Dear Faculty,
Hunter College is enormously proud of the importance and excellence of its arts programs. As you know, our history and location make us a magnet for outstanding art faculty and students. Over the past decade, we have moved aggressively to develop premier programs in these areas, and we are now the destination for arts faculty and students from around the world.
We are delighted to announce that our efforts have just been recognized by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Hunter College has been awarded a planning grant of $100,000 from the Mellon Foundation to support the development, in the coming academic year, of arts initiatives across the curriculum. This exciting opportunity grew in part out of a faculty lunch this spring that underscored the keen interest in and potential for developing such a project at the college.
This summer, a small working group of faculty and administrators has begun developing goals and plans for pilot programs and interdisciplinary, college-wide events. Helping to lead these efforts is Dara Meyers-Kingsley, project director for the Arts Across the Curriculum initiative. Ms. Meyers-Kingsley, a curator of contemporary art and a non-profit administrator, teaches "The Arts of NYC" seminar for the Macaulay Honors College and is director of the new Muse Scholars program for talented incoming freshmen who are interested in the arts.
Broad-based faculty engagement in this initiative will obviously be critical. You will be hearing from the Provost's Office shortly about how you can become involved in the project. Many thanks to those of you who already have contributed to this exciting and innovative opportunity for student engagement and success. We welcome the chance to discuss with even more of you our potential to transform the way faculty and students experience the arts at Hunter, and we look forward to working together to further integrate arts curricula and pedagogy across Hunter's academic programs.
Sincerely,
Jennifer J. Raab, President
Vita Rabinowitz, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
