In an all-campus e-mail this morning, President Catharine Bond Hill wrote to the College community that three administrative offices have been significantly restructured—the Office of Development, the Alumnae and Alumni of Vassar College (AAVC), and the Office of College Relations. The Office of Development and AAVC have joined to form the Office of Alumnae/i Affairs and Development. The Office of College Relations, now the Office of Communications, now has added to its portfolio of administrative duties the fostering of relationships with alumnae/i of the College.

Hill wrote that though the change was spurred by the College’s desire to reach financial equilibrium, “We already are seeing the benefits of the reorganization, notably a fuller integration of the efforts of people who do similar work.” 

Below is President Hill’s complete letter:

Dear members of the Vassar community,

Our recent work on the goal of financial equilibrium for the College provided the opportunity to consider and implement the reorganization of three important administrative offices: the Office of Development, the AAVC (Alumnae and Alumni of Vassar College), and the Office of College Relations. The result of much hard work on the part of everyone in these areas has been the creation of two new administrative offices to replace the previous three.

I am pleased to report that the College now has an office of Alumnae/i Affairs and Development that oversees the broad areas of alumnae/i services and programming, as well as fundraising for the institution. Cathy Baer, former Vice-President for Development, is now the Vice-President for Alumnae/i Affairs and Development. Pat Lichtenberg is Associate Vice-President and also retains her title of Executive Director of the AAVC, which continues as an association of alumnae and alumni of Vassar College. Staff of the new office now are largely housed in Alumnae House, another very positive outcome of the reorganization.

The former Office of College Relations is now the Office of Communications, retaining all of its editorial, print production, web development, and media relations functions, as well as the Powerhouse Theater, but also comprising closer relationships with alumnae/i and development communications. Susan DeKrey is the Vice-President of the Office of Communications, located on the second floor of Main Building. I also would like to thank colleagues in Summer Programs and Special Events and in the Office of Campus Activities for the transition of Summer Programs from College Relations to Campus Activities.

I am grateful to everyone who contributed to this very significant, positive change in our administrative structure. We already are seeing the benefits of the reorganization, notably a fuller integration of the efforts of people who do similar work. I believe the value of these changes will become ever more evident going forward.

Catharine Hill

6:58 | The Council meeting is about to begin. Tonight’s Council agenda includes the endorsement of the VSA’s guiding principles for the year and an update on the Sesquicentennial from Director of Development for Regional Programs John Mihaly.

7:02 | With a bang of the gavel, the meeting has officially begun. Vice President for Operations Ruby Cramer ’12 takes attendance. Vice President for Finance Travis Edwards ’12 is absent.

7:03 | Mihaly is beginning his presentation on the Sesquicentennial. The Sesquicentennial celebrations will continue through the 2011 calendar year. “We don’t really have a budget for this, so what we’ve been trying to do is communicate with…a lot of the offices on campus that already do a lot of programming.” Mihaly says that this is an economical and festive way to celebrate the College’s 150th anniversary.

7:06 | Mihaly has been working with Professor of Art Susan Kuretsky as well as Cramer and Vice President for Activities Tanay Tatum ’12. Mihaly encourages students to put a Sesquicentennial twist on their own programming. “We hope that you’ll have a new understanding of how you fit into the continuum of this place,” says Mihaly. “We’re organizing ‘sesqui-brations’ all over the United States and abroad.”

As students plan Sesquicentennial events, they can work with Tatum to put them on the official Sesquicentennial calendar.

7:11 | “There will be merchandise,” says Mihaly to approving knocking around the table. “I think it’s going to be pretty tasteful, and sometimes not so tasteful.”

7:13 | Next year, there will be a conference called “Educating the Global Citizen” that will include speakers from around the world, international university presidents, and student representatives from Vassar and many other colleges and universities. The College hopes to bring Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a speaker for the conference. The Sesquicentennial will also include some curricular components, including a history class in spring of 2011 led by Professor of History Rebecca Edwards.

7:15 | There is a Student Sesquicentennial Planning committee, and there will be a Student Advise group with student leaders from around the College, where details about planning student events will be shared. The Student Advise group will also break into subcommittees for planning specific events.

7:17 | When the FLLAC reopens, the original Vassar art collection will be on special display. A theatrical piece including some famous Vassar alumnae/i is also being designed to take on the road after it premiers at Vassar.

7:20 | Founder’s Day will be “enhanced,” says Mihaly, with a variety show to take place on Friday night before the usual Saturday festivities.

7:22 | The Roosevelt Library will have an exhibition called “Franklin and Eleanor: The Vassar Years.” In fall 2011, the College will host “A Day at Vassar,” during which it will invite members of the local community to come to Vassar for lectures and events.

7:31 | The College will have a Sesquicentennial website that it hopes will go live mid-fall. The website will include multimedia features, the official calendar, departmental histories, and an updated edition of The Magnificent Enterprise, a book of Vassar History that was prepared for the Centennial in 1961.

7:36 | “There really was no budget for this,” says Cramer. “We’re not trying to be extravagant in a time that is still economically difficult for us.”

7:36 | Executive report from VSA President Mat Leonard ’11. “It’s looking like it’s going to be a good year. It’s the Sesquicentennial,” says Leonard.

7:37 | Executive report from Operations. “We’re already busy, busy, busy,” says Cramer. The VSA has redesigned their website. Cramer is also working with the Career Development Office and the Office of Development to re-work VNet, the online network for Vassar students and alumnae/i. “I will be sitting on the Governance Oversight Committee,” says Cramer. This committee will re-evaluate the Governance of the College—the document that lays down the administrative and academic structure of the College.

7:41 | Filing for Freshman elections will begin on Sept. 15.

7:42 | Declaration of Open Positions: The Board of Elections needs a co-Chair from the Council and four at-large members from student body. Terrace Apartments President Samantha Allen ’11 has taken the co-Chair position.

7:44 | Endorsement of the Guiding Principles and Priorities of the 25th Vassar Student Association.

7:45 | President of 2011 Moe Byrne ’11 asks about the community shuttle and whether it will later be paid for by the City of Poughkeepsie. “We’re trying very hard [to work] with the City of Poughkeepsie to adjust their bus route,” says Cramer.

7:50 | Allen asks specifically about the Domestic Violence charge to College Regulations. The only similar charge that currently exists is “Sexual Misconduct,” which covers a overly broad range of violations, says Vice President for Student Life Samin Shehab ’11.

From the Guiding Principles:

“In particular, the Executive Board feels passionate about the development of a Domestic Violence charge. No such charge exists in College Regulations, and we believe strongly that the formation of one would not only empower voices across campus, but also bring awareness to an issue that – though occurring on campus – is rarely acknowledged.”

7:52 | The Council has unanimously endorsed the Guiding Principles document.

7:53 | Academics Memorandum. The memorandum proposes a new system for the return of final graded work. The memorandum suggests that students may give professors a self-addressed envelope at the end of the semester so that they may receive their final work after it is graded.

8:00 | The Council unanimously endorses the memorandum.

8:19 | Open Discussion. Director of Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) Allie St. Jules is giving an update to Council. ViCE has thrown many events recently for Back to School Week.

8:29 | The Terrace Apartments (TAs), Town Houses (THs) and South Commons (SoCos) are planning a Seniors’ Day Off event for tomorrow, Labor Day, from 1 p.m to 4 p.m. in the TH Circle.

8:33 | “We have 259 days until graduation,” says Byrne. Council is adjourned.

3:27 p.m.: Convocation is about to begin in the Vassar Chapel. The Class of 2011 is gathered outside, preparing to process.

3:28 p.m.: The Convocation Choir is filing into the aisle. This year the Choir will sing from the aisles of the Chapel rather than the pews.

3:33 p.m.: The organ music has started; the senior class is processing.

3:41 p.m. : The Convocation Choir has begun singing, surrounding the audience with their singing as they fill the aisles around the rear of the Chapel. The selection for this year’s Convocation is Os Justi by Anton Bruckner.

3:46 p.m.: The Choir is taking their seats and President Catharine Bond Hill has stood up to the podium. “It’s very warm today,” she says and welcomes students to move if they find themselves overheated in a sunny seat.

Hill acknowledges the death of President Emerita Virginia B. Smith. Hill notes a meeting with Smith last spring in which they discussed Smith’s accomplishments. Hill says that Smith completed Vassar’s transition from a small college for women to a co-educational institution.

Hill speaks about watching freshman move-in day and recalls a parent who likened the actions of House Teams to a colony of ants. She also speaks to the seniors about their final year. “There is, I suspect, still a sense of unreality—maybe even denial,” she says.

“This year is also special for the College as we prepare to honor our 150th anniversary,” says Hill.

Hill is speaking of the misunderstanding of the kind of education found at Vassar and its peers, noting particularly two editorials recently published in the New York Times. She contends that critics misunderstand the value of a Vassar education, regardless of the areas of study its students choose.

One column by Kathleen Parker ranks colleges based on how they meet seven areas of required study. By the standards set forth by the study on which the column was based, Vassar and 14 of its peer institutions received an F, which Hill deems “nonsense.” The column also suggested that students cannot be trusted to make good choices in the curriculum, which Hill argues strongly against.

Hill says that the College will be celebrating its legacy this year, “the legacy that starts with move-in day and will not even end with graduation.”

4:07 p.m.: Vassar Student Association (VSA) President Mat Leonard ’11 is about to speak. “Hi everybody,” he says. “I just want to start by saying, ‘Congratulations, 2011!’ This is our year.”

Leonard highlights the strong traditions of Vassar College. “Leave your own mark on this school. Give students new traditions to enjoy.”

4:12 p.m.: After Convocation the faculty will serenade the freshmen with some traditional Vassar songs. Agnes Rindge Claflin Professor of Art Eve D’Ambra is about to give her talk, “Statuesque.” D’Ambra has taught at Vassar for 21 years, and her most recent book, Roman Women, was published by Cambridge University Press. Hill notes that D’Ambra has held myriad faculty leadership positions at the College.

D’Ambra says that when she began College she was an English major, but she was inspired by the ruins that she saw on a trip to Rome. “Statues were made of life,” says D’Ambra, “and people became statues after death.” She noted that these statues were larger than life.

“Sadly, this is not the case with the bronze statue of our founder,” says D’Ambra referring to the statue of Matthew Vassar outside of Main Building.

4:22 p.m.: D’Ambra is recalling the difficulties of Italian bureaucracy when she was trying to go to Italy for dissertation research. The process was so difficult that she managed to live for a year without a visa.

D’Ambra recounts disagreements with a sidewalk souvenir vendor, who resented her for taking up space as she studied ruins. “Scholars were bad for business,” she says.

“A year went by, and my dissertation started to appear in short bursts of text.” After a year of living in Rome, D’Ambra says that she had to live up to her lack of a visa in order to get married in Rome, which was unexpectedly easy after her previous bureaucratic experience.

D’Ambra concludes her speech with a note to the Class of 2014.

4:45 p.m.: After singing Gaudeamus Igitur, the faculty and seniors process out of the Chapel.