An anonymous donor will give $10 million to the College of St. Benedict to create the Center for Ethical Leadership in Action, which will aim to increase opportunities for experiential learning such as study abroad, undergraduate research, service learning, internships and fellowships.
The $10 million commitment, which will create a permanent endowment, is the largest gift in the college's history.
School officials said the center will help an increasing number of students who can't afford an unpaid internship or other experiential learning. The college, and its academic partner St John's University, require that every student complete four credits of experiential learning..
The college plans to begin awarding stipends as early as summer 2017.
"We are grateful for the donors whose vision and generosity have created the center," President Mary Dana Hinton said. "It positions us as a leader among liberal arts colleges nationally in developing women's leadership capacity."
Internships and other opportunities will be designed to nurture ethical women leaders in fields from business to medicine to education and beyond. The center also will support a mentoring program and speaker series.
"Having the center will enable us to focus our educational programming and opportunities on ethical leadership, which has always been central to our mission," said Richard Ice, CSB/SJU provost.
