Vassar’s ‘Game-Changing’ Admission and Career Center Takes a Big Step Forward

Speaking to a crowd of more than 150 members of the Vassar community and local government and business officials, alum Dede Thompson Bartlett ’65, who launched the project with a $10-million donation, called the new Admission and Career Education Center “a dream come true.”

Wielding the same shovel College founder Matthew Vassar used for the groundbreaking of Main Building in 1861, President Elizabeth H. Bradley joined Bartlett, Bartlett’s spouse Jim, Trustee Chair Anthony Friscia ’78, and Thompson in turning over a mound of soil at the site.

Bradley lauded Bartlett, who was an executive at two Fortune 25 companies, as a “pioneer (who) has broken glass ceilings and excelled in corporate systems formerly only available to men.” A longtime supporter of career education programs at Vassar and New York University, where she received her master’s degree, Bartlett has funded hundreds of internships for students in mathematics, computer science, economics, and engineering.

Referring to the initial conversations she and her spouse had with Vassar administrators nearly five years ago, Bartlett said she wanted to help “create a world-class facility built on the astounding work” the College had been doing in career education. “This center will house a dynamic career education program that will give our students the skills to meet the existential challenges of the coming decades,” Bartlett said.

The building will also provide expanded facilities for the Office of Admission, Bartlett added, serving as a welcoming space for visitors to campus. “I cannot wait to see the faces of prospective students and their parents as they walk through this building and see the possibilities Vassar offers,” she said.

Thompson, the architect, said one of her main goals in designing the building was to ensure that it served as a gateway linking the campus to the community. “The courtyards and open space open their arms to the community,” she said, “and this openness also reflects the Vassar education. Dede told me, ‘I want a building that’s full of light,’ and that’s what it is.”

At a luncheon at the Alumnae House following the groundbreaking ceremony, the College administrators expressed their gratitude to the donors. “I am immensely grateful to Dede and Jim for their unwavering support of career education and this project,” said Stacy Bingham, Associate Dean of the College for Career Education. “Fortunately, career education at Vassar has come a long way since Dede graduated in 1965. But it has come an especially long way in the last decade, and not a moment too soon. We have long known that Vassar provides an incredible education. Now, with this new home … we have the opportunity to showcase how we prepare our students and graduates with not only a world-class education but also the skills to be successful and essential in our rapidly changing world.”

Sonya Smith, Dean of Admission and Student Financial Services, said she and her staff had been planning for their new facilities almost since she arrived at Vassar in 2019. “This evolved into a fantastic one-two punch of [a facility for] Admission and Career Education together,” Smith said. “It kicks off another great chapter in Vassar history and gives a new front door—a gorgeous, state-of-the-art one—that we open to our guests from around the world. So folks, this is going to be great!”

President Bradley closed the celebration by asking everyone to raise their champagne glasses and toast the Bartlett Center. “Our future will be full of change,” she said, “but we are fully equipped for it, thanks to the vision of Dede Bartlett. Here’s to the future!”