Gift supports nationally known program

Karla Heurich Harrison '28 as a CC senior.

The matriarch of a multigenerational CC family has given the college $1 million toward the endowment of the College's Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies (CCBES).

The gift of Karla Heurich Harrison, a zoology major from the Class of 1928, will help CCBES remain a vital part of the College's educational program and continue as a national model of environmental studies programs. CCBES fosters research, education and curriculum development aimed at understanding contemporary ecological challenges.

Harrison, of Clearwater Beach, Fla., is the mother and grandmother of two Connecticut College alumnae — Jan King Houser '54 and Karla MacMahon '80. After Connecticut College, she received a master's degree in zoology from George Washington University in 1930. She has been a consistent supporter of Connecticut College, donating to the Annual Fund and several building renovations.

The directorship, now held by Robert Askins, professor of biology and nationally known ornithologist, will be titled the Karla Heurich Harrison '28 Directorship of the Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies. The director, always a faculty member, coordinates the work of the center's faculty steering committee.

The gift will also support CCBES' academic activities, including student-faculty environmental research, conferences and the certificate program. The certificate program enables Connecticut College students in any major to cultivate their interest in environmental topics through coursework, an internship or research experience and a senior integrative project. Last year, 13 seniors graduated with the certificate.

The gift comes on the heels of a $300,000 grant last July from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help sustain the center's operations.

Connecticut College has long been a leader in environmental education. Newsweek magazine recognized CCBES as "one of the best environmental studies programs in the United States." Last spring, the center supported the college in the development of a green building policy to help guide College administration in future building construction and renovation projects.

View the Goodwin-Niering Center site, http://ccbes.conncoll.edu.