$5M donation establishes Bridgewater’s School of Arts and Humanities

First named and endowed school at private college

Published March 17, 2021 by Kate Andrews

A 1962 alumna of Bridgewater College has made a $5 million donation that will establish the Bonnie Forrer and John Harvey Rhodes School of Arts and Humanities, named for the donor and her late husband.

The private college’s first named and endowed school will combine its existing communications, fine arts and literature divisions with its division of humanities and social sciences, Bridgewater announced Wednesday in a news release. A resident of Pennsylvania, Bonnie Rhodes is on the college’s board of trustees and previously made a donation to support the John Kenny Forrer Learning Commons, named for her father. The recent gift will provide new equipment, enable more student research and travel, establish a pre-tenure sabbatical program for faculty and establish an endowed chair for the school.

“John’s world was that of business and finance. I grew up on a farm, and as a child I read voraciously, listened to classical music and tuned into Texaco Metropolitan Opera on the radio every Saturday. This, along with my entire educational experience at BC, helped me understand how the whole world was connected,” Rhodes said in a statement. “As a couple, our lives were so much richer because of our passion for literature, art, music and culture.”

John Rhodes died in January after a long career in real estate development and finance, including serving on Penn National Insurance’s board of directors for 25 years.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.