Hobart and William Smith Colleges

100 Things to Explore

64. Among the HWS philanthropists who have propelled teaching and learning and fueled the Colleges' growth, former Chair of the Board of Trustees William F. Scandling '49, L.L.D. '67 is distinguished by both the size and reach of his gifts. As the single largest donor to the Colleges, contributing more than $50 million throughout this lifetime, he is responsible not only for the creation of the Scandling Campus Center but a number of endowed scholarships that support HWS to this very day. Scandling and his classmates, W. Price Laughlin '49, L.H.D. '67 and Harry W. Anderson '49, L.H.D. '67, took over operations of the campus dining hall during their junior year. Their enterprise, the Saga Corporation - an homage to the Seneca capital Kanadesaga - expanded into one of the country's leading foodservice companies, operating at 458 colleges in the United States and Canada.

65. The William Scandling - the 65-foot, steel-hulled research vessel owned and operated by the Colleges - was named in Scandling's honor in celebration of his 80th birthday in 2002. Originally launched in 1976, the vessel's service area includes all of Seneca Lake, where most of the work is conducted, and extends via the New York Barge Canal System to Cayuga and Oneida Lakes, the lower Great Lakes, the Hudson River and points beyond. The Scandling is outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment to meet the teaching and research needs of the Colleges, including the physics of waves and currents, the chemistry of water quality monitoring, the biological questions raised by native plankton and invasive species, and the geology and environmental history of the glaciers of the Ice Age that formed the lake.

66. The Seneca Society honors those whose philanthropy has remarkably altered the course of Hobart and William Smith history through cumulative gifts of more than $1 million. Today, 69 individuals and couples make up the Seneca Society.

67. GIVING ADDS UP. Over the past three years, alumnae and alumni who have donated $250 or less have raised $1.3 million to support the Colleges' greatest needs.

68. There are more than 100 clubs and student organizations on campus covering a wide range of students' interests, including many dedicated to learning about and celebrating the cultural and religious heritage of the community. A sampling of some of the clubs is below:

Sankofa: Black Student Union
Koshare Dance Collective
Alpine Ski Club
Equestrian Team
Latin American Organization
Caribbean Student Association
Beautiful Minds
Ducks Unlimited
Asian Student Union
Pride Alliance
Fencing
Women's Collective
Random Acts of Kindness

69. In 2019, the Peace Corps ranked HWS No. 3 among small-size schools on the agency's list of top volunteer-producing colleges and universities. To date, 235 HWS grads have served or are currently serving in the Peace Corps.

70. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), an academic access and support initiative between New York State and its independent colleges, founded by State Assemblyman Arthur O. Eve P'89, L.H.D. '10. Hobart and William Smith Colleges were among the inaugural institutions to implement HEOP; since 1969, more than 1,000 students have participated in the program. In 2006, Eve's name was officially added to the program title in recognition of his dedication to increasing access to higher education.

71. While the U.S. government's international exchange Fulbright Program was created in 1946, the first recorded mention of HWS students receiving the award doesn't occur until 1974, with a note in The Herald. Career Services records show that since 2005, 44 HWS students have won Fulbright scholarships, including six this year alone.