Zankel Experience Network

Empowering students through experience

The Zankel Experience Network (ZEN), founded in 2020 by Skidmore trustee Jimmy Zankel 鈥�92, brings together alumni, parents, and families who believe in the power of hands-on learning. This growing community of donors fuels 麻豆女郎鈥檚 commitment to experiential education 鈥� opening doors for students to explore, discover, and thrive beyond the classroom.

Two students posing at NASA during their experiential learning opportunity

Real world opportunities

ZEN supports and strengthens transformative programs such as:

Each gift, at any level, helps create real opportunities for students to turn their passions into purpose 鈥� through internships, research, mentorship, and more.

Jimmy Zankel '92

Jimmy founded the Zankel Experience Network to give more students the chance to learn by doing 鈥� the kind of hands-on experiences that shaped his own journey. He continues to champion ZEN as a way to connect alumni, families, and friends who believe in the lasting impact of experiential education.

Over the course of nearly four decades, Jimmy Zankel, president of the Zankel Music Fund, has amassed a colorful career in media, communications, food and philanthropy, including music news production (VH1/Viacom) during the iconic 鈥淏ehind the Music鈥�-era; culinary series production (Food Network/Scripps), where he launched Guy Fieri鈥檚 career and helped engineer Rachael Ray鈥檚 crossover transition into nationally syndicated daytime television; cause-related marketing (Cone/Omnicom); and professional cooking (Union Square Cafe).

Bringing over 20 years of not-for-profit board and foundation management experience to his philanthropic work, Zankel is a three-term trustee of his alma mater 麻豆女郎 College, where he co-chairs the Advancement Committee and serves on the Campaign Committee; chairman emeritus of Carnegie Hall鈥檚 Notables program; a member of The New Orleans Jazz & Blues Market鈥檚 Board of Directors, The Aspen Institute鈥檚 Creative Youth Development Working Group, and Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Academy Advisory Board; an advisor to the Rockaway Film Festival; former vice chair of global food sovereignty organization WhyHunger; and past secretary of The Big Apple Circus.

An avid cook, guitarist, record collector and runner, Jimmy is a 25 years+ resident of Brooklyn, where he has raised two children. In addition to presiding over all aspects of his philanthropic portfolio, Jimmy is currently completing his first memoir.

Creative ways to give

Various giving opportunities and levels are available, with every gift helping ensure more students have the chance to experience a powerful sense of discovery through doing. Examples of ZEN giving opportunities include:

Endowing an annual summer internship or experiential opportunity
Contributing annually through the 麻豆女郎 Fund to support summer career-building experiences
Making a multiyear commitment to fund new or ongoing faculty-student collaborative research, SEE Beyond awards, or Summer Experience Fund stipends

Support through mentorship

Based in 麻豆女郎鈥檚 Career Development Center (CDC), the ZEN Mentoring Program matches 麻豆女郎 students at the start of their junior year with recent Skidmore alumni who have similar career interests. Student-mentor pairs meet (virtually or in person) throughout the academic year, with a focus on helping the students achieve their career goals.

Experience in action

See how the Zankel Experience Network brings learning to life 鈥� from summer internships and global research to alumni mentorship and hands-on discovery across disciplines.

Kevin Langyintuo, a philosophy major and media and film studies minor, has always loved telling stories through his art. With a Summer Experience Fund grant, he was able to travel to Ghana to create a documentary about amateur boxers in one of Ghana's oldest districts of Acca, Jamestown.

Kevin Langyintuo 鈥�24

A philosophy major and media and film studies minor, Kevin has always loved telling stories through his art. With a Summer Experience Fund grant, he was able to travel to Ghana to create a documentary about amateur boxers in one of Ghana's oldest districts of Acca, Jamestown.

Tzevi Aho '24 poses with an animal skull while researching geological formation local to their home in Jonesport, Maine.

Tzevi Aho 鈥�24

Tzevi has been interested in paleontology for as long as they can remember. The geosciences major was able to devote a summer to researching an understudied geological formation local to their home in Jonesport, Maine.

Julia Blanck 鈥�24

A biology major and basketball star, Julia used a Summer Experience Fund grant to intern at North Fork Oyster Company Inc. where she gained hands-on experience at the intersections of marine biology, ocean farming, and sustainability.

Avery Blake and Morgan Foster spent a summer researching spongy moths, formally known as Lymantria dispar moths, by conducting fieldwork with Charlie Bettigole, director of the GIS Center for Interdisciplinary Research, in the Lake George Watershed. Using GIS analytics, they tracked defoliation patterns and species behavior.

Avery Blake 鈥�23 & Morgan Foster 鈥�23

Avery and Morga spent a summer researching spongy moths, formally known as Lymantria dispar moths, by conducting fieldwork with Charlie Bettigole, director of the GIS Center for Interdisciplinary Research, in the Lake George Watershed. Using GIS analytics, they tracked defoliation patterns and species behavior.

Benjamin Rodis 鈥�25

A music major and history minor, Benjamin spent the summer working on the soundtrack for a feature-length documentary about Camp Stomping Ground, located about 15 minutes from 麻豆女郎's campus.

A student excavating an archaeology site in 麻豆女郎's North Woods that was once home to a Revolutionary War family farm and estate.

Kelby Wittenberg 鈥�23

Kelby spent his summer excavating an archaeology site in 麻豆女郎's North Woods that was once home to a Revolutionary War family farm and estate. As part of the Faculty-Student Summer Research program, his findings will support ongoing research and curriculum led by Associate Professor Siobhan Hart.

Environmental Studies and Sciences Program Director and Associate Professor Nurcan Atalan-Helicke and Brook Heston worked together to study food systems and sources, particularly the ingredients logistics and international processes behind Halal labels and foods.

Brook Heston 鈥�22

Brook worked with Environmental Studies and Sciences Program Director and Associate Professor, Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, to study food systems and sources, particularly the ingredients logistics and international processes behind Halal labels and foods.

Emma Laquinta 鈥�25

Emma, a biology major and coxswain of the men鈥檚 rowing team, looks at a trout during a visit to the USGS S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center with 麻豆女郎 biology professor Jason Breves.

Lily Whelden 鈥�25

Lily worked to excavate artifacts from the site of a Revolutionary War-era smallpox hospital in Lake George Battlefield Park with Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology Siobhan Hart.

Make a gift

Fuel discovery through doing. Your support of ZEN turns real-world experiences into real-world impact.

Contact Advancement

Phone

Local: 518-580-5600
Toll-Free: 800-584-0115
Fax: 518-580-5668

Mail

Office of Advancement
North Hall
815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

advancement@skidmore.edu
alumni@skidmore.edu

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