By Daniel Rothberg

The school announced a new initiative focused on Asian studies that will support curriculum development, faculty grants, an exchange program and a speaker series. Applications for faculty grants under the program will open by the end of this school year.

A lead gift from the Gunter family (Simon ’14, Sophie ’14) and the Gross family (Bennett ’16) will fund the Gunter-Gross Asia Initiative. 

“They have donated some money to the school that will allow us to develop any aspect of the program that falls under the umbrella of Asian studies,” Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said.

In addition to providing immediate funding for Asian studies, some funds will be placed in an endowment, Chief Advancement Officer Ed Hu said in March.

Huybrechts said she can envision restrictive and target specific gifts like that given by the Gunter and Gross families, becoming more typical in the future.

“I can imagine this being more the norm in the future,” Hu said. “As there are fewer and fewer buildings to build and certainly interest in programs to support at the school.”