News & Notes

Harvard’s endowment surpasses $34 billion

Harvard’s endowment has risen above $34 billion, a $6 billion increase over the past year, according to The Boston Globe. This represents a 20 percent increase from last year.

After a year of successful investment returns, endowments at 76 American universities are now greater than $1 billion, according to an annual study conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Yale has the second largest endowment at $22.5 billion, a 25 percent increase over the past year. Princeton’s $15.8 billion endowment, as of March 31, 2007, is among the five largest university endowments, which also include those of Stanford and the University of Texas system.

The study comes amid pressure from Congress for colleges and universities, as tax-exempt institutions, to increase spending of endowment funds to make higher education more affordable. A number of institutions have responded with significant increases in financial aid.

In December, Harvard announced a $22 million increase in financial aid for next year, requiring families earning $120,000 to $180,000 a year to pay no more than 10 percent of their income. Yale and Dartmouth have also recently revised their financial aid policies along similar lines.

Director of McCarter Theatre leaves

Managing director of McCarter Theatre Jeffrey Woodward will leave his post in Princeton at the end of March to head Syracuse Stage at Syracuse University.

Under Woodward’s leadership since 1991, McCarter Theatre has grown to national prominence, McCarter’s Artistic Director Emily Mann said in a statement issued by Syracuse University.

The new position will afford Woodward greater opportunity to interact with university students as well as a chance to revitalize the theater, which has recently hired a new artistic director and a new drama department chair.

“It’s a lot easier to implement change when you’ve got a whole new team in place,” Woodward said in a statement issued by Syracuse University.

Though McCarter is owned and maintained by the University, the theater is run by an independent board of trustees in an arrangement with the University.

Syracuse Stage, however, works more closely with Syracuse University’s drama department, a relationship that attracted Woodward to the position.

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Former general manager of McCarter and current trustee of the theatre Kathleen Nolan will temporarily replace Woodward. A search committee has been formed to find a long-term replacement.