MARLBORO — Marlboro College is pleased to announce that it was promised more than $1.3 million in September thanks to the generosity of the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation and Marlboro College Trustee Ted Wendell.
The funds will support a range of programs, including the Bridges orientation program for new students, which is integral to the academic success of students at this small and close-knit learning community.
The Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation pledged Marlboro a grant of $825,000 over the next three years. The funds also will support international programs, career services, admissions, marketing, and planning.
“Endeavor's board and I are so pleased to support the continuing efforts of Marlboro College to provide its special and meaningful brand of educational experience,” said Julie Kidd, president of the foundation.
“Marlboro offers an essential sort of student-centered, interdisciplinary education and close-knit, supportive community that is very difficult to find in today's higher education landscape,” she added in a press statement.
Marlboro also received a gift of $500,000 from Ted and Mary Wendell, longtime friends of the college, to go toward the Bridges orientation program as well as other operational costs.
Ted Wendell is a founding partner for Northern Cross, an international investment managing firm based in Boston, as well as a trustee of Marlboro College since 1979.
“I believe in Marlboro, in the mission to preserve the intense, one-on-one teaching that has been Marlboro's practice over the years,” Wendell said.
The Bridges program, which offers fully funded, peer-guided activities such as backpacking, spelunking, dance, and writing to welcome new students, was launched in 2008 with the Wendells' support.
According to Marlboro President Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, these are challenging times for small, liberal arts colleges such as Marlboro. Students and their parents are struggling to balance the costs of a college education with an uncertain future, she said.
Against that backdrop, however, “Generous gifts such as these from the Wendells and the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation support the view that providing this form of education is of vital importance to the world of higher education,” she said.