Rooted in the work of top research faculty, Emory College has academic areas that are destinations for faculty researchers and undergraduate students. Donor funding extends the reach of these leading programs and build additional strength, and they link the donors’ names to Emory’s excellence long term. These areas of strength have the power to transform how undergraduate students learn and academic disciplines.

For our nationally recognized Creative Writing Program, an endowed fellowship would attract and assist emerging writers, enhance the curriculum, and further build the program’s reputation. 2O36 will support an environment for writers to produce work that will be read, awarded, and widely taught. An endowment for the Department of African American Studies will help redefine understanding of race, inequality, and justice. This endowment could launch a PhD program in antiracism and the study of racial inequality, for example, or fund a research center to study contemporary and historical slavery or address health inequities.

An endowment for the Center for Human Health, which brings Emory’s top researchers into the classroom, would allow visiting scholars to spend a year working with undergraduates on new developments in health. Endowed funding for the Department of Quantitative Theory and Methods (QTM) could create new research clusters in forward-focused areas such as data justice—bringing the data sciences into collaborations with scholars of race and racism—or biomedical sciences. Emory undergraduates will gain a unique skill set, and QTM-focused faculty will reinvent the approach to research.

Imagine developing a cancer vaccine from a plant or finding new subatomic particles that produce cleaner energy. These types of unexpected discoveries come from sharing knowledge between disciplines and departments. In 2036, an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship in natural sciences will quickly become sought after for emerging scientists.

Encompassing every discipline, these postdoctoral fellows can be free-floating conduits between departments and schools. Not tied to one lab or research program, they can draw inspiration, leverage knowledge, and share research more widely. By collaborating with some of the greatest scientific minds in the fields of biology, chemistry, anthropology, and more, Emory College postdoctoral fellows will explore the boundless potential for world-changing discoveries in the natural sciences.

The Emory experience includes anything that allows our students to apply the lessons they learn from our 86 majors and 63 minors. Outfitted with rigorous critical thinking skills, Emory College students can participate in high-impact experiences, including undergraduate research, entrepreneurship, internships, and study abroad, which bring these skills into application. Emory Edge helps students choose which opportunities to participate in and makes sure those opportunities are available to all students, regardless of finances.

In 2036, every Emory College student will participate in experiential learning. Funding experiential learning through Emory Edge will fulfill the promise of an Emory experience that serves students for a lifetime. As our students navigate the larger world, they will carry with them Emory’s defining ethos: a sense of community brimming with opportunity.