The First-Generation, Low-Income Student Success Center at Stanford University has received donor support for an endowed directorship and financial aid for students’ experiential learning, research, and tuition.
Across the country, diversity, equity, and inclusion centers have faced challenges from conservative lawmakers, leading to closures, renaming of centers, or redistribution of resources across campuses.
At Stanford University, however, donor support has brought a new level of sustainability to the university’s community centers. In recent years, four out of the eight community centers on campus that provide targeted support for affinity groups have received endowed director positions, ensuring future investment and continued resources for students.
Stanford has eight community centers, including the Asian American Activities Center, the Black Community Services Center, El Centro Chicano y Latino, the First-Generation and/or Low-Income Student Success Center, the Markaz Resource Center, the Native American Cultural Center, Queer Student Resources, and the Women’s Community Center.
These centers act as a hub, offering academic programming, connecting with various campus departments, and serving as a student hangout or study space. Some student organizations also hold meetings in the centers, and the centers themselves sometimes host their own weekly gatherings.
Each center is open to every student on campus, regardless of their identity or program at Stanford. The centers have a long history of supporting student success, resonating with the university’s alumni community.
Alumni have shown interest in supporting the campus community centers and student life in general. By endowing the director role, alumni can provide specific support to a community center they have a connection to or care about, ensuring sustained resources and investment.
Endowed faculty roles are common in higher education, while endowed roles for student affairs are less common. Endowed director positions elevate the work done by staff members on campus.
Each endowed role is funded by a gift amount, providing funding for the director’s salary. The university reallocates the money it would have spent on the director’s salary back into the program to create more opportunities for funding programming, student support, and expanding the reach of the centers on campus.
The endowment ensures continuity of offerings and enables the centers to stay current with best practices and responsive to student feedback. The most recent endowment was given to the First-Generation or Low-Income Student Success Center, providing financial aid for students and funding for research projects.
While the work of the community centers is crucial for student belonging and retention, Stanford leaders aim to consider the academic mission of the institution and how best to serve students. In the future, they may explore having endowed directors serve as instructors within academic departments to further connect curricular and co-curricular learning.
Alumni funding plays a key role in supporting students holistically throughout their time on campus and beyond. The ultimate goal is to provide students with all the necessary resources to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.
How is your college utilizing donor dollars to fund student success programming? Share your insights.