Colorado College has received a $2.5 million gift to endow its groundbreaking Career Catalyst Program, which provides students with immersive, faculty-led learning experiences that connect the liberal arts to real-world professional challenges.
Launched in 2024, the Career Catalyst Program leverages the flexibility of CC’s distinctive Block Plan to create high-impact, experiential learning opportunities both on and off campus. The transformational investment from the MacLean family ensures that the Career Catalyst Program will remain a core component of the CC experience for generations to come.
“Colorado College has been part of our family for over a century now — from my grandmother who graduated in 1925, to me in the 80s, and now through my sons, who graduated in 2021 and 2023,” says Liz MacLean Larned ’83. “With this gift, we’re excited to help today’s students prepare for the future — not just by building skills, but by discovering how their passions can shape meaningful careers. The Career Catalyst program does just that, and we’re honored to help it grow.”
Both on and off campus programs masterfully connect a liberal arts education with real-world, immersive experiences.
The pilot of the off-campus program included a two-week immersive course at Mattel's global headquarters in Los Angeles where students learned from company experts about the toy-making process from concept to creation. "This course has shaped what I see myself doing after college," said Arez Khidr ’25. "It’s so big and complex...there are so many roles I didn’t know were needed.”
The on-campus program, successfully piloted in the Economics and Business Department by Visiting Faculty Executive in Residence Lora Louise Broady '83 leverages and expands live-client projects, where alumni serve as ‘clients’ presenting a real-world challenge with a small group of 5 students, using scholarly research and informed ideation to develop actionable recommendations.
“The MacLean family's unwavering commitment to Colorado College is something I’ve admired since Liz and I were roommates in Mathias Hall over 40 years ago. Now, as a visiting faculty member, it's incredibly meaningful to see their dedication directly benefit our students.”
One student shared that the experience "gave me a clear idea of the type of work I really like to do and what a consulting project looks like in practice." Another found it "so rewarding to be able to tackle a real-world problem and present attainable solutions and work directly with prominent CC alumni.”
While students gained clarity and confidence in their career paths, alumni clients also discovered new value through the collaboration. "The students came up with concepts far outside of what we had considered in our marketing campaigns," said Chester White '11, founder of Mainline Social. "Their fresh perspective has enabled us to bring new ideas to the table, and there's nothing like new thinking to energize us." Adam Farver, chairman of the board at Pella Windows, echoed this sentiment, stating, "Students provided a fresh perspective and independently arrived at strong support for our business model."
The Career Catalyst Program is projected to impact more than 150 students each year, helping each of them identify, develop, and celebrate the unique talents they’ll use to launch their professional careers. In its first year, the program led to direct outcomes for students with one participant, Olivia Xerras '24, securing a job at Mattel after graduation and two students in the on-campus program earning internships from alumni executives involved.
“This extraordinary gift allows us to reimagine our learning environments in ways that reflect the complexity of the world our students will enter,” says President Manya Whitaker. “By investing in spaces that foster interdisciplinary thinking and real-world application, the MacLean family is helping us demonstrate how a liberal arts education translates into bold leadership and meaningful impact.”
The MacLean gift will support the development of additional Career Catalyst Blocks across a wide range of disciplines, each guided by intentional faculty mentorship and focused on building essential, transferable skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, and creative problem solving. In addition to expanding the program’s reach, the endowed fund will reduce — or, for some blocks, eliminate — financial barriers, ensuring all students have access regardless of background or aid status. The gift will also support faculty as they design and deliver rigorous, career-connected curricula and foster new forms of cross-campus collaboration.
Excitement is building for the Career Catalyst blocks in fall 2025. The next off-campus Career Catalyst Block will take students inside National Geographic to explore the intersection of storytelling, science, and global impact, and on-campus Career Catalyst blocks will bring alumni executives into two classes to lead 10 live client projects.