September 1, 1981

Vassar joined the College Venture Program, a consortium of colleges based at Brown University that helped students planning to take time off from school explore careers that might interest them. The consortium developed internship placesments across the country in a wide range of fields, counseling students at member campuses about the values of interrupting their undergraduate education to gain knowledge of specific fields of interest. Later developments included the establishment of an Urban Education Semester program, in which selected students worked in primary and secondary schools in New York City while earning credit at Bank Street College.

Founded in 1974 and originally based at Northeastern University, the program included Brown, Bates, Mt. Holyoke and Wesleyan among its early member institutions. Maintaining offices at Brown since 1978, membership after Vassar’s entry into the consortium included Oberlin, Swarthmore, Chicago, Syracuse, Sarah Lawrence, Franklin & Marshall and the College of the Holy Cross. After 35 years and recognizing the changed perceptions of undergraduate leave-taking, the consortium disbanded in 2009, its resources and accomplishments integrated into Brown’s Engaged Life Partnership initiative.