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miles on the Skidmore Journey than Joan Layng Dayton ’63, the peripatetic campaign chair who traveled tirelessly for fve years promoting the Journey Campaign to thousands of Skidmore’s alumni, parents, and friends from coast to coast.”

Highly successful, the campaign raised more than all other previous fundraising campaigns in Skidmore history combined. Among its chief goals was the creation of an interdisciplinary teaching museum, “a museum of ideas, not objects,” as envisioned by its frst director, liberal studies professor Charles Stainback, and others. Joanie became the driving force behind making that vision a reality, bringing together College trustees, President Porter, faculty, students, alumni, donors, and renowned architect Antoine Predock to design and build the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. Opened in 2000, the pioneering facility, which often features exhibits co-curated by Skidmore faculty and students, is informed by the principle that art can be used to advance knowledge across all disciplines. The Tang quickly became known as one of the top teaching museums in the country and a unique resource that is a model for other college museums.

In 1998, Joanie was elected to a four-year term as chair of the board; she would lead its efforts to search for and inaugurate the College’s frst female president, Jamienne S. Studley, renovate Case Center, and ensure Skidmore’s continued fnancial and academic vitality. Her extraordinary contributions to Skidmore were lauded in 2001, when the College trustees passed a resolution thanking her for her “dedicated and focused, reasoned and wise, balanced and sensitive leadership,” adding that her legacy “will be a source of strength as the

College moves ahead in the twenty-frst century.” She was once again honored by her peers in 2002 with the Denis B. Kemball-Cook Trustee Award, for having “given sacrifcially of wisdom, time, and talent.” In 2003, when Joanie was presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters, history professor and then-Dean of the Faculty Tad Kuroda said of her leadership, “Systemic dignity, poise, zest, and style framed your every action, and our successes have been your principal reward.”

Looking back on those years, Joanie recalls, “I saw what passion can do. Never mind his passion for Homer or John Cage or the perfect pun—when it came to getting a teaching museum funded and built, David Porter’s passion saw no bounds. Antoine Predock’s passion for his building and what the program could do for Skidmore had to be seen to be believed. I still see that energy and enthusiasm at the Tang.” Joanie continued helping Skidmore fourish as a member of the Campaign Executive Committee for the Creative Thought Bold Promise Campaign from 2004 to 2010. The largest in Skidmore history, that campaign raised more than $216.5 million, exceeding its $200 million goal. In addition to growing Skidmore’s endowment, it enhanced academic programs, elevated the study of the sciences, ensured the ability of the Tang to offer cutting-edge exhibits and programs, and provided wider access to a Skidmore education through increased fnancial aid. The campaign also transformed the College’s physical environment with the construction of the Arthur Zankel Music Center, the creation of the Northwoods Apartments, the renovation of the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall and the Williamson Sports Center, and more.

5 0 T H R E U N I O N S E R V I C E A W A R D

“Skidmore is made of passionate people, whether they are teaching or raising money or building the alumni base or feeding the students. It is so much a part of what makes the College great.”

“I am so honored by this award but really humbled by it. Skidmore has given me so much, beginning more than 50 years ago, but most of all it’s given me reasons to give back—it’s easy to give to programs and people who in turn continue to give so much to so many.”