Vassar College has announced a $10 million gift from alumna Dede Thompson Bartlett ('65) in support of a new building to house the admission and career education offices.

The Dede Thompson Bartlett Center will be located on the north end of the Town of Poughkeepsie campus, with construction expected to begin within the next eighteen months. According to the college, Bartlett has long been interested in enhancing career opportunities for students in part because her own early career path was so difficult.

A longtime supporter of the college, Bartlett was a senior executive at Mobil Corporation and Altria Group. In 2013, the Jim and Dede Bartlett Foundation established the Thompson Bartlett Fellowships for Science, Mathematics and Computer Science.

"For nearly a decade, Dede Bartlett has been helping Vassar students and graduates carve their career paths by funding paid internships and other initiatives through the college's career education office," said Vassar president Elizabeth Bradley. "Her extraordinary gift will enable the college to provide state-of-the-art facilities and programming that will truly enhance the services our admission and career education offices can provide."

"This exceptional building ushers in a new era at Vassar," said Bartlett. "Two of the most important tasks facing world-class liberal arts colleges are recruiting the best students, regardless of their economic status, and providing them with a lifetime of educational and career opportunities. The staffs of the offices of admission and career education will have a welcoming, superb facility to enable them to carry out their critical missions."

(Photo credit: Katherine Marks)