Hanover -- Global health pioneer Jim Yong Kim took up the mantle of Dartmouth College yesterday, receiving centuries-old treasures that symbolized his inauguration as the college's 17th president and passing on to students a charge: “Do something great with all you've got. Be ambitious. Aspire to change the world.”

Before a crowd of more than 5,000 on the Dartmouth Green, Kim summoned the thinking of American pragmatist philosopher John Dewey, recognized milestones for which presidential predecessors are remembered and set out goals ranging from the lofty to the practical.

“Beat Harvard,” said the Harvard-trained physician and anthropologist, one of the afternoon's loudest applause lines as he abandoned crimson to wrap himself in Dartmouth green. “Please, this year,” he implored.

With his closest friend introducing Kim and dozens of family members looking on, the two-plus hour ceremony was a mix of intimate moments and a preview of the far-reaching hopes of a community of scholars, alumni and students.

Kim's wife, Younsook Lim, said after the inauguration that she was “very, very touched” by the ceremony.

“It's quite emotional for us,” said Lim, a pediatrician.

And then there was Kim's best friend, Paul Farmer, who while a medical student with Kim founded Partners in Health, the nonprofit global health organization that ministers to the world's poorest, sickest people. Farmer introduced Kim to the crowd.

“And now you have Jim Yong Kim as your president. Truly a global man if there ever was one. Harvard and Partners in Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital give you our beloved friend and leader. He will be a great president,” said Farmer, godfather to Kim's two children. “Let me be oracular and make a prediction: Jim Yong Kim will be the greatest president Dartmouth has ever seen, which is saying a very great deal,” Farmer said.

Kim, 49, is “already a hero in Korea,” said Young Shin, a correspondent for The Dong-A Ilbo Daily, one of several Korean news outlets covering yesterday's inauguration. Kim is the first Asian American to lead an Ivy League college.

After writing about Kim being named Dartmouth president in March, Shin said he heard from legions of parents wanting Kim's e-mail address.

“They want to know how they should raise their kids like Mr. Kim's mother did,” said Shin, in an interview before the ceremony.

Kim's mother, Oaksook Kim, a theologian-philosopher with a doctorate, inspired her three children by reading to them about Booker T. Washington while their dentist father kept them grounded in the practical.

Yesterday the elder Kim, seated in the front row, played the proud matriarch. All of her children, she said, had “always been at the top of their classes.” Then, gesturing to Jim Yong Kim's elder son, Thomas, 8, she said: “My grandson is the same.”

The afternoon of pomp and circumstance began with more than 350 scholars -- Dartmouth professors and representatives from other colleges and universities -- parading onto the Green in billowing robes of many colors.

The roll call of visiting dignitaries surpassed all previous inauguration counts, said Diana Pearson, the college's vice president for communications.

“This is a big deal,” said Dartmouth Safety and Security officer Teddy Willey, patrolling the Green on a bicycle at his first inauguration as the teachers strode by. “I had no idea there would be this many of them.”

Kim and Dartmouth Provost Barry Scherr were at the head of the professorial parade with James Wright, whom Kim succeeds as president, behind them.

The trio was led onto the Green by eight drummers from the Korean Traditional Performing Arts Association of New York City. Kim clasped his hands and bowed to the troupe before they set out.

After the swearing-in was done, the Green became an echo chamber of superlatives, as many of those who had heard Kim speak were effusive in their praise.

“The kids here think he's a rock star,” said Al Collins of Boston, Dartmouth Class of '53. “They want to be close to him, to touch him.”

English professor Bed Prasad Giri called Kim's speech “very moving.”

“He was wonderful,” said the junior faculty member.

Dartmouth senior Tien Tien Jong of Ogden, Utah, said that with Kim at the helm, “it feels like this is a time when so much is possible.”

Her friend, Nick Andrews of Sudbury, Mass., called Kim “fantastic.”

“He has so many connections around the world. That's huge for Dartmouth,” he said.

In his 23-minute speech, Kim had a list of goals for students.

“Find your passion, be persistent in achieving mastery, pursue knowledge in the way that works best for you and embrace the planet's problems because no one will be more prepared to fix them than you,” he said.

He told the crowd that: “The sound that you will hear if one morning you walk down the hallways of Silsby or pass the studios in the Hop -- to me, the most beautiful sound of all: the sound of students asking questions.”

To strong applause, Kim said the college should bring back the “Great Issues” course taught by John Sloan Dickey, president from 1945-70. It is, he said, “one Dartmouth experience that I hear about again and again from alumni.”

Kim also pledged to place a high value on faculty research.

“Let me be clear: Not only will we support research by our faculty, we also expect every Dartmouth student to engage in significant original scholarship during their time at the college. The discovery of new knowledge must be at the core of our collective mission,” Kim said to applause.

In vowing to inspire students, Kim said he hopes to honor the “sweetness” of campus life.

“I offer you this promise, backed by both passion and practicality to the fullest measure of which I am capable: I will do all I can to enable Dartmouth to continue delivering the treasury of its centuries-old dream safely into the hands of those who will shape the future. To send a legion of young people out into the world so inspired by this place that there is no challenge from which they will shrink -- all the while remaining true to the abiding sweetness of the college on the hill.”

After the inauguration, as hundreds of people stayed on the Green to sample sushi, salads and autumn apples and listen to college musical groups, Dartmouth's 16th president walked alone to the Hopkins Center.

“I felt tremendous enthusiasm for Jim,” President Emeritus James Wright said of Kim.

“I know, as few other people do, just how special it feels.”

Susan J. Boutwell can be reached at sboutwell@vnews.com or at (603) 727-3248.