UWC-USA 2013 Annual Report

ANNUAL REPORT 2013

REPORT FROM THE

BOARD CHAIR THOSE WHO ATTENDED LIKELY WOULD AGREE

that the highlight of 2012-13 was our 30th anniversary celebration. We enjoyed several events in September, including a live broadcast of the UWC Movement’s 50th anniversary commemoration that took place at my alma mater, UWC Atlantic College. Here in New Mexico, the festivities concluded with a daylong party that reflected all the things that make UWC-USA special: thoughtful discussions, amazing performances, and an international selection of food.

At that wonderful event, we celebrated not only our founding but also the announcement of five scholarships created by six alumni: Sebastien de Halleux ’96, Bertrand Kan ’84, Kuo-Chuan “KC” Kung ’87, Ben ’98 and Alexa ’99 Melkman, and Charles Wong ’84. Those scholarships—and two more that came later in the year from Kristian Segerstråle ’96 and Victoria “Tor” Ransom ’95 and her husband Alain Chuard—helped us meet the Davis Endowment Challenge and raise more than $10 million for the school’s endowment.

When philanthropist Shelby Davis issued the Davis Endowment Challenge, he promised to match every gift made to the UWC-USA endowment up to $5 million, dollar for dollar.

In addition to contributions from our alumni, philanthropists Bill Brown and Rodman Moorhead made significant gifts to help the school clinch the challenge. The board is thankful to them and to everyone who helped the school complete the Davis Endowment Challenge.

Another significant achievement for the year was the board’s approval of a new strategic plan for UWC-USA. You can read about the details on pages 6–7. The plan was the outcome of

nearly two years’ worth of work that included input from a broad range of constituents. Many of the initiatives are already under way, and we look forward to reporting on progress in accomplishing the plan in the coming years.

As the fiscal year drew to a close, Lisa Darling announced her decision to take a oneyear sabbatical for 2013-2014 and conclude her service when her contract ends next year.

Lisa became UWC-USA’s third president in 2005, following Phil Geier and Ted Lockwood.

During her career here, she invigorated the school’s alumni relations, helped raise $25 million to support current and future students, and served as a wise and compassionate leader.

We are truly grateful for her dedication and work.

We are equally grateful to have Tom Oden step into the role of acting president. Tom, who has served as the school’s vice president for academic affairs since 2010, brings a wealth of experience in international education and school leadership, and the board is confident in his ability to guide the school while a search is under way.

Finally, I must extend deep thanks to our board members, who serve as volunteers. Their commitment, wisdom, and experience continue to guide this incredible institution as we reach for ever higher goals.

Tom Dickerson AC ’68 Chairman

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LETTER FROM

THOMAS E. ODEN

UWC-USA Annual Report 2013 2

DEAR FRIENDS,

One of the first events I attended as acting president was the 2013 reunion. Of course, I’ve met many alumni in the three years I’ve been at UWC-USA as vice president for academic affairs, but this was different. First, there was the sheer volume of people: More than 200 alumni and their families attended, making it our biggest reunion ever. Second—and more germane for me—was the opportunity to really get to understand UWC-USA from our alumni’s perspective.

One of the reunion events is called Time of Remembrance. It’s an hour during the weekend in which alumni can gather in the Nelson Mandela Peace Garden to reflect on the lives of fellow alumni, UWC-USA faculty, and school friends who’ve passed on. As those present shared their memories, I felt the incredible power of this place—of the relationships that have been forged and the experiences that have been shared. I feel honored to be here and to serve as UWC-USA’s acting president.

I come to this role with more than 13 years of experience as a school leader. Before joining UWC-USA, I was the director for the Uruguayan American School in Montevideo,

Uruguay; the deputy head of school and high school principal for the American Community School in Beirut; the principal for The American International School of Muscat, Oman; and the middle/high school principal for the American International School of Johannesburg, South Africa.

I’ve been fortunate to have worked at schools around the world. But I can tell you there is no school I know of that impacts the lives of students like UWC-USA. We have a great team on campus, and we are all committed to making this a challenging, caring, and transformative place for this year’s group of young people. We see in them our hopes and aspirations for the future.

I am deeply grateful to the alumni, parents, friends, trustees, distinguished trustees, faculty, and staff who are the champions of our school. Thank you for choosing to support UWC-USA and its mission. Every contribution matters. Every person counts.

With gratitude, Thomas E. Oden Acting President

Board of Trustees Thomas P. Dickerson AC ’68, Chair Mark Alexander Amin Badr-El-Din Rachel P. Belash Marc P. Blum Lisa A.H. Darling Sebastien de Halleux ’96 Steven F. Dichter, Vice Chair Janet Smith Dickerson Ray R. Irani Ben Jones AC ’91 Kuo-Chuan (KC) Kung ’87 James Leonard Charlotte Ilfeld Rubin Peter Ruggiero Jonathan L. Schneider Monique B. Seefried Michael C. Taylor ’91 Tyler C. Tingley Rosemary Tomich

Distinguished Trustees

“I’ve been fortunate to have worked at schools around the world. But I can tell you there is no school I know of that impacts the lives of students like UWC-USA.”

Nancy Anixter William Anixter Celeste Bartos Alvin Chereskin Kathryn Davis Shelby M.C. Davis Virginia Dwan Phyllis Rothschild Farley Amy Yeager Geier Philip O. Geier III Dorothy Goodman Martha Ann Healy William H. Moore III Ronald W. Rubinow Frederick Rudolph Louisa Stude Sarofim Michael Stern ’89 James B. Taylor Sarah W. Taylor Litsa D. Tsitsera

—THOMAS E. ODEN, ACTING PRESIDENT

Emeritus Leaders Philip O. Geier III, President Emeritus Theodore “Ted” Lockwood,

President Emeritus James B. Taylor, Chairman Emeritus

3

FINANCIAL

REPORT THE 2012-2013 SCHOOL YEAR MARKED A NEW

chapter in the financial history of UWC-USA. Since our founding benefactor Armand Hammer passed away in 1990, UWC-USA has benefited from his ongoing legacy through a trust. In recent years, the Armand Hammer Trust has covered more than 20 percent of the school’s annual budget, which is about $11 million per year. We are in the final year of the trust, after which we must find new sources of funds to run our program.

One of the benefits of financial scarcity is to clarify those things in which we believe most because not everything is possible. How do you choose between competing goals?

The entire on-campus community will spend considerable effort making do with what we have and saving where we can. But we all understand our school cannot “save” its way to excellence.

Difficult Choices So we make other choices.

We would like to be able to reward a 15year veteran master IB teacher with appropriate compensation—benefits, retirement planning, housing, and a cost-of-living raise—but we would also like to offer an additional partial scholarship to a student from the Caribbean.

How do we choose?

If we matriculate an additional 20 students whose families can afford to pay full tuition, is a dormitory upgrade in the next two years more financially viable?

Should we delay an expensive solar power project if it means four students from traditionally poorer countries can attend on a full scholarship?

Reasonable people can disagree on these questions. We will make difficult choices like these, because of financial constraints, in the coming years.

The Cost of a UWC-USA Education The cost of a UWC-USA education includes many elements.

UWC-USA Annual Report 2013 4

About half the cost goes directly to paying employees—the security staff, maintenance crew, cafeteria servers, teachers, and administrators in the form of salary, benefits, and retirement.

I have never heard an alumnus claim—nor have I ever believed—that paying anyone on campus anything less would lead to a better school. On the contrary, my strongest wish is that we could offer more—not because UWCUSA employees are particularly motivated by money (nobody moves to Montezuma, New Mexico, to make their fortune, after all) but because they deserve to be rewarded. They offer their energy and their love and the best years of their lives for us.

What Else Costs a Lot of Money?

Scholarships cost a tremendous amount of money. From our beginning in 1982, we have been a scholarship-driven school. The plain fact is that few students, ever, could attend UWC-USA without an extraordinary subsidy from their national committee and the school itself. Students and alumni know this.

What is less known, however, is how much the school subsidizes national committees worldwide. Even national committees that provide a “full tuition scholarship” are subsidized by our school by more than 50 percent of the true cost of our education. The vast majority of national committees provide a much smaller fraction of the total cost than even that 50 percent amount.

In the wider UWC movement, we do not typically talk about costs and fees. But these financially constrained times call for a greater understanding and disclosure of the financial facts.

A Tradition of Generous Scholarships Thanks to fortunate friendships—most notably the generosity of Shelby M.C. Davis and his family—we have built an impressive tradition of scholarship support. I know of no school in the United States with a more generous scholarship policy than ours. But generosity by

the school demands generosity from its alumni and closest friends. Nobody understands more than alumni the life-changing gift of a UWCUSA education, no matter how much we received in our “scholarship” grant.

SOURCES OF FUNDING FY 2013 4.5%

11.8% 20.6%

The Financial Seesaw: Tuition vs. Philanthropy With the expiration of the Armand Hammer Trust, we do not propose to pay school employees any less in the coming years, nor will we let the quality of the physical plant on campus decline. The only reasonable source of new funds, therefore, is a combination of tuition and philanthropic support.

Frankly, a greater reliance on tuition offers a relatively easy path to financial sustainability.

Plenty of families worldwide can pay the full fees required and would love for their children to have access to our one-of-a-kind two-year experience. Of course, at some point, the tuition-driven path threatens the geographic and economic diversity at the heart of the UWC movement.

The UWC Path The harder path, the UWC path, is for every one of us to pitch in philanthropically, according to our personal abilities. That’s a better future for our school. Last year, philanthropic contributions to the Annual Fund covered 12 percent of the school’s budget.

We’re not going to get the Annual Fund to cover 32 percent of the budget next year (the 12 percent current amount plus the 20 percent previously funded by the Armand Hammer Trust), but I hope we all dig in and try our best.

If Not Us, Who? If Not Now, When?

Personally, I’m much more excited by the prospect of covering the cost of the school through the gifts of alumni and friends than I am by relying on tuition. What about you?

Love and Peace, Michael C. Taylor ’91 UWC-USA Board of Trustees Chair of Finance Committee

20.7%

42.4%

FY 2013

FY 2012

Philanthropic Contributions

to Annual Operations $ 1,278,579 $ 1,527,124 Armand Hammer Trust* 2,250,000 2,250,000 Endowment Income 4,616,552 4,488,928 National Committee

Contributions 2,244,460 1,818,200 Summer Programs/

Auxiliary Income 491,605 455,947

Total Revenues $10,881,196 $10,540,200 *Income from the Armand Hammer Trust will cease in 2013.

USES OF FUNDING FY 2013 0.6%

9.1% 10.4%

9.8%

70.0%

FY 2013

Educational Programming* $ 7,623,392 General Administration 1,069,951 Facilities 1,134,921 Endowed scholarships for US Davis Scholars studying at other UWCs 985,618 Invested in Endowment 67,313

Total Expenses and Transfers $10,881,196

FY 2012

$ 7,157,331 1,119,055 1,151,368

1,016,987 95,458 $10,540,200

*This includes funds used for carrying out academic and co-curricular programs including compensation and support for employees who facilitate these programs.

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A PLAN FOR THE FUTURE:

THE STRATEGIC PLAN

UWC-USA Annual Report 2013 6

SINCE ITS FOUNDING, UWC-USA HAS

experienced three distinct stages. The first stage was the “pioneering years” of former President Theodore Lockwood. During that decade, traditions and programs—including the Wilderness and Get-Away programs—were established, and they continue to thrive today.

The second stage, anchored by former President Phil Geier, saw incredible growth.

Through Phil’s remarkable fundraising efforts, new facilities were built, a transformational endowment from benefactor Shelby M.C.

Davis was secured, and our second defining program, the Bartos Institute for Constructive Engagement of Conflict, was founded.

The third stage centered on former President Lisa Darling’s tenure. Lisa, who left UWC-USA on June 30, invigorated the alumni program by building strong relationships with alumni to help them become more committed to, and engaged with, the school and the UWC movement. A successful fundraiser, Lisa increased philanthropic support from a broad base of donors.

The strategic plan represents an exciting new era as UWC-USA continues to define itself as a unique—and uniquely relevant—institution.

UWC-USA’s fourth stage is now upon us.

In May, the Board of Trustees approved a new strategic plan that sets the course through 2018.

The plan was the result of nearly two years’ work that included input from a broad range of constituents. It contains five elements: 1. Shift the educational program toward “education for impact.” Leadership can assume many forms, from taking charge of a group or initiative to serving as a role model in a dorm.

UWC-USA faculty and administrators will seek ways to enhance leadership training at a variety of levels and promote it as a core program component.

2. Expand access to the UWC experience.

Simply, the more people who experience UWC, the greater impact the movement can have in achieving its mission of engendering peace and sustainability in the world. The school is expanding summer programs to expose greater numbers of young people to the UWC ethos. In addition, the board has approved gradual enrollment increases, with a cap of 250 students. Some of these would be feepaying students; they would still apply through national committees to ensure a diverse student population and recruitment of students who exemplify UWC ideals.

3. Strengthen alumni impact. Second-year students are often told that graduation isn’t the end of the UWC-USA experience but rather “two years to start.” The school seeks to strengthen the alumni network by helping graduates reinforce their UWC-USA identity, supporting individual activities that align with and strengthen the mission, and by encouraging alumni to “pay it forward” through financial contributions that support future generations of students.

4. Expand and strengthen external networks.

The school will seek to collaborate with likeminded, prominent organizations on programs such as special projects and internships for students and alumni.

5. Ensure financial security. Some of the initiatives in the strategic plan—including increasing the number of fee-paying students and expanding short-course and summer programs—will expand the traditional sources of support for UWC-USA. Fundraising also will continue play a critical role as the school seeks to identify supporters from within our community and beyond.

School leaders already have begun work on each of these initiatives, and they will report on their progress at meetings of the Board of Trustees.

The school community will be kept informed as significant goals are met. The strategic plan represents an exciting new era as UWC-USA continues to define itself as a unique—and uniquely relevant—institution.

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NATIONAL

COMMITTEES NEARLY ALL STUDENTS WHO SEEK A UWC EDUCATION APPLY

to a national committee rather than to one of the 12 UWC schools directly. There are more than 150 national committees around the world, and most are run entirely by volunteers.

These committees select more than 1,000 promising candidates through national competitions. They nominate those students for places and scholarships to the 12 UWC campuses. This unique system enables students to be selected from within their own communities and cultures.

All U.S. citizens and permanent residents apply to UWCs through the Davis Scholar competition, which is run by the U.S. selection committee. Fifty accepted students are awarded full merit scholarships covering tuition, room, and board to attend one of the UWCs for the full two-year program.

UWC-USA helps to coordinate and support the U.S. selection committee and its wider group of volunteers.

Committee members read hundreds of applications and travel throughout the nation to interview prospective candidates and select the newest cohort of Davis scholars. We are deeply grateful to the U.S. selection committee and volunteers throughout the world who enable the UWC selection to happen.

U.S. National Selection Committee CO-CHAIRS Mary Beth Byrne AC ’76 Bill Kolb COMMITTEE Amy Garrou Martha Lyman Shaun Mabry MC ’01 Andrew Mahlstedt Xochitl Torres Small WK ’04 Tim Smith

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES:

CLASS OF 2013 MATRICULATION LIST BELOW IS A LIST OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES THE CLASS

of 2013 will attend. Some students choose to take a gap year before beginning their postsecondary education, and some are required to do national service before attending university.

Bates College Brandeis University Brown University Bucknell University Colby College College of Idaho Colorado College Cornell University Dartmouth College Davidson College Earlham College Florida Institute of Technology George Mason University Georgetown University Hampshire College IE University, Spain Jacobs University Luther College

Macalester College McGill University Methodist University Middlebury College NHH Norwegian School of Economics New York University, Abu Dhabi Pennsylvania State University Princeton University Savannah College of Art and Design Smith College St. Lawrence University Stanford University Trinity College Università Bocconi, Italy Universidad Nacional

Autónoma de Mexico University of Amsterdam University of California, Santa Cruz

University of Copenhagen University of Edinburgh University of Florida University of Mississippi University of New Mexico University of North Carolina,

Chapel Hill University of Notre Dame University of Oklahoma University of Oslo Utrecht University Wesleyan University Westminster College Wheaton College Whitman College Williams College Worcester Polytechnic Institute Yale University 9

WHERE IN THE

WORLD ARE WE FROM? COUNTRIES REPRESENTED BY THE CLASS OF 2013 AND 2014

Afghanistan 2 Angola 1 Australia 1 Austria 4 Bahamas 2 Bahrain 1 Barbados 2 Belgium 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 Brazil 2 Bulgaria 1 Cambodia 1 Canada 3 Cayman Islands 2 Chile 2 China 10 Congo 1 Costa Rica 1 Denmark 3 Ethiopia 1

Finland 2 France 1 Germany 6 Ghana 2 Guatemala 2 Hong Kong SAR 6 India 2 Indonesia 2 Iran 1 Ireland/Singapore 1 Israel 4 Italy 6 Japan 6 Jordan 1 Kenya 1 Kosovo 1 Lebanon 1 Liechtenstein 1 Luxembourg 1

Macedonia 1 Malawi 1 Malaysia 3 Mauritius 1 Mexico 5 Morocco 1 Nepal 3 Netherlands 4 Nigeria 3 Norway 4 Palestine 2 Paraguay 1 Peru 3 Poland 1 Portugal 1 Romania 1 Senegal 4 Singapore 2 South Africa 1

Spain 5 Sudan 1 Swaziland 2 Sweden 1 Syria 2 Tanzania 2 Trinidad and Tobago 4 Turkey 2 Uganda 2 United Arab Emirates 3 United Kingdom 6 United States 43 Uruguay 1 Venezuela 2 Yemen 1 Zimbabwe 2

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OUR 30TH ANNIVERSARY:

THREE DECADES OF IMPACT IT WAS A PARTY LIKE NONE OTHER: UWC-USA’S 30TH

anniversary festival brought alumni, students, faculty, staff, and the greater community together for a grand celebration of the school and 50 years of the UWC movement.

Seated before a stage on the soccer field on a warm autumn Saturday, hundreds of revelers enjoyed an international array of music and dance performed by students. Workshops on global issues took place in tents nearby, and platters of churros, Eastern European fruitcake, and sushi were served up to everyone in attendance. In the adjacent field, an Afghani student taught children to make and fly kites.

Philanthropist Shelby M.C. Davis joined the celebration and also held a special reception for his Davis scholars. Those 50 students left the room awe-struck and pledged to follow Shelby’s advice: Spend the first third of your life learning, use the second third earning, and devote the last third of your life to returning or giving back.

The Saturday festival was the highlight of a weeklong celebration that included a live broadcast of the UWC movement’s 50th commemoration and a campus-wide “Day of Service,” in which students, faculty, and staff participated in community projects. During each event, the UWC-USA community honored three decades of history and tradition and looked ahead to a future of even greater impact.

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A FOND

FAREWELL

AS THE CLASS OF 2013 PACKED THEIR BAGS

and said their farewells, so too did eight beloved faculty and staff members who “graduated” to new adventures and opportunities as the fiscal year drew to a close.

Those included the following: Lisa A.H. Darling was UWC-USA’s third president. During her eight-year tenure, she forged significant alumni relationships, meeting with individuals and groups in nearly every city to which she traveled. Lisa truly believed in the UWC mission and took an active role in the international movement, serving as chair of the UWC Heads of School for several years.

Her UWC passion was infectious: During her tenure, Lisa helped raise more than $25 million to support the school and its programs.

Vice President for Advancement Tim Dougherty, who joined UWC-USA in 2009, helped close the Davis Challenge and played a key role in significantly growing the Annual Fund. Two of his three children are UWC alumni, and Tim is an “alumnus” of several Grand Canyon trips students took as part of the Southwest Studies program.

Janet Gerard, who had a 30-year career at UWC-USA, held many positions and concluded her service as the school’s librarian. In the anniversary issue of Kaleidoscope, Janet expressed her deep appreciation for the UWC mission: “The more people who are exposed to this … the more likely we are to change the world.”

Spanish teacher Mariano Giampietri AC ’93 was “on loan” to UWC-USA from UWC Red Cross Nordic for a one-year exchange. As an alumnus, Mariano was UWC through and through and quickly became a beloved figure on campus.

UWC-USA Annual Report 2013 36

Math teacher Judy Land spent 22 years teaching, making brownies for students, and encouraging the math-averse to embrace the subject. At the Appreciations Dinner in May, one of Judy’s students proudly recounted how she came to UWC-USA as a reluctant math student and finished her school career as a math tutor, thanks to Judy’s support. In addition to teaching, Judy led many student trips and often teamed up with fellow math teacher Alan Wicks for outdoor adventures.

Elizabeth Morse’s 20-year association with UWC-USA began with an internship and concluded with the title of development operations manager. In between, Elizabeth taught English, served as executive assistant to the president, and managed the alumni relations program. Beyond her formal roles, Elizabeth taught students to knit and was a frequent advisory dinner host with her husband, retiring math teacher Alan Wicks.

Emily Withnall MC ’01 served as the communications coordinator and assisted in the office of the vice president for academic affairs. Throughout her four-year tenure, Emily loved engaging with students, whether she was interviewing them for a Kaleidoscope article, taking photos for the website, or working with them as the sponsor of Spectrum.

Math teacher Alan Wicks was a 25-year member of the UWC-USA staff who, like nearly everyone employed at the campus, wore many hats. A passionate outdoorsman and birder, Alan introduced hundreds of students to local wildlife.

He used all means of transportation on these trips, including canoes and horses. No matter where or how they went, a trip with Alan usually meant an opportunity to enjoy a cup of tea.

Collectively, these eight faculty and staff members contributed more than 114 years of service to UWC-USA. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors!

PLANNED

GIVING

PLANNED GIFTS CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR SUPPORTERS

and UWC-USA. There are many ways to make a planned gift. The best one will balance what you wish to accomplish for yourself, your family, and your charitable interests in your overall estate and financial plans.

Bequests. The simplest way to make a planned gift is to name UWC-USA in your will. You can make a bequest of a certain dollar amount, a particular piece of property, a percentage of your estate, or a “residual” (what is left after making specific provisions for loved ones).

Gifts from retirement plans. Retirement funds are often taxable—whether to you or your heirs—when withdrawn. If you make a gift directly from your retirement fund to UWC‑USA, you can often avoid these taxes by taking an offsetting deduction for your charitable gift.

Gifts that return financial benefits. Gifts that pay income are often favored by donors with appreciated assets such as a business, stocks, or real estate. These gifts can be structured to provide you and/or others with income, tax savings, and other benefits while leaving a lasting legacy for UWC-USA. To learn more about tax benefits related to planned giving, please speak to your financial advisor. If you would like to have a confidential dialogue about supporting UWC‑USA with a planned gift, please contact Vice President for Advancement Christie Baskett 505-454-4214 or christie.baskett@uwc-usa.org.

UWC-USA is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Our legal name is the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West.

UWC-USA P.O. Box 248 Montezuma, NM 87731-0248 USA www.uwc-usa.org 37

P.O. Box 248 Montezuma, NM 87731-0248 USA www.uwc-usa.org

UWC makes education a force to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.