Annual Report 2016-2017 1 From the President his has been a dynamic year for reinvention of the liberal arts. Connections Connecticut College. Our strategic is an audacious curriculum for our new plan, Building on Strength, was century, daring students to put the Taffirmed by the Board of Trustees. The world together in new ways. Through College officially launched Connections Connections, our students will buttress with the Class of 2020. And we completed their academic major with interdisciplinary designs for a wonderful new hub of 21st- studies, a relevant internship, a world century learning: the Otto and Fran language, and a whole global outlook in Walter Commons for Global Study and order to become creative, adept, and socially Engagement. Construction of this new responsible leaders of the future. We like facility on the ground floor of the Blaustein to think of it as the new liberal arts for our Humanities Center is scheduled to be interconnected world. complete in spring 2018. Students need such a breadth of Last spring, I traveled across the country perspective in order to find solutions to the on a 12-city tour to talk about our future increasingly intractable problems of our plans. The many alumni, parents, and time. And that, of course, requires them friends I spoke to recognized Building on to look across not just disciplines but also Strength as a strong path for the future, national and regional borders. Connecticut with goals and priorities that provide College is known for its rich world for an exceptional academic program; a language offerings and unique programs distinctively different residential experience; for study abroad, including the distinctive a community nourished by tolerance, certificate we offer through our Center for understanding, and respect; and a stable International Studies and the Liberal Arts. financial future that will allow Connecticut With Connections, we want to build on College to flourish for another 100 years. that strength, by guaranteeing that every The foundation stone of Building on student will integrate a global perspective Strength is Connections, the College’s into their four-year experience. 11 The new Otto and Fran Walter Commons its impact and ensuring that the College for Global Study and Engagement is central continues to cultivate leaders who are to this vision. It brings together under one changing the way we understand the world. roof our language and culture center, our This report offers the stories of several education abroad offices, our centers for faculty and students who are engaged in international studies and the critical study of doing just that. From working to solve India’s race and ethnicity, and new technology-rich sanitation crisis to expanding the context for collaboration spaces, greatly enhancing the language learning to easing the transition opportunities for global learning both close for local refugee families, our faculty and to home and in far-flung locales. The $1.625 students exemplify the College’s mission of million renovation was made possible putting the liberal arts into action. through the generous support of three Our plan is to accelerate this critical foundations—the Otto and Fran Walter work through aggressive fundraising and Foundation, the George I. Alden Trust, and strategic fiscal management. This year, the the William Randolph Hearst Foundation— Connecticut College Fund raised a record as well as a substantial gift from Susan $6 million with gifts from more than 6,200 Eckert Lynch ’62. alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students, Local and global engagement has long and friends. It was the third consecutive been central to the work of our Holleran year of increased participation, a pattern Center for Community Action and Public that is bucking national trends and one Policy. And the future of that work, too, that we want to replicate in coming years. just got better with a remarkable $2.5 million gift from Trustee Emerita Carolyn Holleran ’60 and Jerry Holleran GP ’07. As the College’s primary incubator for social reform, the Holleran Center provides students with the kind of intentional, interdisciplinary, and immersive education 15 that was the model for Connections. The first-year seminars centered on Hollerans’ generous gift will more than global themes (from Inventing World double the Center’s endowment, expanding Religions to Virtual Realities in Japan) 2 Katherine Bergeron, President Our endowment remains strong at $290 you for your generosity and your dedication million, and Moody’s Investors Service has to Connecticut College as we work together reconfirmed our A2 rating with a stable to educate our students to make a lasting outlook. impact on the world. Trustees, alumni, and parents are essential to our success. The end of this report concludes with an honor roll of donors, and Katherine Bergeron I, too, want to conclude by thanking all of President 3 Key components of the Walter Commons include: ■ Curricular and cocurricular activities to promote deep knowledge of cultures and communities ■ Enhanced academic advising to enrich student off-campus learning and engagement ■ Pre- and post-departure study away programs ■ Events with campus and community partners to foster global understanding ■ Projects foregrounding spaces and opportunities in the wider New London and New England communities to develop global perspectives ■ Lectures and seminars with international visiting scholars and artists, including scholars-in-residence hosted through the IIE-Scholar Rescue Program ■ Globally networked learning opportunities to connect students on campus with partners and places in other parts of the world A rendering by Centerbrook Architects of the Otto and Fran Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement 5 6 The Walter Commons THE MAKING OF THE OTTO AND FRAN WALTER COMMONS FOR GLOBAL STUDY AND ENGAGEMENT. uilding on a tradition of and community-based learning, and modern innovation and a commitment to technology,” said Amy Dooling, associate international education and engaged dean of global initiatives, director of the Bscholarship, Connecticut College will Walter Commons, and professor of Chinese. launch a new center for global study and “The imperatives of global education engagement this spring. in the 21st century require more- The Otto and Fran Walter Commons for deliberate integration of social justice and Global Study and Engagement will advance internationalization agendas. This includes student learning across disciplines, borders, realigning our practices to better meet and cultural boundaries. Developed in the needs and leverage the cultural wealth concert with Connections, the College’s of our ever more diverse domestic and reinvention of the liberal arts, the Walter international student body, while ensuring Commons will open on the ground floor of that a Connecticut College education Blaustein Humanities Center following a equips students of all backgrounds with the $1.625 million renovation. capacity to put knowledge into action.” “The idea behind the Walter Commons The new Walter Commons brings was to consolidate a variety of the College’s together the College’s Center for the global study resources under one roof, Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, and to expand the ways in which students Language and Culture Center, Office of and faculty examine world issues through Study Away, Toor Cummings Center for interdisciplinary discussions, experiential International Studies and the Liberal Arts, From left to right: Amy Dooling, Director, Walter Commons; Shirley Parson, Director, Office of Study Away; Melissa Ryan, Assistant Director, Walter Commons; Marc Forster, Director, CISLA; Laura Little, Program Coordinator, Languages and Cultures; Sandy Grande, Director, CCSRE 7 and Office of Global Initiatives. EXPANDING THE CONTEXT FOR With its centralized campus location LANGUAGE LEARNING and visibility, the Walter Commons will Integrating world languages across the function as a dynamic venue for the entire curriculum is a major priority of Connections, campus to take part in critical dialogues, and the Walter Commons will fully embrace presentations, and workshops around our faculty’s unique strength in this area. themes of global significance. The modern, “Beyond our excellent language collaborative space unites core elements departments, the College has multilingual of the College’s historically strong global faculty across many different disciplines, education—language study, research which is part of what distinguishes us from abroad, study away, public engagement, our peers,” Dooling said. “This allows us to globally focused courses, and cocurricular offer an economics course with a discussion programs—with opportunities for local section in Chinese, or explore topics in and global involvement to ensure that every Italian as part of an anthropology course, student can integrate a universal perspective or debate issues in a genetics course in into their four-year experience. Spanish. Our Foreign Languages Across Dooling says the Walter Commons will the Curriculum initiative has grown into showcase what Connecticut College does a remarkably robust program, with more best: create innovative approaches to global than two dozen courses offering embedded liberal arts education. It will expand language language sections each year.” learning opportunities, harness advances in Connecting world languages to courses technology to connect students around the like economics, anthropology, and genetics world, and