Holleran Celebration

Students, faculty and staff gathered in the Shain Library’s Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room to formally thank Carolyn Holleran '60 and her husband Jerry Holleran GP '07 for their $2.5 million gift that will support the next generation of Holleran Center scholars, and will continue the rich legacy of the Holleran Center, which the couple first endowed 21 years ago.

Each year, more than 70 students from a broad spectrum of disciplines and academic departments work with the Holleran Center, engaging in local, national and global service-learning projects, and preparing for lives and careers as leaders in the realm of social justice.

"The Holleran Center represents the best of what a Connecticut College education means," President Katherine Bergeron said. "Because of you, Carolyn and Jerry, hundreds of students have had a superlative education and have come to understand their place in the world in a new way, and hundreds of students have gone on to do a world of good. ... I'm happy that your legacy will live on in the justice that these students will perpetuate in the world."

The Holleran Center's signature Program in Community Action deepens students' knowledge and skills as active and responsive citizens. Holleran Center scholars integrate classroom studies in the liberal arts with experiential learning in local and global communities. The Center is also the College’s primary incubator for social justice initiatives, community reform and sustainable change. It partners with dozens of community organizations to address challenges in education, health and wellness, affordable housing, community development, the environment and food security.

From providing legal services to immigrants and refugees to combatting gun violence, Holleran Center graduates are now making a difference all over the world as activists, community organizers, lawyers, policy makers, researchers, fundraisers, educators, social workers and Fulbright fellows.

Professor of Psychology Audrey Zakriski, who serves as the faculty director of the Holleran Center, spoke passionately about the immeasurable contributions the Hollerans have made to Connecticut College over the years.

"We're so grateful for the enduring commitment Carolyn and Jerry have shown to Connecticut College, to the students and to the many communities our work has touched," Zakriski said. "It's a pleasure to celebrate their inspirational philanthropy, visionary leadership and the more than two decades of social activism they've made possible at the College. This gift will allow us to inspire a new generation of activist scholars."