In October 2024 Vassar welcomed to campus for the first time Jacob Mnookin, Director of Partnership and Innovation at the Davis United World College Scholars Program (DUWCSP), which provides scholarships and other support to graduates of the 18 United World Colleges who are pursuing undergraduate degrees at Vassar and 100 other institutional partners nationwide. The Davis United World College Scholars Program was founded by Philip O. Geier and philanthropist Shelby Davis in 2000; Vassar has been a DUWCSP partner institution since 2001. In that time, Vassar has received more than $1.2M in scholarship support toward Davis Scholars’ financial aid packages. Today there are more than 4,200 Davis UWC Scholars at undergraduate institutions in 27 states.

Relatively new in his role at the Davis Program, Jacob Mnookin has now visited more than 90 of the Program’s collegiate partner campuses. He spent nearly an entire October day at Vassar, visiting with President Bradley; Sonya Smith, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Student Financial Services; Stacy Bingham, Associate Dean of the College for Career Education; Andrew Meade, Director of International Services and Assistant Dean of Student Growth and Engagement; and many other Vassar colleagues before viewing the attractions of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center and The Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts. The Grants Office hosted a luncheon for Vassar’s current Davis UWC Scholars and Haoyue Qian ’24, a former Davis UWC Scholar working in Advancement as an Administrative Fellow for 2024-25. All impressed Jacob with their candor, humor, and insight!