The Collaborative for Community Engagement’s Community Engagement Recognition Night is coming up May 5, to recognize students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners who have gone above and beyond in contributing to the public good. If you missed this or any of last week’s newsletter items (it ended up in many readers’ junk folders due to a technical issue with the email platform), please check it out here.

The generosity of more than 41,000 donors created lasting impact for students. 

Colorado College completed its most ambitious fundraising initiative in history on Dec. 31, 2021, raising $478* million thanks to the generosity of over 41,000 donors. Building on Originality: The Campaign for Colorado College exceeded its fundraising target by more than $40 million. For more than seven years, the campaign focused on increasing access to a CC education for students of all backgrounds, cementing the college’s distinctive sense of place in the Rocky Mountain West, and funding CC’s unique approach to academics and innovation. 

The campaign total included $302 million in gifts from donors at every level and $176 million in the transfer of assets of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center to CC, which represented the largest single gift in CC’s history. In Spring 2021, the college also celebrated the largest commitment in college history from an individual donor — a future estate gift valued at $33.5 million.  

“When we launched Building on Originality, we had a vision to elevate the CC experience for current students, and to make our unique approach to higher education more accessible for the young leaders of tomorrow. I’m proud to say I think we’ve achieved that vision, while opening the door to more opportunities in the years to come,” said Jeff Keller ’91, P’22, chair of the Board of Trustees and co-chair of the campaign.

Manya Whitaker, associate professor of education, recently published “Public School Equity: Educational Leadership for Justice,” which takes a new approach on eradicating educational disparities. Drawing on more than 40 interviews with teachers, principals, and district leaders, Whitaker offers educators guidance for leading a school or district grounded in social justice that centers teachers — not just teaching practices — and that focuses on the belief systems that shape decision-making.

“So often we ask leaders to do things they are unprepared to do because what we want is ‘new’ and a product of current sociopolitical dynamics that were not present during their training. This book is an attempt at an intensive course (think Block Plan) on how to live up to current expectations,” says Whitaker of why it was important to her to write “Public School Equity.” “My other motivation for writing this book is that I want to bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners. I can research all I want but unless I share the implications of my findings with those doing the on-the-ground work, my research is for naught. I wanted to give space for school and district leaders to share their wisdom.”

Whitaker is a developmental educational psychologist with expertise in social and political issues in education. She researches the stability of teachers’ diversity-related belief systems across time and settings, and how those beliefs can be intentionally disrupted and re-structured through teacher training.