The �ֲ��ý advancement office – News

Improvements coming to softball’s Lafayette Street Field

Meredith McCarroll — Thu, 07 May 2026 19:29:35 +0000

As �ֲ��ý softball celebrates its 50th anniversary, the program is moving forward with a significant transformation of its home facility at Lafayette Street Field — marking a major investment in the future of softball at �ֲ��ý. Fundraising efforts have met the $1 million dollar threshold thanks to gifts from a number of donors.

“I’m incredibly excited about what this project represents for our softball program and for the entire department,” said Director of Athletics Stacey Bunting. “As we celebrate 50 years of �ֲ��ý softball, this project both recognizes the program’s history and invests in its future, creating a space that will support championship-level competition and enhance the daily experience for our student-athletes.”

Softball alumni gathered for a celebration of the 50 years of �ֲ��ý softball on May 2. (Rene Roy for �ֲ��ý College)

Improvements include professional-grade drainage and installation of artificial turf. Drainage issues, along with lingering snow early in the season, have often required the softball team to travel for practice and games. Now they won’t have to.

“Turfing the field gives us consistency and a true home we can take pride in,” said softball Head Coach Kat McKay. “It will allow us to train as needed and compete at a high level regardless of the weather.”

There will be upgrades to the fencing and safety features. “It’s a much more modern, sleek, and functional look,” said Chris Streifel, director of capital planning and construction. “Definitely an improvement on the current chain link fence.” The field will be strategically reconfigured as well, with a new scoreboard in left field. Grandstand seating and a custom windscreen are also part of the improvements.

Leadership Gifts Officer Chelsea Turner ’94, who played softball throughout her time as a student at �ֲ��ý, remembers a season the team traveled to Trinity College for their first game having never practiced outside. The weather and the field forced them to practice in Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building. Inspired by her experience as a player, Turner worked with donors on the project to transform the softball field.

This rendering shows the planned improvements to Lafayette Street Field. Work on the project will begin after Memorial Day, and the field is expected to be ready for play by late August. In addition to artificial turf, the improvements include grandstand seating, a new fence, and new placement for the scoreboard.

For softball’s coach, there’s no doubt this project is “transformational,” but McKay also points out that her players have “never made excuses — they’ve made it work everywhere — different spaces, different fields, tough conditions, even traveling for ‘home’ games.”

Trustee Jeremy B. Chase ’91 and Christine Werthmann Chase ’92 were lead donors for the project, sponsoring a match to help reach this initial goal.

The team is heading into their postseason, having swept Trinity in a double header on Senior Day at home, but Coach McKay is already anticipating the future, with gratitude. “This gives our current players — and our alumni — something they’ve earned after 50 years of softball: a home field they can be proud to call theirs. This elevates everything we do and sets us up for where we want to go as a program.”

�ֲ��ý alumni and parents give $260,000 for ‘game-changer’ squash court

Victoria Stanton — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 13:50:16 +0000

With generous funding from alumni and parents, �ֲ��ý College will add a pivotal sixth new court to the �ֲ��ý Squash Center and undertake significant facility improvements, Director of Athletics Kevin McHugh announced on Sept. 22.

Two-time NESCAC Player of the Year Ahmed Abdel Khalek ’16 takes on a player from Amherst College at the �ֲ��ý Squash Center. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

“Our squash program is among the most competitive in the country, and support from our alumni and parents will enhance the experience for our players while contributing to that excellent reputation,” said McHugh.

The squash center upgrades will be completely donor-funded, with �ֲ��ý families contributing all of the $260,000 needed for the project, scheduled for completion in late October.

The addition of the sixth court, a refurbished U.S. Open Championship court from McWIL Courts whose glass walls give spectators a 360-degree view, will greatly improve the college’s ability to host tournaments, McHugh said. This significant gift will also fund a new team room and renovations to existing locker room facilities and spectator seating.

Avery and Allison Bourke, the parents of a senior squash player and lead donors to the project, emphasized the relationship between excellence in campus facilities and excellence in student performance.

“It has been said whether you think you can or whether you think you ��’t, you’re right,” Avery Bourke noted. “We hope that this new court will be a showcase for �ֲ��ý players who know they can.”

Trustee and fellow lead donor Christopher Gorayeb ’80 put it simply. “As alumni, we should recognize an obligation to assist �ֲ��ý wherever there is a need. I am happy to do so with this project.”

Also making a significant philanthropic contribution to the project are the families of Walter and Kim Cabot P’11, P’13, P’17 and Marty and Nancy Cannon P’15.

For a program that already competes at an elite level — the women’s team was ranked 12th in the nation in 2014 and the men’s, 13th — “this gift is a game-changer,” said head coach Pat Cosquer ’97.

Cosquer said that the new court will improve tournament play at �ֲ��ý considerably. Most of today’s college squash matches use a three-court system, where the No. 7, 8 and 9 matches are played on one court; 4, 5, 6 matches on a second court; and 1, 2, 3 matches on a third court. So host colleges with six courts can offer men’s and women’s matches simultaneously on three courts each.

�ֲ��ý’ five-court setup, however, did not allow this efficient style of play, said Cosquer. By adding a sixth court, the squash program shortens match play by 90 minutes, giving students more time for other commitments.

“Our athletes train at a high level, but they are students first,” he said. “We’re always mindful of how much time we ask them to spend away from academics.”

The court also gives �ֲ��ý the capacity to host more matches, reducing the need to travel and potentially saving the college several thousand dollars annually.

Cosquer, who currently conducts squash camps in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey, says that the new court will make it possible to host on-campus youth tournaments and camps, programs that can make valuable connections with potential �ֲ��ý students.

Gifts to �ֲ��ý surge 33 percent in 2014, topping $16 million

�ֲ��ý News — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:00:57 +0000

�ֲ��ý is celebrating a banner year in philanthropy to the college with total gifts from all sources surpassing $16 million as of the end of the 2014 giving year on June 30.

This total, the college’s highest since 2008, represents a 33 percent increase in dollars over the 2012–13 fiscal year.

“We have ambitious goals for �ֲ��ý, and I am inspired by this outpouring of support from the college community,” said President Clayton Spencer.

“These gifts put real dollars to work toward initiatives that will enhance the educational experience for all students and keep �ֲ��ý at the forefront of America’s liberal arts colleges.”

“We have ambitious goals for �ֲ��ý, and I am inspired by this outpouring of support from the college community,” said President Clayton Spencer, shown here greeting members of the Class of 1964 back to �ֲ��ý for their 50th Reunion in June. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ��ý College)

Resources from the Catalyst Fund contributed to this year’s impressive total by infusing support into the college’s three strategic priorities as articulated by President Spencer: the Engaged Liberal Arts*, Purposeful Work*, and Opportunity and Excellence*.

Announced last October by Mike Bonney ’80 P’09, P’12, P’15, chair of the Board of Trustees, the multi-donor Catalyst Fund pledge is the largest single commitment in �ֲ��ý history.

“These priorities build on the strengths of our mission while embracing the forces that are shaping the future of higher education,” Spencer said.

“I want to thank the thousands of �ֲ��ý alumni and parents who contributed this year, and to acknowledge the vision of the Catalyst Fund donors, whose gift helped propel us to this new level.”

Members of the Mount David Society, the college’s leadership giving society, made gifts of $4.8 million in 2014. Here, Tessa Hathaway ’14 of Pittsfield, Maine, talks with a donor during the annual Mount David Society Scholarship Luncheon on March 28. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ��ý College)

Within the Mount David Society, 35 new donors gave at the President’s Associates level of $10,000 and above. Mount David Society gifts totaled $4.8 million, including a matching contribution from anonymous �ֲ��ý alumni.

Gifts to Friends of �ֲ��ý Athletics, which have grown 27 percent in the last four years, climbed to $491,349.

Gifts to Friends of �ֲ��ý Athletics have grown 27 percent in the last four years, totaling $491,349 in 2014 to support �ֲ��ý teams. Here, members of women’s rowing hoist their trophies at the NCAA Rowing Championships, where �ֲ��ý earned third place as a team. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ��ý College)

Much of this success is thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who called, emailed and visited classmates and fellow parents, encouraging engagement and philanthropy at �ֲ��ý.

Heading up the volunteer effort were the 19 members of the �ֲ��ý Fund Executive Committee, led by trustee co-chairs Bill Carey ’82 P’13, P’14 and Rick Smith P’12.

As a result of their efforts, $6.1 million of this year’s total was raised for the �ֲ��ý Fund, providing current-use dollars for core strategic needs and priorities, including academic resources, faculty salaries and student programs.

Donors gave $6.1 million to the �ֲ��ý Fund, which was led by trustees Bill Carey ’82 (left) and Rick Smith P’12, co-chairs of the �ֲ��ý Fund Executive Committee. Here, Carey and Smith welcome alumni, parents and friends to the Boston Presidential Event in March. (Photograph by David Sokol)

�ֲ��ý continues to be a national leader in annual giving participation, an established measure of alumni engagement. Forty-nine percent of alumni and 40 percent of parents — the highest parent participation rate in �ֲ��ý’ history — gave to the college during 2013–14.

* The “engaged liberal arts” means delivering a rigorous and highly personalized education that centers on deep and sustained interactions among students, faculty, and community. It also means engaging the forces — intellectual trends, demographic changes, and technology — that are transforming higher education and the world into which our students graduate. It means making a virtue of our scale; creating a diverse and motivated community of students, faculty, and staff; and embracing innovative and evidence-based approaches to teaching and learning. back to article ^

* Purposeful work is a college-wide initiative built on the premise that preparing students for lives of meaningful work lies at the heart of the liberal arts mission. When fully developed it will include: (1) a co-curricular program involving cycles of exploration, reflection, and skill-building; (2) practitioner-taught courses during short term, and (3) a highly-structured �ֲ��ý-specific network of internships, with the hope to guarantee every �ֲ��ý student a paid internship that is either employer- or �ֲ��ý-sponsored. back to article ^

* A commitment to opportunity and excellence grows directly out of �ֲ��ý’ history and mission and responds to contemporary geographic, demographic, and economic realities. It means recruiting talented and motivated students from a broad range of backgrounds, providing them with the financial aid that will enable them to enroll, and supporting them for academic and personal success once here. It also means creating a campus community and climate that capitalize on diversity and inclusion as necessary and powerful dimensions of preparing our students to live and work in an increasingly interconnected world. back to article ^

Stangle family makes leadership gift to Catalyst Fund

�ֲ��ý News — Thu, 08 May 2014 03:00:18 +0000

The Stangle family, synonymous with leadership and philanthropy at �ֲ��ý, has made a significant new commitment of $750,000 to the college.

With this gift, Bruce Stangle ’70 and his wife, Emily Siegel Stangle ’72, join the multimillion dollar Catalyst Fund effort supporting major strategic initiatives at �ֲ��ý.

Emily Siegel Stangle ’72 and Bruce Stangle ’70 attend a reception at the �ֲ��ý College Museum of Art in 2012 honoring Bruce as the inaugural recipient of the Bruce Stangle Award for Distinguished Service to the �ֲ��ý Community. (Jose Leiva)

“�ֲ��ý is a jewel of a school,” said Bruce Stangle during a recent campus visit to speak in the Voices in Entrepreneurship Series. “For over 150 years it’s been training leaders. The people who graduate from �ֲ��ý make a real difference in the world, and that’s an important mission that we want to support.”

The Stangles’ gift to the Catalyst Fund, he added, is a “public show of support for what President Spencer is trying to do. She has a very tough job, and we want to lend our shoulder and financial resources to help her and help �ֲ��ý move forward.”

The Catalyst Fund supports three college initiatives:

+The Engaged Liberal Arts: Deep and sustained interactions

The “engaged liberal arts” means delivering a rigorous and highly personalized education that centers on deep and sustained interactions among students, faculty, and community. It also means engaging the forces — intellectual trends, demographic changes, and technology — that are transforming higher education and the world into which our students graduate. It means making a virtue of our scale; creating a diverse and motivated community of students, faculty, and staff; and embracing innovative and evidence-based approaches to teaching and learning.

+Purposeful Work: The heart of the liberal arts mission

Purposeful work is a college-wide initiative built on the premise that preparing students for lives of meaningful work lies at the heart of the liberal arts mission. When fully developed it will include: (1) a co-curricular program involving cycles of exploration, reflection, and skill-building; (2) practitioner-taught courses during short term, and (3) a highly-structured �ֲ��ý-specific network of internships, with the hope to guarantee every �ֲ��ý student a paid internship that is either employer- or �ֲ��ý-sponsored.

+Opportunity and Excellence: Directly out of �ֲ��ý’ history and mission

A commitment to opportunity and excellence grows directly out of �ֲ��ý’ history and mission and responds to contemporary geographic, demographic, and economic realities. It means recruiting talented and motivated students from a broad range of backgrounds, providing them with the financial aid that will enable them to enroll, and supporting them for academic and personal success once here. It also means creating a campus community and climate that capitalize on diversity and inclusion as necessary and powerful dimensions of preparing our students to live and work in an increasingly interconnected world.

“The Stangles’ gift is invaluable,” said President Clayton Spencer. “It provides much-needed support for students and faculty alike, and is an important endorsement of our strategic direction. I am profoundly thankful to them.”

Sarah R. Pearson ’75, vice president for college advancement, said that this “generous gift helps us raise our sights for �ֲ��ý and demonstrates the importance of the Catalyst Fund in providing new momentum in philanthropy.”

“Incredible value to its graduates.”

An English major at �ֲ��ý who holds a Ph.D. in applied economics from the MIT Sloan School of Management, Stangle is the co-founder of , the nation’s largest private economic consulting firm.

“I love �ֲ��ý and believe that �ֲ��ý delivers incredible value to its graduates,” he added. “Also, I think that making our philanthropy public can provide spillover benefits for �ֲ��ý by creating a demonstration effect. I’m confident that there are many others willing to give back to �ֲ��ý for the education they received.”

A �ֲ��ý trustee emeritus, he was recognized in 2011 for his many contributions to the college with the creation of the Bruce Stangle Award for Distinguished Service. Over the years, he has helped countless �ֲ��ý students and alumni navigate the business world and, among other outcomes, helped to launch the Boston �ֲ��ý Business Network.

The Stangle family’s philanthropy has included the Betty Doran Stangle Professorship in Applied Economics, named for Bruce’s mother and currently held by Professor Margaret Maurer-Fazio; a leadership gift that named, in his father’s memory, Frank’s Lounge in the student residence at 280 College St.; and the Stangle Family Fund to support research and awards in economics and law, and provide scholarship support for students.

Matt Perejda ’14 of Newry, Maine, talks with Stangle during his campus visit in March for the Voices in Entrepreneurship Series, sponsored by the college’s Purposeful Work initiative. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ��ý College)

During his campus visit on March 5 for the Voices in Entrepreneurship Series — a program that he helped to organize — Stangle sat down with students one-on-one for a series of informational interviews, dispensing career advice and encouraging mentees to lean on the �ֲ��ý network.

In the evening, he gave a talk on “Best in Class: Investing in People and Culture at a Top Consulting Firm.”

Regularly named one of the by The Boston Globe and other media outlets, Analysis Group gets high praise for maintaining a work culture that prizes both collaboration and leadership, without putting the two at odds.

That culture, Stangle says, was imported straight from �ֲ��ý.

“�ֲ��ý entrepreneurs know how to create good work environments because it matters to us how we motivate, reward and incentivize people,” Stangle says. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ��ý College)

“�ֲ��ý entrepreneurs know how to create good work environments because it matters to us how we motivate, reward and incentivize people,” he said.

“The �ֲ��ý culture produces people with the ability to lead, take personal responsibility and work as a team, and those personal characteristics are what my firm also tries to encourage.”

He added that the �ֲ��ý culture “made an imprint on me, as I know it has on so many other alumni. The values around hard work, inclusion, caring and excellence have been with me my entire life because of the experiences I had at �ֲ��ý and continue to have with the wider �ֲ��ý community.”

Another “Great Day”: �ֲ��ý community rallies on college’s day of giving

Victoria Stanton — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 12:39:49 +0000

The �ֲ��ý community turned out in force to show its philanthropic support for the college on April 23, this year’s annual day of giving, Great Day to Be a Bobcat.

�ֲ��ý received 1,164 gifts during the 24-hour period, 871 of which came from new donors. Together, alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff and students made gifts totaling $335,192.81.

Now in its second year, Great Day celebrates �ֲ��ý pride and recognizes the role of philanthropy in strengthening the college.

Erin Kintzing ’11 kicked off the day with her gift, made at 12:28 RET, from Réunion Island off the coast of Madagascar. In a midnight email to alumni and parents she joked that making a gift from the middle of the Indian Ocean was easy.

Faculty and staff made a strong showing, as did members of the Class of 2014, who also contributed to the collective giving effort by supporting their ongoing Senior Class Gift.

Trustee Quoc Tran ’95 offered a special challenge to the seniors: He pledged to add $1,000 to their class gift if they added 75 donors on Great Day. The seniors rose to the challenge, adding 80 to the day’s total. They hope to achieve 90 percent participation by Commencement weekend.

New residence halls on Campus Avenue begin the Campus Life Project

�ֲ��ý News — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 17:27:55 +0000

�ֲ��ý College will build new residence halls on Campus Avenue as the first step of a Campus Life Project intended to establish a dynamic center of college life on the south side of campus, �ֲ��ý President Clayton Spencer announced today.

In addition to new student housing, the Campus Life Project will transform Chase Hall into a contemporary campus center, relocate the College Store to street-level space in the public eye, and create a more defined and welcoming gateway to �ֲ��ý on the southeast corner of campus.

The two shaded ovals in this aerial view of campus represent the general focus of the Campus Life Project along Campus Avenue. The lower oval shows the location of future residence halls, including space for the College Store. The upper oval shows Chase Hall. Note: This illustration is not intended to demarcate the specific project footprint. (Map data: Google Earth)

“The Campus Life Project represents a crucial step forward in our commitment to deliver a highly personal liberal arts education that locates the academic experience in a residential community,” said �ֲ��ý President Clayton Spencer.

“By adding a new suite of residence halls, the project allows us to improve our residential offerings on a broad scale, while preserving the rich variety of housing options that is a �ֲ��ý hallmark. Locating the housing across from a new campus center in a transformed Chase Hall will ensure that the living space is integrated with much-needed meeting and social spaces for all members of the campus community.”

Design on the residential halls is underway. An ambitious building schedule calls for groundbreaking in September 2014 and opening the new buildings for students in fall 2016. College offices now housed in wood-frame buildings on and near Campus Avenue will be relocated beginning in June.

The project will be funded through a combination of tax-exempt financing and significant college fundraising, including naming opportunities at a variety of levels.

The Campus Life Project builds on the work of the Campus Facilities Master Plan, first developed in 2004 and updated in 2010 to guide the physical development of the �ֲ��ý campus and support broader strategic planning decisions. The initiative is overseen by the Campus Facilities Master Plan Steering Committee and a project advisory committee, both comprising students, faculty and staff who represent a broad array of functions and expertise across campus.

The Campus Life Project’s various elements, including landscaping and signage, will turn a few blocks of Campus Avenue into a lively center of �ֲ��ý life.

The college has retained Ann Beha Architects, a Boston–based planning and design firm, as project architect. Ann Beha and her team have extensive experience in designing signature buildings for colleges and universities, as well as other cultural institutions. Chris Streifel of �ֲ��ý Facility Services will serve as project manager.

The Campus Life Project’s various elements, including landscaping and signage, will turn a few blocks of Campus Avenue into a lively center of �ֲ��ý life, and “will renew and extend �ֲ��ý’ identity and resources along Campus Avenue, while establishing a vibrant campus gateway and a hub for community activity,” architect Beha said.

New residence halls continue the college’s strategic plan to improve student housing by reducing the density of beds in other residences.

The first part of the Campus Life Project is the design and construction of a suite of new buildings on college-owned property on Campus Avenue, across from Carnegie Science Hall, Chase Hall and Muskie Archives. In addition to residential space for more than 200 students, new spaces will be created for the College Store (currently located in a lower level of Chase Hall), office services and other administrative functions.

The addition of new residence halls continues the college’s strategic plan to improve student housing by reducing the density of beds in other residences, including Smith Hall. With no plans to increase the size of the student body, �ֲ��ý will remain at its current enrollment of approximately 1,750 students on campus and 250 studying abroad.

Following completion of new construction on Campus Avenue, �ֲ��ý will undertake a comprehensive reimagining and expansion of Chase Hall to serve as the hub of campus life. The restoration will incorporate contemporary architectural elements while preserving those components of Chase Hall that are historically significant, said architect Beha.

Once renovated, Chase will offer gathering spaces for �ֲ��ý students, faculty, staff and alumni while also making a striking first impression for prospective students visiting campus. Housing student-facing administrative offices as well as spaces for student organizations, the building will be lively at all hours of the day and night.

“Our goal is to complete the reclamation of Chase Hall for today and to place this beloved building front and center as a hub of �ֲ��ý campus life,” Spencer said.

A historic campus landmark dedicated in 1919 as a social center for men, Chase Hall quickly evolved into an all-student gathering place. It has long provided a wide variety of spaces: offices for student organizations; venues for social events (it was where �ֲ��ý men and women first danced together, in 1922); and, until a new facility was opened in 2008, the college’s dining Commons.

Chase has undergone a number of additions and renovations over the decades, the most recent in 2012. Supported by generous alumni and parents, �ֲ��ý made significant improvements to the lobby, Bobcat Den and Chase Lounge, and created meeting space for the �ֲ��ý Outing Club.

“Our goal is to complete the reclamation of Chase Hall for today and to place this beloved building front and center as a hub of �ֲ��ý campus life,” Spencer said.

From June through August, the college will relocate several offices now housed in wood-frame buildings on and near Campus Avenue. They include the �ֲ��ý Career Development Center, the �ֲ��ý Communications Office and the Office of Intercultural Education as well as some student organizations. Their current buildings will be razed.

The college’s contemporary planning process dates to 2004 and the approval of a Campus Facilities Master Plan. The plan provided strategic guidance for several construction projects, including the cross-campus Alumni Walk, a student residence at 280 College St. and the Commons dining facility, plus a major restoration of the Gomes Chapel and the expansion of Hedge Hall and Roger Williams as academic centers.

The current round of projects outlined in the updated Master Plan was authorized in October 2013 by the college’s Board of Trustees, which voted unanimously to approve a project recommendation from the Campus Facility Master Plan Committee.

$11.5 million Catalyst Fund will support ‘transformational change’ at �ֲ��ý College

�ֲ��ý News — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 15:34:19 +0000

A gift of $11.5 million from current and past members of the �ֲ��ý College Board of Trustees will empower the college to strengthen core academic programs and “to position �ֲ��ý to embrace transformational change,” in the words of �ֲ��ý President Clayton Spencer.

Called the Catalyst Fund, the gift was announced Friday afternoon at a special campus gathering in Chase Hall by Michael Bonney ’80, chair of the Board of Trustees and chief executive officer of Cubist Pharmaceuticals.

Faculty members Lillian Nayder (English), Jane Costlow (environmental studies) and Tom Wenzel (chemistry) applaud the announcement of the Catalyst Fund gift. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

The Catalyst Fund, Bonney told �ֲ��ý faculty, staff and trustees who filled Chase Lounge, represents “new financial resources that �ֲ��ý can spend, over and above our annual operating budget, in the next five years to move forward on key college initiatives — not tomorrow, not next year, but now.”

He said the Catalyst Fund is proof that donor families “understand and embrace the institutional priorities that have emerged in the last year. Their remarkable, collective generosity comes…from a singular excitement and enthusiasm about the direction that �ֲ��ý is taking.”

Video: Catalyst Fund announcement

Bonney praised the donors of the Catalyst Fund for their “eagerness, almost an impatience, to get going.”

In her remarks at Friday’s event, President Spencer said that “we have urgency, we have ideas, and we have ambition.”

Chair of the Board of Trustees Michael Bonney ’80 announces the $11.5 million Catalyst Fund gift as �ֲ��ý President Clayton Spencer applauds. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ��ý College)

But, she told the audience, “you won’t be surprised to hear that it takes resources to achieve ambitious goals. It takes resources to bring strength to strength and to position �ֲ��ý to embrace transformational change.”

Trustee Darrell Crate ’89 concluded the announcement with a champagne toast, noting that the goal of the Catalyst Fund is “relevant, pragmatic and inspired.”

In his toast, he said, “Here’s to �ֲ��ý, to the Catalyst Fund and to what is a materially stronger future for our college.”

Darrell Crate ’89, a member of the Board of Trustees, talks with Michael Murray, the college’s Charles Franklin Phillips Professor of Economics. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

The $11.5 million Catalyst Fund will be spent on programs in three areas: the Engaged Liberal Arts, Purposeful Work, and Excellence and Opportunity.

The Engaged Liberal Arts

The Engaged Liberal Arts, Spencer said, “means delivering the best possible version of the personalized, residential model of liberal arts education.”

“Students learn along the way that while information may be a click away, mastery and meaning are not.”

In this model, “professors who are active scholars teach students to interpret, experiment, imagine, analyze, explore and explain. Students learn along the way that while information may be a click away, mastery and meaning are not.” At the same time, she added, “we will embrace innovative pedagogies and strategically use new faculty appointments to shape a forward-looking curriculum that prepares students for the changing ways we experience the world.

“Innovation takes many forms,” Spencer said. “The availability of massive amounts of primary content online, advances in brain science and the ability to measure the learning process are revolutionizing the experience of teaching and learning. And technology, writ large and small, is a cultural force that is altering the way we live our lives.”

In the face of such forces, Spencer said, “�ֲ��ý will be a leader in recognizing ways that technology can bring innovation to teaching and research.”

Spencer highlighted the work of Associate Professor of Classical and Medieval Studies Margaret Imber, who is leading a project that supports faculty as “they make the critical investment of time and energy so they can engage the future right now,” Spencer said.

In collaboration with Michael Hanrahan, assistant director of curricular and research computing, Imber recently led a symposium that brought leaders in the digital humanities to campus to work with �ֲ��ý faculty “and to share the extraordinary developments available to them,” Spencer said.

“For our faculty, embracing technology requires an investment of time, which costs money, and a great willingness — which our professors possess — to master and deploy technology in ways that most help our students.”

Another force affecting higher education is the looming retirements of faculty born during the baby boom. In fact, she said, half of the �ֲ��ý faculty are eligible to retire over the next 10 years.

“Our central task as a college is to shape a forward-looking curriculum and hire the faculty to teach it,” Spencer said. “Similarly, we approach new developments in knowledge and pedagogy with zest and openness, as well as with a critical eye.”

Purposeful Work

“The goal of the Purposeful Work initiative is to embrace the reality that building a sustainable structure to help our students explore, understand and strengthen their relationship to work — in college and beyond — lies at the heart of the liberal arts mission,” Spencer said.

College graduates face the challenge of a highly competitive world where entering the work force is difficult, she said, to say nothing about finding work that connects with their interests and draws upon their best skills.

“All students…will have access to a wide range of work-relevant knowledge, connections and possibilities.”

Accordingly, �ֲ��ý will develop programming geared to the arc of its students’ four years that will help them to develop and discern their interests. Students will be able to link that process to an expanded suite of internships and other experiences that will increase their self-awareness, sharpen their skills and make them more marketable as graduates.

To support these goals, “�ֲ��ý will offer practitioner-taught courses and multi-year mentoring communities; strengthen job shadowing and apprenticeship opportunities; and create a robust internship program drawing on the interests and talents of alumni and parents,” Spencer said.

The Purposeful Work initiative, said Spencer, adds an important element to the college’s commitment to equity. It ensures that “all students, not only those with inherited networks of advancement, will have access to a wide range of work-relevant knowledge, connections and possibilities.”

Excellence and Opportunity

The commitment to Excellence and Opportunity is central to �ֲ��ý’ mission and history. “It means attracting and enrolling the very best students from a broad range of backgrounds and marshaling the resources to provide generous financial aid to support their education,” said Spencer. “And our current financial aid program reflects our commitment to these values.”

Forty-seven percent of �ֲ��ý students receive financial aid, and the average �ֲ��ý Grant is more than $35,000. Counter to national trends in student debt, �ֲ��ý financial aid is largely composed of outright grants, and students with loans graduate with an average debt load of approximately $17,000, compared to the national average of approximately $27,000.

“Any college, particularly a college like �ֲ��ý that has the advantage of having a strong tradition and strong resources, has an ethical obligation to make this experience available to people who can’t afford the very high cost it takes to mount a highly personalized residential liberal arts education,” Spencer said.

‘Terrific showing’ as �ֲ��ý Fund posts $6.27 million in gifts, 50 percent alumni participation

Victoria Stanton — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 19:00:58 +0000

With alumni participation once again topping 50 percent, the �ֲ��ý Fund received $6.27 million from alumni, parents and friends as of the close of the 2013 giving year on June 30.

Senior Gift co-chairs Henry Geng ’13 and Nancy Weidner ’13 present the Class Gift at Commencement as honorary degree recipient William Cronon and President Clayton Spencer applaud. With 92 percent participation, the Class of 2013 beat the previous participation record, held by the Class of 2012. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College.

At 50 percent participation for the second year in a row, �ֲ��ý is one of a handful of U.S. colleges that can boast alumni giving at this elite level.

Rising from 40 percent participation as recently as 2009, �ֲ��ý has the top-ranked growth in this giving category among highly selective liberal arts colleges.

Overall giving, including gifts to the college endowment, totaled a little more than $12 million in fiscal year 2013.

“I am so grateful to the thousands of alumni, parents and friends who make �ֲ��ý a philanthropic priority,” said Sarah Pearson, vice president for college advancement and herself a member of the Class of 1975. “A gift to the �ֲ��ý Fund is an enormous vote of confidence in the college and its mission.”

What’s more, Pearson added, these gifts “have a tremendous impact on the work of our students and faculty.”

“Creating a culture of engagement and financial support among alumni and parents is crucial.”

“This level of giving represents a terrific showing of support for �ֲ��ý,” said President Clayton Spencer. “We rely on annual giving to sustain our basic operations, and we have had a wonderful year — in admissions, athletics and all measures of academic achievement and success. Creating a culture of engagement and financial support among alumni and parents is crucial to the long-term future of the college, and I am so grateful for the generosity of so many in the �ֲ��ý family in moving us forward in such a positive way.”

A terrific year:

David Harning '13 of Rye, N.H., talks about his sediment core research in New Zealand during the 2013 Mount David Summit. Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College.

Ingrid Olivia Norrmén-Smith ’13 received a prestigious Watson Fellowship to research perceptions of stroke in Africa and Asia. Mike Bradley/�ֲ��ý College.

In a season dedicated to late teammate Troy Pappas ’16, the football team won the CBB title, posted its best record since 1981 and saw head coach Mark Harriman named NESCAC Co-Coach of the Year. Mike Bradley/�ֲ��ý College.

A series of events around the country welcoming President Spencer drew record numbers of alumni, parents and friends to iconic venues like the Boston Museum of Science (here) and the New York Public Library. Photograph by Jared Charney.

Known as a top producer of prestigious Fulbright award recipients, �ֲ��ý graduated 11 such seniors in the Class of 2013. They will use their grants to study and teach abroad.

�ֲ��ý’ newest alumni — graduates of the Class of 2013 — broke records with 92 percent participation in their Senior Class Gift, toppling the previous record of 87 percent set by their immediate predecessors, the Class of 2012.

In addition to this year’s Senior Class Gift campaign, other milestones included a victory by young alumni in a competition known as March Mania and a successful one-day giving campaign in May, the first of its kind at �ֲ��ý.

Bill Carey ’82 P’13 P’14, trustee and co-chair of the �ֲ��ý Fund

Much of this success was due to the dedication of �ֲ��ý’ more than 700 alumni and parent volunteers, said Bill Carey ’82 P’13 P’14, who co-chairs the �ֲ��ý Fund with fellow �ֲ��ý trustee Rick Smith P’12.

“The �ֲ��ý Fund was founded by �ֲ��ý alumni as a partnership between the college and its alumni,” Carey said. “In this spirit, the �ֲ��ý Fund could not exist today without the work of both alumni and parents who contribute thousands of hours and who bring great passion, enthusiasm, talent and care to their work.

“In addition, our volunteers’ giving percentage reaches the upper 90s each year, which underscores their incredibly high level of engagement.”

Reunion classes (this year all classes ending in 3 or 8) contributed more than $1.7 million in gifts and reached an average participation rate of 59 percent in honor of their milestone year.

Gifts to the Parents Fund, which includes current and alumni parents, totaled $1.46 million and 39 percent participation.

Friends of �ֲ��ý Athletics, which provides funding over and above a sports team’s annual budget, contributed more than $400,000 of this year’s �ֲ��ý Fund gifts, a record for the program. Director of Athletics Kevin McHugh attributes that success to the loyalty and pride of FBA donors.

“They give because they are passionate about �ֲ��ý, and they believe in the powerfully positive experience provided by participating in the college’s athletics program,” he said.

The 2013 giving year was “the very definition of a team effort.”

Founded by vote of the �ֲ��ý Alumni Association in 1928, the �ֲ��ý Fund provides more than $6 million for academics, athletics, financial aid and student programs annually.

‘Opportunity not importunity’: a story of who really founded the �ֲ��ý Fund

Jay Burns — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 21:00:10 +0000

The college’s first 20 acres of land? A gift, from the people of Lewiston. The first building, Hathorn Hall? A gift, from Seth and Mary Hathorn of Woolwich. The name, �ֲ��ý College? A gift, from Benjamin �ֲ��ý. �ֲ��ý and most private U.S. colleges came to be through philanthropy. Yet the tradition of alumni making regular annual gifts — known as the �ֲ��ý Fund here — didn’t take hold until many years later. Mindful that some 2,000 �ֲ��ý alumni will make their annual �ֲ��ý Fund gifts this week, here’s a brief history of the fund, and how alumni took the lead in creating a robust giving tradition that, along with parent gifts, provides more than $6 million for academics, athletics, financial aid and student programs each year.

Some 83 years later, �ֲ��ý women celebrate silver at the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships in Indianapolis on June 1, 2013. Photograph by Mike Bradley/�ֲ��ý College.

A study scene in Coram Library, circa 1930. Debuting in 1929-30, the first �ֲ��ý alumni fund raised gifts for the library, student activities and career development.

Students are variously engrossed in their work during finals week, fall semester 2012, in Ladd Library. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College.

Debaters Catherine Djang ’13 and Ben Smith ’13, ranked among the world's best this year, pose with Director of Debate and Lecturer in Rhetoric Jan Hovden. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College.

Debaters of 1923, the era of the first alumni fund. From left, Theodore Pinckney '23, later an orthopedic surgeon; Erwin Canham '25, Rhodes Scholar and editor of the Christian Science Monitor, Professor Craig Baird, and William Young '24, later head of elementary education in New York state. Photograph courtesy of Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library.

The �ֲ��ý Fund got going in 1929 when 81-year-old George S. Ricker, Class of 1867, made the inaugural gift of $10 to the �ֲ��ý College Alumni Fund, authorized the year before by Alumni Association vote. A graduate of �ֲ��ý’ first college class, Ricker was in some ways prototypical. A minister with a social justice commitment, Ricker was the longtime superintendent of the Society for the Friendless in Kansas, an advocacy group for ex-cons and prisoners. He hand-delivered his gift ($135 in today’s dollars) after traveling from Wichita, Kan., to �ֲ��ý for Commencement 1929, an act that was noted in a �ֲ��ý Alumnus story about the new fund, carrying the headline “Opportunity Not Importunity.” Meanwhile, the first U.S. college alumni fund had begun about 40 years before, as Yale was busy playing financial catch-up with Harvard. Problem was, while Harvard could tap the wealth of Boston’s Brahmins, there was nothing comparable in New Haven, according to Yale: A History.

George S. Ricker of the Class of 1867 made the first gift to the new Alumni Fund, now the �ֲ��ý Fund, at Commencement 1929.

So in June 1890, in response to the “widespread sentiment” among Yale alumni supporting a “systematic endeavor to increase the resources of the University,” Yale voted to establish an alumni fund. A few years later, President William Jewett Tucker created a similar fund at Dartmouth to bolster that college’s meager annual revenues. An alumni fund, he said, is “peculiarly adapted to our constituency, among whom many are willing and eager to do something regularly, while few only are able to make single large gifts or great bequests.” At Harvard, President A. Lawrence Lowell had the opposite opinion, even as the university launched its alumni fund somewhat late, in 1925. “Wrongly conceived,” he declared. An alumni fund “will do more harm than good, for it will serve the alumni with an excuse to contribute smaller sums than they might likely give for a specific purpose.” (How wrong he was: A central tenet of higher education fundraising is that alumni funds and “specific purpose” campaigns are perfectly complementary; it’s not either/or.)

The Alumni Association recruited and organized volunteers, who asked their fellow alumni to make gifts to support annual faculty salaries.

At �ֲ��ý, reduced enrollments combined with galloping inflation during World War I put a real scare into the college. The Alumni Association (not the college administration, mind you) responded by creating the �ֲ��ý Alumni Loyalty Fund, modeled after a similar fund at Brown.

Graduates leave the Chapel after Commencement 1930, the first year of the �ֲ��ý Fund. That year, the fund’s goal included career support for graduates. Photograph courtesy of Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library.

The Alumni Association recruited and organized volunteers, forebears of today’s �ֲ��ý Fund class agents, who asked their fellow alumni to make gifts to support annual faculty salaries. “A result not anticipated, but one of great importance, came out of the organization and work of the Loyalty Fund,” noted the �ֲ��ý Alumnus. “A scattered, unorganized and untrained group of college graduates learned to think and to work together.” President Clifton Daggett Gray relied on this motivated alumni volunteer network to solicit gifts for the Million Dollar Fund Campaign that kicked off in 1922 and funded Alumni Gymnasium and Gray Athletic Building. So it was that at Commencement 1928, alumni voted to create a permanent �ֲ��ý Alumni Fund. In doing so, they put forth a set of fundraising objectives that would fit just fine in a contemporary pitch for the �ֲ��ý Fund. That is, they sought support for the basics: For the library, “the intellectual dynamo” of the college. For students and their “athletic, musical, forensic and other activities.” And for life after �ֲ��ý, including career development and “opening up opportunities” in the fields of education, business, industry and other realms. Sources: �ֲ��ý Alumnus, November 1929

Alumni make May 15 a “great day”

Victoria Stanton — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:00:08 +0000

Generations of �ֲ��ý students and alumni have rallied around the slogan “It’s a Great Day to Be a Bobcat!” On May 15, alumni from around the world committed to making the day especially grand.

The Bobcat takes a break after May 15’s “It’s a Great Day to Be a Bobcat” campaign, when �ֲ��ý sought 555 additional alumni donors to the �ֲ��ý Fund in one day. Photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College

The college sought 555 additional alumni donors to the �ֲ��ý Fund in one day, part of the ongoing campaign to reach 55 percent alumni participation by the close of the giving year on June 30.

Alumni easily exceeded the goal with 599 total gifts, bringing their total �ֲ��ý Fund participation thus far to 37 percent, a three-point increase in one day.

The slogan “It’s a great day to be a Bobcat” comes from former football coach Web Harrison ’63, who adapted the cheer from his days as a U.S. Marine — “It’s a great day to be a Marine!”

Today it is used to observe any successful �ֲ��ý endeavor.

The Wednesday event, dubbed “It’s a Great Day to Be a Bobcat!,” celebrated alumni pride while also raising awareness about �ֲ��ý Fund giving, which supports faculty salaries and student financial aid, among other programs.

The May 15 challenge came on the heels of several recent �ֲ��ý Fund successes. This spring, young alumni secured �ֲ��ý’ first March Mania victory, defeating Colby, Connecticut College and Trinity in a competition to see which college could garner the most gifts to their annual funds from their 10 youngest class years.

Last year, �ֲ��ý alumni achieved a record-breaking 55 percent participation and earned an extra $500,000 for the college.

Alumni had until midnight on May 15 to make their gifts and be counted in the challenge.

Make a gift to the �ֲ��ý Fund.

The �ֲ���ý advancement office – News