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Salem College Receives $5M Gift Toward Health Leadership Transition

The Main Hall at Salem Academy and College. Photo courtesy of Salem Academy and College

Salem College has received a $5 million gift toward its transition to a Health Leadership curriculum. This is the largest donation in the school's 250-year history.

Salem College officials say the gift was designated specifically to boost the school's new focus on training women for leadership roles in health-related fields.

The donor wishes to remain anonymous and is not an alumna, but said the gift was made in honor of Lucy Rose, a 1976 Salem College graduate who is now a driving force behind the transition.

Rose, who also serves as a vice-chair on the school's Board of Trustees, said in a news release that she is “humbled and profoundly grateful” for the donor's belief in the school's future as a training ground for the health ecosystem.

Salem College will debut three new health-oriented majors this fall, and plans additional programming over the next three years and beyond.

The $5 million gift will be made in phases, with the first allocation this spring.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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