Leave It to Smith? These Women Did
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- Creating digital images of works of art...expanding electronic access
to a women's history archive...establishing an unprecedented number of
new internships that will allow students to collaborate with faculty on
research projects...providing a unique environment for plant science study,
research, exhibitions and symposia
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- Sound interesting, even exciting? These are some of the projects that
will be supported by the unusually large number of generous bequests that
Smith has received in recent months.
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- Smith's Museum of Art is just one of the beneficiaries
of recent gifts to the college. An alumnae bequest will help underwrite
the creation of digital images of the works in the museum's collection.
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- Virtually all of the money from these bequests -- gifts that come to
the college upon the death of the donor -- will be added to Smith's endowment.
The income generated by some of the bequests is earmarked for projects
suggested by the donor; for others it is unrestricted, which means that
it may be spent at the discretion of the board of trustees. Either way,
President Ruth Simmons observed recently, "The love and generosity
of our alumnae are the primary factors in allowing the college to fund
new programs and strengthen existing ones. We are grateful to Smith alumnae
for remembering their alma mater in this way."
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- The donors of several recent bequests specified, for example, that
their money should be used to generate scholarship assistance for Smith
undergraduates-a welcome restriction because raising funds for scholarships
is a major goal for most private colleges today. "Financial aid is
a very important priority for Smith now and for the foreseeable future
because the college is committed to meeting the full documented need of
all admitted students," says Ruth Constantine, the college's chief
financial officer. (In 1995-96, Smith spent $19.5 million for grant aid
to students.)
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- Among the recent bequests received by the college and areas or projects
they will help fund are:
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- The largest single gift the college has ever received, $4.2 million
from the estate of Louise Wolff Kahn '31 of Dallas, Texas, will be added
to the Louise W. and Edmund J. Kahn Fund for Faculty Excellence. Established
by the Kahns in 1993, this fund will support 50 new student internships
and a number of faculty fellowships which, taken together, will raise to
an unprecedented level the possibilities for Smith students to work collaboratively
with faculty on projects relating to faculty teaching and research.
- Ann Pavan Montgomery '28 left half of her estate, or approximately
$1.8 million, to the college to be added to a scholarship fund she established
in 1988. Although she had rarely visited the campus during her lifetime,
Montgomery had made frequent contributions to the scholarship fund that
carries her name.
- A $2 million bequest from Katharine Zieber '18, on the other hand,
came as a surprise because she had had virtually no contact with the college
since her graduation. Her bequest, like Montgomery's, will generate increased
financial aid monies. Although she died in 1993, Smith is just now receiving
the proceeds of the Zieber bequest with the completion of the sale of the
properties that made up the bulk of her estate.
- Two sisters of alumnae, who themselves had no connection with the college,
left Smith a total of nearly $2 million, with more expected when the distribution
of funds is complete. Some $851,000 was added to the Marjorie Bache Menden
(Class of 1930) Memorial Scholarship Fund through a bequest from her sister,
Maxine Bache Forman.
- Frances Kirsten left her entire estate to Smith for unrestricted purposes
in memory of her sister, Martha Kirsten '21. Although the Kirsten estate
distribution is incomplete, the college has so far received $1 million
and expects an additional $500,000.
- Margie Heath Fraenkel '25 has left more than $1.8 million to Smith
to help underwrite the creation of digital images of the works in the Museum
of Art's collection and support the expansion of the outreach and public
visibility of the Sophia Smith Collection, the college's internationally
recognized women's history archive. The remaining portion, $600,000, was
earmarked for scholarship aid for students.
- Bequests so far of $600,000 from Louise Spetnagel '29 and of nearly
$500,000 from her sister, Elizabeth Spetnagel '28, are expected to total
$1.68 million by the time the distribution of the estate is complete. The
funds will be used, according to the wishes of both sisters, for projects
that will be of benefit to students in the plant sciences. Although no
final decisions have yet been made about the scope of the projects the
Spetnagel money will fund, it is expected that it will help create, within
the Lyman Plant House, a new plant science facility that will provide up-to-date
research, teaching and exhibition space and support and encourage such
activities as symposia, student internships and fieldwork, as well as Smith
and Five College graduate research and national and international study
exchanges.
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