Giving at Lake Forest College

Click here to support the Fund for Lake Forest College.

Like so many around the world, the Lake Forest College community is facing unprecedented challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ever since the students were sent home in March, President Schutt and Dean of the Faculty Davis Schneiderman worked with faculty and the Board of Trustees to develop viable plans for an on-campus fall semester. Students were scheduled to arrive in late August; however, the spread of the COVID-19 virus required a shift to exclusively online learning. 

During these trying times, the College is working hard to help students wherever possible: career counselling for seniors and new graduates, help in securing internships, and increased financial aid options. Students have faced myriad challenges, including loss of family income and income from summer jobs, uncertainty over taking a semester or year off, transferring to a less costly community college, or dropping out and going to work. 

Every student is important to the College. They are the heart of our community, providing the leadership, academic achievement, energy, and enthusiasm that defines our campus. More than ever your gift will help us continue to provide an amazing education for our students during these tumultuous times. 

Click here to support the College's COVID-19 Relief Initiative.

Click here to support the student scholarship and financial aid.

Every student is important to the College, they are the heart of our community, providing the leadership, academic achievement, energy, and enthusiasm that defines our campus. Spike understands this well and has always been very proud of the College's commitment to financial aid. Consequently he has endorsed the special “Spike Initiative Emergency Fund.”

This year, all gifts to the Spike Initiative will be allocated between immediate COVID-19 related student financial aid needs, and the alumni engagement and admissions recruitment efforts supported by the valued Gummere Fellows Program. Your support in any amount would mean a great deal to our students, and to Spike!

Click here to support this special initiative.

The renovation and expansion of Young Hall, once known to many as College Hall, will be renamed Brown Hall. The building will feature contemporary new classrooms and student spaces designed for twenty-first century teaching and learning, as well as a state-of-the-art addition that will double its size. This investment in a 21st century academic facility will give Lake Forest College students access to modern spaces consistent with current pedagogy, research, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Your support will give all of our students an invaluable edge as they pursue their careers. 

Future home of: 

• Career Advancement Center
• Communication
• Economics, Business, and Finance
• History
• Mathematics, Computer Science, and Data Science
• Politics and International Relations

The Board of Trustees endorsed an initiative to raise funds to add new positions for faculty of color. In making this endorsement, the Board recognized:

• That we have fewer faculty of color as a proportion of total faculty than students of color as a proportion of the total student body.
• That students of color are projected to constitute a still larger proportion of our student body over the next decade, as will be the case at colleges nationwide. 

Generous donors have already commiited $1 million to cover two new positions for faculty of color over the next five years. The College needs to raises $4 million in endowment to support the positions permanently. The College also needs to raise another $2 million in endowment gifts to provide permanent support for anti-racist studies and training for students, faculty and staff; academic programming in African American Studies and Latin American Studies; the College’s annual Diversity Summit; and related priorities.

Click here to read more about the new programs.

In partnership with Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, the College has launched a new Health Professions Program (HPP) that will offer students direct pathways from our undergraduate majors to graduate and professional degree programs at RFU, including medicine, pharmacy, healthcare administration, healthcare data science, physical therapy, and still others. 

The College and RFU faculty and students are also actively collaborating in cutting-edge laboratory research projects. Moreover, in one more year, the College and RFU expect to launch a joint Master’s Program in Nursing Practice that will prepare nurses to assume highly skilled and leadership positions at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital and other area hospitals. Students in the Master’s Program will spend three years on our campus and two years at RFU. In collaboration with RFU, the College needs to raise endowment or yearly gifts to provide at least $300,000 in annual support for HPP, $300,000 in annual support for nursing, and $250,000 in annual support for joint research projects.

Click here to read more about the Health Professions Program (HPP).