By Chloe Kieper, Contributing Writer
On Oct. 30, Gettysburg College announced the creation of the $1.5 million Ann McIlhenny Harward Interdisciplinary Fund for Culture and Music. This fund is focused on furthering the college’s holistic approach within the community.
The fund is intended to be used for the creation of free events, programs and opportunities for Gettysburg College students with a focus on music. The fund emphasizes the holistic liberal arts and science values of the college. With a tentative start date of March 2024, the new interdisciplinary programs provided by this new fund will be introduced to the campus beginning in the spring.
Associate professor of Africana studies and history Scott Hancock was appointed the Inaugural Director of the fund for a two-year term.
“My job is to help come up with themes for each year, identify artists who best exemplify those themes and connect each year’s program with different departments, programs and clubs,” Hancock said.
However, Hancock explained that the fund is not exclusive to Gettysburg College.
“We want to connect with and involve the Gettysburg community as a whole,” Hancock said. “Some parts of the programs will specifically involve students—say, for instance, workshops that are part of a few specific courses—but other parts will hopefully also involve students from local schools or organizations that are not a part of the college.”
Hancock explained that the planning team is already speaking with an artist, hoping to have a spring program with more than one performance.
According to the Office of the Provost, Provost Jamila Bookwala worked closely with Director of the Sunderman Conservatory of Music James Day and Director of College Grants Dawn Wolters in the development of this fund. Wolters shared that herself, Day and other Gettysburg College staff worked closely on the formation of the budget and early plans involved with the fund.
Wolters and Hancock both stated that the fund aims to provoke new areas of interest and creativity, as well as an understanding of ideas and issues related to culture through music.
“Liberal arts education is ideally about being able to think critically and creatively,” Hancock said. “That means seeing things from multiple angles and seeing how commonality and distinction reinforce one another—having things in common and being different are not necessarily oppositional traits.”
Hancock said he was pleasantly surprised by the development of the fund and looks forward to his role as the Inaugural Director. His term officially starts during the spring semester, but the implementation of future programs has already begun. Hancock expressed that he is excited to see how the new programs and additions provided by the fund will become involved with already existing parts of Gettysburg College. He added that the fund has the potential to pull students, faculty and staff into new relationships, both intellectually and socially.
Beyond Gettysburg College, Hancock said that he believes these new programs will allow students to have the ability to think both creatively and critically in post-graduate life and careers.
“For students who choose to be involved, it will hopefully provoke new areas of interest, intellectual curiosity, and make critical thinking fun,” Hancock said.
Wolters explained that following the signing of documents between the Endeavor Foundation and Gettysburg College, the overseeing of the endowed funds was formalized, and the college could move forward with officially planning programs. She added that the endowed amount of $1.5 million will remain in place to invest and fund the programs each year, with the interest generated through the investment.
“In addition to the endowment, the Endeavor Foundation sent a second grant that will let us begin work right away – a start-up fund,” Wolters said. “Normally, it takes a year for an endowed fund to generate interest that can be spent, so in this case, we don’t have to wait to begin.”
The Interdisciplinary Fund was initially designed with the intention to honor Donald Harward, a board member of the Endeavor Foundation.
“Don loved the idea and he agreed to reach out to President Iuliano to begin discussing possibilities,” Wolters said. “Don proposed an endowed fund that would let the College create an annual series of programs that leverage music to explore issues related to culture.”
Wolters stated that Harward’s late wife Ann Harward was born and raised in Gettysburg, and both of her children attended Gettysburg College, so the creation of the fund was meant to honor both Don and Ann Harward.
“Ann was a musician herself whose career was in biology – so in a way, she reflects the intersection of music with other ideas,” Wolters said. “She maintained a lifelong interest in learning, in the liberal arts, and in how humans can make a difference in the world, so I believe that she would be thrilled that this program is here.”
Ratul Pradhan ’25 is a computer science and business analytics IDS double major, and he also acts as founder of the Listeners and Performers club, which revolves around building a culture of playing and listening to music through campus and town events. Pradhan said that he is looking forward to the use of this fund.
“I think it would be an amazing addition to the growing informal music and performance scene,” Pradhan said. “Especially with clubs like ours and with other new clubs such as Artem and What’s It Called Improv which have started in the last few years.”
These events will help provide opportunities for actively taking part in learning and experiencing community through culture and music. Harper Wood ’27 spoke about her excitement for the opportunities provided by this fund: “As an intended international and global studies and German double major, I normally wouldn’t get the chance to participate in music programs. It’s such an exciting opportunity to be able to explore the arts outside of my major.”
