Colgate University has joined forces with five other upstate liberal arts colleges to explore potential cost-saving measures and to share best practices in areas such as student life and staff development.

Besides Colgate, the New York Six consortium consists of Hamilton College, Clinton; St. Lawrence University, Canton; Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva; Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs; and Union College, Schenectady.

Yee-Ann Cho '90 manages a $200 million portfolio for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest philanthropic foundation with $60 billion in resources.

The big numbers boggle the mind, and the grants awarded by the foundation have a big-time impact.

Cho, though, also recognizes the power a $2,000 grant can possess, and how similar the process can be for awarding a grant that size or one with lots more zeros.

New York's first lady, Silda Wall Spitzer, visited Colgate Tuesday to learn about cooperative partnerships between local not-for-profit organizations and the university.

The visit was arranged by the Partnership for Community Development (PCD), an innovative local economic development organization that was recently recognized as a model for fostering town-gown relations in New York.