Wesleyan College’s ‘She Will’ campaign to raise $61 million for next generation of women

Wesleyan College recently launched “She Will,” a $61 million campaign to raise funds for the school. In the last three years, Wesleyan has raised nearly $30 million, half of its campaign goal. Wesleyan president Meaghan Blight said the plan is to raise the rest of the funding in the next three to five years. 

“We’re the oldest college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women,” Blight said. “We want to make sure we’re around for another 190 years and to do that it requires investment.”

The campaign is divided into three buckets: She Will Pursue Her Path, She Will Have a Place to Call Home and She Will Find Her Voice.

“We’ve known what we needed from day one,” Blight said of the funding campaign’s priorities and focuses.

The school’s She Will Pursue Her Path aims to raise $35 million to expand scholarships for first-generation college students, recruitment, leadership programs, internships, athletics and faculty
development. 

She Will Have a Place to Call Home plans to put $18 million toward on-campus renovations. Banks Residence Hall remained closed for eight years before renovations funded by the campaign brought the building back into use as a first year residence hall. 

She Will Find Her Voice is an $8 million endeavor to renovate the Porter Gym, including expansion of the space to NCAA regulation size and updates to the indoor pool.

“It really is about expanding access to women’s education,” she said. “It’s about investing in developing leaders and ensuring that we have spaces and places to ensure that women can lead in all walks of their life.”

The campaign’s name, “She Will,” means something different to each member of the Wesleyan community, according to Blight.

Students might see themselves as “She” — she will succeed, graduate and lead, Blight explained — while alumni might view “She” as the college itself:  she will survive and thrive.

Stan Brown and his sister, Mary Beth Swearingen, a Wesleyan graduate of ‘89, grew up hearing about Wesleyan from their mother, a ‘63 graduate.

“I’d say this place really opened the world for her,” Brown said of his mother’s experience, during a time when women did not have many educational opportunities available to them.

Brown and Swearingen are both members of the college’s board of trustees. 

Their family’s long history with the college inspired them to donate $5 million to kickstart the “She Will” campaign. 

“I’m thinking about the graduates — the young women. ‘She Will’ succeed, ‘She Will’ go on to do great things. She Will, and the next part of that being ‘will you?’” Swearingen said. “We need to support the campaign so that the next generation of women can succeed.”