In addition to attracting and enrolling the most talented students, Sarah Lawrence is committed to providing them with exceptional learning experiences that foster social engagement, collaboration, and student community. We are preparing tomorrow’s leaders by creating and funding initiatives and programs that will help students launch meaningful and successful careers after graduation.
The Campaign identified student life and Career Services as a top priority, and donors responded with strategic gifts to advance the College’s focus on helping students explore the translation of learning into work and service.
A number of gifts were made to provide students with salaries or stipends for internships and externships, making it possible for them to participate in what are often transformative work experiences. These generous and impactful gifts included:
- A science endowment that sponsors paid science externships at prestigious institutions such as the New York Botanical Garden, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York University, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine
- A fund to provide stipends for internships in visual culture at museums, galleries, exhibition spaces, community centers, and similar cultural venues
- An endowment to fund paid internships with social action nonprofits for as many as 10 students annually
- A summer internship fund to provide salaries and/or housing stipends for students receiving need-based financial aid who are participating in unpaid or low-paid summer internships anywhere in the United States or internationally
Additionally, a Career Services Internship Fund was created to fund a committed position in coordinating internships in the Office of Career Services, and SLCeeds was founded with a gift to provide a year-round program that offers unique opportunities for students through a series of lectures, skills workshops, and a five-day intensive designed to mold ideas into plans of action.
"Internships are a critical part of the college experience today, but they must be accessible to all. With the many thoughtful gifts we received to provide salaries and stipends for unpaid or low-paid internships and externships, our donors are providing access to meaningful experiential learning opportunities for all students."
—Daniel Trujillo, Dean of Studies and Student Life