Clearly Furman donors will propel high-impact programming through the Center for Inclusive Communities that engages all students to thoughtfully reflect on diversity and inclusion in the liberal arts and sciences tradition of engaged citizenship and what it means to belong to a community. In keeping with Furman’s student-centric approach to educating the whole student, donors will drive the ongoing health programming that builds the lifelong healthy habits that enable our students to maximize the enduring benefit of a Furman education.
The Seeking Abraham initiative aims to educate students, and the world more broadly, in the powerful connection between historical remembrance, race relations, understanding and change.
Donors can fulfill critical moral and educational ideas that emerged from our Task Force on Slavery and Justice, which was inspired by Abraham, a former slave of James C. Furman, the university’s first president.
An endowment for the center would support staffing and high impact programming for all Furman students throughout the year. The Center for Inclusive Communities (CIC) seeks to create a living and learning environment that fosters belonging for historically underrepresented students and stimulates all students to thoughtfully reflect on diversity and inclusion in the liberal arts tradition of engaged citizenship.
This endowed fund supports monthly programming that prepares students for the diverse world in which they will live and work, while at the same time strengthening the connections of all students to each other and Furman.
This endowed fund supports international student orientation including advising, programming, and room and board expenses for an extra week of orientation. It also supports the international student host family program, including annual training and a series of events throughout the year that offers students the opportunity to engage with a U.S. family.
Helping international students successfully transition to Furman requires the support of the entire community. Donors will profoundly benefit both our international students and Furman’s reputation as a community for all. Through advising, programming, and room and board expenses for an additional week of orientation, plus through our international student host-family program, we will make clear that Furman’s welcome and support are as wide as our global reach.
Our commitment to belonging is reflected in our desire to support domestic-student peers to assist international students with language skills and cultural acclimation.
Our best student ambassadors will receive travel awards to visit our international students in their home countries. In addition, on-campus monthly programming focused on heritage awareness will prepare all students for the diverse world in which they will live and work, with the ultimate goal of strengthening the connections to each other and Furman.
Guided by our strengths as a university, focused on learning experiences that empower students to achieve their most inspiring ambitions, we will do more than meet our mission and advance Furman’s reputation for excellence. As we become a national model for higher education, we will, through our graduates, influence action and ideas across the 21st century. This is the possibility within reach, and with your support we will make it happen.
