At Arts & Sciences, we rely on the generosity, engagement, and passion of our alumni, parents, and friends across the globe to accomplish our two main goals: educating the next generation of informed leaders and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge in ways that benefit society.
Alumni, parent, and foundation support furthers our mission in many ways, and several areas stand out:
- The CAS Annual Fund and Dean’s Funds allow us the flexibility to channel resources where they are most needed and to react agilely to new funding needs that come up. This past year, these gifts allowed us to give our students opportunities that enabled them to take their classroom studies into the field both in person and virtually, provided funding to launch new initiatives such as the Center for Innovation in Social Science, and provided professional development opportunities for graduate students in areas from product management to digital learning methods.
- Need-based scholarships and aid enable us to compete for talented students from many backgrounds who enrich our CAS community in the classroom and beyond. Of particular note this year, the Laura and Arch Brown (CAS’65) Scholarship has supported two students in the newly expanded African American Studies Program; funding from Michael Rees (CAS’90) provided support for the QuestBridge Scholarship Fund, and funding from Don Vieira (CAS’95) supported the Vieira-Howell Scholarship Fund.
- Out-of-the-classroom, or experiential learning—such as intensive research projects and internships—is extremely valuable real-world experience for our undergraduates, including, for example, within our Department of History of Art & Architecture, three students were able to take advantage of stipends to support off-campus internships from the Brown/Weiss Student Research and Opportunity Endowment Fund. Undergraduates completed their work at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Mass., Museum of Science & History in Jacksonville, Fla., and Gibson House Museum in Boston.
- The CAS Parents and Families Fund allows parents and family members of CAS students to support research and teaching mission. One such parent, Larry Reid (Parent CAS’20, CAS’22) provided funding to support the CAS Parents Fund and the Reid Family Scholarship Fund.
- Foundation and grant support enables our faculty members to pursue important research across all fields in the liberal arts and sciences. For example,
- Professor of Philosophy Victor Kumar received a subgrant from the John Templeton Foundation for a project titled Reasoning in Moral Thought and Action.
- NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor of Religion Anthony Petro, who also runs the Health Humanities Project, received a grant from the Institute for Advanced Study for a fellowship.
- Professor of English Anna Henchman received a fellowship grant from the American Council of Learned Societies.
- Professor of English Takeo Rivera received a grant from the Harvard University Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History for a fellowship.
Stewarding Our Resources
In order to achieve our many goals, we must remain careful stewards of our resources. This means monitoring closely and modifying, as needed, our long- and short-term goals, ensuring our resources at the college level are aligned according to these priorities. Our FY2021 base budget was reduced by 4.95%, by making $4,367,000 in recurring cuts and $2,183,000 in nonrecurring (one-time) cuts, reflecting cautious planning during the pandemic. Total final expenses of $149,077,560 covered salaries, operating expenses, and fringe benefits and was slightly lower than anticipated, even after the budget cuts, due to a hiring freeze and lower in-person operating expenses for events and travel.