year member of the Executive Committee and has served as class newsletter editor, secretary and president. He received the Dartmouth Alumni Award in 1991. Upon graduation, Manuel was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy and served four years on a Pacific fleet destroyer and as a member of an admiral's staff in London. He completed 19 more years of service in the Naval Reserves and retired as a commander. Manuel returned to Dartmouth in 1962 to serve as assistant director of admissions. His duties included responsibility for the recruitment of minority students from the south and major eastern inner cities, and he served as a charter member of the Trustees' Committee on Equal Opportunity. He received his master's in counseling psychology from Boston University in 1967 and left the college the following fall to pursue his doctorate as an NDEA Fellow at the University of Illinois - Champaign. In 1971, Manuel again returned to Dartmouth as director of the counseling center and associate dean of freshmen. The following year he was appointed dean of freshmen and welcomed Dartmouth's first coeducational class. In 1975, Manuel became the seventh dean of the college, and two years later took on the duties previously handled by the vice president of student affairs. During the next five years, Manuel served as the first chair of the Ivy League Policy Committee on Admissions, Athletics and Financial Aid reporting directly to the Ivy presidents and chaired the Ivy League Task Force on Financial Aid. In 1982, he left Dartmouth to become the eleventh head of schools of the Culver Academies in Culver, Ind., a post he held for 17 years until his retirement in 1999. Manuel has served on various boards including Kimball Union Academy, Cardigan Mountain School; The Howe Library; chair of the Hanover Parks and Recreation Board; president of the Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the U.S.; chair of the Board of the Association of Independent Schools of the Central States; and a member of the Board of the National Association of Independent Schools. He has also served on environmental boards in Indiana and New Hampshire and is an avid fly fisherman. Manuel's wife of 48 years, Sally, is a former teacher and has been active in mental health and community service throughout their marriage. They have four sons and five grandsons.