An anonymous six-figure gift will establish funds to support vulnerable students, faculty mentorship and research, and students in the WELCOME program.
A $146,500 gift to the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York will support the establishment of three funds to aid the school’s must vulnerable students and to support faculty mentorship of student research.
The donor, who prefers to remain anonymous, is a long-time Colin Powell School professor moved by the School’s mission and by its success in serving disadvantaged students.
For its pilot academic year, 2024-25, the gift has three elements: the $50,000 Precarious Student Support Fund to provide grants to economically precarious students, including those who are undocumented and therefore ineligible for other forms of aid; the $72,000 Faculty/Student Support Fund to support junior faculty and students who work together on research; and the $24,000 WELCOME Program Student Support Fund to support certain students participating in the U.S. Department of Education-funded WELCOME program at CCNY.
The Precarious Student Support Fund awards qualifying Colin Powell School undergraduates grants of up to $5,000. To enable these students to focus on and complete their education, these grants will support all education-related expenses, including the student’s annual tuition and fees or any additional unmet related educational expenses, such as books, commuting expenses, housing, and food. Preference will be given to students who are undocumented and/or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients.
The Faculty/Student Support Fund will fund five junior faculty members and their thesis students. Faculty and students will together submit a proposal for the research; the faculty member will then be selected as a research mentoring fellow. Over the course of a year, each fellow will mentor and support between one and three undergraduate and/or graduate students conducting their own research projects and/or participating in faculty research.
Faculty fellows will be awarded a $5,000 stipend and will distribute $2,500 to each student they mentor. Up to an additional $2,000 per project will be available for supplies, equipment, or to support the presentation of research at conferences. This program will be overseen by the Colin Powell School’s Office of Student Success.
The WELCOME Program Student Support Fund provides financial support, not to exceed $500 per student, to be made available to undergraduate students who are chosen to participate in the new WELCOME program for incoming freshmen, but who are not eligible to receive direct financial support from the grant. This includes participants in the WELCOME program who are not U.S. citizens. This support will be overseen by Andrew Rich, the Richard J. Henley and Susan L. Davis Dean of the Colin Powell School.
“This gift is extraordinarily well-crafted to provide direct support to some of the places where it is most needed at the Colin Powell School. It reflects the generosity of a faculty member who knows our students well and believes deeply in our mission,” said Dean Rich. “My sincere thanks for this visionary and absolutely essential support.”
“As a long-time CCNY faculty member, as well as the offspring of two CUNY graduates, one a refugee from World War II Europe, I find inspiration in the words of Dr. Horace Webster, the first president of the Free Academy, CCNY’s forebear: “‘The experiment is to be tried, whether the children of the people, the children of the whole people, can be educated,’” said the donor. “I have seen it happen! Through this gift, I hope to ensure that both the most vulnerable and the most skilled students have access to support and greater opportunity for excellence.”
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Syd Steinhardt
212-650-7875
ssteinhardt1@ccny.cuny.edu