Annual Report 2017-2018 From the President his was both a historic year at Connecticut College, as we celebrated our 100th commencement, and a year of great Tprogress and promise. We made strides in advancing the goals of our strategic plan, Building on Strength, developed a campus master plan that anticipates future development and renewal of our beautiful campus, and raised a record $52.6 million in new gifts and commitments to support the priorities that will ensure the ongoing excellence of the transformative education we offer. It was also a record year in Admission. We received over 6,400 applications for the Class of 2022 and yielded not only one of our largest but also one of the strongest and most diverse classes in our history —with 23 percent domestic students of color and 9 percent international students. One of the things that is drawing students to the College is Connections, our reinvention of the liberal arts. In a recent survey of the Class of 2022, 93 percent said that Connections was the main reason they decided to come to Conn. Connections takes what has always been great about an education at Connecticut College and makes it even greater, by putting all 1 the elements together in new ways. at Conn learn not only to think deeply It intentionally combines a student’s about contemporary challenges but also academic major with interdisciplinary to put that knowledge into action in study, a world language, a relevant preparing for their lives after college. internship, career preparation, and This report illustrates how we are doing meaningful engagement in the that. The stories showcase the seamless community and around the globe. The connection between academic and result is an integrated pathway that professional inquiry at Conn, from an prepares students over four years to have architectural design course where students even greater impact in an increasingly are working with a New London city interconnected world. We see it as planner to revitalize a mixed residential another fulfillment of the College’s and commercial area downtown to a mission of educating students to put the pre-med student’s internship at Children’s liberal arts into action. National Medical Center in Washington, This integrated, four-year approach D.C., working on cannabidiol drug deliberately builds on the well-known trials and the neurological mapping of strength of the College’s career office, headache disorders. which The Princeton Review again Connecticut College is unique in singled out last year for its excellence. designing a liberal arts curriculum Whether it is through our long-standing that integrates students’ intellectual internship program or our newest Career and social growth with professional Informed Learning initiative, or through development. Bringing our career the expanding roster of professional office to the main campus will further development opportunities, students highlight this integration while we work 2 Katherine Bergeron, President to make Conn the premier liberal arts you enough for your support. career program in the country. We need every one of you—alumnae To get there, we must realize the gains and alumni, parents, grandparents, in programs, facilities, and endowment foundations, and friends—for our outlined in our strategic plan. We ongoing success. With your help, ended the fiscal year in June with our we will prepare students with the endowment exceeding $300 million for knowledge, skills, and experience to the first time in history; we raised nearly address the complex issues of our time, $80 million toward our campaign goal; and ensure that Connecticut College and our Connecticut College Fund remains one of the pre-eminent liberal again surpassed $6 million. This could arts institutions in the country. only happen because of the unfailing generosity of all you who care deeply Katherine Bergeron about this College, and I cannot thank President 3 Career Prep of faculty who collaborate with the 80% Academic Resource Center annually of Conn students have explored potential careers with the help of the $3,000 88% educational award, since 2008 countries across the globe have hosted 27 our students as interns of the Class of 2018 reported gaining resume-building experience 97% while at Conn recent grads expect to earn a doctorate, 1 in 3 law degree or medical degree of the Class of 2022 said Connections 93% was the main reason they came to Conn 5 6 Office of Career and Professional Development PERSEPHONE HALL IS PREPARING STUDENTS TO HAVE FULFILLING CAREERS AND A MEANINGFUL LIFE AFTER COLLEGE. rom the moment our students problem solvers who are flexible, adaptable matriculate, we are preparing them and, above all, resilient. This is at the heart to put their liberal arts education of the education Conn offers to every Finto action. This is Conn’s mission. A student, beginning in their first year. central tool in carrying out this mission It starts with advising. Each student is is the Office of Career and Professional guided through their journey by not just Development, which assists students in their one but a whole team of advisers. This efforts to have meaningful lives and careers. includes a professor, a staff member, at Spearheading this charge is Persephone least two student peer mentors, and a Hall, the Hale Family Director of Career dedicated career adviser. In their First-Year and Professional Development. Among Seminars, students begin building both her many responsibilities, Hall oversees academic and professional skills. As they the College’s successful funded internship declare their majors, they connect with the program—among the first of its kind— career advisers who serve as liaisons to each which was ranked fourth in the nation by department across campus, working with The Princeton Review. The Princeton Review faculty to provide specialized support and also counts us among the top 20 college opportunities to connect and network with career programs in the country. alumni who are experts in their fields. “Wherever students are trying to go, we “We are integrating career preparation want them to know they can get there from into every aspect of the college experience. Connecticut College,” says Hall. As students dive deeply into a major, “Whether they come to us having already they are also making linkages across our built a successful business, having completed curriculum, connecting their coursework three internships or none at all, we will help to an off-campus experience, and mastering them acquire the skills and experiences they the best ways to communicate what they need for a successful life after college.” have learned,” says Dean of the College Today’s global workforce needs creative Jefferson Singer. 8 ONE OF THE GOALS of our strategic with peer institutions to provide more plan, Building on Strength, is to develop opportunities for students to interface with the very best liberal arts career program potential employers. in the country. To support this goal, the These enhanced programs are designed to career office is—quite literally—expanding provide customized career education where its reach into the campus. The office is students develop professionalism and hone preparing a move from its current site their skill in researching, networking, and across Route 32 to the main campus in storytelling. order to make its tools, programs, and “Our new flexible program will meet services even more accessible to students, students where they are and propel them faculty, and the broader community. toward success, wherever they aspire to “The new site will offer interview spaces, land,” Hall says. ‘smart’ conference rooms, and a welcoming Further distinguishing Conn’s approach environment for visiting potential to career and professional development is employers,” Hall says. a unique partnership between the career In preparation, Hall and her team office and the Academic Resource Center. are designing a new suite of workshops, Where the career office focuses on building programs and resources to help students reach the skills and experiences students need to their full potential. A key part of the new get the career they want, the ARC provides programming will expand job shadowing, them with career-transferable skills, such employment, and internship opportunities. as oral presentation, time management, With an enhanced focus on employer writing, and collaboration. relations, the career office is also developing “This integrative approach helps students new partnerships with alumni and parent find a job—and do it well,” Singer says. employers, expanding opportunities in “They leave here prepared not only for fields like business, technology, and health success in the job market, but to be confident care. The office is also collaborating leaders and change-makers in the world.” ■ 9 The Pathways Forward THE ASPEN INSTITUTE RECOGNIZES CONN'S CONNECTIONS CURRICULUM AS AN INNOVATIVE WAY TO BLEND THE LIBERAL ARTS AND BUSINESS. 11 rofessor of History Sarah Queen to address the practical, moral, and ethical recently traveled to Copenhagen, dilemmas business leaders face in the modern Denmark, to deliver a presentation economy by incorporating the humanities Pto a conference sponsored by the prestigious into business-related courses. Aspen Institute, as part of its Undergraduate “I spoke to a packed room, and there was Business Consortium. a line of educators waiting for me afterward, During the conference, titled “The many of whom asked if I would visit their Business of Teaching,” Queen spoke about home institutions to discuss Conn’s program a key component of Connections—the in even more detail.” Integrative Pathway. Her presentation Modeled after the College’s centers for generated serious buzz, even earning high interdisciplinary scholarship, Pathways praise in a post-conference article written by encourage students to ask a central, the Aspen Institute’s founder of the Business animating question which they will explore and Society Program. from a variety of perspectives and through “The College’s Connections program is interdisciplinary collaboration.