The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust has accepted a three-year, $500,000 matching challenge grant proposal from RIT to enhance the Cary program, which includes the Melbert B. Cary Jr. Professorship in Graphic Arts and the Melbert B. Cary Jr. Graphic Arts Collection.
The $1.5 million raised from the challenge will go toward the goal of adding $2.3 million to the Cary Endowment over the next five years. As part of the challenge grant, the Cary Trust is allowing donors to have their names identified with a gift to the Cary Professorship or Cary Collection.
"RIT is deeply appreciative of the longstanding, farsighted generosity of the Mary Flagler Charitable Trust in establishing the Cary endowment and supporting the future viability of its outstanding programs," says President Simone. "This challenge grant and fund-raising campaign demonstrate the commitment of this partnership to printing history and graphic arts education."
The Cary Professorship allows RIT to attract and retain first-rank faculty talent for teaching and research in the graphic arts field. The current Cary Professor, Frank J. Romano, is an internationally renowned expert in graphic arts. Among his objectives, requiring the additional funding, are providing additional technology resources for the development of advanced projects in multimedia and web publishing; extending the reach of the Cary Professor through distance learning; and increasing the amount of undergraduate scholarships.
The Cary Collection is one of the finest specialized libraries in the United States for the study of printing and graphic arts history. The collection supports a number of undergraduate and graduate curricular activities throughout the Institute.The present curator, David Pankow, is a noted graphic arts historian, editor and librarian. His goals include adding new materials to the collection; seeking out unique manuscript and artifactual materials; expanding the collection's publishing efforts; and exploring CD-ROM and other new publishing technologies.
Fund raising has begun for the challenge. The first pledge, a $5,000 donation, has been made by RIT vice president emeritus Alfred Davis. Davis, along with former RIT president Paul Miller, was instrumental in establishing the original partnership between RIT and the Cary Trust.
