State of the College / Foundation Annual Report

75 YEARSOF QUALITY EDUCATION A committee consisting of faculty, staff, administrators, students and members of the community has been formed to plan for the institution’s 75th anniversary in 2021. This celebration will include cultural events for the public, special gatherings for donors, academic lectures, and various student commemorations of this landmark achievement. As we plan for this year-long celebration of the impact of Westchester Community College, we will be introducing a special 75th anniversary logo, new marketing materials, specialty publications, and a wide range of cultural events. The festivities will commence in early 2021, will include a special Commencement ceremony in May of next year, and conclude with fall semester special events and fundraisers. The college has hosted wide-ranging celebrations of institutional anniversaries in the past. The two most recent and most extensive celebrations were for the college’s 50th (1996/1997) and 60th (2006/2007). 1946-2021 The 75th promises to be a festive celebration of the college. As we further cement plans for the anniversary, please refer to the college’s special web pages, which will outline our various events online at: sunywcc.edu/75years The culmination of the 50th celebration was a “Dinner under the Big Top” circus event with donors kicking off a $5 million capital campaign by the Foundation. That fund- raising campaign, the first in the college’s history, increased endowments and funds for scholarships, faculty enrichment, on-campus childcare, and technology. Hundreds of Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers entertainers performed under a large tent on the Valhalla campus during the dinner with private and corporate donors. Later in the same week, thousands of local residents thrilled to the sights and sounds at two separate circus shows with proceeds going toward faculty support and student scholarships. The “Sixty Years of Excellence” celebration included a commemorative mural (more than 1,000 hours of labor by student artists) depicting the college’s history, a faculty/staff dinner dance, time capsule, video yearbook, redesigned website, and special window displays featuring historic photos of the college including students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The 75th promises to be a festive celebration of the college. As we further cement plans for the anniversary, please refer to the college’s special web pages, which will outline our various events at www.sunywcc.edu/75. www.sunywcc.edu 14 2020 State of the College & Foundation Annual Report 15