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Funding Priorities

Financial Aid--
Financial aid funds are essential to Williams College's mission of providing an outstanding education to the best students regardless of their economic situation.  Currently, the college provides 47% of all Williams students with need-based financial aid.  On November 1, 2007, President Morty Schapiro announced that, beginning in the 2008-2009 academic year, the college would eliminate loans from all financial aid packages and replace them with grants.  This action makes the need for an expanded financial aid endowment even more important.

Sustainability--
In January of 2007, Williams College committed to a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 10% below 1990-1991 levels by 2020.  The goal was recommended by the Climate Action Committee and unanimously adopted by the board of trustees, with the full support of President Schapiro and the senior staff.  In September 2007, alumnus Selim Zilkha '46 generously pledged $5 million to create the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives.  This new environmental center, in conjunction with Williams' Center for Environmental Studies, will take the lead in incorporating "principles of sustainability into the fabric of campus life."  Funding is sought to invest in on-campus sustainability improvements, including infrastructure and academic changes.

Stetson-Sawyer Building Project--
A complete redesign of the heart of the Williams campus is underway with a $128 million building project that will give the college a new library and information technology center, classrooms and faculty offices.  The new classroom/office buildings will be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2008.   Stetson Hall (for many years the main library until Sawyer Library was built) will be renovated, and a new Sawyer Library/IT center will be constructed.  Once construction is complete in 2011, the old Sawyer Library will be razed to create a new campus green that will extend from Stetson’s elegant façade to Paresky Center and the Frosh Quad.  Funding is needed for many aspects of this project.

Center for Development Economics--
The College’s Center for Development Economics (CDE) is a resource that is unique to Williams.  Since 1960, the CDE has delivered an intensive master's degree program in applied and theoretical economics for young economists from developing countries. Ninety percent of the CDE’s 1000+ graduates have returned to their home countries to help shape their economic growth and policy development.  On the eve of the CDE's 50th anniversary, Williams is seeking funding to endow the CDE’s operation, which will enable the college to implement a need-blind admission policy for the CDE, similar to its undergraduate admission policy.  

Diversity--
Williams College is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse community of students and faculty.  The makeup of Williams' faculty and student body has changed dramatically in recent decades.  Women were first admitted as students in 1970 and now represent 51% of the student body (2007 enrollment).  Thirty-five percent of U.S. students at Williams are from underrepresented ethnic, social, and socioeconomic groups, and 7% of the student body are international students.  Increased support for financial aid and student services is critical to the college’s efforts to sustain a diverse student body.

Women now account for 38% of Williams faculty and 17% of the faculty are individuals of color.  As part of its effort to increase racial diversity within the faculty, Williams instituted the Gaius Charles Bolin Fellowships in 1985.  Each year, one-year Bolin Fellowships are awarded to two or three underrepresented ABD doctoral candidates who come to Williams to teach and to complete their dissertations.  Over the next few years Williams will expand the number of Bolin Fellow appointments to six each year.  Funding is needed to endow these Bolin Fellowships. 

Challenge Grants

In June 2008, the Mellon Foundation awarded Williams College a challenge grant of $1 million to fund an endowed professorship in environmental studies. The grant requires an additional $2 million to be raised in three years. 

For the past 10 years, Williams has appointed postdoctoral teaching fellows to the faculty in a program supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  In January 2007, the Mellon Foundation awarded Williams College a challenge grant of $1.5 million to help endow this postdoctoral fellows program.  The grant requires that an additional $1.5 million be raised by December 2010.