The University of Washington College of Arts & Sciences and the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity (OMA&D) announced that the Sara Little Turnbull Foundation has made a $200,000 gift to benefit underrepresented minority, low-income and first-generation students pursuing design degrees within the School of Art + Art History + Design. The gift will be used to establish the Sara Little Turnbull Foundation Endowed Scholarship in Design, providing financial assistance to undergraduate students who are affiliated with OMA&D’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). This gift is one of two inaugural gifts by the foundation.
Those wishing to make a gift to the Sara Little Turnbull Foundation Endowed Scholarship in Design can do so here.
About Sara Little Turnbull and the Sara Little Turnbull Foundation
The Sara Little Turnbull Foundation supports underrepresented youth in design education and the advancement of women in professional communities of design practice and leadership. The Foundation also supports public education in design at the intersection of culture, business, and education.
Sara Little Turnbull (1917 – 2015) was a trail blazing designer and design consultant who operated at the nexus of design, culture, commerce, and education. As “corporate America’s secret weapon,” she worked with major companies as a designer and design consultant. Her clients included 3M, General Mills, Corning, Coca-Cola, Proctor & Gamble, Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, DuPont, Ford, Pfizer, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Lever Brothers, Motorola and NASA, among others. Describing her practice as “applied cultural anthropology,” she found inspiration during global travels, from close observation of the natural world, and through research sparked by her keen curiosity. She brought an interdisciplinary and anthropological approach to product development. She also championed the consumer experience, setting the stage for human values in commerce.
Sara Little Turnbull created a Foundation Trust as a vehicle to support her passion for design education and women in leadership roles. “Sara and her work were catalytic. In this spirit, the Foundation hopes to inspire other business and design leaders to support programs that engage diverse youth in design,” explained Dorothy Dunn, a special trustee of the Foundation.
About The College
The College of Arts & Sciences, founded more than 150 years ago, provides an education of tremendous breadth and depth to more than 27,000 students while advancing research and scholarship in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The College has more than two dozen interdisciplinary centers and ties to many other centers, enabling scholars in diverse fields to collaborate on complex research questions in the humanities, demography, labor studies, law, astrobiology, and other areas.
The College faculty generate about $90 million in research funds annually, through public and private grants. The College also serves the community through the more than 280 performances, 60 exhibits and 100 public programs annually offered through the Henry Art Gallery, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Meany Center for the Performing Arts.
About the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity
Established in 1968, the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity (OMA&D) creates pathways for diverse populations to access postsecondary opportunities, nurtures and supports their academic success, and cultivates a campus climate that enriches the educational experience for all. OMA&D college access programs serve over 25,000 K-two-year college students across the state and its student success programs serve over 6,000 UW undergraduates.
OMA&D’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) promotes academic success and graduation for underrepresented ethnic minority, economically disadvantaged and first-generation college students at the University of Washington.
Contact: Luke Hawkins, (206) 685-4745, ldhawk@uw.edu