The Foundation Honors Mrs. Bailey’s Commitment to Education Creating a Legacy at her Beloved Wellesley College

Cornelia was destined for Wellesley College, guided by a childhood immersed in the arts, music, literature, and nature. She earned a degree in art history, Class of ’51, the third generation in her family to do so.

As one of the world’s leading liberal arts colleges for women, Wellesley, located outside of Boston, is currently undergoing its most ambitious capital project to expand the College’s Science Center. The Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation recently provided a $2M grant to support this significant renovation to prepare students for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers. The new Center will allow the College to train future women science leaders and better prepare students currently underrepresented in science studies.

While considered a state-of-the-art integrated science building when it opened in 1977, the Science Center requires major updating to reflect both the changing world of science and better serve students and faculty.

The new Science Center is being reinvented as a hub of “active, integrated, flexible instruction and research where new facilities and pedagogy will advance women’s leadership into the 21st century.”

In recognition of our grant to the College, The Cornelia T. Bailey ’51 Global Flora Mezzanine and Performance Space will be used significantly for teaching and learning, as a space for artists and musicians to create and for special events with distinguished guests.

Located on the mezzanine level of the new home for Wellesley’s historic and world-renown botanical collection, the area overlooks a canopy of many unique trees and plants in the wet biome.

The College is committed to supporting and increasing the number of students entering STEM degree programs, improving faculty’s research capabilities, and strengthening the science experience for all students.

This grant reflects our vision to promote initiatives that seek to better our world by utilizing nature and the sciences.

Wellesley’s mission is “to provide an excellent liberal arts education to women who will make a difference in the world.” We’re proud to say Mrs. Bailey did just that, and through the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, her lifelong passion for education, the arts, and the sciences continues to benefit generations of students.

If you would like to learn more about Wellesley College and the new Science Center initiative, visit https://www.wellesley.edu/academics/sciences/center. To watch a live stream of the construction visit: http://web.wellesley.edu/video/science.html