From the Chair

2018 has been another good year for the Teagle Foundation as we have continued to advance our vision and mission in supporting the improvement of student learning in higher education. Our focus on supporting liberal arts has allowed us to make noteworthy progress at some great colleges and universities in advancing a broad and diversified educational experience. In the Foundation’s work, we have learned alongside our grantees about the complexities of curricular change. These lessons have prompted refinements and redirection in upcoming funding initiatives. As we move forward into our 75th anniversary year, the Foundation has spent time reflecting on our mission, goals and objectives so as to strengthen our support for student learning in the liberal arts.

For nearly a decade, the Foundation has benefited from Judith Shapiro’s deep experience as a scholar, teacher, and leader in higher education. She joined the Board of Directors in 2009 and was recruited to lead the Foundation in 2013 as President. Under her direction, the Foundation deepened its support for quality teaching and learning in the liberal arts across a wide array of institutions—including two- and four-year colleges and programs that reach beyond the traditional academy. We are grateful that Judith Shapiro delayed retirement to guide the Foundation with her unwavering commitment to excellence in liberal arts education.

With Judith’s retirement, we welcome Andrew Delbanco as president of the Foundation, effective July 1, 2018. An educator with over thirty years of experience in the classroom, Mr. Delbanco brings a passion for teaching and an understanding of the pivotal role the liberal arts play in cultivating “meaningful work, effective citizenship, and a fulfilling life.” He has also played an influential role in elevating public discourse about the importance of the humanities and the transformative power of a college education through his books, reviews, and articles in such venues as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The New York Review of Books.

As we prepare for the Foundation’s future work, we remain steadfast in pursuit of our Founder’s vision “to advance the well-being and general good of mankind throughout the world” and to accomplish this through the support of a continuing broad-based education for students regardless of their social or economic circumstances. The Board of Directors and Foundation staff have been continually evaluating our strategies for grant making and are committed to our view of the liberal arts as an anchor for this vision.

In this report you will find over twenty projects that serve students and educators in a variety of settings from community-based organizations in New York to community colleges in Arizona to four-year public institutions in California. They all bring a vision for using the liberal arts to raise aspirations about attending college, improve learning, connect college with careers, and enable students to live full lives—objectives we aim to achieve now and into the future. 

Walter C. Teagle III, Chair