Funds for travel, performance, and recording help keep Oberlin's faculty artists in the limelight and well known among prospective students and their families. Support for library and museum acquisitions and for incorporating technology into the curriculum assists faculty members in their work as both scholars and teachers. The strength of its faculty is the basis of Oberlin's national reputation. Without a cutting-edge curriculum taught by knowledgeable and energetic teachers who expressly want to work with undergraduates, Oberlin would lose its niche in American higher education. I, for one, want to see Oberlin maintain its strengths.
Faculty members are more than the basis of a reputation, however.
For students, they are the face of Oberlin College, the people who have the most meaning in students' lives. I want to ensure that when future Oberlin students look back on their college years, they remember inspiring instruction and nurturing and challenging relationships with mentors, just as Oberlinians of today and yesterday do. Joan Lewis Danforth was an active memberof the Board of Trustees from 1987 to 1994. She is now an honorary trustee and one of three co-chairs of The New Oberlin Century campaign. Her husband, Robert Danforth, established endowed professorships in biology, economics,politics, and history.