Tuck Celebrates the Legacy of Sally Jaeger

They are, of course, asking about Sally Jaeger, who has been a fixture at Tuck for more than 30 years. During that time, Sally served as the director of MBA Admissions for seven years, overseeing the review of more than 22,000 applications, and then rose through the ranks in the MBA Program—which is composed of Admissions, the MBA Program Office, and Career Services—from director to assistant dean, and now associate dean. But Sally has done something infinitely more valuable than leading the MBA Program: She has taken the time to get to know—and often advise and counsel—every Tuck student since 1993 and remains on a first name basis with nearly all of them (including their spouses, children, and pets) today.

Last fall, Dean Matthew Slaughter sent a note to the Tuck community announcing that Sally had decided to step down from her position at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year. “People are the Tuck School’s greatest asset,” he wrote. “And for nearly a third of a century, few—if any—have done more to support, strengthen, and celebrate Tuck’s people, especially our MBA students, than Sally.” 

As Sally plans her next role at Tuck—she’s not leaving, thankfully—students, alumni, faculty, and staff have had a chance to reflect on how she came to embody all the best qualities of the Tuck community. There is no simple explanation for it, other than equal parts care, curiosity, empathy, leadership, and interpersonal brilliance.

You could say Sally went to college at 18 and never left. Raised in Connecticut, she received her bachelor’s degree from Hobart and William Smith and went right into undergraduate admissions, working at several colleges and universities. “I’ve always enjoyed interacting with lots of different kinds of people on different levels; it feeds my soul,” she says. “Admissions was about helping people, talking to them about their dreams and goals, and where they see themselves in five or 10 years. It’s exciting and interesting to get people to talk about that and help them try to figure it out.”

In the mid-1980s, Sally joined the Dartmouth Admissions Office, which was led at the time by Dick Jaeger—a Dartmouth legend who had also served as director of athletics. Sally and Dick became close colleagues, united by their shared commitment to students and athletics. After three years in Admissions and a year in what is now the Office of Conferences and Events, Sally accepted a new opportunity at the University of Pennsylvania. She and Dick stayed in touch over the years, and eventually they decided to marry. Sally moved back to Hanover and began looking for a job in admissions at graduate schools. Luckily, there were jobs available at both Tuck and the Geisel School of Medicine. She chose Tuck because it seemed to her like a better fit and signed on as the associate director of admissions in 1993, working under the director, Hank Malin. Two years later, Malin departed Tuck, and Sally applied for and received the director position.

In her various roles at Tuck, Sally is most proud of making the student population larger and more diverse—on her watch, the class size has grown from 180 to 296, the percentage of women has increased from 27 to 48, and the percentage of international students rose from 13 to 30. When Sally began at Tuck, the school did not have an enviable international reputation. Sally changed that by partnering with two friends who were the directors of admissions at Wharton and Chicago Booth. Together, they traveled to South America, Moscow, Beijing, and Europe, hosting receptions. Sally always presented in between Wharton and Booth, because she was worried that if she went last, prospective students would leave before it was her turn. “It helped us establish a foothold,” Sally explains. “And one unique feature of those trips is that, wherever we went, Tuck alumni would show up. We always had at least one, if not 10. Neither of the other schools could say that.”

After 9/11 happened, Sally was ready for a change. Along with Dean Paul Danos, Associate Dean Jim Danko, and Director of Career Services Steve Lubrano T’87, Sally helped transform the Office of Student Affairs into the MBA Program Office (MBAPO). About five years ago, when Sally was promoted to Associate Dean of the MBA Program, the school placed Admissions, Career Services, the Registrar, and the MBA Program Office under her purview. “I feel so fortunate that I was able to stay in one place and gain more responsibility,” Sally says. “So often in higher-ed, you have to leave to do that.”

As Paul Danos acknowledges, it would have been folly to let Sally leave Tuck. “You couldn’t have asked for a better person to help students have the best experience in the program,” he says. “She understands Tuck and its traditions, she has the trust of the students, faculty, and administration, and she can handle any situation.” 

Sally earned that trust through countless interactions. Students come to her office to talk about everything from the dark winters, relationship challenges and the death of loved ones, to leadership questions, career advice, and starting a club. “She truly is the mother figure for many students,” Danos says, “but also a guide who helps them get the maximum from the program.”

For Alison Nordell T’25, the President of the student body, Sally has not only been a mentor and support figure, but also a model for how to build community. “She’s someone who makes you feel seen, and effortlessly so,” Nordell says. “She will greet anyone with warm energy and eye contact, pausing in whatever she’s doing to ask you how you’re doing. She always makes time for others. Through Sally, I’ve learned how to truly listen.”

Faculty are equally reliant on her example and counsel. In response to Dean Slaughter’s announcement that Sally is stepping down, Scott Neslin, the Albert Wesley Frey Professor of Marketing, wrote to Sally: “I thank you for the personal attention you’ve allotted me—whether it be honor code, student absences, or delicate personal situations, your advice has always been fair and professional. I just asked Sally Jaeger.” Joe Hall recalls Sally steering him towards making an apology to a student whom he had scolded in class for what he thought was a rule violation. “I thought I was right, but Sally said some students thought I was too hard on the student,” Hall says. “Five days later, I taught the class again and opened by apologizing, and it was amazing how many students came up to me after class and said how my apology showed great leadership. It showed how well Sally knows the community.”

It’s hard to even begin to quantify the admiration for Sally among alumni. In that cohort, Russell Wolff D’89, T’94 has probably known her the longest. He met Sally in his freshman year at Dartmouth, in 1985, when he served as a tour guide for the Admissions office. When he and his wife Patty Wolff T’94 would visit Dartmouth with their kids and stay at the Hanover Inn, Sally and Dick (who passed away in 2022) would go see them, and they have been friends through good times and bad. Russell, who has served on the Tuck Board of Advisors for seven years and has been the Tuck representative to the Dartmouth Alumni Council, among other posts, has watched Sally interact with Tuck students through the years. “Nobody represents Tuck better to prospective and current students and alumni than Sally,” Russell says. “Her spirit is infectious. She is a steward of the culture and brand of Dartmouth and Tuck. She always knows the right thing to say and do, and she’s been there for generations of Tuckies, which is amazing.”

Scott Fisher D’93, Th’93, T’98, the chairman of the Board of Advisors of the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth, has known Sally since he was a 17-year-old high school senior applying to Dartmouth, and Sally was his local Dartmouth admissions officer. Scott reflects fondly on the experience he had with Sally after being waitlisted. “The amount of care Sally gave to me was extraordinary. She saw something in me and went to bat for me. What she did for me was pivotal to my admission to Dartmouth, which in turn provided me with an education and opportunities I wouldn't have received anywhere else. Her great care also reinforced in me the importance of giving back to others, a concept which is at the heart of the culture at Tuck and across Dartmouth.” Later, when Scott applied to Tuck, he didn’t realize that Sally was again reviewing his application, but he jokes that his admissions process was smoother the second time around. He stays in regular touch with Sally today and always says hello when he visits campus to guest lecture in the MBA classroom and in Bridge. “Sally has been the cornerstone of the Tuck culture. I know a lot of Tuck alumni, faculty, and staff. If you mention Sally’s name, everyone relates and warms up. She can relate and connect to anyone.”

When Lesley Chin T’13 received Dean Slaughter’s announcement about Sally, this is what she wrote to Sally: 

“When I first entered Tuck back in 2003 as a Bridge kid, I knew very quickly that Tuck would become part of my life. What I did not realize until much later, when I had the opportunity to re-immerse myself into Hanover as a T’13, was how much of that impression was due to your footprints. It surfaced at the beginning with how the Admissions officers’ personal touches both attracted and fostered matriculation of both the type of future leaders and kind folks who became friends. It’s also been evident through the way you model for faculty, staff, alumni, and current students how to be a true Tuckie—knowing every individual as they pass through the various corridors of Tuck as well as you do. You are and have been a role model of the fiber that makes Tuck so special.”

While incredibly modest and self-effacing, Sally knows the integral role she plays at Tuck. As a skilled leader, Sally has taken great care to establish a team in the MBA Program Office who will continue the level of service and commitment to the community as she moves into a different role. Lauren Morse, who has worked for Sally for 18 years, and Vincent Mack will serve as the Co-Executive Directors of the MBA Program. “They are just phenomenal people,” Sally says, “And I know they can step into my shoes and not miss a beat.”

Are they nervous to go on without Sally? “Heck yes!” Vincent says. But he’s not surprised. “It’s daunting because she knows everything, but she brought us into this conversation far earlier than most leaders would have. She has deliberately put me in situations with students, so that when the same thing happens in the future, I know exactly what to do.”

As Morse explains, “Sally has given us the ability to make decisions and to fail, so we’ve learned that life goes on and we can do better next time.”

Sally isn’t sure what will come next for her. She will certainly have more time to spend with her Labrador retrievers, Annie (7) and Louie (a puppy). She’s not worried about staying busy.

Scott Neslin, who has been a Tuck professor since 1978, put it wisely when he wrote to Sally: “Organizations move on, and thanks to your continuing to fortify the community, Tuck will continue to be a special place. But you played a key role in making it so.”

This story originally appeared in print in the summer 2025 issue of Tuck Today magazine.