Five staff members in the School of Arts and Sciences were honored at Dartmouth’s Lone Pine Awards Ceremony on May 14.
Laura McDaniel, research grant manager in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and assistant director of the Society of Fellows, received the Sheila Culbert Distinguished Employee Award, Dartmouth's highest staff honor. The award recognizes an employee whose sustained dedication and service have made a lasting impact on the College.
The Office of Student Life’s Student Involvement team—Gavin Bibeau, Anna Hall, Natalie Kittikul, and David Pack—received the Lone Pine Excellence Award for Innovation. The award honors teams or individuals who demonstrate creativity and initiative, recognize change as an opportunity for growth, and advance Dartmouth's mission through original problem solving.
“Our people are showing every day how things can be done differently, that we can train leaders, come together to solve hard issues, conduct research that truly changes the world,” President Sian Leah Beilock said during the May 14 awards ceremony. “All of that work begins in rooms like this, with the commitment, institutional knowledge, talent, and sheer dedication of the Dartmouth staff.”
“The care and creativity our staff bring to their work every day shape the Dartmouth experience,” says Nina Pavcnik, inaugural dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. “Gavin, Anna, Natalie, Laura, and David exemplify that, and I’m proud to celebrate them.”
President Sian Leah Beilock presents the Sheila Culbert Distinguished Employee Award to Laura McDaniel.
‘An invaluable partner’
McDaniel holds two complementary positions at Dartmouth.
As a research grant manager, she supports faculty across more than a dozen humanities and interdisciplinary departments through every stage of the grant life cycle, from budget development to post-award financial management. As assistant director of the Society of Fellows, a position she has held since the program's founding in 2014, McDaniel serves as the institutional backbone of an interdisciplinary community of postdoctoral scholars and faculty. She coordinates recruiting, onboarding, weekly seminars, writing retreats, professional development, and countless behind-the-scenes logistics.
The Society of Fellows position grew directly out of her grant management work, when a Mellon Foundation grant helped launch the program. McDaniel, already close to the work, was the one to help build it.
"Laura seamlessly combines administrative competence with a winning personality," says Emily Walton, faculty director of the Society of Fellows and associate professor of sociology. "She has a broad global vision and an eye for detail, while at the same time she is warm, caring, and genuinely interested in others."
That same quality carries into her research grant management. "Laura is a trusted colleague and an invaluable partner to our faculty," says Kate Soule, director of finance and resource planning. "Her broad expertise, her ability to navigate complex and often unconventional funding scenarios, and her unwavering commitment to faculty success mean she simply makes the whole process easier for the people around her."
For all the complexity her two roles demand, what McDaniel finds most rewarding is simpler: the people.
“It’s the interaction I have with a wide variety of people on both the administrative side and with faculty,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot on so many topics from our weekly Society of Fellows seminars with the postdocs and faculty.”
Natalie Kittikul, David Pack, School of Arts and Sciences Dean Nina Pavcnik, Anna Hall, and Gavin Bibeau (left to right)
‘Innovation that makes Dartmouth special’
When a statewide New Hampshire fire ban forced the cancellation of the 2025 annual Homecoming bonfire just days before the event, the Student Involvement team saw an opportunity.
Within roughly two weeks, Bibeau, Hall, Kittikul, and Pack conceived and executed a laser light show, coordinating vendor contracts, safety protocols, and campus logistics from scratch. Simultaneously, they organized a student activity to decorate lantern bags that would encircle the venue and recruited student DJs whose playlists were choreographed to the light display, weaving music and light into a cohesive experience.
The event turnout far exceeded expectations, with first-year students staying for over two hours. The team is already exploring how to incorporate the light show into Winter Carnival to create a new tradition out of a last-minute pivot.
“David, Natalie, Gavin, and Anna didn't just solve a problem, they turned an unexpected obstacle into something memorable," says Anne Hudak, interim dean of undergraduate student affairs. "When the fire ban threatened homecoming, they responded with creativity, resourcefulness, and a genuine commitment to the student experience. That's exactly the kind of innovation that makes Dartmouth special.”
The team’s work extends far beyond a single event. "We come together on big weekends and throughout the year in collaborative programming like Bonfire, Winter Carnival, Green Key, and summer programming," says Kittikul, associate director of student involvement. "We are in constant communication with each other."
Ask any of them what drives the work, and the answer is the same: the students.
"I love hearing from students both before and after graduation about the educational value of what they learn through their involvement here at Dartmouth—leadership and collaboration, life skills, critical thinking, and cultural competence," says Pack, director of student involvement.
Bibeau, assistant director of student involvement, echoes that sense of purpose. "We push students to learn and grow in new ways, create some of their most meaningful memories of their time at Dartmouth, and create an important space for students to find their place on campus," he says.
Hall, co-interim associate dean for student life, finds meaning in the longer arc. "Students consistently tell us that what they learn through involvement, leadership, and community stays with them in ways that complement and deepen their academic experience," she says. "Being part of that kind of development is a privilege."