Dartmouth has changed the name of its medical school¹Inspired by a recent article in Businessweek on the cost of naming rights for business schools, this morning I jotted down the idea for a post on Dartmouth’s offer of naming rights for its medical school, an offer previously noted here in 2005. It was not ten minutes later that I received the announcement, presumably held for release until after April Fool’s Day, that Dartmouth had named its medical school after Dr. Seuss. from the Dartmouth Medical School to the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Dr. Seuss, as Dartmouth’s most famous “doctor” [of philosophy], would seem to be as good a namesake as any.

Now the medical school fits the pattern established by Dartmouth’s two later professional schools. The current names of the three institutions seem to be:

• The Tuck School (the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College)
• Thayer School (the Thayer School of Engineering)
• The Geisel School (the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth).

The Medical School has a long tradition of changing its name, and it sometimes goes by several names at once. An 1897 note titled “Name of the School” reads:

The name of the Medical Department seems to have changed several times. In 1806 the broadside list of students is headed: “Catalogue of the Medical Students and Students of College who attended the Medical Lectures at Dartmouth University” (as far back as Sept. 20, 1782, the Trustees passed a resolution styling the College a University); that of 1811, “Catalogue of the Dartmouth Medical Theatre;” that of 1814, “Catalogue of the Medical Institution at Dartmouth University;” that of 1817, “Catalogue of the Dartmouth Medical Institution.” At some time between this date and 1824 the name “New Hampshire Medical Institution” began to be used and was retained until 1880 though the official title has always been the “Medical Department of Dartmouth College.”²Phineas S. Conner, Historical Address, in “Dartmouth Medical College Centennial Exercises” (1897), 27.

The name “the Medical Department,” which is not explained by the note, was in use at least by 1812.³Dartmouth Trustees meeting minutes (1812), quoted in Conner, 57. Other examples include “the Medical College” (1871,⁴Medical faculty meeting minutes (1871), quoted in Conner, 61. 1880,⁵Oliver P. Hubbard, The Early History of the New Hampshire Medical Institution (Washington, D.C.: Oliver P. Hubbard, 1880), 37. 1883⁶Medical faculty meeting minutes (1883), quoted in Conner, 61.), “the Dartmouth Medical College” (1868,⁷Medical faculty meeting minutes (1868), quoted in Conner, 56. 1895,⁸Dartmouth medical faculty meeting minutes (1895), quoted in Conner, 46. 1897⁹Conner, 22.), “the Medical School of New Hampshire” (1893¹⁰Petition of New Hampshire Medical Society (1893), quoted in Conner, 33.), “the Medical Institution at Hanover” (1893¹¹Petition (1893), quoted in Conner, 33.), “the Medical School” (1809¹²New Hampshire Legislature (1809), quoted in Conner, 29. Note that the school’s 1811 building, depicted on the old shield above, was itself initially called “the Medical School.”), and of course “the Dartmouth Medical School” (1880,¹³”From Abroad,” Medical Times and Gazette (11 December 1880), 660. 1897,¹⁴Conner, 17, 23.).

This would seem to be a good time to change the 1950s (?) shield again,¹⁵Jonathan Good has pointed out that the shield’s original Indian-head cane, shown above, was replaced by a conventional staff of Aesculapius during or before 2010. and it looks as if the school has already thought of that.

———————-

[Update 04.05.2012: Caduceus corrected to Aesculapius.]

[Update 04.19.2012: Suppositional name “The Geisel School of Medicine” shortened to “The Geisel School.”]

———————-