Intellectual Community | Wellesley Effect

PRIORITY I—INTELLECTUAL COMMUNITY

The campaign strengthened the core of
Wellesley’s enterprise: our intellectual community.

Together, we raised more than $116 million, which supported the people and programs that represent the future of the finest liberal arts and sciences education.

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Kathryn LynchDean of Faculty Affairs
Wellesley College

As the world poses increasingly complex
questions, Wellesley faculty—and their
students—pursue the research and create the knowledge that helps shed new light.

Jamilah Lewis-Horton ’19 with Professor Rosanna Hertz

Jamilah Lewis-Horton ’19 with Professor Rosanna Hertz

Do shared genes make you a family? Rosanna Hertz, Class of 1919–50th Reunion Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies, researches the dynamics of the ever-shifting modern family. By studying children born via donor-assisted conception and their feelings of kinship, she and her students are changing our understanding of familial bonds and suggesting new possibilities for connection.

Across campus, Wellesley faculty are engaged in research and scholarship that build understanding and move the world forward. Contributing new discoveries, new insights, new knowledge, the work of our faculty often impacts issues of public relevance. It was a gift from Wellesley’s Campaign that launched Professor Hertz’s study, laying the groundwork for her to secure additional funding from the National Science Foundation. By supporting faculty research, we ensure that Wellesley continues to respond to the challenges of our times.

Professor Angela Bahns discovers that pre-existing prejudice makes us fear others.

December 2, 2015

Professor Eni Mustafaraj researches a variety of ways people can avoid falling for fake news.

December 22, 2016

Professor Oscar Fernandez calculates how we can become wealthier, healthier, and happier in our relationships.

July 27, 2017

Professor Mingwei Song’s translations introduce Chinese science fiction and its insights to English readers.

October 27, 2017

Professor Kristen Butcher finds immigrants are less likely to commit a crime than those native-born in the U.S.

February 7, 2018

Professor Rachel Stanley studies how climatically-important gases like carbon dioxide transfer from the air to the ocean.

June 29, 2018

The Calderwood Seminars
are an example of the academic innovation that
prepares our students for futures of leadership, influence, and fulfillment.

Mariajosé Rodriguez-Pliego ’16
with Calderwood program faculty director David L. Lindauer

The Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing reflect a new and creative approach to teaching and learning—giving students the tools they need to shape public discourse. In these seminars, students learn to persuasively present complex issues to general audiences, and in the process, find their voice.

This new pedagogic approach has proven both portable and adaptable across disciplines and faculty—and now, across institutions. Admired by peers, the program was recently expanded to five other campuses: Amherst, Bard, Georgetown, Middlebury, and Wesleyan.

As the premier college for women, we know that the best ideas can grow here—ideas that will impact the 21st century. By funding existing innovations and seeding new ones, we have helped ensure the future of our uniquely inspiring learning environment and the programs that ready our students to thrive—and to lead—in a complex and global future.

Program Helps Students "Write for the Real World"

May 26, 2015

Three Seniors Awarded the 2016 Stanford Calderwood Prize in Public Writing

April 7, 2016

How Calderwood Seminars Help Students Write

October 20, 2016

Two Students and an Alumna Awarded 2017 Stanford Calderwood Prizes

May 9, 2017

Wellesley Real World Writing Program Expands to Five Top Schools

January 31, 2018

Student and Two Alumnae Awarded 2018 Stanford Calderwood Prizes

May 1, 2018

The Campaign Priorities

Intellectual CommunityI.
Supporting the people and programs
that represent the future of the finest
liberal arts and sciences education.
Learn more >
Affordability & AccessII.
Ensuring that the student body of the future fully represents the diversity of the global community.
Learn more >
A Sense of PlaceIII.
Refreshing the spaces in which we work and live—the physical embodiment of the Wellesley experience.
Learn more >
21st Century ImpactIV.
Continuing to serve our mission in
the face of the challenges—and the
extraordinary opportunities—of the
twenty-first century.
Learn more >

The campaign strengthened the core of Wellesley’s enterprise: our intellectual community.

As the world poses increasingly complex questions, Wellesley faculty—and their students—pursue the research and create the knowledge that helps shed new light.

The Calderwood Seminars are an example of the academic innovation that prepares our students for futures of leadership, influence, and fulfillment.

The campaign strengthened the core of
Wellesley’s enterprise: our intellectual community.

As the world poses increasingly complex
questions, Wellesley faculty—and their
students—pursue the research and create the knowledge that helps shed new light.

The Calderwood Seminars
are an example of the academic innovation that
prepares our students for futures of leadership, influence, and fulfillment.