President Creighton announced at the gala kickoff dinner that more than $70 million has already been promised or given to The Campaign for Mount Holyoke College.

Hundreds of alumnae and friends of Mount Holyoke gathered on campus October 16Ð18 to launch the largest fundraising campaign in the history of women's colleges in the United States. Artistic events, lectures, presentations, tours, and athletic competitions marked the weekend and celebrated the College's wide-ranging excellence.

Based on the theme "Advancing Our Legacy of Leadership," the five-year $200 million Campaign for Mount Holyoke College will strengthen the College's global leadership position as an institution of liberal arts education for women. It includes these goals: at least $110 million for endowment; $24 million for renovations and new construction for science facilities; $6 million for stewardship of arts facilities; $40 million for annual funds; and $20 million for program funds. Increasing the size of the endowment is the campaign's major emphasis because, in President Creighton's words, "endowment is the key to continued academic excellence and the single most important indicator of institutional strength."

Former national security adviser Anthony Lake ( right) discussed globalization with professor Vincent Ferraro (left) at one of several scholarly events during campaign kickoff weekend.

Among the many kickoff weekend events were a presentation on "Globalization and Its Challenges to World Politics" by Anthony Lake, former national security adviser and Five College Professor for International Relations at Mount Holyoke and Vincent Ferraro, Ruth Lawson Professor of International Politics; a series of presentations by faculty and students on academic programs at the College; a colloquium on "What Makes a Good Liberal Arts Education"; and musical and artistic presentations that included three site-specific performances featuring a cast of up to thirty dancers and six horses with riders performing in newly choreographed works.

Cochairs for the campaign are trustees Eleanor Graham Claus '55 and Harriet Levine Weissman '58. Honorary cochairs are Wendy J. Wasserstein '71, Dorothy Rooke McCulloch '50, and Norman E. McCulloch, Jr.

Mount Holyoke is also perhaps the first college to incorporate artistic performances involving horses and dancers into a campaign kick-off. New York City-based choreographer JoAnna Mendl Shaw '69 choreographed three large-scale performances, jointly titled In the Landscape: Dancing with Horses, for the occasion.