Giving to Reed
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For more information about the Parent Council, please contact Parent Council staff liaison, Susan Walcutt at 503/517-7340 or send her an email.
Reed College Parent Council
The Parent Council is comprised of approximately 40 parents of Reed students and parents of young alumni. Council members represent the Reed parent community and set a leadership example through philanthropic support and advocacy of Reed’s mission.
Reed is committed to providing a balanced, comprehensive education in the liberal arts and sciences, fulfilling the highest standards of intellectual excellence. Council members advance this goal in several key ways:
Philanthropy
The Parents Fund is one cornerstone of unrestricted financial support for Reed. Council members are recruited to the Parent Council with a request to make Reed College a philanthropic priority.
Parent Council members are asked to set a leadership example by giving as generously as they can each year. Though not a requirement of membership, we are always pleased to welcome parents with fundraising experience onto the Parent Council.
Advocacy
Positive word of mouth is often the most compelling introduction to small liberal arts colleges such as Reed. Council members share their experience and perspective on Reed in their communities, their children’s schools, and in conversation with friends, relatives, and prospective Reed families.
Students choose Reed because of their enthusiastic desire to pursue the intellectually rigorous curriculum. Parents of Reedies are in a unique position to talk to other parents about the characteristics that make a student the right fit for Reed.
Admission
With Reed’s reputation on the rise nationally, applications for admission are at a record high. Selecting talented students for whom Reed will be the best fit is the admission staff’s highest priority.
As parents of Reedies, Council members are uniquely qualified to speak to parents of prospective students and parents of incoming freshman about the college.
By February of their child’s first year, council members may be asked to serve as advocates for the office of admission by answering questions posed by parents of interested or incoming students.
Career Services
Parent Council members can help current students and/or recent graduates by advising the office of career services of appropriate career opportunities for Reedies.
Parents’ professional, volunteer, or vocational affiliations may be great
resources for summer internships, undergraduate research, or career opportunities.
