HANOVER — The Dartmouth Board of Trustees at its spring meeting, approved a strategic initiative that would require a $150 million loan for construction of two new buildings and faculty growth.

The building projects approved are the construction of the North Campus Academic Center and the Williamson Translational Research Building.

Endorsing these two building initiatives is part of the college’s commitment to “strategies that would advance Dartmouth’s mission in an increasingly competitive and global higher education landscape,” Dartmouth said in a press release Tuesday.

“The Board is confident the buildings approved this weekend will have a transformative impact in the years to come,” said trustee Chairman Steve Mandel in a statement.

The North Campus Academic Center is being planned to be approximately 122,000 square feet of space. It would be the new home for academic and research programs, 18 additional classrooms and a new location for the Dana Biomedical Library.

The center would also foster interdisciplinary work across two social science departments as well as the Geisel School of Medicine, the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and the Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science.

The Williamson Translational Research Building would be constructed on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center campus in Lebanon.

“This building is a critical component of the Geisel School’s plan to lift Dartmouth into the top 20 medical schools nationwide by 2020. The facility will house programs concerned with adapting laboratory discoveries for use in patient care, with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary problem solving in areas including neuroscience, cancer, and immunology/infectious diseases, among others,” according to Dartmouth.

The initiative to enable faculty growth and promote research, teaching and enhanced student experiences requires a significant capital investment, Dartmouth said. “These two new buildings, and other strategic projects, will be supported in part by the issuance of $150 million in debt funding, approved this weekend.”

On Friday the board also elected two new charter trustees, Laurel J. Richie of the class of 1981, and David C. Hodgson of the class of 1978.

Richie is president of the Women’s National Basketball Association. Hodgson is a managing director of General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm.

“We are delighted to welcome Laurel and Dave to Dartmouth’s Board. Laurel’s breadth of experience in reputational development for blue chip institutions and leading nonprofits and Dave’s expertise in finance and in planning, strategy, and governance in higher education will complement and advance the already significant skill set of our Board. We look forward to working with them both.” Mandel said.

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Meghan Pierce may be reached at mpierce@newstote.com.