Alumnae/i Community

"Curtain Up" Gala benefit honors Sarah Lawrence, President Michele Tolela Myers

An April 16 benefit staged in Manhattan’s Hudson Theatre attracted nearly 500 participants and raised more than $1 million for the College.

The dinner/auction/show “Curtain Up” featured opening remarks by honorary benefit chair and alumna Barbara Walters, emceeing by trustee Margot Bogert, and a show introduction by Dean Barbara Kaplan.

Attendees included approximately 350 alumnae/i and friends of the College, as well as about 150 faculty, staff, and members of the graduating class.

The French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, presented President Myers with his nation’s highest award, the Legion of Honor.

Leigh and Leslie Keno—perhaps best known as antique furniture experts on PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow”—conducted a live auction. There was a silent auction as well.

Many well-known alumnae/i and faculty names highlighted a show conceived and directed by Shirley Kaplan, along with creative partner Caryn Mandabach and producer Ruth Moe. Performers included: Jane Alexander, Jon Avnet, Hannah Cohen, Kevin Confoy, Christine Farrell, Tovah Feldshuh, Lesley Gore, Willy Kelley, Julianna Margulies, Jimmy Tate, and Sir Arnold Wesker.

To view a slideshow of photos from the evening, visit www.slc.edu/gala/photos/index.php.

Gift Endows Scholarships for High-Need Students

When Mary Gilbert ’62 donated $100,000 for an endowed scholarship for high-need students, she merged her love for the College with a philanthropic endeavor she has pursued for nearly a decade. Since the mid-1990s, Gilbert has financially assisted the college education of a number of her friends’ children. To date, she has supported seven students—four of whom have already graduated—and she greatly enjoys following their success.

Last fall, Gilbert attended a Sarah Lawrence Associates party with friend Sarah Hunter Hudson ’62. There, she met President Michele Myers and expressed her desire to help students with high financial need. Myers suggested an endowed scholarship, and Gilbert loved the idea of students continuing to receive aid for generations to come.

“It really excites me to be a part of the process,” says Gilbert, an actress who for many years worked in the nonprofit and educational sectors. “That’s a huge gift back to me right there.”

Summer Science: Providing ‘Rare Opportunity’ for Student-Faculty Research

A small grant for a Sarah Lawrence science faculty member and a student assistant to study a particular protein has blossomed into an intensive, 10-week research program for science and mathematics students.

With National Science Foundation (NSF) support and matching grants from the College, the Lubin Family Foundation, and Sara Lee Schupf ’88, the program will begin its sixth and most expansive session this summer.

“It provides a rare opportunity for students to work in small groups with faculty both in and outside their discipline, so they can see links between all sciences,” says biology faculty member Drew Cressman, who created the program in 2001-02. “It allows for a sense of camaraderie.”

Concerned about the lack of on-campus research experiences available to students, Cressman applied for, and received, the grant from the NSF to study the MHC class II transactivator protein with the help of a student assistant. The grant allowed him to hire one student with a small stipend. “To get funds, we had to show the program was viable,” Cressman says. “But to show the program was viable, we needed funds.”

The Alice Stone Ilchman Science Center grew livelier as other science and mathematics faculty members applied for grants or volunteered time to set up more research projects. Eight faculty members—from such diverse fields as biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, and mathematics—are involved with the program. Its small size and interdisciplinary approach cultivates student responsibility and independence, providing a unique research experience that is rare even for many graduate students at larger universities. This summer, 20 students will participate in the summer undergraduate research program.

Whether preparing for careers as physicians or considering chemistry as a hobby, the students are treated like scientists. They hypothesize, ask questions, make mistakes, and present their results in scientific forums. “We are trusted with so much,” says Kayleigh Taylor ’08, a program participant. “If something goes wrong, I am with my advisor asking, ‘What happened?’ I feel like I can add my two cents. It creates independence.”

For information on funding opportunities to help continue the summer science program, contact Linda Colquhoun in the Office of College Resources, (914) 395-2532 or lcolquhoun@sarahlawrence.edu.

Alumna’s SLC Memories Spark Intended Bequest for Student Aid

Looking back over the years she spent at Sarah Lawrence, Sally Willis Meigs ’44 knew she wanted to make a bequest for student financial aid that would give to the College’s future.

“I have known forever that I wanted to do this,” Meigs says. “I thought Sarah Lawrence was so remarkable when I went there, that the faculty members were so wonderful. I was so happy there.”

Planned gifts as a part of estate planning are one way alumnae/i are letting the College know how much their time at SLC meant to them—as have many parents, faculty, and other friends of Sarah Lawrence. Planned gifts are used to support scholarships, teaching, student life, and buildings and grounds—the foundations necessary to ensure the College’s continued excellence in education.

“Sally’s bequest is a beautiful gesture,” says Nancy Vélez, a development officer. “Her endowment for student scholarships will live on in perpetuity.”

Meigs, who lives in Louisville with her husband, Judge Henry Meigs, still happily recalls the years she spent living in MacCracken 3B. So when she received an inheritance some time back, she decided to donate a portion of the funds to Sarah Lawrence.

Meigs’ memories of her college years include going to Lillian Hellmann’s apartment for a party Hellmann and Dorothy Parker threw for the writing class Meigs was in, and hearing her own short stories read out loud by Horace Gregory. She sang in the school chorus, and took part in a performance with Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony in Carnegie Hall. She also recalls studying with Joseph Campbell, William Schuman, and Kurt Roesch, and dancing with Martha Graham.

College was such an important time in her life, she says. She remembers being away from Sarah Lawrence at an event at Princeton or Yale and wishing she were back on campus talking with her professors.

“Sarah Lawrence was exactly right for me,” Meigs says. “I have talked about it so much over the years that at one time my husband said, ‘I wish I could have gone to Sarah Lawrence.’”

With memories like these, Meigs says, making a bequest was the best thing to do. “What else could I do but try to pay the College back?”

For more information about making a planned gift to the College, contact Annetta Love, Acting Director of Planned Giving, at (914) 395-2325 or alove@sarahlawrence.edu.

Signs are Good: College Shows New Face to Community, Visitors

In late November, new anodized aluminum signs were installed at the corners of Kimball Avenue and Glen Washington Road to welcome visitors to campus. They use the Sarah Lawrence logotype and are lighted at night with low-energy-consumption L.E.D. lights.

The physical facilities committee of the Board of Trustees decided to install the signage as part of the Kimball Avenue project, which also includes new crosswalks, curbs, drainage, and other improvements for pedestrian safety. The College worked with landscape and signage designers on the project, which also features hedges planted behind the letters.

“The funding was from a single donor for this specific purpose,” said Micheal Rengers, vice president for operations. “She very much wanted to see an enhancement to the entrance of the college.”

The old stone and metal plaque signs that were formerly at the Kimball intersection have been moved to the north entrance of campus at Mead Way and Bronxville Road.

Need-Based Aid Critical to Sarah Lawrence Recruiting

Scholarship gift aid is a critical piece of the financial aid package at Sarah Lawrence, supplying 50 percent of the student body with the means to attend. As recently reported in The New York Times, the cost of tuition, room, and board at private, four-year colleges has risen 81 percent in just nine years—more than double the cumulative inflation rate. Sarah Lawrence’s conference system and low student-faculty ratio are expensive to maintain, meaning costs are even higher here than at many peer schools.

The College’s approach to aid is need-based, meaning that, unlike many colleges eager to grow their admissions pools, Sarah Lawrence does not provide merit scholarships to students who can afford to pay their way. The College reserves aid for those with demonstrated need—but a modest endowment limits how much aid it can offer. This sometimes means turning away students who are a perfect match for the College’s unique educational approach.

“We’re going out and recruiting precisely the kind of students that alumnae/i would like to continue the legacy of Sarah Lawrence—but after a certain point, we can’t afford to admit them,” says Thyra Briggs, dean of enrollment.

As a result of high college costs, students nationwide are taking on a greater and greater debt burden, including alternative, high-interest loans. Concerned about this trend, Sarah Lawrence has reduced the amount of loans used to build a financial aid package. While the government allows students to take on a maximum of $17,125 over four years, Sarah Lawrence allows only $13,125. This means the College has to make up the difference with gift aid.

Financial aid is also critical in maintaining a diverse student body. Since classes at Sarah Lawrence are small, says Briggs, “it matters enormously who you’re sitting next to. Students need to be exposed to people with different perspectives.” Those perspectives are as often socioeconomic as racial or ethnic.

The bottom line, says Briggs, is that “when you find a student for whom Sarah Lawrence is the right choice, you don’t want to have to turn them away.”

President’s House: A Tradition of Community-Building to Continue with New President

When incoming President Karen Lawrence arrives in August, she and her family will assume residence at the President’s House, located on Kimball Avenue at the corner of Glen Washington Road. Although the address will be new to Dr. Lawrence, the President’s House has been a mainstay of community life on campus for years.

Built as a private residence in 1921, the house welcomed in 1954 its first president, Harold Taylor. (Prior to this, College presidents lived in a house north of campus, which was razed to accommodate construction of the Sprain Brook Parkway.) Although the kitchen is being renovated in preparation for Lawrence’s arrival, many other historical fixtures of the house remain intact—thanks to the generosity of donors—including the restored wooden beams in the living room, which were imported from a 16th century Tudor mansion in England.

“The house is a historical asset,” says music faculty member Jean Wentworth, who has been teaching at Sarah Lawrence since 1972.

In addition to having been home to previous presidents, the house is a much-anticipated destination for holiday parties, opening and closing receptions for the academic year, and other campus events. The President’s House also has sheltered prominent visitors—among them, playwright Lillian Hellman during a campus visit in 1975. At times students have lived there, too.

Past Presidents Taylor and Charles DeCarlo were music lovers and often hosted social gatherings in the house after concerts. Many alumnae/i have fond memories of DeCarlo’s cooking—when he lived there, he was known for entertaining students in the home. President Alice Ilchman continued those traditions.

Over the years, Wentworth and her husband Kenneth, music faculty emeritus, have attended numerous events at the President’s House, including the garden wedding of their oldest child, David ’74.

As a place to build community, Wentworth says, “The President’s House is a very important resource of the College.”

Bequest Results in Alice Ilchman Beautification Fund

At the memorial service for President Emerita Alice Ilchman last fall, Dean Barbara Kaplan summed up Ilchman’s love for gardens: “Alice thought there were no problems at the College that couldn’t be solved by planting a few hundred more daffodils.”

Indeed, Ilchman, who often spent Saturdays planting bulbs with students, had a strong commitment to maintaining the campus’s aesthetic—a commitment she demonstrated in a generous bequest for upkeep of the gardens in front of Westlands.

Her love of gardens, which she often referred to as “the slowest of the performing arts,” was widely known across campus. For example, when dance faculty member Marie Adair died during Ilchman’s tenure, the College named in Adair’s honor its first memorial tribute garden, between Westlands and MacCracken. Now, thanks to the late president emerita's bequest, that legacy will continue through the Alice Ilchman Beautification Fund.

“She absolutely loved this campus,” says Ani Adishian ’95, the College’s horticulturist. Adishian, also the first student to participate in the work-study gardening program that Ilchman helped to create, adds, “Alice was very hands-on—a real inspiration to us.”

Commemorative Bench Marks Family Milestone, Supports Buildings & Grounds

On a 1965 visit to Sarah Lawrence, Steven Heller had the good fortune of needing directions. Walking near Westlands, he stopped Peggy Fulton ’68, who was riding her bicycle across campus.

“Had I been one minute earlier, or had she been one minute later, we never would have met,” says Heller.

But meet they did, and the rest, as they say, is history. After dating for three years, Heller proposed to Peggy in the exact place of their initial meeting. They married in June 1968.

Last year, for Peggy’s 60th birthday, Heller decided to celebrate the milestone by arranging for a commemorative bench to be placed on the spot of their first acquaintance. In addition to paying tribute to Sarah Lawrence’s special part in their history, the bench will also create a place for students to gather for years to come—and funds from the gift beyond the actual cost of the bench will provide additional resources for campus buildings and grounds projects.

On a recent trip to campus with their three grown children, Heller informed Peggy of his intentions. What was her reaction to the birthday gift? “She was thrilled,” Heller says.

Christopher S. Mariconi II Scholarship Fund:
At Sarah Lawrence—as in the world—the best teachers sometimes appear in unexpected places

While working summers on the campus painting crew, Alex Gomes ’03 met Christopher Mariconi II, a young member of the Sarah Lawrence maintenance staff and the grandson of longtime Operations and Facilities staff members Nora Mingst-Panza and Steven Panza. Chris and Alex became fast friends, and, before long, Alex’s Sarah Lawrence circle of friends became Chris’s circle, too.

Known for his warm personality and sense of humor, Chris developed strong relationships with many people on campus. “One of the most impressive aspects of his character was his openness and lack of prejudice,” says Ashley Friedman ’03, also a friend of Chris. “He had such a good heart.”

When Chris died suddenly and tragically in the fall of 2003, the outpouring of grief and sorrow across Sarah Lawrence and the community was immense.

Last fall, with the third anniversary of his death approaching, Friedman and Gomes decided it was time to honor their friend: They worked with College Resources to establish a memorial scholarship fund. The fund will provide $5,000 a year for four years to a deserving student from the Yonkers community, with preference given to a student with an interest in music. As of early February, $4,500 towards the first year goal of $5,000 had already been raised.

In addition to being a living testament to Chris, the scholarship fund also pays tribute to the impact that every member of Sarah Lawrence’s community has on the day-to-day life of students.

“It’s not only the higher-profile individuals like the president or faculty members who affect our time at Sarah Lawrence,” says Friedman.

The first Christopher S. Mariconi II Scholarship will be awarded in fall 2007.

For information on contributing to the scholarship, contact Arianne Andrusco, associate director of annual giving at (914) 395-2528 or aandrusco@sarahlawrence.edu.