Bill Tolman, dean at the University of St. Thomas College of Arts and Sciences, recently spoke with Twin Cities Business about the $20 million donation from alum John Monahan which will go toward enhancing arts education through supporting faculty, contributing to scholarships and programs in fields like music film and creative writing.
From the story:
The University of St. Thomas has done it again: The Catholic university on Thursday announced another record donation.
The gift this time comes from longtime donor John Monahan, who’s made a $20 million donation to St. Thomas’ College of Arts and Sciences. In a statement, university officials said it’s the largest gift for arts education in the school’s history. It’s also on par with the “largest known public gift to a university for the arts ever received” in Minnesota, according to St. Thomas.
The school plans to use the endowed gift to improve arts programming and education, recruit and retain faculty in the arts, and provide scholarships for undergraduate students seeking degrees in art history, digital media arts, creative writing, film studies, and music. ...
Bill Tolman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at St. Thomas, noted that the university already sees wide participation in the arts across the student body. “Currently, most of the members of the ensembles and choruses on campuses are actually not (music) majors,” he said.
The donation is notable at a time where other higher ed institutions in the state and around the country have pared back their arts programs. ...
For his part, Tolman sees arts education filling a “key need in society right now” for empathy and understanding. “Arts and arts education play a really big role in this,” he said. “Arts can empower students.”
