Almost everyone who has been to FHL in the last 20 years, and many folks from earlier decades, know our amazing Associate Director for Advancement, Rachel Anderson. They say that all good things must end… and we are seeing that today with it being Rachel’s last day at FHL as she heads into retirement.

Rachel has quietly, often behind the scenes, built up a truly remarkable cadre of donors who are essential to FHL, providing funding for everything from course scholarships and research fellowships for students, to endowments to fund new FHL faculty members, to “nuts and bolts” funds to help maintain our aging campus infrastructure. The importance to FHL of these donors and these funds, which are a testament to Rachel’s skills as a gentle and thoughtful fundraiser, cannot be over-emphasized. She makes every donor feel appreciated and connected, has brought countless new people into the FHL community, and delights in connecting donors with “adopted” students and seeing the mutual appreciation in their interactions. She tirelessly and consistently advocates for what will be best for FHL, seeing the big picture and the long term. In addition, she has served on our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee since its inception, helping find new ways for FHL to reach diversity goals.

She is collaborative, calm, organized – and ultimately a people-person, which is so clearly at the core of what a good advancement officer needs to be. We will miss her terribly – but wish her the best, spending time traveling with her husband Mark and visiting her children and hopefully getting time to relax!

-Megan Dethier, FHL Director