A Conversation with Former Student and Employee: Nelson Armstrong ‘71

Biography

Nelson “Nels” Armstrong ‘71 was born on January 7, 1950 in Newport News, Virginia. He attended Booker T. Washington Elementary School and Huntington High School, both of which were co-ed public schools. Nels was introduced to Dartmouth through one of his high school teachers and matriculated in 1967. During his undergraduate career, Nels played football his freshman year, was involved in the Afro-American Society, became a student-recruiter through the William Jewett Tucker Center (the Tucker Foundation), and played the drums and sang for the student band, “Uncle Tom's Cabinet.” Nels was the only Black music major in the department and was involved in Black theater. Nels’ class, the class of 1971, had the highest number of Black students at the time. He was one of seventeen Black students in a class of around one thousand.

After graduating, Nels stayed at Dartmouth as an employee. He was an advisor for the Afro-American Society and a counselor for the Office of Student Counseling. During his time as a counselor, he created the Nels Lunch Program in an effort to provide students with the support he did not receive himself. Then, he left Dartmouth to assume the role of Associate Director of Admissions at MIT. Nels was in this position for about ten years before returning to Dartmouth as the Associate Director of the Alumni Fund. He was at Dartmouth for about three years before leaving again to take the job of Director of Alumni Relations at Case Western Reserve for about five years. Finally, he returned to Dartmouth again as Director of Alumni Relations. Nels stayed in this position for twelve years until his retirement in 2009 at 59 years old.

Nels mentioned several themes throughout the interview. These included isolation, building the Black community, and Nels' motivations for staying at Dartmouth. These themes are further explored on the next few pages. 

An audio recording and transcript of the interview are linked below.