By Ella Prieto, Managing and News Editor
On Tuesday, Provost Jamila Bookwala sent out a campus-wide email notifying the Gettysburg College community that a $1.5 million gift has been received from the Endeavor Foundation. This gift is being used to establish the Ann McIlhenny Harward Interdisciplinary Program for Culture and Music.
Bookwala said, “The fund is a gift to the Humanities that will enable an annual series of events dedicated to the rich interplay of culture and music from an interdisciplinary perspective. The series will include workshops and colloquia for all students, exploring themes grounded in the humanities and humanistic sciences. The annual series will also include a culminating public event that will be open to the entire campus and Gettysburg area community.”
It will also honor the late Ann McIlhenny Harward P’86, P’92, a Gettysburg Native whose father Hugh McIlhenny ’32 was an editor of the Gettysburg Times. Her two children, Brian McIlhenny Harward ’92 and Sharon Harward Dorr ’86, graduated from Gettysburg College.
The fund was organized by Harward’s husband Don Harward, who “envisioned this fund to recognize Ann’s lifelong interest in music and its capacity to bridge culture, and Don and Ann’s shared belief in the power of a holistic liberal arts education.”
Bookwala also shared that Associate Professor and Chair of Africana Studies Dr. Scott Hancock will be the program’s inaugural director for a 2-year term. Hancock will lead the creation of the series, which is planned to debut next spring and will be housed in and supported by the Provost’s Office. In addition, the Director of the Sunderman Conservatory James Day will serve as an advisor for the program in conjunction with a small team of interested faculty and staff.
The email was ended by Bookwala thanking Harward and the Endeavor Foundation for the gift, and she shared a link to where more information can be found.
