Vassar College announces $1 million gift for innovative educational project

Carolyn Grant Fay, a graduate of the Vassar College class of 1936, has given the college a $1 million gift to establish the Carolyn Grant '36 Endowment Fund at Vassar College for the study of expressive arts and the human imagination.

Fay, a dance movement therapist, co-founded the C.G. Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas. She hopes the endowment fund will help Vassar establish new paradigms for education to meet the needs of 21st century scholars and students by engaging the intellect, the imagination, and the body in integrative ways inside and outside the classroom.

As defined in its statement of academic purpose, Vassar seeks to develop in its students "… increased knowledge of oneself, a humane concern for society, and a commitment to an examined and evolving set of values; recognition of different kinds of knowledge and their scope and relevance to one another… and development of the powers of reason and imagination, through the processes of analysis and synthesis and the use of all our human resources - to speculate, to feel, to inquire boldly, to enjoy, to change, to create, and to communicate effectively."

Vassar has a long history of meeting its goals through innovations in the curriculum and a firm commitment to distinguished teaching, scholarship, and artistic endeavor. Today, Vassar's curriculum is broader, richer, and more varied than ever. However, according to Fay's endowment fund proposal, "while students may choose courses from highly diverse fields of inquiry, unmet interests remain. Many students and faculty are seeking to be engaged in their pursuits in a more embodied way, a way that addresses the 'whole self' by combining the physical, emotional, and spiritual components of an individual with a well-developed intellect."

The endowment will provide support for introducing innovative ways to develop the relationship of mind, body, and spirit in student and faculty intellectual work. This will be achieved primarily through the integration of the expressive arts, experiential processes, and other kinds of embodied learning in the lives of faculty, students, and professional staff in a classroom, in extracurricular activities, and informal residence hall settings. The endowment will also provide significant support for lectures and/or workshops each semester.

In the fall of 2000, English Professor Beth Darlington and Visiting Professor of Classics David Shive will teach Vassar's first course supported by the Carolyn Grant Endowment, "Civilization in Question." This course will explore the cultural and psychological roles of mythology and the enactment and interpretation of selected myths.

For additional information, call the Development Office at (914) 437-5400.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

This article was posted on Wednesday, May 10th, 2000.