Momentum and enthusiasm continue to build for Lawrence University’s More Light! campaign. Generous alumni and friends of the university have committed more than $131 million toward the $150 million goal. More Light! is a commitment to building on the success and strength of the university while establishing Lawrence as a national leader in liberal education. Thanks to a group of loyal and dedicated volunteers, this vision for the future takes center stage at regional campaign events across the country. The focus of the campaign continues to be investment in the people who represent the core of this institution — the students and faculty.

Partnering Students and Alumni

A gift from the estate of Maurine Mueller given in memory of her husband Robert Mueller ’36 will support an exciting new partnership for science students. This initiative, known as LU-R1, will create new opportunities for our science students to work in labs at research universities (R1) and other settings, such as government agencies and clinical research settings, for periods of 10-12 weeks during the summer. This program aims to strengthen the links between current students and Lawrence alumni and friends who direct research labs or projects. These invaluable research experiences may help students to conceive or undertake more diverse Senior Experience projects.

Investing in our Faculty

Henry Merritt Wriston asserted that the most important task facing a college president is securing a faculty of the first rank. The second most important task is keeping that faculty. One of the highest honors bestowed on a distinguished member of the faculty is the awarding of an endowed professorship. Charlot Nelson Singleton is a trustee and member of the Lawrence Class of 1967. She and her husband Dennis are staunch supporters of the liberal arts and they recognize the vital role that faculty play in Lawrence’s distinctive brand of liberal arts education. When fully funded, the Singletons’ generous $1.5 million gift will establish the Dennis and Charlot Nelson Singleton Professorship in Biological Sciences. This professorship will be awarded to a faculty member who exemplifies outstanding teaching and scholarship in the biological sciences.

Charlot and Dennis’ gift advances one of the highest priorities of the More Light! campaign, ensuring that dedicated and deserving faculty will thrive at Lawrence and students will continue to learn from the best liberal arts professors. “We are pleased to be able to assist in perpetuating the heritage of this special college and the traditions of liberal arts education for future generations” said Charlot. The Singletons’ philanthropy also includes the Dennis and Charlot Nelson Singleton Scholarship, which provides Lawrence students with perpetual scholarship support. Charlot and Dennis are annual members of Founders Club and Lawrence- Downer Legacy Circle; they have created the Singleton Legacy at Lawrence, which will eventually bolster their endowed funds.

Greening the Campus

Lawrence now produces clean energy due to the efforts of two freshmen, Will Meadows ’13 and Austin Federa ’13, and a group of generous donors who attended the Scottsdale, Arizona, More Light! event. A solar panel was installed on the roof of Youngchild Hall on Earth Day 2010. Through a group challenge issued by Edie Andrew P’88, a member of the Lawrence University Board of Trustees, more than $10,000 was raised to support the solar
panel project. According to Meadows, the new panel will reduce Lawrence’s carbon dioxide emissions by about three tons of carbon per year and will have a lifespan of 30 years.

Focusing on Volunteers

The May More Light! event in Madison concluded a successful year of campaign events held in six cities: New York, Milwaukee, Scottsdale, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Madison. Special thanks to the nearly 100 volunteers who shaped and supported these events from the planning stages through implementation. Volunteers served as hosts, assisted with venue selection, reached out to alumni in the area to encourage attendance, provided housing for student musicians and served as speakers. These events would not be possible without the dedication and support
of Lawrence alumni and friends.

Mentoring Promising Faculty

In efforts to ease the transition between retiring senior professors and the emerging scholars who will serve as successors, Lawrence has received a generous $525,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This grant will support implementation of the Mellon Faculty Mentorship Program, a program that will take a strategic and comprehensive approach to this important phase of the academic life cycle. It builds on Lawrence’s institutional strengths and draws on elements of successful initiatives here, such as the Lawrence Fellows program, and similar programs at other highly regarded liberal arts colleges. This program offers structured mentoring, a reduced course load to allow focused time for teaching development and scholarly or creative activity and the social support of a cohort of fellow participants experiencing the program together.

Four Lawrence faculty members will become Mellon Professorial Mentors for a two-year period preceding retirement. Their prospective successors will be hired into one-year appointments as Mellon Visiting Assistant Professors with a renewal option for a second year. Both the professorial mentors and visiting assistant professors will enjoy a reduced teaching schedule, with the mentors’ schedule crafted to feature the courses they excel at teaching, thus ensuring ample time for the mentoring that will pass on to the visiting professor a living legacy of professorial skills. By the end of the program, it is expected that the visiting professors will be confident and skilled liberal arts educators who have amply proven their fitness to succeed their mentors as tenure-track faculty members. Two faculty members have already been selected to serve as Mellon Professorial Mentors: Hans Ternes, professor of German, and Mary Blackwell, professor of chemistry

CAMPAIGN EVENTS 2010-2011

Door County • September 4, 2010 • Björklunden
Quad Cities • September 19, 2010 • Figge Art Museum
Detroit • November 11, 2010 • Oakland Hills Country Club
Atlanta • February 24, 2011 • Old Courthouse on the Square
Denver • March 15, 2011 • MCA Denver
Seattle • March 17, 2011 • The Rainier Club
Dallas • April 10, 2011 • Nasher Sculpture Center