On the fourth floor of 37 Dewey Field Road, in a small lobby at the end of a corridor, hangs a large glass plaque etched with the words “Dartmouth Graduate Studies.”

“That’s going to have to change,” says the dean of graduate studies, F. Jon Kull ’88.

In its place there will soon be a different sign with a longer name: School of Graduate and Advanced Studies at Dartmouth (GRAD). The change is historic. On July 1, Dartmouth will open its first new school in over a century. (The Tuck School of Business was launched in 1900.) On the same day, Kull will become the graduate school’s inaugural dean, reporting directly to the provost.

“It’s an administrative shift, and it’s also a big symbolic shift,” says Kull. And it will have an impact, bringing more resources to graduate programs. Starting the school, Kull says, reinforces the fact that Dartmouth is a place where many faculty do groundbreaking research alongside graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

The new graduate school will bring together approximately 800 students who are currently spread throughout 16 PhD programs and 12 master’s programs. More than 200 postdoctoral scholars will also be supported under the GRAD umbrella. GRAD faculty will remain affiliated with Arts and Sciences, the Geisel School of Medicine, Thayer School of Engineering, and Tuck. The new graduate school will offer its own professional development seminars and other events where postgraduate scholars can meet and exchange ideas.