Recognizing that there is a “world beyond the academy” where college students can and should learn important lessons that might be hard to internalize on campus, donor Andrew Davis gave $25 million to Colby College in Maine to create DavisConnects. The staff assigned to this new program will work with students starting in their first year to plan out a series of work experiences, internships, independent research, and travel abroad that can “complement their core academic program.” In addition to providing the staff and campus building where this out-of-classroom learning can be mapped out, Davis’s gift also provides all necessary funds for living stipends and travel costs so that students of modest incomes can partake of unpaid research or internships or study abroad just as higher-income students are able to.
- Reporting in the Kennebec Journal, centralmaine.com/2017/04/19/colby-receives-25-million-from-davis-family-foundation-to-guarantee-every-student-an-experience-abroad/