With New Gift, Connecticut College Family Contributes $50 Million To Support Financial Aid, Athletics, Campus Spaces

NEW LONDON, Conn., April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Connecticut College has received the largest philanthropic gift in its history, $30 million from alumnus Robert Hale and his wife Karen Hale that, in combination with their prior gift of $20 million, invests $50 million in the College's continued innovations in access, athletics, career and an expansive 21st-century liberal arts education.

"As our country emerges from the trials of this pandemic, Karen and Rob have exercised another multimillion dollar vote of confidence for the future of the liberal arts, sending a message about the transformative power of a Connecticut College education," said President Katherine Bergeron.

The Hales' new gift prioritizes three areas of importance made vividly clear by the pandemic, allocating $10 million each to financial aid, athletics and immediate improvements to campus infrastructure. This gift builds on their original 2015 contribution of $20 million—previously, the largest gift in the College's history.

"This College changed my life," said Robert Hale, a 1988 graduate, "and Karen and I believe deeply in its mission, in its innovations as a liberal arts educator and the leadership skills it builds in students. More than ever, our society needs the kinds of graduates that this College helps develop."

The Hales' gift in 2015 precipitated an era of accelerated progress at Connecticut College, a period that includes the launch of a new curriculum that reinvents the liberal arts for the 21st century, the most highly endowed Academic Resource Center of its kind in the country, and one of the nation's most comprehensive programs devoted to intergroup understanding.

To date, the College has raised more than $170 million in the still-silent phase of a comprehensive campaign launched in 2017.

Robert and Karen Hale are passionate advocates for education; and Robert is president and CEO of Granite Telecommunications, which is headquartered in Quincy, MA and is one of the largest privately held telecommunications services companies in the U.S. and Canada.

About Connecticut College
Founded in 1911, Connecticut College is a highly selective private liberal arts college of 1,800 students located on a 750-acre arboretum campus in New London, overlooking Long Island Sound and the Thames River. For more information, see www.conncoll.edu.

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SOURCE Connecticut College