Armand Hammer United World College of The American West - History

History

The Armand Hammer Foundation purchased the property in order to establish a United World College in the United States in 1981. Major renovations of existing buildings preceded the school’s opening in the fall of 1982, an event that was attended by HRH Prince Charles, president of the United World Colleges movement. The school's founding president was Theodore D. Lockwood, who served from 1982 until 1994. Philip O. Geier III served as president from 1994 until 2005, when he passed the reins to Lisa A. H. Darling.

In 1998, the school's endowment was significantly increased through the generosity of investment manager Shelby M.C. Davis and his wife Gale. Their gift today secures the largest block of the school's student scholarships and makes this school (and all the other UWCs) 100% free for all American students. Their initial gift of $45 million in 1998 was, at the time, the largest private donation ever made to international education.

A subsequent fellowship program, also established by the Davis family, covers the tuition of many graduates at over 80 colleges and universities in the United States and Europe, including Amherst College, Brown University, Carleton College, Colby College, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Jacobs University Bremen, Johns Hopkins University, Lake Forest College, Earlham College, Macalester College, Oberlin College, Smith College, Tufts University, Princeton University, and Yale University.