Skidmore College Campaign for Skidmore Impact Report, 2021

Campaign Impact Report | 2021

C O N T E N TS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Campaign Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Campaign Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Ribbon Cutting - CIS North Wing . . . . . . . . . 10 Student Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Creativity at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Faculty and Staff Excellence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Student Impact Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

IN TR O D U C T I O N

I

n October 2013, Creating Our Future: The Campaign for Skidmore was formally approved. At that moment, President Philip Glotzbach, Marie Glotzbach, and Skidmore’s Board of Trustees — along with Campaign volunteer leaders, alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff, and students — set out to reach an ambitious goal of $200 million to provide for students and help them achieve lives of meaning and purpose, capitalize on the College’s incredible momentum, and continue building resources for the future. Following the arrival of President Marc C. Conner and Barbara Reyes-Conner on July 1, 2020, we announced on December 31, 2020, that 27,193 donors amazed us all with a record-setting total of $229.4 million!

Thank you for your support during this campaign. Through your generosity, you have helped to provide the necessary resources to build and renovate campus facilities, strengthen academic programs, enhance student opportunities, and offer a world-class liberal arts education with exceptional faculty. Skidmore is a more vibrant institution today as a result of your involvement.

Our words alone cannot fully express the appreciation of so many at Skidmore. In the following pages, you will see firsthand the magnitude of this campaign and learn more about the lives you have changed.

Tom Wilmot ’99 Campaign Co-chair

Susan Gottlieb Beckerman ’67 Campaign Co-chair

CAMPAIGN IMPACT REPORT 2021 | 3

CA M PA I G N S U MM ARY

Skidmore’s students and faculty have benefited from individual and collective support aimed at maintaining and strengthening academic programs and opportunities and responding to recent challenges, from an increased need for student financial aid to costs associated with teaching and learning during a pandemic.

Strengthening a creative, collaborative, and community-centered future for Skidmore has always been at the core of Creating Our Future. Our commitment to this vision for the future remains steadfast. This is an incredibly important moment for our college because of what our entire community — past, present, and future — has made possible.

Creating Our Future was a resounding success due to your continued commitment to our students and faculty.

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CR E ATI NG O U R FU T U R E > BY T H E NU M B ER S

$ 229.4M

27,193

Total funds raised

Individual donors

alumni, parents, friends, and organizations

48

donors contributed $1 million or more

496

donors of $50K+ over the previous campaign 58% increase

$56.8M

in gifts through the Skidmore Fund, providing flexible, transformative, and immediate resources

Presidents Society donors contributed 81% of all funds raised

4,265

16,457

gifts of less than $250

alumni made their first gifts

61%

$50.4M

of all Campaign donors

$49.9M

to build the Center for Integrated Sciences

in gifts to the endowment

$25.5M in committed bequests and $16.5M in realized bequests 17,816

attendees at Campaign events

6,384

volunteers,

including alumni, parents, and 48 faculty and staff

224

new members

88

new endowed funds established

57%

on-campus Campaign participation

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LEA DER S HI P

Board of Trustees (cumulative throughout the Campaign) Jon Achenbaum ’77 Daniel M. Allen ’90 Harry L. Alverson ’73, P’13 Daniel D. Antonelli ’89 Susan Gottlieb Beckerman ’67 Rosemary E. Bourne ’60 Joshua A. Boyce ’81 Jonathan R. Brestoff Parker ’08 Charles B. Buchanan William S. Caleo ’99 David A. Castle ’87 Marc C. Conner Kalyan Das P’18 Claire E. Davenport ’08 Alvaro G. de Molina P’15 Gail M. Dudack ’70, P’11 Alexander L. Egan ’07 Judith Pick Eissner ’64

Terry Thomas Fulmer ’76 Alan E. Gilbert P’14 Philip A. Glotzbach Katherine M. Gross P’16 Sibyl Waterman Haley ’71 Nancy W. Hamilton ’77 Andrew F. Hughes ’92 John W. Humphrey P’06 Maxine Isaacs ’69 Linda Jackson-Chalmers ’73 William L. Ladd ’83 Richard A. Laxer ’83 Anthony N. Llano ’97 Maria P. Markowitz P’13 David P. Marks P’13 Scott M. Martin ’79 Elliott Masie W. Scott McGraw P’12

John Melligon ’81, P’18 Antonio Mojica ’02 Barbara Kahn Moller ’78, P’11, P’13 John S. Morris* Amy E. O’Leary ’92 Diana V. Perry ’89 J. Joel Quadracci ’91 Kimberly Roy ’80, P’10, P’13 Stephen F. Sullivan ’78 Millie Tan ’77 Suzanne Corbet Thomas ’62 Wilma Stein Tisch ’48 Linda Toohey Julie C. Traylor ’68 Margaret K. Valentine P’09 Dr. Robert Weisbuch Thomas C. Wilmot ’99 James D. Zankel ’92

Campaign Executive Committee (cumulative throughout the Campaign) Co-chairs Susan Gottlieb Beckerman ’67 (2019-2020) Nancy W. Hamilton ’77 (2013-2019) W. Scott McGraw P’12 (2013-2016) Thomas C. Wilmot, Jr. ’99 (2016-2020)

*

deceased

6 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

Daniel D. Antonelli ’89 Gail M. Dudack ’70, P’11 Marc C. Conner Judith Pick Eissner ’64 Marie B. Glotzbach Philip A. Glotzbach Sibyl Waterman Haley ’71 Andrew F. Hughes ’92 Polly Skogsberg Kisiel ’62 William L. Ladd ’83

Maria P. Markowitz P’13 Patrick J. McEvoy ’03 John Melligon ’81, P’18 Kimberly Roy ’80, P’10, P’13 Barbara Kahn Moller ’78, P’11, P’13 Suzanne Corbet Thomas ’62 Wilma Stein Tisch ’48 Linda Toohey Margaret K. Valentine P’09

PR ESIDE NT I AL P E R S P E C T I VE S

“Together, we all seized this opportunity to create the best possible experience for generations of Skidmore students yet to come, creating the platform for them to develop into productive, informed, responsible global citizens. They truly are Skidmore’s future! And all of us can take enormous pride in having contributed so much to bring the vision of that future into reality. Marie and I share our most sincere appreciation and most heartfelt congratulations with one and all!”

“The Campaign tells us something about Skidmore’s future. Creating Our Future has not just been a great achievement in itself; it shows what Skidmore can accomplish and augurs so well for our future. That future, I can tell you, is aspirational and ambitious.”

— Marc C. Conner, President

— Philip A. Glotzbach, President Emeritus

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CA M PA I G N P R I O R I T I E S

CENTER FOR INTEGRATED SCIENCES (CIS)

SKIDMORE FUND

SCHOLARSHIPS AND FINANCIAL AID

funds raised

funds raised

funds raised

CIS is a testament to our commitment to ensuring our students have the facilities and programming necessary to thrive in their education and to preparing them to engage deeply with pressing issues in their postgraduate lives.

The Skidmore Fund provides immediate support to the most essential programs and functions of the College — financial aid, equipment purchases, internships, guest speakers, and more. It supports diverse and talented students, working with world-class faculty who mentor, teach, and inspire a creative community pursuing innovation, inclusion, and achievement.

This annual support enables students to lead the lives of consequence that are the true goal of Skidmore — lives rich with understanding, imagination, power, and joy.”

Skidmore students and faculty have benefited from individual and collective support aimed at maintaining and strengthening academic programs and opportunities. This support has also enabled the College to respond effectively to recent challenges, from an increased need for student financial aid to costs associated with teaching and learning during a pandemic.

$50.4 MILLION

— Pat Fehling Associate Dean for Infrastructure and Faculty Affairs Faculty Coordinator, CIS

$56.8 MILLION

— Marc C. Conner President 8 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

$29.7 MILLION

— Susan Gottlieb Beckerman ’67 and Tom Wilmot ’99 Campaign Co-chairs

THE FRANCES YOUNG TANG ’61 TEACHING MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY

ATHLETICS, HEALTH, AND WELLNESS

CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES

funds raised

funds raised

funds raised

Support for The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery has both immediate and long-lasting impacts.

Skidmore students and faculty gain access to extraordinary experiences with leading scholars, artists, and artworks through the museum’s innovative exhibitions and distinctive programming. At the same time, new acquisitions to the Tang collection ensure that inspiring artworks and archives will expand teaching resources across the disciplines for years to come.

Creating Our Future not only made the Valentine Boathouse for our women’s and men’s crew teams a reality, it also set the stage for a new era of support for Athletics at Skidmore. The Campaign mobilization of key volunteers, working in partnership with coaches, staff, alumni, parents, and current athletes, has dramatically enhanced our ability moving forward to provide our student-athletes with the facilities and support they need to excel both on and off the field.

Donors provided nearly 800 career internship stipends, student research experiences, and other opportunities that have helped our students gain hands-on experiences and skills that enhance their outcomes for employment and graduate school.

— Ian Berry Dayton Director

— Gail Cummings-Danson Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Director of Athletics

$30.1 MILLION *

* Funds for Programs - $11 million, Gifts of Art - $19.1 million

$4.7 MILLION

$4.8 MILLION

— Kim Crabbe Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Career Development Center

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Celebrating the Opening of the Center for Integrated Sciences North Wing “Nearly two decades in the making, this celebration represents a significant moment in the history of Skidmore College. Science has always been a source of pride at Skidmore.”

— Philip A. Glotzbach, President Emeritus

S

kidmore celebrated the completion of the first of three phases of the Center for Integrated Sciences at a socially distanced, outdoor ceremony in May 2021. The 58,000-square-foot North Wing features 58 laboratories and classrooms, 21 faculty and staff offices, and resources that had previously been spread across campus. It houses the departments of Computer Science and Mathematics and Statistics, as well as Introduction to Chemistry courses and the Biology Department’s organismal and field methods classes.

Above: Marie Glotzbach and President Emeritus Philip A. Glotzbach (left) join President Marc Conner and Barbara Reyes-Conner (right) in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting marking the completion of the Center for Integrated Sciences (CIS) North Wing. CIS faculty coordinator Pat Fehling, Facilities Director Dan Rodecker, Construction Services Assistant Director Paul Lundberg, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Donna Ng, and Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Orr were also on hand to mark this historic achievement.

10 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

Student Profiles

CAMPAIGN IMPACT REPORT 2021 | 11

Your support

has increased access, opportunity and enhanced experiences for Skidmore students, shaping lives and futures. A few of these students’ stories are shared here.

— GERALDINE SANTOSO Anthropology and International Affairs

, 22

Geraldine received the Davis Peace Project Fund and the Summer Experience Fund, each of which helped her to create and develop an initiative for social good in her community in rural Indonesia. Skidmore has been a place where Geraldine is “able to learn and grow and keep learning” while preparing for a career that allows her to represent and learn about cultures and nations that have been historically underrepresented.

— AUSTIN ROOK Management and Business

, 22

Austin came to Skidmore knowing he wanted to play hockey, but unsure of what came after that. He credits the exceptional line-up of premier experiences at Skidmore for helping him discover that he’s “a hockey player, plus an economist, plus a business consultant, plus a volunteer, plus a mentor.”

— STEPHANIE URAGA Biology

, 22

Access to a liberal arts education at Skidmore has opened doors to new, enriching possibilities for Stephanie who is in pursuit of a future in optometry. From collaborative research alongside their advisor and former professor, Patricia Hilleren, to participation in the Skidmore College Emergency Medical Services (SCEMS), Stephanie is building confidence and learning experiences.

— GRIFFIN FRANKEL Psychology and Spanish

, 22 12 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

Support through scholarship and community provided Griffin with the opportunity to pursue a psychology internship and forge close connections at Skidmore. As a current Admissions Ambassador, he hopes to impact students looking for their home away from home.

— PERIS TUSHABE Political Science and French

, 21

Leadership experience at Skidmore has prepared and empowered Peris for a future focused on social justice. Just last semester, they organized a talk with local artists and activists to discuss the connection between the art world and activism on the ground, as well as a virtual pop-up shop, hosted by the Tang, for students to showcase and sell their crafts, art pieces, and other works.

— TONY NIKITOPOULOS Geosciences and Theater

, 21

Only at a college where Creative Thought Matters could Tony major in geosciences and study abroad in an intensive theater program in Russia. But to him, it’s more about “the ‘do both’ mentality, and the resources and the support of people who help us pursue what we really want to do.”

— SARAH FINNEGAN Chemistry

, 22

The Schupf Summer Collaborative Research Team provided Sarah the opportunity to take part in the multi-institutional MICRO project, which developed a set of materials to support more engagement through distance learning during the fall 2020 semester. This unique experience allowed her to secure engineering-based internships for the summer and gain many diverse skills beyond the traditional chemistry program.

— HADIA BAKKAR Political Science and Media and Film Studies

, 20

Hadia, an international student from Damascus, Syria, came to Skidmore eager to tell stories others had overlooked. From the pages of the Skidmore News to the audio waves of the BBC, Hadia collected hands-on experiences, and wrote about others’experieinces, to win a post-grad award to move to Washington, D.C., and work at NPR.

— CHARLOTTE SQUIRE Political Science and Media and Film Studies

, 20

Immersed in art and music on and off campus, Charlotte credits pre-professional experience provided by a summer internship at a music marketing agency, a public programming internship at the Tang, and her role as WSPN manager and Falstaff’s head operating officer with fueling her passion for the arts and entertainment industry.

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— FAISAL NAMANYA Management and Business

, 20

Faisal, an international student from Busia, Uganda, received a job offer before graduation to work as an analyst at MUFG Bank in New York City thanks to prior Skidmore internship connections and several career-development opportunities that bolstered his resume.

— KASIA DILLON Neuroscience

, 19

Kasia graduated with as much, if not more, hands-on research experience than many graduate students. Her on-campus lab experiences helped her land life-changing research internships at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless, Baylor College of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Now, she’s working as a research assistant at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and preparing for medical school.

— SILAS SENO MITCHELL Dance and Arts Administration

, 21

Silas is improving Skidmore for future generations and learning important skills along the way. He has proudly facilitated BIPOC student conversations with President Marc Conner and served on the College’s Equity Task Force and in the Title IX Working Group. Why? To “ensure equity and access for all.”

— AMY ROWLAND International Affairs and Political Science

, 19

From dancing with the Breakbeats to studying abroad and taking advantage of internship funding to explore criminal law and local politics, Amy says pursuing different passions at Skidmore prepared her for her next act: working in Sabe, Japan as a language teacher with the JET Program.

— NKOSINGIPHILE “NK” MABASO Sociology and Computer Science

, 19 14 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

From club leadership to meaningful mentor-professors and taking the stage to sing from her heart, NK credits the Skidmore experiences that challenged her with helping her find her voice and deepen her understanding of the world.

Now, she’s a published author and public speaker helping women of all ages explore the complexities of courage.

Creativity at work:

The Tang

The Frances Young Tang ’61 Teaching Museum and Art Gallery has long been celebrated as a space that integrates the arts into every facet of academic and community life at Skidmore and also in our surrounding community.

Creating Our Future aligned with the museum’s second decade on campus, creating a moment to recognize and celebrate what the arts can do to enhance our lives and expand our minds, while simultaneously challenging us to envision a new and brighter future.

Over the duration of the Campaign, gifts to the Tang expanded collections and groundbreaking exhibitions through gifts of art, supported research, and paved the way for some remarkable ingenuity and interdisciplinary collaboration.

We’ve highlighted two examples of this work >

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Give a damn. exhibition

Give a damn. invited visitors to explore the work of artists who advocate for freedom, equality, justice, and understanding. A reflection of Skidmore’s broader efforts to support responsible citizenship, civic engagement, and social responsibility through the liberal arts, the exhibition was a powerful example of how interdisciplinary study at the Tang sparks inspiration for action through art.

Max Fleischman ’19, then president of Skidmore’s Student Government Association, used the exhibition as a platform for helping students register to vote and discuss topics of importance to them, both on and off campus. “An art exhibition dedicated to political work is really important,” said Max, a political science major with minors in history and gender studies.

16 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

Jason Ohlberg, assistant professor of dance, choreographed an original dance, “Metamorphosis,” that was inspired by Lari Pittman, one of the artists “giving a damn.” His work was accompanied by an original music score by Carl Landa, Skidmore music director.

The exhibition included a primer for visitors moved by some of the exhibition’s core issues – racial injustice, gender discrimination, and more – to write to their elected officials. Written by Sophie Heath ’18, a classics major and gender studies minor, “Who Should I Write to About…?” became popular among visitors, including educators at all grade levels. The document is now a digital download for anyone to use to incorporate the information into civics lessons.

Like Sugar

faculty-curated exhibition

Like Sugar followed a 20-year Tang tradition of supporting interdisciplinary faculty exhibitions as it asked us to consider how sugar and our powerful hunger for sweetness has impacted lives around the world both now and throughout history.

Experts in biology, environmental studies, art, and English came together to co-curate this collaborative experience that was both an immersive museum exhibit and a semester-long teaching opportunity for nearly every academic department and visitors. Together, the community engaged in conversations on the foundations of empires, the economics of slavery, global agriculture, health epidemics, food justice, and more.

The exhibition was also an opportunity for the faculty to infuse their own scholarship with new perspectives.

Monica Raveret Richter, associate professor of biology and a behavioral ecologist, came to the project to dive into an area of her research with new energy — food choices and their bioligical and environmental consequences.

Sarah Goodwin, professor of English and a British poetry scholar, reflected that she “hadn’t noticed sugar was everywhere” in her commonly researched texts until this project. “I suddenly saw the sugar trade — and slave labor — as a cornerstone of Great Britain’s empire and wealth. This exhibition reminded me how carefully chosen and arranged objects can change our thinking and transform us.”

But the greatest impact was seen among students, as Rachel Seligman, Malloy Curator at the Tang, reflected: “We saw firsthand how much our students benefit from us coming together from different disciplines to experiment and explore. It creates new energy and excitement, completely transforming research, art-making, and learning.”

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A committment to excellence Faculty and staff enhance teaching, scholarship, and services across campus.

Your investment in faculty and staff excellence brings talented teacher-scholars and staff to Skidmore, enhancing the learning experience for all students. Creating Our Future helped our educators pursue groundbreaking research, problem-solve in interdisciplinary ways and expand their teaching capabilities. Combine this with the additional support of campus staff, and our students are getting a premier, well-rounded education.

HOCKENOS

18 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

HELLMAN

JAFARZADE

— Matthew Hockenos, Harriet Johnson Toadvine ’56 Professor in 20th-Century History Professor Matthew Hockenos is a 20th-century European history specialist who has earned Fulbright, Mellon, and other grants and awards for his scholarship, including his book, A Church Divided: German Protestants Confront the Nazi Past. He recently worked with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to research the Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews, analyzing Nazi antisemitism and missionary attitudes. He was also awarded the prestigious Edwin M. Moseley Faculty Research Lectureship for 2019-20.

Historical literacy is pivotal in providing Skidmore graduates with the tools for responsible citizenship, civic engagement, and social responsibility through the liberal arts. The establishment of this professorship is “sure to have an important impact on the historical literacy of the next generations of Skidmore students,” said Matthew.

— Mimi Hellman, The Charlotte Lamson Clarke ’53 Chair in Art History Mimi Hellman, professor of art history, teaches courses that address visual cultures and built environments in Europe and North America in the early modern and modern periods. She challenges students to examine how society influences, and is influenced by, art and design. Her courses foster visual literacy, critical thinking, and an understanding of cultural diversity and power structures. Her scholarship explores the roles of paintings, furnishings, and interior design in the construction of social identities in 18th-century France.

Most recently, she published the article “The Politics of Attachment: Visualizing Young Louis XV and his Governess.” Part of an edited book about the histories and afterlives of the French royal palace of Versailles, Mimi’s chapter explores how early 18th-century prints depicting a 5-year-old king and his governess negotiated social and political anxieties about royal bodies, female agency and national identity. In keeping with the interdisciplinarity of art history, her teaching and research intersect with numerous fields, including gender studies, history, literature and political science.

Mimi said, “Art History is about the power of visual form to shape human experience. It’s exciting when students apply what they’re learning in class to their encounters with images, objects, and spaces in everyday life.”

— Soha Jafarzade, Sands Family Foundation Assistant Director of Diversity Career Development Born in Sweden to Iranian refugee parents and dedicating his time during law school to providing legal assistance to vulnerable communities in need of pro-bono services, Soha Jafarzade understands the power of community support and the importance of diversity in career development. In this role, Soha specializes in working within diverse populations (domestic students of color, LGBTQ+, first-generation, and international students), from connecting students to opportunities that support their career goals to networking with alumni. He also calls on his expertise to work with students interested in government and law.

“Helping every student build their career is something that’s important to us. Having a dedicated person focused on diversity career development and employer outreach establishes Skidmore at the forefront in this area,” explains Soha. “This endowment has really allowed us to do that.”

The nearly $5 million contributed toward career development and transformative experiences funded career internships, student research, and other experiential opportunities that help students gain hands-on experience and skills and enhance post-graduation outcomes.

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Making a World of Difference LANGA BAKHULUMA-NCUBE ’18 AND JOHANE SIMELANE ’13

Above and opposite page, far right: Langa Bakhuluma-Ncube ’18 Opposite page, left: Johane Simelane ’13

20 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

A

cademic projects, summer experiences, and wellness initiatives at Skidmore have helped international alumni to launch careers with a social impact and promote public health solutions across the globe.

Langa Bakhuluma-Ncube ’18 and Johane Simelane ’13, both Davis United World College scholars from the Waterford Kamhlaba United World College in Swaziland, pursued self-determined majors in public health at Skidmore followed by master’s degrees at Ivy League graduate schools.

Langa was a lead peer health mentor at Skidmore, part of a group of student volunteers who promote healthy choices and lifestyles among peers. For her final project at Skidmore, she considered the “double burden” of undernutrition and obesity across sub-Saharan African countries.

She went on to pursue a master’s in public health degree from Brown University School of Public Health and is a clinical research assistant at the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health. She graduated in May and will begin working as a patient-centric associate consultant at Trinity Life Sciences, outside Boston, in late summer.

“At Skidmore, I had many opportunities to take my interests in public health beyond the classroom,” Langa reflected. “The most impactful being the summer-funded internships that allowed me to complete two international internships, including one in my home country. These experiences provided real-world contexts for improving health outcomes and continue to inform my own work in public health.”

Johane received a SEE-Beyond academic grant from Skidmore to examine public health practices and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS in Swaziland, one of the most severely HIV-affected countries in the world. He provided the findings of his research to the country’s Ministry of Health to improve public health programming.

“Growing up in a community that is highly affected by diseases, poverty, and poor education, I wanted to make a difference. SEE-Beyond has taught me that there’s a lot that I can do with small funding.”

Johane completed a master’s degree program at Columbia University and is now a clinical researcher, leading a team of 17 nurses and coordinators for the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care system. His program served on the front lines of the pandemic through its involvement in trials for various COVID-19 treatments and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine. Other VA facilities regard the program he leads as a model for others.

“I cannot get over how my experience at Skidmore set me up for this work. In addition to the skills and confidence I developed, Skidmore successfully provided the resources that helped me create a clear dream that I can still follow today — and for the rest of my career.”

— Johane Simelane ’13

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Groundbreaking Inventions Powered by Creativity ELLIOT “MO” KREITENBERG ’14 AND LEEJAY POLLACCHI ’13

Elliot “Mo” Kreitenberg ’14 has always had an entrepreneurial dream. At Skidmore, research opportunities, hands-on experiences, and encouragement from his professors gave him the confidence to pursue it. Today, he’s the co-founder of Dimer UVC Innovations, an ultraviolet disinfection technology company.

“I learned at Skidmore not to view markets with an established bias and to consider all perspectives,” said Elliot.

“Since then, I saw firsthand how many people were stuck looking at disinfection technology the same way. With a little creative thinking, we found a market gap and continue to use that same energy to do things differently, from product design to marketing and fundraising.”

One of Dimer’s breakthrough inventions is the GermFalcon. It uses short-wavelength ultraviolet light (UVC) to sanitize interior surfaces of aircrafts. Another is the UVHammer, a mobile UVC unit designed to kill 99.9% of germs on surfaces in schools, businesses, government facilities, and elsewhere. Both have been shown effective against SARS and MERS, two members of the coronavirus family, and SARS-CoV-2 when it lands on surfaces.

Elliot’s college roommate, Leejay Pollacchi ’13, a marketing and design professional, serves as brand manager at Dimer. The longtime friends both studied management and business at Skidmore and played for the men’s baseball team.

Working together, the alumni are celebrating one major milestone after another, including an exclusive strategic partnership with Honeywell International to clean JetBlue, Qatar and Azul Airways planes traveling around the world.

Time Magazine included the GermFalcon on its list of “The Best Inventions of 2020.” SXSW invited the Dimer team to pitch the UVHammer at its startup competition. And journalists from Good Morning America to Forbes and the BBC are eager to learn their secret.

“Our dream,” said Elliot, “is that technology like ours becomes ubiquitous with everyday life, putting it in every major transportation intersection, classroom, public space, and more, so we can prevent the catastrophic pain and suffering the COVID-19 pandemic wrought around the world.”

“We know this is critically important work and part of a larger puzzle to change the world, especially this year,” said Leejay. “Mo did a lot of the work to get us here, but I’m excited to be on board to see where our Skidmore creativity will take us next.”

22 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

“Skidmore allowed us to pave our own creative path. Work in this realm isn’t often by the book, and Skidmore always taught us how important it was to think outside the box.”

— Leejay Pollacchi ’13

Photos: Elliot “Mo” Kreitenberg ’14, with an assist from his father, loads the GermFalcon aboard an aircraft (inset photo, left).

With “wings” deployed, the GermFalcon is shown at work sanitizing a plane interior (main photo, above).

CAMPAIGN IMPACT REPORT 2021 | 23

Scientific Immersion through Collaborative Research ZOE PAGLIARO ’20 AND SHAY KOLODNEY ’21

F

rom the Adirondacks to the Amazon and Al Gore’s farm, collaborative research projects with Skidmore faculty are providing students with unprecedented opportunities to learn about the intricacies of data collection and analysis while exploring ways to create a better future for the planet.

Environmental studies majors Zoe Pagliaro ’20 and Shay Kolodney ’21 both conducted groundbreaking research with Kristofer Covey, visiting assistant professor of environmental studies and sciences, in summer 2019.

Their research began on a protected sanctuary in the middle of Lake George, then moved to two farms not far from Skidmore’s campus before taking them to Caney Fork Farms in Tennessee.

Zoe and Shay, both scholarship recipients at Skidmore, were the first college students ever to conduct scientific research on the family farm of former Vice President Al Gore, which is dedicated to sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, soil recarbonization, research, and conservation.

“Being part of something that many people are looking to as a solution to climate change creates comfort in that I’m helping to find solutions to this human crisis that we’re all facing,” said Shay, who returned to the farm to work as a research coordinator during her senior year at Skidmore.

In July 2019, Zoey joined Kris Covey and 28 other researchers in Manaus, Brazil, to review a decade’s worth of data on the drivers of resurgent change in the Amazon rainforest, including deforestation, development, mining, fires, and emissions of lesser-discussed greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.

The result was a major study — “Carbon and Beyond: The Biogeochemistry of Climate in a Rapidly Changing Amazon,” published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change — that concluded for the first time that the Amazon rainforest is most likely having a net warming effect on global climate.

24 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

Opposite page: Shay Kolodney ’21, left, Zoe Pagliaro ’20 and Kris Covey, visiting assistant professor of environmental studies and sciences, log soil samples on Dome Island, a protected research site in Lake George, less than an hour from Skidmore’s campus. Above, left: Shay collects soil samples as part of rapid soil carbon assessment research conducted at Caney Fork Farms in Tennessee in July 2019. She and Zoe were the first two college students ever to conduct scientific research on the family farm of former Vice President Al Gore. Above, right: Hosted by the National Geographic Society, Kris Covey and Zoe gathered with 28 other researchers in Manaus, Brazil, in July 2019 to review a decade’s worth of data on the drivers of resurgent change in the Amazon rainforest, leading to the publication of a first-of-its-kind study, “Carbon and Beyond: The Biogeochemistry of Climate in a Rapidly Changing Amazon.”

“The main takeaway that the Amazon is most likely contributing to global climate change is huge, and I hope this study impacts how we think about and address climate change moving forward,” said Zoe.

Kris agrees that conducting in-depth collaborative research with Skidmore faculty allows for unique experiential learning opportunities. “It’s one thing to have ideas in the classroom, but it’s another to have contact with professionals who are out there working to solve Since graduating, Zoe has been serving in the “incredibly the problems that you want to have an impact on,” said rewarding” role of sustainability Kris. “Watching the students coordinator for Clean Ocean Access, interact together, grow together, actively working to address some of and take on independence and the the environmental challenges she “My collaborative research research has been really exciting.” studied at Skidmore. experiences at Skidmore Shay, also an accomplished have been invaluable to my “My collaborative research expepianist, plans to continue her life post-graduation.” riences at Skidmore have been work at Caney Fork Farms after invaluable to my life post-graduagraduating from Skidmore in — Zoe Pagliaro ’20 tion,” she said. “Not only did they May. help me land a great job right out of college working at an environ“Skidmore provided me oppormental nonprofit, but they were also an asset to my tunities to pursue my passions both in the arts and the applications for graduate school, and I will be starting sciences,” she said. “I’m excited that I will be able to this upcoming fall at West Virginia University to continue continue work addressing climate change in the next my passion for research. I am so grateful for my time at phase of my career.”

Skidmore and for everyone who helped me get these amazing opportunities.”

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PR ESIDEN T ’S ME S SAG E

This truly is a historic moment.

Creating Our Future: The Campaign for Skidmore will be remembered decades from now as a defining moment for Skidmore College.

The thanks we want to convey, the gratitude, for this achievement are profound. I want to start with our four Campaign co-chairs: Nancy W. Hamilton ’77 and W. Scott McGraw P’12, the original co-chairs of the campaign when it was first conceived and launched, and Tom Wilmot ’99 and Susan Gottlieb Beckerman ’67, who assumed the direction of the campaign in its final years.

To all our donors and volunteers — literally thousands and thousands of you, including alumni, parents, trustees, friends, staff and faculty, and students — you are the heart and soul of this campaign.

And to my predecessor, Phil Glotzbach, and his wife Marie Glotzbach, who guided Skidmore in the decade leading up to this campaign, as well as through the campaign’s many steps and triumphs, the gratitude I feel for all you accomplished for Skidmore is beyond measure.

For I came late to this party. This campaign was some 2,700 days in the making, and I’ve been here for about 270 days — so more or less 10% of the campaign. As I’ve said on other occasions, I feel like I was brought in to pitch, not even the last inning of this game, but maybe the last pitch to the last batter. Yet these were important pitches. In the final six months of the campaign, when we decided to extend it by half a year to bring it to the strongest conclusion we could, we raised an additional $17.4 million — over 13% of the campaign total in the final six months. This gave me a chance to work right alongside the campaign leadership and our superb Advancement colleagues, and that has indeed been an honor and a great education in how to do this work well.

26 | CREATING OUR FUTURE

The success of the current campaign tells us something about Skidmore’s future. Creating Our Future has not just been a great achievement in itself; it shows what Skidmore can accomplish and augurs so well for our future. That future, I can tell you, is aspirational and ambitious. And so, at this moment of celebration and triumph, it’s a fair question to ask: “Where do we go from here?”

When I think about Skidmore’s future, I think about our people. Students, staff, faculty, alumni, parents — it’s the people who make an institution, who define its qualities and traditions. I want us to think carefully about how our people experience Skidmore — about the lived experience of being a student or employee of this great College. And I want our future goals to be connected to that experience, connected to our people. One of the stories we will tell about the Year of COVID at Skidmore is how well we took care of our people. The health, safety, and well-being of everyone in our community have unfailingly been our top priority throughout the pandemic and will continue to be.

This is the springboard to our future.

For the magic formula for being a great liberal arts college is actually pretty simple: you recruit the most talented, diverse, and brilliant students you can to come to Skidmore; and then you give to them a world-class liberal arts education that is just about unmatched in the world.

So our enduring question will be, what are the priorities, projects, and programs that will help us continue to fulfill that magic formula?

It takes courage, for that’s a highly aspirational formula. It takes commitment, for what it takes to accomplish this is not easy nor cheap. It takes collaboration — nobody can do this alone, and the depth of talent and effort we will depend upon is great indeed.

And finally, it takes love. Love of the alma mater. Love of what it has done for and meant to so many of us. And love for what it will do for the students of the future.

Being in higher education is a matter of infinite hope. We commit to it because we believe in that future and the role that great colleges like Skidmore play in shaping a better and more lasting future. That love is what drove this campaign to such a triumphant conclusion. And that love is what will sustain Skidmore for generations to come.

Marc C. Conner President Excerpted from Campaign Celebration Event April 8, 2021

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