Resist the Predictable

Our competitive advantage in a crowded market, Connections attracts talented, engaged and aspiring students who energize Conn’s classrooms and labs—and strengthen all the organizations and businesses around the world where they work and learn during their studies. Donors will fuel the continued growth of these difference-making programs, best preparing our students for impact and success in an increasingly interconnected future.

As STEM fields evolve, our teaching and research spaces must keep pace. Donor investments in new facilities for computational science, psychology, neuroscience, data analytics and environmental and life sciences will profoundly shape Conn’s success competing for the most talented students and teacher-scholars in leading-edge fields.

Our faculty represents the rarest type of teacher-scholar: top-flight researchers who are award-winning teachers and dedicated advisers. Competition for individuals of this caliber is fierce. Through endowed professorships, donors can set Conn apart in recruiting and retaining the very best talent–and in educating and inspiring the students they influence.

Similarly, donor commitments to academic programs can strengthen the core mission of the College and the innovative, ever-changing ways they adapt to new ideas, new student expectations and new ways of preparing students for success.

Donor contributions to this campaign will build on one of Conn’s distinguishing strengths—the depth and reach of hands-on learning experiences available to our students. Conn students partner with faculty members on high-impact research across the disciplines, often co-authoring scholarly papers and presenting at national conferences. These hands-on experiences give our graduates a competitive advantage—whether they are applying to graduate school or bringing an analytic mindset to any profession.

Our spectacular new hub for global learning, the Otto and Fran Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement cements Conn’s leadership in innovating international education. Building on this achievement, campaign investment will allow us to diversify and expand access to global experiences beyond conventional junior-year study abroad; enhance collaborations with our international partners in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean; and advance new initiatives to promote language acquisition and intercultural fluency as an integral part of 21st century career readiness.

For more than a century, the arts have been a Conn hallmark and heartbeat, engaging students across generations in their creative capacities for expression, collaboration and discovery. Driving exciting renovations of Palmer Auditorium and Castle Court, donors will propel a set of initiatives that solidify our arts preeminence and foster artistic innovation for years to come. The renovations will make possible for the arts, for example, a much-needed campus center and technology hub, critical steps in bringing superb visiting artists to campus, recruiting new and accomplished arts, and boosting the diversity and reach of our exceptional arts programs.