Alumni, families and friends lead most successful fundraising effort in Connecticut College history

Connecticut College has reached a new level of excellence by raising $211 million through the Campaign for Connecticut College, a historic effort to transform the College’s educational experience. The campaign, which ended in June, is the most ambitious fundraising effort in the college’s history.

“Connecticut College is the institution it is today because of the kind of support we’ve seen through the campaign,” said President Leo I. Higdon, Jr. “The real measure of success is not the dollars raised, but the lives that have been changed by this investment in the college.”

More than 22,000 alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends contributed to the campaign, raising millions of dollars to support the College’s priorities of residential education, internationalization, science education and financial aid.

“The supporters of the campaign demonstrated a passion and commitment to the college that has made all the difference,” said Barbara Kohn ’72, chair of the campaign. “The college’s principles of access and excellence have been secured for the next generation of students.”

The campaign invested more than $46 million in capital projects, including the new science center at New London Hall, fitness center, and refurbished classrooms and residence hall common rooms. The $7.5 million renovation of the Charles E. Shain Library is the final building project of the campaign and will be completed within the next two years. Included in the Shain Library renovation will be the addition of the new Academic Resource Center, made possible by an anonymous $11 million gift, the largest individual gift in the college’s history. The center will bring together a broad array of campus staff and services to ensure that all students reach their highest academic potential.

The campaign also provided significant funds to support the student residential experience, including complete renovations of two of the college’s largest residence halls, a new Residential Education Fellows program to connect faculty and students outside the classroom, and additional endowment for the college’s five interdisciplinary academic centers.

In the area of internationalization, new funding was provided for faculty research and travel, curricular development and a host of foreign language initiatives to transform how students learn and use their speaking and writing skills.

The $25 million state-of-the-art science center at New London Hall, one of the most visible enhancements to the college’s oldest building, brings under one roof the life sciences and computer science, further strengthening opportunities for faculty and student collaboration and research across disciplines. The Science Leaders Program, funded by two major grants from the National Science Foundation, offers support for science majors from underrepresented groups. Grants awarded to faculty in the sciences during the campaign reached an all-time high — $7.7 million. In total, Connecticut College faculty members received research grants totaling more than $8.2 million.

Support for financial aid reached $24 million, enabling the world’s best students to pursue a Connecticut College education regardless of income. Nearly half of enrolled Connecticut College students receive aid.



August 7, 2013