Winton Evans Bridge Dedicated, Celebrating Family Legacy and Lifelong Love of Music

In a twist that feels uniquely Vassar, the building, home to the sciences, was dedicated, in part, to a history major who went on to become a jazz musician. Rowland Winton Evans ’75 chose the Bridge for the way it connects the center of campus to Skinner Hall, the music building.

The naming honors Evans, his mother Katherine “Kay” Winton Evans ’46, P’75, and his grandfather David J. Winton P’46, GP’75, GGP’05, ’10, and their extraordinary generosity to the College. Attendees to the ceremony included Rowland, his family’s estate advisor Sonny Miller, members of the AAVC Board and Board of Trustees, members of the Class of 1975, and Advancement staff.

In June, Evans committed a $28 million gift supporting the Music Department, campus maintenance, faculty scholarship and research, and a scholarship in his mother’s name. Timed with his 50th Reunion, the gift reflects both a personal milestone and a lasting investment in Vassar’s future.

President Elizabeth H. Bradley reflected on the long history behind the gift, acknowledging Evans’s bond with his late mother and the impact their generosity will have on Vassar students. She thanked him for supporting future generations of students “who have a passion for music that echoes your own.”

Although Evans majored in history during his time at Vassar, his true passion was jazz, a program the College did not offer at the time. Still, he found ways to weave music into his academic work, centering his senior thesis on the history of jazz.

Miller spoke about how that kind of multidisciplinary approach remains a hallmark of a Vassar education. The College, he said, has long encouraged students to “bring their whole selves” to their studies and “engage in all of those subjects that mean so much to them.” Evans, he added, went on to build a “storied career in jazz music.”

Evans is endowing two funds outright: the Rowland W. Evans ’75 Student Lesson Fund, which subsidizes student music lessons, and the Rowland W. Evans ’75 Concert Fund, which supports annual concert programming. The remainder of his gift, designated through his estate, will create additional funds for building maintenance and faculty research, and contribute $10.5 million to the Katherine Winton Evans ’46 Scholarship Fund, which his mother established and later expanded with her own estate gift.

Evans’s cousin, Mark Winton Anderson, expressed pride in the family’s support of Vassar. “This is a remarkably fine and valuable use of family resources,” he said. “I’m just so pleased that he and his mother and his mother’s legacy have done this and have been so generous and caring.”

Justin Patch, Chair of the Music Department, spoke about the passion that students share with Evans. “Most students who come into [Skinner Hall] are not majoring in music,” he noted. “They’re doing this because they love it and they, like us, see music as an integral part of their education.” He added that the gift will make lessons more accessible, giving students from all disciplines the chance to “work with world-class instructors” and broaden their educational experience through music.

That sense of connection to music, to place, and to Vassar’s enduring spirit also resonated deeply with alums in attendance.

“Skinner Hall was really important to a lot of us who weren’t music majors,” said Anne Green ’93, member of the Board of Trustees and AAVC Board. “The first time I stepped into the Bridge Building, and you could see Skinner fully, I was almost in tears. The fact that they’ve aligned the gift with that, and recognizing that bridge to the music building, is really important.”

Kat Mills Polys ’93, P’29, an AAVC Board member, reflected on the multigenerational nature of Vassar legacies. “It’s just a beautiful thing to hear those stories and feel like it’s a real foundational part of the soil here, and the buildings, and the people, and the experience that people have shared throughout their family,” she said.

After the ceremony, attendees were ushered inside for lunch and a special concert: Evans himself on the piano, accompanied by members of the Vassar Jazz Ensemble.

Before introducing Evans, Class President Pat Neely ’75 reminisced about running out of Josselyn Hall to make the long trek to Skinner Hall and hearing “a solitary piano player” in the hall’s living room. “And this was Rowland Evans.

“Isaac Stern is quoted as saying, ‘What made Carnegie Hall so special was the spirit of Tchaikovsky, Horowitz, Toscanini, and countless others in these walls,’” Neely said. “What makes the Winton Evans Bridge for Laboratory Sciences so special now is that Rowland and his family legacy will forever be embedded within the walls of the building, both in name and in musical spirit.”