The Mellon Foundation-funded Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education (CFMDE) responds to the ongoing global challenges posed by forced migration, through curriculum development, sponsoring collaborative research, and supporting displaced scholars across four college campuses: Vassar, Bard, Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, and The New School. This past year Vassar successfully launched its new signature program, the Digital Scholars Teaching Fellowship program, which pairs displaced scholars (teaching virtually) with Vassar faculty members (teaching in person).
Vassar students enrolled in an intensive class with Lecturer and Chair of Dance Miriam Mahdaviani collaborated with a professional instructor from Battery Dance, a New York City dance company, to create a pair of performances with students from Poughkeepsie High School.
Elizabeth Cannon, Director of Community-Engaged-Learning, in collaboration with Celebrating the African Spirit and Revive College Hill Park Coalition, secured a Civic Imagination Partnership Grant from Partners for Campus-Community Engagement (PCCE). This grant will support Frederick Douglass Day, an event which continues the tradition of honoring abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center—with leadership from John P. Murphy, The Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings, and collaboration with Kelly Reynolds, Head Registrar for Collections and Exhibitions—secured a grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation to support the conservation of a 17th century Japanese byōbu screen. The six-panel tiger screen was painted by Unkoku Toeki.
A team of Vassar colleagues secured an Ecological Restoration Grant from Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley to support high-visibility riparian restoration at the Vassar Preserve through tree and shrub plantings.
In support of Vassar’s Fearlessly Consequential campaign, the Dyson Foundation (Millbrook, NY) awarded a grant of $5,000,000 toward the modernization of Vassar’s Sport & Recreation Center. Dyson Foundation funds will support construction of the Sport & Recreation Center’s natatorium, featuring a new pool to accommodate competitive short- and long-course swimming, diving, and recreational swimming, as well as use by local schools and community organizations.
Carol Murray, Executive Director of Wimpfheimer Nursery School (WNS) and Infant Toddler Center (ITC); BethAnn Serwatka, Site Director of WNS; and Nicole Bonelli, Site Director of ITC, secured new grant funding from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services’ Child Care Stabilization program. Funding will support teacher retention, wages, and professional development.
The goals of this exciting new grant are to study the effect of Vassar’s long-standing Exploring Transfer (ET) program on community college students’ subsequent completion of four-year degrees, improve the ET program as needed, and work with other liberal arts colleges to catalyze ET-like programs that promote community college student transfer to four-year colleges.
This grant award will support the maintenance, operation, and securing of permanent collections of natural specimens, alongside the Preserve’s educational programs that interpret the collection. Students of all ages regularly visit each year to learn more about the Preserve’s rich diversity of plants, birds, amphibians, mammals, and reptiles.
