Image taken from Skidmore College’s website.
The most successful fundraiser in Skidmore’s history ended on December 31, 2020. The Creating Our Future campaign, launched in 2013, raised money to enhance the Skidmore student experience. The campaign ended on December 31, 2020 and surpassed its goal of $200 million, with $229.4 million in total funds raised.
With such a successful campaign, Skidmore students should understand how the funding will be used to advance college programs and improve campus facilities. In this article, I will detail each of the six Creating Our Future campaign priorities: building the Center for Integrated Science, scholarships and financial aid, the Tang, the Career Development Center, athletics, and the Skidmore Fund. I also reached out to students, faculty, and staff to gather their thoughts and opinions on the college’s funding distribution.
Center for Integrated Sciences
The campaign indicates that with $50.4 million it will “Help fund construction of the new Center for Integrated Sciences,” which “will be a hub that fosters unique interdisciplinary connections across the sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences.” I spoke with Environmental Studies and Sciences Professor Kurt Smemo, who gave me more details about the CIS. He explained that the CIS’ priority is to create a modernized science building where all sciences can come together.
The CIS’ design fits ADA requirements and has energy-efficient systems, which allows it to present a space that all students can share. Professor Smemo told me that the “original inspiration for CIS” was to “break down those barriers” between individual scientific disciplines. Majors like Environmental Science and Biology can share resources and collaborate in new courses. An Environmental Studies major, Aylish Flahaven ‘23 told me she looks forward to the “upgraded facilities” and hopes that new designs will “get people more engaged with the discipline.” The timeline of the CIS construction has been slightly extended. The construction began in 2019, and was initially going to take about four and a half years. Now, however, Skidmore plans to complete the building in 2024.
Scholarships and Financial Aid
The Financial Aid Office received $29.7 million to “bolster scholarships and financial aid.” In our interview, Mary Lou Bates, Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, outlined the general breakdown of financial aid. The Filene Music Scholarship and Porter/Wachenheim Scholarships in Science and Mathematics make up 1-2% of Skidmore’s total financial aid. All other aid is need-based, and the institutional budget for financial aid next year is $64.8 million.
The money from Creating Our Future will go to the Skidmore endowment to generate more money for financial aid. The new funding has allowed Skidmore to add over 40 endowed funds.
The Tang
The Tang’s portion of the campaign will “fund innovative exhibitions and programming.” Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang, told me that $8 million out of the $30.1 million will be going to the Tang’s endowment, supporting their general operations. Director Berry also explained that “Quite a lot of gifts of art [are] recorded… including some amazing works that are being used in classes this semester.” He mentioned that the Tang has “a great group of supporters from within the college” and “some very important people who added to those great totals who are only introduced to the college through the Tang.”
An art major I spoke with told me that she hopes the money will help to “better strengthen student involvement in the Tang” because “[she doesn’t] think a lot of students know exactly what they can do at the Tang.”
Career Development Center
With its $4.8 million from the campaign, the Career Development Center is looking to “increase career development opportunities” and support “students by funding career internships, student research and other experiential opportunities that help [them] gain hands-on experience and skills and enhance post-graduation outcomes.” An international Affairs major, who is in the process of applying for the Summer Experience Fund, thinks that the Career Development Center should do more to “[help] students pay for internships.” She explained that getting an unpaid internship is a privilege and that Skidmore should “invest more money in that for low-income people and People of Color.”
Skidmore Athletics
Skidmore Athletics has already begun to use the $4.7 million raised to “enhance the varsity athletics program and [make] construction of the Valentine Boathouse possible.” Skidmore completed the Boathouse in 2018 with a generous gift from the Valentine family, donated through the Creating Our Future campaign. The Valentine Boathouse is for men and women’s rowing and is about six miles away from Skidmore on Saratoga Lake. Skidmore renovated the previous Boathouse and added two buildings. The main building, called “Team Building,” houses a workout room, locker room, and office space for coaches.
The Skidmore Fund
While it raised $56.8 million as part of the Creating Our Future campaign, the Skidmore Fund is an ongoing initiative run by Skidmore’s Office of Advancement. The Skidmore Fund allows alumni, parents, and friends to donate money to specific aspects of the College. A few examples that the College suggests are faculty support, academic initiative support, and sustainable Skidmore.
From my conversations, it is evident that the Creating Our Future campaign is a significant milestone for Skidmore College. For more information about the campaign’s timeline and news, you can visit the Creating Our Future campaign website.