The Fletcher Jones Foundation has awarded $1 million to Scripps College for the establishment of The Fletcher Jones Scholar in Computation. The grant is matched 1:1 by former Scripps Trustee and alumna, Betsy Weinberg Smith, through the Sidney J. Weinberg, Jr. Foundation for a combined $2 million endowed fund.
The Endowed Scholar will display a mastery of her or his field paired with computational, programming, and analytic expertise needed to teach computational courses. “This infusion of computation into existing disciplines is an exciting approach to meeting the student need for these critical skills and builds upon Scripps’ already strong interdisciplinary curriculum,” says Amy Marcus-Newhall, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Scripps.
The Endowed Scholar position was created in response to a need identified during a yearlong strategic planning process involving the Scripps College community. “Increasing our capacity to meet the student demand for instruction in computation skills arose as both as a need and priority during this process,” says Scripps College President, Lara Tiedens. She added, “The Fletcher Jones grant, together with the generous support of Betsy Smith, allows Scripps to lead in what is a unique and interdisciplinary approach to a need that colleges and universities across the nation are working to meet. We have a history of combining fields in a manner that deepens and broadens undergraduate education and with the endowed scholar, we provide opportunities for Scripps students to excel in the application of computation to a wide range of fields.”
With a targeted start date of fall 2019, the Fletcher Jones Scholar will facilitate the design and implementation of new courses that teach computational skills. Increasingly, computational skills are essential for emerging positions both domestically and internationally. As a premier liberal arts college for women, Scripps College is uniquely positioned to educate students who will bring their acumen, leadership skills, and interdisciplinary problem-solving abilities to this changing world.
The Fletcher Jones Foundation, based in Pasadena, California, was endowed from the estate of Fletcher R. Jones, Co-Founder of Computer Sciences Corporation. The primary mission of The Foundation is the support of private, independent nonprofit colleges and universities in California.
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