Dwight Hall at Yale, the nonprofit organization that was founded by Yale undergraduates in 1886 to promote community service and social justice, has named a new general secretary. Kathrine Burdick, president and chief executive officer of the Family Service Association of Southeastern Connecticut, will begin her four-year appointment as Dwight Hall's general secretary in May. She was chosen by a committee led by Gordon Geballe, chair of the board of directors of Dwight Hall and associate dean at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The committee also included other board members, staff and students. "Kathrine Burdick has a range of experience as varied as the programs of Dwight Hall," says Geballe. "We are confident that, with her great warmth and intelligence, she will be able to inspire and guide the Dwight Hall family. We are also confident in her ability to build bridges to agencies and organizations in the New Haven community so Dwight Hall can continue to be a strong, dynamic place." According to Anika Singh, co-coordinator of the Dwight Hall Student Cabinet, who served on the search committee, "The long, thoughtful process of selecting a General Secretary has allowed us to choose a leader who will help achieve our vision for Dwight Hall as a strong organization that effectively meets the community needs of New Haven and beyond." Burdick's career has included everything from working on the frontlines of inner-city childcare to executive positions with public and private agencies, where she mobilized often-scarce resources to respond to human needs. "My career began as the first director of a church-sponsored childcare center in the North End of Hartford," says Burdick. "The center grew into a citywide system of centers serving hundreds of children. That beginning remains with me, reminding me of the power and possibilities when people and vision and dedication are combined." Before joining the Family Service Association of Southeastern Connecticut in 1997, she had worked for the State of Connecticut since 1984 in its Department of Human Resources and the Family Services Division of the Department of Social Services. Her dedication to community service has also inspired her and her husband, Reverend Harry Burdick, to spend a number of their vacations working for relief projects in Haiti. According to Burdick, "The opportunity to join the Dwight Hall and Yale communities has generated in me many of the emotions that students may have experienced when they received the great news that they were Yale-bound. I'm excited, honored, hopeful, full of questions and very eager to begin. "Dwight Hall's historic dedication and commitment to social justice and doing something -- many things, actually -- to make a constructive difference in the New Haven community strikes a deep chord in me," she adds. "Dwight Hall has all of the essential ingredients: gifted individuals, visions and dreams about how our world and communities might be, and enthusiastic, tireless dedication. I can't wait to begin." Student leadership is at the core of the Dwight Hall mission. With a staff of five and a student cabinet, the organization supports and challenges students to consider the basic needs of the community as they create their own programs working with youths, the elderly, the disadvantaged and others in sites ranging from schools to homeless shelters. Although originally founded by Yale students, Dwight Hall is completely independent of the University. Yet, through Dwight Hall, more than 2,500 Yale undergraduates volunteer annually with more than 100 community organizations, providing over 100,000 hours of service annually. Undergraduate leaders of over 70 student-run service programs are members of the Dwight Hall Student Cabinet, which provides support and resources to help all student volunteers in their work. Among the programs currently affiliated with Dwight Hall are the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project; Christmas in April, in which Yale students spend one day providing home repair services to low-income, elderly and disabled homeowners; Reach Out Speak Out (ROSO), which teaches public speaking skills to students; and FOCUS on New Haven, a week-long community service orientation to New Haven for Yale sophomores. Since 1968, Dwight Hall has coordinated the Summer Intern Project, which allows students to spend the summer months working full-time on community service projects of their own design. For further information about Dwight Hall, call 432-2420. 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 Kathrine Burdick