Babson College Receives Over $1 Million for Studio Arts Facility; Gift Supports College's Commitment to Liberal Arts Learning at Business School

Business Wire, Jan 25, 2001

Business/Education Editors

WELLESLEY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2001

Babson alumnus and former Babson College Trustee, Richard W. Sorenson and his wife Sandra have contributed over $1 million to help endow a new studio arts facility at Babson College.

The gift will help to support renovation of a 4,200 square foot space to house studio arts space for painting, drawing, and ceramics. The reconfigured space will also include labs for conventional and digital photography, darkrooms, gallery areas, and a resident artist studio to accommodate visiting artists-in-residence.

The entrance to the arts facility will face and visually link to the College's Sorenson Center for the Arts, completed in 1997 and named in recognition of a $3 million endowment gift for the performing arts from Richard Sorenson. The Center includes a 450-seat theater, a rehearsal studio, and several individual practice rooms for musicians.

"The visual and performing arts help our students learn to take risks and think creatively," said Babson President Leo I. Higdon, Jr., "Art exposes students to the creative process and puts them in touch with parts of themselves they didn't know they could draw from. In business, there's a terrific amount of uncertainty about what the new economy might bring. If a person can't embrace ambiguity and work through it, that person is going to have trouble. We are tremendously grateful to Richard and Sandra for their generous support of liberal arts at Babson."

"The arts and humanities embody the essence of being human," said Sorenson, who holds a bachelor's degree in American literature from Brown University. "I am particularly thrilled to see Babson place this invigorated emphasis on the role of arts within the business school environment."

Sorenson is president and chairman of Carling Technologies, Inc., a global manufacturer of electrical switches and circuit protection devices for the appliance, computer, marine, medical, office automation, power supply, telecommunication, transportation, and HVAC industries. He received an MBA degree from Babson in 1968.

Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education, was founded in 1919 by entrepreneur and financier Roger W. Babson. It grants BS, MBA and custom MS degrees through its Undergraduate Program and the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, and offers executive development programs to experienced managers worldwide through the Babson School of Executive Education. The College's newly launched for-profit venture, Babson Interactive LLC, develops distance learning programs and business simulations for executives and graduate students.