Wheaton News

Building a more connected and engaged Wheaton

Wheaton’s strength is in connection—as a college and community. With a renewed focus on engaging all community members, Wheaton is driving growth as many institutions contract.

Since President Michaele Whelan took office in 2022, the college has developed a vision to strengthen Wheaton amidst rising competition and rapid change in higher education. Key strategic priorities emerged through conversations with faculty, staff, students, trustees and alumni, highlighting philanthropy and alumni engagement as vital to achieving this vision.

“We are enhancing our academics, athletics and summer programs with new majors, master’s degrees, sports and programs,” said President Whelan. “Combined with an enhanced focus on experiential learning and career development, additional student support services and careful financial stewardship and sustainability, Wheaton College is poised to ensure students have abundant lives and careers.”

These strategic initiatives have begun to take shape through increased engagement between alumni and students as well as seed funding for institutional growth priorities.

Merritt Crowley, vice president of Advancement, emphasized the importance of wide-ranging participation in empowering the college to realize its objectives.

“Wheaton’s strategic growth and goals are ambitious. Our multi-year advancement effort, All Together Now, is a call-to-action for all within the Wheaton community—alumni, parents, friends, students, staff, faculty, foundations and corporate partners—to reconnect. We want to enhance meaningful engagement and create more opportunities for connection among and across all constituencies.

“Whether through volunteering, sharing expertise, or providing philanthropic support, we can strengthen our incredible network, support and grow new academic programs, enhance athletic offerings, increase enrollment, and support our students, faculty and iconic campus.”

Growing support

All Together Now embraces the variety of ways one can have impact. Investing in Wheaton can take many forms—internships, externships, job opportunities, mentoring students, sharing expertise on a panel or in the classroom, serving in a leadership volunteer role,or funding institutional priorities. Each contribution helps Wheaton succeed.

Nearly 20 years ago, Trustee Emerita Caroline “Cary” Campbell Edwards ’70, P’07, noticed that her daughter, Christina, and her friends were fascinated with creating and watching films. “I saw that films were an increasing influence on them and their culture,” she said. Other colleges were integrating communications and film into their curriculum, and Edwards saw it as an opportunity for Wheaton, which did not offer it as a course of study.

“I felt Wheaton could not be competitive without a film program,” she said. Deeply engaged with and invested in the college as an alum and a parent of Julia ’07, she asked if Wheaton would consider creating a new program.

Edwards joined the Board of Trustees in 2006 and after careful consideration, made a major gift to support the establishment of the film and new media studies program, which began in 2011. Since then, this interdisciplinary area has blossomed. Its majors are among the top 10 most popular for both incoming and graduating students, and it competes well with similar programs at larger colleges and universities—as she envisioned.

“Cary’s generosity has allowed Wheaton to enhance our film and new media studies program with initiatives and features that set us apart from other institutions,” said Patrick Johnson, associate professor of film and new media. “For example, Wheaton’s Filmmaker in Residence Fellowship provides full funding for students to join and produce films on faculty-led international trips. The Film Festival Submission Fund provides financial support for students to apply for top festivals. All film and video production courses are offered with zero course fees or additional costs.”

Over the years, Edwards has directed her philanthropic efforts at Wheaton to the arts, science and technology, as well as endowing funds for film and visual studies, scholarships and experiential learning and career development. Earlier this year, she made a $100,000 pledge in challenge funds to further benefit film and new media studies.

Leaning in

Building upon her previous philanthropic efforts, Edwards established a charitable trust that will provide the college with an annual income stream to fund the growth of the film and new media studies program over the next several years.

She contends that the college is uniquely positioned for continued success. Edwards explained, “Wheaton is well worth supporting with philanthropy, as it moves forward with offering global opportunities while remaining a small campus. With the leadership we have, I think we are set to soar. The college is in a place where it could take off and build its reputation. I think Wheaton is really going to find itself.”

A centerpiece of Wheaton’s strategic initiatives is the new Life and Career Design Institute (LCDI), which offers a holistic approach to life and career planning. Employing the principles of design thinking, the institute aims to help students integrate liberal arts study with co-curricular experiences. Assistant Vice President for Life and Career Design Sean Schofield, who was appointed in April, will lead efforts to expand career planning and experiential learning opportunities.

Trustee Emeritus Keith Peden Hon.’23 and wife Mindy are long-time Wheaton benefactors and made a major gift to LCDI. Peden was an early supporter for the Wheaton faculty’s creation of the Compass Curriculum and the Liberal Education And Professional Success (LEAPS) offerings. An optional curricular enhancement, LEAPS are interdisciplinary pathways that combine courses, experiential learning and mentorship to prepare students for specific professional occupations.

The recipient of an honorary degree from the college in 2023, Peden is excited about the LCDI’s potential to create a practical return on the investment in a Wheaton education. “If we do this successfully, companies will help fund students’ educations,” he said. “Wheaton’s business curriculum is unique among schools that were founded as liberal arts institutions. Combining those two provides the best of both worlds.”

Giving time

Through increased engagement from alumni and parents, the LCDI will enable students to pursue career options through more internship and research offerings—a key component to round out Wheaton’s liberal arts and sciences education. And alumni will be connected with each other for professional development.

“Alumni can make a significant contribution to Wheaton through volunteering their time and expertise to assist current students and fellow alumni,” Crowley said. “We are excited to embark on a strategic priority to double the number of alumni engaged and connected to campus and to each other. We want to leverage and enhance the power of the Wheaton network.”

Thanks to the education and assistance that Victor Moitinho ’18 received at Wheaton, he landed a job shortly after graduating, which motivated him to reciprocate as an alum. “I was helped when I was a student, and I feel like it’s the right thing to help others,” said Moitinho, now a senior account executive at Nasuni, a hybrid cloud data platform company. “I like helping out Wheaton students who are looking for advice and are eager to transition to the real world. I always tell people I’m an open book.”

As a former Wheaton lacrosse player, Moitinho especially enjoys helping current members of the men’s lacrosse team to find internship and employment opportunities. He sought and found a way to give back to Wheaton in a way that means the most to him. “I want to take on the responsibility and be a leader to help others … at a place where I sense there is a lot of pride in being a Wheaton Lyon.”

Na’taja Flood ’16 responded to a request from Wheaton to serve as a mentor for the college’s Weiss Women Leadership Program—a week-long personal and leadership development program for a small group of students who are nominated by community members for their outstanding potential.

With experience as a mentor, Flood was a natural fit for the role. She serves as the lead of professional learning delivery at the AI Education Project—a non-profit that teaches and empowers students in acquiring AI literacy.

“As a woman of color, if I am involved as an alum, I think that signals to my constituents that there is space for us to get re-involved,” said Flood. Motivated to continue providing assistance, in July she was elected to the Alumni Board of Directors.

“I wanted to join to help the college represent all of our student body in the best way possible to get them to re-engage … I want to help grow and support the undergraduate community … and to make sure that Wheaton can remain this loving, amazing bubble that it’s always been.”

Building upon a strategic plan that highlights the college’s strengths, diversity, equity, inclusion and a sense of belonging are foundational to academic and inclusive excellence, and alums provide invaluable support and expertise.

Building upon successes

Over the next few years, with continued philanthropic support, Wheaton will make targeted increases in student scholarships, curriculum innovation and staffing, enabling the college to support continued growth in enrollment, academics and athletics.

Recently added majors in criminal justice, digital media and communications, finance, marketing and nursing have led to the need to hire more professors of practice—subject matter experts with significant professional experience. Strategic faculty and staff additions will support students throughout their Wheaton education and beyond.

To make a Wheaton education available to all, financial aid enhancements will enable the college to rival the offerings of its peers. Endowed scholarships and internships will be bolstered and the WheaGo Global program—allowing first-year students to begin college at peer institutions in Australia, France, Greece, Spain or Switzerland and get a head start on Global Honors—will be refined and further developed. International opportunities for nurses to experience health practices and perspectives in other countries are also important.

The new men’s and women’s water polo teams will be joined by men’s and women’s fencing this year and men’s volleyball in 2025.

Furthermore, Wheaton’s beautiful grounds are a source of pride and distinction. Investments in the campus infrastructure will ensure its continued care and maintenance and upgrading classroom technology will aid the functionality of current facilities.

Celebrating connections

Recently established giving circles provide opportunities to better connect members of the extended Wheaton community to what they cherish most about the college.

Trustee Emeritus David Wagner Hon.’15 and wife Ellen provide an example of targeted philanthropy. They made it a priority to give to Wheaton and recognize the work of a former colleague. David served as the college’s chief financial officer for six years, spent a decade as a devoted trustee, and received an honorary degree from Wheaton in 2015.

The Wagners made a significant gift to the college in memory of Professor Francis “Fred” Kollett, who was instrumental in developing Wheaton’s academic computing and computer science programs. He served on the faculty and directed the Academic Computing Center for 18 years.

“Fred was a gifted, patient and inspirational teacher, a resourceful visionary, an innovative administrator and a cherished colleague and friend,” said David Wagner. Kollett Hall is named in Fred’s honor and is home to the LCDI. The Wagners aim to support math, computer science and science faculty with their donation, while inspiring others to dream big.

“We hope this endowed fund [The Francis W. Kollett Affiliated Faculty Fund in Math and the Sciences] will help Wheaton capture Fred’s spirit and essence and impart a passion and determination in future Wheaton students to pursue excellence, to accept challenges and to make new discoveries.”

Finally, the implementation of a comprehensive alumni volunteer program and a variety of community-building events will be planned to connect Wheaton supporters to each other and to the college, growing community and connection.

“We hope that our friends, alums and donors will lend their talents and support to assist students on their journey,” said President Whelan. “All together, we will ensure the success of Wheaton’s mission for many years to come.”