Barnard’s 2025 Gala Raises $3.8 Million for Student Financial Aid

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n April 23, members of the Barnard community gathered at Cipriani on 42nd Street in Manhattan for the College’s Annual Gala. The event — co-chaired by Barnard trustees Amy Crate ’94, P’24, P’27, and Caroline Bliss Spencer ’09 — raised over $3.8 million and honored the extraordinary service of Cheryl Glicker Milstein ’82, P’14, chair of the Barnard Board of Trustees.

The proceeds from the gala support Barnard’s key priorities, including financial aid, ensuring that current and future generations of Barnard women continue to have access to a world-class education regardless of their financial means.

This year’s event, Crate said, “celebrated the College’s demonstrated leadership, the campus programs that empower our students to become leaders, our students and faculty who are raising the bar at every level, and our alumnae who have affected meaningful changes across their communities and industries.”

Paying tribute to the evening’s esteemed honoree, Spencer told the audience that they had the privilege of honoring an alumna “who has exemplified what it means to be a leader in the Barnard community — our dear friend Cheryl Milstein.”

Milstein was elected chair of the Board of Trustees in 2018 and previously served as vice chair of the Board for eight years. She has been a Barnard trustee since 1999.

Her leadership and generosity have helped build cutting-edge facilities and created transformative experiences that reinforce Barnard’s standing in higher education. Milstein will end her term as chair this summer and will be succeeded by longtime trustee Laura Blankfein ’75.

Toby Milstein Schulman ’14, CBS’21 (at left in photo), presented her mother with the Frederick A.P. Barnard Award, which is bestowed on a visionary and compassionate individual devoted to helping others realize their full potential.

Barnard has been a part of her life, Milstein said, since she first walked onto campus 47 years ago. “There is extraordinary power in a women’s college,” Milstein told attendees. “Barnard is not just a college, and Barnard women are not just students. They are a force. A network. A lifelong community of women who show up for each other, again and again.”

Milstein was also recognized by President Laura Rosenbury and vice chairs of the Board Diana Vagelos ’55 and Ina Drew P’13, as well as former chair of the Board Jolyne Caruso-FitzGerald ’81, who said, “Cheryl Milstein is one of the finest leaders and chairs of the Board that I have ever seen at Barnard College.” 

Celebrating her partnership with Milstein, President Rosenbury said, “Cheryl has shown up with conviction, vision, generosity, and a deep love for our College. Because of Cheryl, more women will come to Barnard as students … but leave as leaders.”

The evening closed with an auction led by global thought leader, acclaimed author, and champion for women’s empowerment Lydia Fenet.