Mount Holyoke s u m m er 2019
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Alumnae Quarterly
7/11/19 5:54 PM
President’s Pen trustee quotes a board chair who said of his exchanges with a president that “communications about particular developments help me understand the plotline, not just see the episodes.” At Mount Holyoke, the board chair spends a lot of time advocating for the institution’s priorities — including fundraising for them — and is a key spokesperson on the plotline and on a wide range of other issues and episodes. That’s a lot to expect of a volunteer, even in a community like ours, where a large, effective and generous network of volunteers supports all that we do. So, in this moment of transition and loss, it is especially important to acknowledge the extraordinary work of all board members, and our board chairs in particular. I feel fortunate indeed to have been in conversation with so many past chairs, Eleanor (Ellie) Graham Claus ’55, Barbara Rossotti ’61, Jameson Baxter ’65, Leslie Anne Miller ’73 and Mary Graham Davis ’65. And it has been so enriching, these past four years, to work closely with Barbara M. Baumann ’77, to benefit from her more than three decades of experience volunteering for Mount Holyoke, as well as the professional expertise she brings to that work. Barb has been deeply engaged, razor-sharp and extraordinarily ambitious for and generous to the Members of the Board of Trustees during their on-campus meeting in May College during the culture of the College, and many, many her term as chair. I will always appreciate her details. These operational details, while often passionate interest, her unwavering loyalty important, cannot be allowed to obscure the and the many hours we have spent thinking long-term vision for the College. This means and talking together. that communication, understanding and trust That Mindy McWilliams Lewis ’75, who between the president and the chair are cruhad been Barb’s close partner in this work, cial for the success of the board, the commuwas to succeed her was a source of great nity and, so, the institution. confidence and hope. Mindy was a beloved In a 2014 interview in Trusteeship board member and vice chair, whose expecMagazine, a former president and current tations and high standards were always
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couched in deep affection for the College and warmth for her interlocutor. Mount Holyoke was a second family for Mindy, and we all benefited from the many ways in which she generously and energetically gave of herself.
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Karena brings board and leadership experience to the role, as well as great vision and energy and an incisive intelligence, and I am looking forward to building upon the work we have done together. — S O N YA S T E P H E N S
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With her sudden and untimely death last month, we have lost a trusted and loyal leader, alumna and friend. In our future work, we shall honor her memory and her passionate commitment to Mount Holyoke in ways that pay tribute to her life and to her hopes for our future. We are the stronger in doing this, and extremely fortunate, for the leadership of Karena Strella ’90, who in July was named chair and previously served with Barb, and alongside Mindy, as vice chair. Always questioning and strategic, Karena brings board and leadership experience to the role, as well as great vision and energy and an incisive intelligence. I am looking forward to building upon the work we have done together as we move into this new partnership. Such endings and transitions are always tinged with loss and nostalgia, simultaneously a celebration of all that has been truly powerful, effective and engaging about d the mutual understanding of individuals working with common purpose for an “uncommon” institution. But it is both comforting and, of course, exciting to know that future opportunities for such work and discovery await us, with many new episodes, much desired continuity and, no doubt, some challenging turns in the College’s plotline, which began in 1837.
Joanna Chattman
A LI T TLE OVE R THRE E years ago, higher education experts Cathy Trower and Peter Eckel wrote an article that appeared in Inside Higher Ed, outlining how challenging it is today to be a member of the board of trustees of a college or university. Trustees serve as a critical link between a college and the different constituencies that are served by and support it. Trower and Eckel write of the “duty of care” (competence and diligence), the “duty of loyalty” (undivided allegiance) and the “duty of obedience” (staying true to mission) that board members must exercise, and of the legal and ethical requirements they must abide by. So, the choice of a chair of the board is especially important. The chair is the president’s partner in the work, providing both support and feedback, shaping the agenda and facilitating meetings. To effectively lead our board — and to be such a partner to me — the chair must be intimately acquainted with both Mount Holyoke and the landscape in which it operates, understanding the big picture,
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Contents S U M M E R 2 01 9
VOLU M E 10 3
N U M BE R 3
F E AT U R E S
D E PA R T M E N T S
18 Awards 2019
2 LYONS SHARE
This year’s Reunion award winners reflect on the impact of Mount Holyoke and what it means to be recognized by the Alumnae Association
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Support for Nita Lowey ’59, impacts of the opioid crisis, signs of spring, remembering Bennett College, Reunion 2019
6 UNCOMMON GROUND
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College mourns Mindy McWilliams Lewis ’75, Commencement 2019, faculty retirements, call for nominations
34 MoHOME MEMORIES Remembering Wendy Wasserstein ’71
12 Female Gaze Fiddler Zoe Darrow ’12, authors Julie Lavin Loria ’86 and Nancy G. Rosoff ’78
35 On Display Painted rocks hidden across campus 36 A Place of Our Own Laurel Chain ceremony
38 CLASS NOTES
Cover, back cover, Fimbel Lab, Unity Center: Joanna Chattman; Zoe Darrow ’12; kindness rock: Molly Dietrich Morris ’99
80 MY VOICE
Sehba Sarwar ’86, “On Belonging”
12 14 Ten Minutes With Community leader and Obama Fellow Aimée Eubanks Davis ’95
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15 The Maven Leise Jones ’01 on taking a great group photo with your mobile phone 16 Insider’s View Unity Space
26 Powering Up
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In a spacious new location, the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab swings into high gear
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L ET T E R S
EM A IL
FAC E B O OK
TW ITTER
I NSTAGR A M
L I N K E DI N
Lyons Share spring 2019, p. 22). We were in the same MHC class and were both political science majors. I am so impressed with her. Also, my father-in-law, a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, voted for Nita when she represented his district. The only Democrat he ever voted for. —Suzanne Smith Davis ’59 via Association website Congratulations on your many accomplishments and successes in making a difference. Fondly recalling our Mount Holyoke experiences. —Lois Berkman Ketover ’59 via Association website Thank you for the interesting and encouraging article about Nita. She has been positive and effective in her career as U.S. Representative for so many years. It is a crowning achievement that she now chairs the House Appropriations Committee. It is not surprising that her interest in political life was sparked by political science professor Victoria Schuck, who inspired many students and sponsored a Washington, D.C., internship program to explore careers in public service. —Susan Brown Girardeau ’53 via email
Join the Conversation quarterly@mtholyoke.edu
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facebook.com/aamhc twitter.com/aamhc instagram.com/mhcalums alumn.ae/linkedin
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DISAPPOINTING OMISSION The otherwise welcome article about Nita
Lowey ’59 in the spring 2019 issue was marred by a shockingly ill-informed subtitle. Surely the Quarterly staff must know that the “most powerful woman in the U.S. House of Representatives” is Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not Chairwoman Lowey. —Susan Koch ’64 via email If Nita Lowey ’59 is “the most powerful woman in Congress,” how would you rank Nancy Pelosi? Nita was first elected in 1988, Nancy took office in 1987 when an incumbent died. Nothing but your captions cast doubt on Nita’s status or say anything to detract from her admirable longevity and contributions. —Frances Rose Besmer ’62 via email
Thank you to Abe Loomis for his poignant piece. I live in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, which is considered to be the heroin capital of the East Coast. What we see here, daily, is staggering. My life has been personally impacted by the epidemic as I recently adopted my niece out of the foster care system due to her birth parents’ constant addiction struggles. The need for a full understanding of addiction, its origins, the pharma connection, and even the inherent prejudices around how we address and define it, were all beautifully covered in this piece. —Laura Draper Tepper ’99 via email
SHARED EXPERIENCES My daughter, like Zach (“Witnessing an
Epidemic,” spring 2019, p. 16), suffers from anxiety and depression. At her lowest she was alone and homeless in the streets of a large city, doing whatever was necessary to get high, until she became pregnant and discovered methadone treatments. I was a horrible skeptic of medical intervention for addicts until I began to watch her recovery. The methadone did not harm her baby and now we have a healthy, wonderful 2-year-old. I say we because her addiction caused her to temporarily lose custody of her child, and now my husband and I are a statistic we never thought we’d be: grandparents raising grandchildren. I hope the Quarterly does more exploration of this disease and that the Mount Holyoke community steps up to help how it can. —Elizabeth Uzelac Murray ’82 via email
@mhcalums It’s a #throwopenthewindows kind of afternoon at the Delles today! Did you live here? Tag your roommate! #MountHolyoke #mohome #blooming #bluesky Jessica Riel
PRAISE FOR NITA MELNIKOFF LOWEY ’59 Excellent article on Nita (“The Best Job,”
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WE SHARE D
M OUNT H OLYOK E ALUMNAE QUARTERLY Summer 2019 Volume 103 Number 3
NASA has selected Mount Holyoke College to continue the science legacy of the Apollo missions by studying pieces of the moon that have been sealed and untouched for nearly 50 years. Professor Darby Dyar will lead a team of researchers to study volcanic activity on the moon by looking at rock samples from Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17. #WomeninScience
EDITORIAL AND DESIGN TEAM
Jennifer Grow ’94 Editor and Senior Associate Director of Marketing & Communications
Jess Ayer Class Notes Editor and Marketing & Communications Associate Jessica Riel Digital Content Strategist for Alumnae Engagement Alicia Doyon Althea Finch-Brand ’21 Emily Krakow ’20 Sasha Nyary Maryellen Ryan Keely Savoie Elizabeth Solet
QUARTERLY COMMITTEE
That is really cool! —Kathy Winslow Herzog ’66
President Maria Z. Mossaides ’73 Vice President Antoria Howard-Marrow ’81
Millie Rossman Creative Director
CON TR I BUTORS
So cool! Her geology course was one of my favorites! —Natascha Nen Martens ’05
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Treasurer and Chair, Finance Committee Alice C. Maroni ’75 Clerk Markeisha J. Miner ’99 Alumnae Trustee Erin Ennis ’92 Recent Alumnae Representative Tarana Bhatia ’15 Chair, Classes and Reunion Committee Cheryl Maloney ’73 Chair, Clubs Committee Hilary M. Salmon ’03 Chair, Communications Committee Marisa C. Peacock ’01
Tara L. Roberts ’91, chair Kelly Bahmer-Brouse ’86 Lisa Hawley Hiley ’83 Perrin McCormick Menashi ’90 Susana Morris ’02 Emily Krakow ’20, student rep
Chair, Nominating Committee Danetta L. Beaushaw ’88
The Mount Holyoke Alumnae
Executive Director Nancy Bellows Perez ’76 ex officio without vote
Quarterly is published quarterly in the spring, summer, fall and winter by the Alumnae Association of
Chair, Volunteer Stewardship Committee Arleen M. Heiss ’70 Directors-at-Large Hilary J. Bland ’92 Eleanor Chang ’78
Mount Holyoke College, Inc. Summer 2019, volume 103, number 3, was printed in the USA by Fry Communications, Inc., Mechanicsburg, PA. Periodicals postage paid at South Hadley, MA, and additional mailing offices.
BENNETT COLLEGE VISITS I’m so glad you had a brief story about
the visits from Bennett (“Readily Welcomed,” spring 2019, p. 35). I still refer to that as my first experience talking to a black girl my age, and what an eye-opener. The discussion caused me to question my ideas about marriage between races. Having been raised in a virtually all-white setting, I still had a long way to go, but that interchange set me on my way. I’m surprised the exchange only lasted five years. I can’t think I was the only lily-white girl at MHC back in those days! —Hester Turner Lewellen ’62 via email
Ideas expressed in the Alumnae Quarterly do not necessarily reflect the views of Mount Holyoke College or the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College. The Alumnae Quarterly welcomes letters. Letters should run not more than 200 words in length, refer to material published in the magazine and include the writer’s full name. Letters may be edited for clarity and space. To update your information, contact Alumnae Information Services at ais@mtholyoke.edu or 413-538-2303.
The Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc. 50 College St. South Hadley, MA 01075-1486 413-538-2300 alumnae.mtholyoke.edu quarterly@mtholyoke.edu POST MAST E R
(ISSN 0027-2493; USPS 365-280) Please send form 3579 to Alumnae Information Services Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association 50 College St. South Hadley, MA 01075-1486
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SUMMER 2019
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Lyons Share: Reunion 2019 Over two picture-perfect weekends in May, more than 1,600 alumnae and guests returned to campus to celebrate and reconnect. Here’s a sampling of some of the memories, discoveries and selfies shared during Reunion 2019. For more news and photos, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/reunion2019.
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Life IS good! #MHCReunion1959 #MHCReunion @A AM H C
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All smiles before the parade. #MHC1954 #MHCReunion
@A AM H C
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Missing reunion weekend and these ladies already! #15yearreunion #mhc2004reunion #mhcreunion #mhc04 #mountholyokeforevershallbe #lovetheseladies
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Alums chat with PAWS before the Alumnae Parade! #MHC1964 #MHCReunion
@A AM H C
Darla Willis Kennerud —> Mt Holyoke Class of 1989
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President of the @aamhc Club of Detroit ’69 and President-Elect, Class of 1999. #PoweredbyMountHolyoke #MHCReunion #detroit
@MJ M L AWD ETRO IT
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College roommates, reunited! I spent this past weekend with my beloved friends at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts for a wonderful landmark reunion. I’m here with my lifelong friend and college roommate, Sona Assatourian Davidian. … We are proud standardbearers of what she accomplished and we stand united for the education of women and the role that will play in the future for us all. @MountHolyoke #MountHolyoke #education #women
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25 years ago I spent a lot of time walking this stairwell. #mhcreunion
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We traveled beyond the Tofu Curtain. We dressed all in white and watched the class of 2019 dance around Mary Lyon’s grave and sang “Bread and Roses.” We got lost and overate in SuperBlanch. We did the Macarena with the Class of ’94 and shared a dorm with the Class of ’69. What a wild and beautiful place to have called home. #mohome #mhcreunion #wemarriedmarylyon #uncommon #mhc2009
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The friends are what make life special #friends #mhcreunion #moho #womenscollege
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@sportsyenta Last weekend was my #college #reunion ... #amazing #women and such fun!! Can’t wait till the next one in 5 years... #givearoarfor84 #mhc84 #mhc1984 @mhcalums @mtholyoke #mhc #mtholyoke
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A great pleasure to meet @mhcalums from the @mtholyoke Class of 1944 today at their 75th Reunion: “Spence” Marion Lebourveau (left) and “Margie” Margaret Siefert (right). Marion was the pitcher for the Class of ’44 softball team and Margaret was the catcher — they told us they never lost a game!
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@havekiddoswilltravel Yesterday, I took a whirlwind solo trip down memory lane to my 20th @mtholyoke reunion. … There were 4 of us from my inner city high school who entered MHC together. … 3 of us returned for our 20th reunion and we celebrated our victories. There’s a one of a kind bond shared by women who come from where you come from and understand what it takes to get to where you are. … I encourage all of my fellow @mtholyoke alumnae to go to reunion and do what they can to inspire future generations of uncommon women. Pa lante! #bloggervibes #sphinx1999 #mhcreunion #classof1999 #legacy #roots #sistahs #launidad #mhacasa
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@mhcalums #MHCReunion is a time for reconnecting and remembering days gone by, just as new #memories are formed to be cherished for many years to come. We enjoyed connecting with so many #MHCAlums during the last two weekends of May and hearing about your time here on #campus and what you have been up to since graduation! We especially love these two photos we received from Mary-Warren Bartlett ’87: the first image shows Mary-Warren after her Laurel Ceremony in 1987; the second image is of her daughter, Leanna Bonafini ’19, taken after this year’s Laurel Chain Ceremony!
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#MountHolyoke #MountHolyokeForeverShallBe #MotherDaughter #MHC2019 #MountHolyoke19 #MHC1987
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@mhcalums The Laurel Parade. A time when alumnae across generations come together and celebrate their shared connection to #mountholyoke and welcome the class of 2019 into the alumnae community #MHCReunion #traditions #mountholyokeforevershallbe
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@celibethbri Cheers to two years
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#mhcreunion SUMMER 2019
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N EWS
FEM A LE GA ZE
TEN MINUTES W ITH
T H E M AV E N
I NS I DE R ’ S V I E W
Uncommon Ground College mourns the loss of Board of Trustees chair-elect the loss of Mindy McWilliams Lewis ’75, who died June 9 in Fort Myers, Florida. Lewis was the chair-elect of the Board of Trustees, a position she was to assume on July 1, which would have been the capstone of a life of service to Mount Holyoke. Her passing is a terrible loss to everyone who knew her and every community she touched, said President Sonya Stephens. “We have lost a trusted and visionary leader, a loyal alumna and a dear friend,” said Stephens. “Mindy was a creative thinker who was as engaging as she was engaged. Her commitment to diversity informed her inclusive and adaptive leadership style and touched everyone she met. She was both visionary and pragmatic, and she brought a sense of humor and fun to our work that infused it with joy.” Lewis, who was a member of the Indianapolis chapter of the Alumnae Association, served on numerous committees after graduating from Mount Holyoke. On the $300 million campaign that ended in 2013, she co-chaired the Legacy of Diversity Committee with Chau Ly ’97. She was also deeply involved with the Black Alumnae and the Alumnae/Students of Color conferences. Other roles Lewis held at the College include serving two terms as a member of the Board of Trustees and as the Board’s vice chair in 2016 and 2017. For her contributions, Lewis received the Mary Lyon Award and the Alumnae Medal of Honor, the Alumnae Association’s highest honor. “She always saw solutions, not problems,” said Rhynette Northcross Hurd ’71, her close friend and current Board member. “She never took no for an answer, and that was OK because she was generous with her own time, her thoughtful advice and with all of her resources. Her vision of us inspired us all to be better than we ever thought we could be.” Hurd and Lewis first met in Detroit when they were each waiting for connecting flights. “She was coming from Mount Holyoke, and I was on my way there,” Hurd said. “That day was the beginning of a cherished friendship. Mindy’s generous spirit, no-nonsense approach and wit were reflected in the sparkle in her eyes and her captivating smile as she talked about her family and our beloved alma mater. I miss her dearly.” “Mindy had a remarkable ease about her,” said outgoing Board Chair Barbara M. Baumann ’77, who worked closely with Lewis for
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many years. “She was self-confident without a trace of arrogance, imminently approachable and quick to laugh. ‘I have no hobbies,’ she told me once. ‘Mount Holyoke is my hobby.’ Her loyalty to the College knew no bounds. We are all devastated.” Lewis leaves her husband, John, daughters Alexis Lewis Trocki ’05 and Jessica Jones-Lewis, and their spouses and children. “We will honor Mindy’s memory and her passionate commitment to Mount Holyoke in ways that pay tribute to her life and hopes for the future,” said Stephens. In late June, Stephens announced that Karena Strella ’90 was named chair of the Board of Trustees. Read more about Lewis at mtholyoke.edu/go/rememberingmindy. — B Y S A S H A N YA R Y
MHC Office of Communications
T HE MOU N T HO LYO K E CO LLE G E COM M UNI T Y mourns
7/15/19 6:31 PM
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM
YOU
Do you know of an alum who you think we should know about? Or have you been meaning to share your own news? Whether its a career achievement or volunteer impact, community service or a unique first ... we want to hear from you.
BY THE NUMBERS
McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives 38 countries
Email us at quarterly@mtholyoke.edu.
in which students studied abroad.
638 international students
(non-U.S. citizens) supported by the Center.
Laurie Priest Alumnae Scholar-Athlete Award
Lyons Athletics
On April 28 the Department of Athletics hosted its annual awards celebration in Chapin Auditorium, where students from all 14 varsity teams were honored. Among the awards presented was the 2019 Laurie Priest Alumnae Scholar-Athlete Award. Named in honor of Mount Holyoke’s former athletic director Laurie Priest, the award was presented by Jennifer Grow ’94 of the Alumnae Association to field hockey senior captain Mirjam L. Keochakian ’19. A three-time NEWMAC Academic All-Conference honoree and four-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association National Academic Squad honoree, Keochakian led the field hockey team to a NEWMAC championship her first season and in the three consecutive conference playoffs that followed.
TOP 5 countries of international students supported:
China, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, South Korea.
Ongoing immigration support
for 115 international alumnae.
Learn more at mtholyoke.edu/ global.
To read Keochakian’s full citation, visit alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/awards2019.
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The class of 2019 takes on the world beyond the gates
Here’s a look at just a few of this year’s incredible Mount Holyoke graduates:
On May 19, more than 550 yellow sphinxes from 30 countries crossed the stage in the Field House of Kendall Sports and Dance Complex to become graduates at Mount Holyoke College’s 182nd Commencement, joining the ranks of more than 38,000 global alumnae. Along with 60 master’s degree candidates, the graduating students received golden sunflowers to carry into the next phase of their lives — as well as some solid advice: Whatever your journey, whatever your passion in life, follow it where it takes you and leave the world a better place. President Sonya Stephens expressed confidence that the new graduates would do well by the world with the power of their education and the passion of their beliefs. “If this world is in your hands, it is in good hands,” she said. “May you see progress in your endeavors and be a force for good and for change in the world. … May the path you have forged here be just the start of your path-breaking, a path that you make as you travel onward — and that I hope will always lead you back here to share your story.” Adrienne Arsht ’63 and Barbara Smith ’69 did just that, returning to Mount Holyoke to share their own stories, their hopes and their hard-won wisdom, and to receive honorary doctoral degrees. Each of them related the unique path she took through life. After becoming the 11th woman admitted to the bar in Delaware, Arsht went on to a groundbreaking career as an attorney, business leader and philanthropist. Smith is an author, activist and scholar who has played a pivotal role since the 1960s in opening up a national, cultural and political dialogue about the intersections of race, class, sexuality and gender. “Those of us who graduated from Mount Holyoke are clearly nearly perfect,” Arsht said to whoops and cheers. “There’s a price to pay for achieving near perfection: it’s called responsibility. The responsibility to do the right thing … to speak up and speak out.” Smith reiterated Arsht’s call to action. “I absolutely believe that each of you can speak out against injustice in your workplace, your community, your school, your social and personal networks, and work together with others to find ways to make change,” she said. Gary Younge, award-winning journalist, also received an honorary doctorate and bestowed his advice on the newly-minted graduates. “You only have one life,” he said. “Own it, live it, love it.” — B Y K E E LY S AV O I E
ACADEMICS: psychology major,
Equestrian is national champ again
For the second year in a row Sara Hearn ’21 won a national championship in the intermediate over-fences category at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association’s national championships, hosted at the New York State Fair Expo Center. To learn more, visit mtholyoke.edu/athletics.
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Ragini Ghose ’19
HOMETOWN: Calcutta, India
Nexus concentration in education policy and practice “Mount Holyoke has made me a more confident and informed individual. Sharing the classroom and engaging in conversation with students who come from all corners of the world has been a riveting experience. I look forward to continuing these conversations as an alum.”
Emily Isakson ’19
HOMETOWN: Worcester, Massachusetts
ACADEMICS: ancient studies major,
medieval studies minor “One of the places I will miss the most is Archives and Special Collections, which has been integral in shaping my experience here. Working there has given me a special connection to the school’s past, and my time at Mount Holyoke wouldn’t have been the same without it. It also has shown me how well Mount Holyoke stands up to the test of time, how it adapts and how it keeps what is important at its core.”
Sarah Fite FP’19
HOMETOWN: West Hartford, Connecticut
ACADEMICS: politics major
“Sometimes crossing the finish line is the prize. But for me the greater reward comes in truly comprehending what it has meant to persevere — to show up at school and at home in the greatest capacity I could muster, week after week, for three months at a time.”
Kannah Landford ’19
HOMETOWN: Belchertown, Massachusetts
ACADEMICS: economics major, Nexus
concentration in global business
DID YOU KNOW?
The Alumnae Association sponsors an alumnae insurance program. Most products are available to MHC alumnae and students, as well as their spouses, domestic partners and children. For more information, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/insurance.
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Support the Founder’s Fund LEFT TO RIGHT: (TOP ROW)
Ghose, Isakson, Fite, Landford; (BOTTOM ROW)
Marquez, Al-Thawr, Rodriguez
“I will most miss African Caribbean Day at Mount Holyoke. I have been participating in the fashion show since I was 8 years old. To grow up and be a part of the dances — and get to emcee my senior year! — was really a treat. I love learning about other people’s cultures, as well as letting people know about mine. I really enjoy seeing everyone smile as they dance and talk — or even recite a poem — about their country.”
Barbara Marquez ’19
HOMETOWN: Miami, Florida
ACADEMICS: physics major
“At Mount Holyoke, I learned that wherever I am, if I have passion for what I’m doing, I have the power to foster the things I care about most. We all have the ability within ourselves to grow and deliver our passions into measurable outcomes with the right environment.”
Nada Al-Thawr ’19
HOMETOWN: Sana’a, Yemen
ACADEMICS: computer science and
Your gift to the Founder’s Fund at the Alumnae Association supports strategic initiatives connecting our global alumnae community to each other and to the College. Past distributions from the Founder’s Fund have helped support the digitization of the Alumnae Quarterly — to be launched this year — and other strategic priorities of the Alumnae Association, as outlined
international relations double major “Coming to campus, I was warmly welcomed and taken care of by other international students who have walked in my shoes and understood homesickness better than anyone else. ISOC [the International Student Organizing Committee] provides resources, events and advocacy for our beloved international students and amplifies those voices and stories on our campus.”
Stephani Lopez Rodriguez MAT’19 HOMETOWN: Bronx, New York
ACADEMICS: master of arts in teaching
“The biggest takeaway from this experience is that in order to teach, you must lead with love. There are no easy days when you’re a teacher, but every day is worth it if you intentionally choose to love your students every day you are in front of them.” Read more about Commencement 2019 and the College’s newest alums at mtholyoke.edu/ commencement.
Common Read announced
Author Tommy Orange’s novel “There, There” has been chosen as the 2019 Mount Holyoke Common Read. Orange will give a talk about his book and answer questions on September 3 at 7 p.m. in Chapin Auditorium.
in the 2020 Strategic Direction. Established in 1901 as the income fund to support the mission of the Alumnae Association, the Founder’s Fund relies on financial contributions from alumnae and is administered by the Board of Directors of the Alumnae Association. Learn more and donate now at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ff.
Green dining
In June, Mount Holyoke became the only western Massachusetts college to have its on-campus dining certified by the Green Restaurant Association.
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During a ceremony on campus in April, three alumnae were recipients of the Alumnae Association’s 2019 Mary Lyon Award, given to an alumna who graduated 15 or fewer years ago who has demonstrated exceptional promise or sustained achievement in her life, profession or community and whose work embodies the humane values that Mary Lyon exemplified in her life and inspired in others. Read citations for all at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/awards2019.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
Merli V. Guerra ’09, dancer, choreographer and filmmaker; Brooke Fokker Nichols ’09, health economist; Gabrielle Gregg ’08, fashion designer
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read how Merli uses her crossdisciplinary passions to tell stories at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/guerra.
Nancy Devine, librarian emerita, died on June 15 at the age of 87. Devine received her bachelor’s degree in 1953 from Flora Stone Mather College of Case Western Reserve University, where she later earned a Master of Library Science degree. She moved to South Hadley in 1954 and joined the faculty at Mount Holyoke College as librarian for Library, Information IN MEMORIAM and Technology Services. Retiring in 2011, she is considered one of the College’s longest serving employees, with 57 years of service. An avid reader, particularly of mystery books, she was always encouraging people to read more, going so far as to create her own circulating library. She will be deeply missed by her friend of more than 50 years, Kathleen Cole, and her friends and coworkers at Mount Holyoke.
New Art Museum blog
The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum now has an online blog: mhcameo, where the Museum will post about unique happenings, including behind-the-scenes looks at exhibitions and artrelated chats with alumnae, faculty and students. Learn more and sign up for alerts at artmuseum. mtholyoke.edu/blog.
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Five faculty granted emeritus status
The College granted emeritus status to five faculty members at the end of the academic year. Corinne Demas, professor of English, primarily taught courses in creative writing. She is widely published, with books for adults, young adults and children counted alongside short stories, essays, a memoir, poems and dramas, and she edited an anthology of short stories. Sally Sutherland served as an administrator and teacher, occupying the positions of dean of studies and chair of the Department of Theatre Arts, as well as senior lecturer in English. Sutherland’s focus was on the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and she published her book, “Masques in Jacobean Tragedy,” in 1983. Professor of French Elissa Gelfand was a founding member of women’s studies at Mount Holyoke. Her own teaching has challenged the traditional canon by shining a spotlight on women writers and women’s experiences, and her books have been recognized as pioneering works of socio-literary scholarship. Janice Gifford, professor of statistics, was a founder of the statistics major at Mount Holyoke, making the College the first liberal arts college with a statistics major. She served Mount Holyoke as associate dean of faculty, acting provost, associate dean of the class of 2008 and director of institutional research. Gifford’s research in educational measurement has been published in journals such as Psychometrika, the Journal of the American Statistical Association, Applied Psychological Measurement and the Journal of Educational Measurement. Professor of Sociology Richard Dean Moran specialized in criminology. His books on the death penalty, the electric chair and the insanity defense are all classics in their fields. In 2004 he received the Hugo Adam Badeau Award for outstanding work in the field of criminology. A reception was held in honor of these new emeritus faculty members in May. —BY JESSICA RIEL
Mary Lyon Awards: Nancy Bellows Perez ‘76; Nancy Devine: MHC News /Archives and Special Collections
Mary Lyon Award 2019
100 years of riding During the next academic year Mount Holyoke’s Equestrian Program will be celebrating more than 100 years of riding at the College.
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Call for submissions for art of recovery
Allow me to consider this award for my longevity. I hope that my work will inspire this generation of students to examine societies’ impacts on natural processes and systems, and to offer possible alternative strategies of human environmental relations that could create a balance between human needs and environmental constraints. — G I R M A K E B B E D E , P R O F E S S O R O F G E O G R A P H Y, O N B E I N G PRESE NTE D TH E M E RI B ETH E . CAM E RO N AWA R D FO R S C H O L A R S H I P AT T H E M O U N T H O LYO KE CO LLEG E 2019 FACU LT Y AWARDS . LE ARN M O RE ABOUT CU RRE NT AN D PAST RESE ARCH AN D TE ACH I N G AWARD RECI PI E NTS AT MTHOLYOKE . E DU/ G O/ 2 019 FAC U LT YAWA R D S .
Global Competence Awards
Deirdre Haber Malfatto
Mary Lyon Awards: Nancy Bellows Perez ‘76; Nancy Devine: MHC News /Archives and Special Collections
In honor of the 30th anniversary of National Recovery Month, Mount Holyoke’s Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program and Counseling Services are partnering to sponsor an exhibit, “The Art of Recovery,” on campus in September. The organizers are looking for interested community members — including alumnae — to submit artwork that shares their experiences and stories connected to recovery. Learn more and submit your own work at mtholyoke.edu/adap.
Tanzania during the Great Migration March 18–29, 2020
On May 17 the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives bestowed Global Competence Awards to 37 students. These students completed a highly rigorous set of requirements, including finishing at least three language courses and participating in either an internationally focused internship, an internationally focused communitybased learning project or a study abroad program. Learn more at mtholyoke.edu/ global/global-competenceaward.
Join an Alumnae Association trip abroad We invite you to join one or more of the Alumnae Association’s upcoming travel opportunities, including this 12-day journey of a lifetime. An expert curator will illuminate human prehistory at Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakey family famously discovered 1.8-million-year-old human fossils. For more information and to register visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/travel.
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FE M A LE G A ZE
MUSIC I A N
W H E N YOU H E A R Zoë Darrow ’12 play Celtic fiddle, you won’t be surprised to learn that she first picked up a violin when she was only 3 years old. “I grew up from birth seeing my older sister practicing violin,” she says. “I was primed for that instrument already.” Darrow’s parents initially signed her up for lessons, but at 6 years old she discovered the music she still plays to this day. After seeing the Chaisson Family from Bear River, Prince Edward Island, perform traditional Celtic music, she switched to the fiddle. “Classical felt like it was more for adults,” Darrow says about playing the violin. “I liked the idea that there could be kids up there enjoying themselves.” (The fiddle and the violin are the same instrument — the distinction comes from the type of music that’s played on it.) Traditional PEI music shares many roots with Cape Breton music, which is Scottish-influenced and includes bagpipes, Gaelic songs and Scottish-inflected dances. Darrow’s curiosity was piqued, and at the age of 12, she sought out workshops in Canada and Ireland, with her parents’ support. (They simply turned these trips into music-themed family vacations.) Her dad, Phil, even learned Celtic guitar so he could play with Darrow. “That opened up a lot of activities that I wouldn’t normally have wanted to go to on my own, because I was so young,” says Darrow. At Mount Holyoke, Darrow studied ethnomusicology. She took world music with Five College Professor of Music Olabode Omojola (otherwise known as Bode), played a bowed stringed instrument called the rebab in Smith College’s Gamelan Ensemble, and signed up for cello lessons. The classes that stuck with her the most, though, were the anthropology courses she took with Professor Andrew Lass. “One of the books we read, ‘Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression,’ was about the
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culture in Papua New Guinea, where the people had this idea of the bird songs as a language,” says Darrow. In Western music theory, there’s a hard line between music and language, but the Kaluli people regard bird song as both music and language. Darrow and her sister were homeschooled, and music lessons were part of their curriculum. But the formal education she got at Mount Holyoke stretched her in new ways. “You can enrich yourself only so much if you’re leading your own learning,” she says. “The professors I had at Mount Holyoke had excellent resources — and they pushed me in directions that I wouldn’t have gone on my own.” Cape Breton music has a particular allure for Darrow. The area was populated by Scottish immigrants who were kicked out of Scotland during the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries. “Cape Breton music is distinct from Scottish music. It has a different WEB EXCLUSIVE flavor. It’s very crisp,” Darrow says. View a video of Zoë at What interests her is the music’s alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ ferocity. darrow. “Some of my favorite players — like Natalie MacMaster — they have this really intense attack and fieriness Darrow also plays with Celtic rock band to them that I just love.” Dicey Riley at pubs and music halls in Today, Darrow lives in Montague, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Massachusetts, where she teaches fiddle lesband just recorded a CD at musician Alan sons. Her Celtic band, the Fiddleheads, has Evans’ Iron Wax Studios. It has been a played all across western Massachusetts. She decade since Darrow has recorded a CD of has toured with banjo player Tony Trischka her own music, but she hopes to find the (including a private performance at actor time to do that soon. Steve Martin’s apartment) and has played “I feel so lucky that I get to do music — with musicians Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine that I’ve found a way to make it work this in their folk-punk rock band Cordelia’s Dad far,” Darrow says. as well as with their latest project, Trio de Visit zoedarrow.com for upcoming perPumpkintown. formances and contact information. Lately, she and her father have been — BY H A N N A H WA L L AC E ’ 9 5 performing together at private gigs.
Courtesy of Zoë Darrow ’12
Fierce as a Fiddle
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FE M A LE G A ZE
FIBER ARTS
In Stitches ON E OF MOR E T H A N 10 0 student organizations, Knit Happens was
founded in 2011 as Mount Holyoke’s fiber arts club. Eight years later, the group is still going strong, with an average of 15 active members — and an engaged Facebook group of more than 100 past and current members — who meet weekly on Tuesday evenings in Shattuck’s Cassani Lounge. Members gather, helping beginners learn how to crochet or knit and giving pointers on new techniques for more experienced crafters. The club also offers a “library” of materials that students can borrow, including crochet hooks, knitting needles and notions (yarn needle, measuring tape, etc.). Each fall, Knit Happens holds a weeklong sale on campus that funds the club’s activities, including an annual trip to the Fiber Festival of New England at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts. And this past spring, the group partnered with Amnesty International to craft handmade winter wear for housing-insecure women in Holyoke. Follow Knit Happens on Instagram @knithappensmhc. — B Y E M I LY K R A K O W ’ 2 0
B OOKS
British and American School Stories, 1910– 1960: Fiction, Femininity, and Friendship Nancy G. Rosoff et al. PALG R AVE MACM I LL AN
This book examines school and college fiction for girls in Britain and the United States to explore the formation and ideologies of feminine identity. The authors discuss the significance and performance of female friendship across time and place, providing historical analysis of stories included within. Nancy G. Rosoff ’78 is dean of graduate and undergraduate studies at Arcadia University and a visiting fellow at the Centre for the History of Women’s Education at the University of Winchester, United Kingdom. She has published on the history of girls’ culture, education and sport.
The Game of Eating Smart: Nourishing Recipes for Peak Performance Inspired by MLB® Superstars Julie Loria et al. RO DALE BOO KS
Emily Krakow ’20 (3)
This is the ultimate insider’s guide to MLB® performance nutrition and lifestyle tips that show how to reach and sustain our healthiest selves. The authors share more than 100 recipes inspired by the food philosophies of the 21 athletes interviewed in the book. Their approach to eating smart avoids grueling restrictions and calorie counting in favor of nutrient-dense meals packed with flavor. Easy-to-prepare recipes are coupled with insights from today’s top ballplayers on their personal approaches to healthy living and performance nutrition. Julie Lavin Loria ’86 is also the author of “Diamond Dishes,” which showcases stories and recipes from 20 top Major League Baseball players. She was born and raised a baseball fan and has always had a passion for food. She attended the French cooking school La Cuisine de MarieBlanche and now lives in New York. WEB EXCLUSIVE
See more recent alumnae books at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/summer2019books.
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TE N M I N U TE S WI TH
CO MMU NI T Y L E A D E R
Bridging the Gap After graduation AIMÉE EUBANKS DAVIS ’95 worked at Teach For America (TFA) in New Orleans and later directed a nonprofit summer-school program aimed to keep those same students on track between academic years. When she was recruited to join the TFA staff several years later, she hesitated. As one of the few corps members at the time who represented the racial and economic background of the students the program served, she wasn’t convinced TFA was the right place to advance her career. Her honesty about that contributed to TFA offering her a job as the executive vice president of people, community and diversity — one she held for almost a decade. In 2013 she founded Braven, a nonprofit that bridges the college-to-job gap for underrepresented college students by partnering with universities to offer the skills, experience and network to land a strong first job. Last spring, from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants, she became one of 20 Obama Foundation fellows. The program was launched in 2018 to support and grow the next generation of civic leaders.
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means their parents earn $50,000 or less for a family of four. We want to expand so that any student on a Pell Grant can have the opportunity to take the Braven course — our long-term goal is to work with at least 100,000 students a year, creating a systemic solution for large state schools. That’s where the Obama Fellowship comes in, bringing awareness to the issue and a wonderful network. When I started Braven, no one was talking about this. There are so many problems that we can’t solve, but this is a solvable problem. The question is: will we choose to solve it?
On the Braven experience: Braven is a three-year experience that starts with a semester-long, creditbearing course. We work with students until six months after graduation, helping them get strong first jobs. We currently have partnerships with Rutgers University-Newark, National Louis University in Chicago and San José State University, all of which have high percentages of students on Pell Grants. That
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On Teach for America: I was pretty sure I would become a lawyer when I left Mount Holyoke, but first I wanted to do something that would be of service. I walked into the career center, where I got a lot of help, including with my résumé and interviewing skills, which helped me land a spot as a corps member at TFA. When I joined the staff 10 years later, I saw that we were losing talent that we shouldn’t have been losing — people whose lives we’d directly impacted as
On the college-to-job gap: Many students from humble beginnings think that everything will fall into place after college graduation, and that’s just not true. My former students weren’t as equipped for the job application and interview process because no one had taught it to them. It wasn’t about ability; it was about preparation. As I saw these graduates lose out on positions as TFA corps members, I realized that the failure sat within the systems of large universities with constrained resources. Large state schools might have 20,000 students but only 10 staff in career services. On the American Dream: I grew up in a lower income neighborhood in Chicago, and my parents believed that Mount Holyoke would make it possible for me to have more options than they had. For many, the American Dream feels like a false promise, but it’s possible to help young people reach that goal. Those that come out of Braven, which they take in their sophomore (or transfer-junior) year, often find that within the first six months out of school, they are out-earning their parents. — I N T ERV IEW BY J ULIA M UN EM O
Eva Ho
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For many, the American Dream feels like a false promise, but it’s possible to help young people reach that goal.
teachers, who’d been told, ‘Through the doors of college will come a strong first job,’ and it just wasn’t happening. Those students weren’t as prepared for the job search as some of their counterparts, through no fault of their own.
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Eva Ho
TH E M AV E N
PHOTO GRA PHY MAV EN
How to Take a Great Group Photo with Your Mobile Phone By LE I S E JO NE S ’01 WE ARE ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS. Each one of us carries in our pocket an
amazing tool to take family photos, pictures of our kids and group shots at every gathering. But even the best smartphones need some help making good photos, which is where the human operator comes in. When I use a professional camera, I have at my fingertips a variety of settings that I can adjust to account for different lighting and background scenarios. Admittedly, smartphones lack these options. But still, there are a handful of steps you can follow to improve the quality of the photos you’re taking. Here are a few pointers to help make your off-the-cuff family photo sessions more album-worthy and less cringe-worthy.
1. Maximize lighting. Phone cameras cannot handle backlighting. Put people in front of a window and they will become silhouettes. I promise. And that itty-bitty flash on your phone will not do one thing to save you. Instead of placing your group in front of a window, all you have to do is turn everyone around, so the group is facing the window, and you’ll be able to see everyone’s lovely, smiling face, brightly lit with natural light.
the wall. It’s a simple adjustment that will make your indoor photos of people instantly better.
3. Rotate your phone. There are two orientations to photographs: portrait and landscape. The portrait, or vertical, orientation is fine when it’s one or two people in a photo, but when you’re doing large groups, you’ll have a much better composition and framing if you just turn the phone 90 degrees. Doing this will also reduce the amount of distortion in the photo. (Have you ever wondered why everyone’s heads look so small?) Horizontal is much more flattering. 4. Hold still. Big events like parties and wedding receptions are often low-light situations, which are difficult conditions for smartphone cameras. The flash on your phone is essentially useless in situations like this, so your best alternative is to just hold your phone very still as you take the photo. Encourage your subjects to stand still as well. This will
reduce the amount of motion blur and make your photos appear sharper.
5. Get closer. I see a lot of people “zooming in,” using their fingers on a touch screen to bring the subjects in closer, but this just reduces the quality of your photo. When using a phone camera, you’re better off just moving yourself closer to your subjects, rather than using the built-in zoom technology. These are just a few tips to help you make better pictures, but simple changes can have a big impact. Happy shooting! Since 2009, Leise Jones ’01 has specialized in making authentic, natural-looking photographs of people and events. She works with couples, families, small businesses and nonprofit organizations of all kinds — including many MHC alumnae — who are looking for photographs to tell their stories, commemorate their important days and communicate their missions. Learn more and see her work at leisejones.com.
2. Step away from the wall. Similarly, don’t put your group of subjects directly against a wall. For some reason, standing against a wall when we have our picture taken seems to be human nature. But being right up against the wall can often lead to weird shadows AR E YOU A and tight spaces. MAV EN? Photos are much Pitch your area more flattering of expertise to quarterly@ if your subjects mtholyoke.edu. stand 1–3 feet away from
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Unity Space
Purposeful Design: The design of the space is to be inclusive of multiple identities represented on campus. The movable pods provide flexibility for seating arrangements and encourage dialogue and intergroup discussions.
Ownership of Style: Quilts created by groups from the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and the Affiliated Cultural Center Student Organizations, in collaboration with the Division of Student Life, Sisters in Stitches Joined by the Cloth and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, are displayed on the walls of the Unity Space.
Alliance and MoZone Peer Educators. Throughout the academic year many programs and events are held in the space, including Interfaith Lunch and mixers for first-generation college students. Any group or campus department that shares the Unity Space’s values is welcome to reserve the space. — B Y J E S S AY E R
Braden Chattman
H OUS E D ON T H E second floor of Blanchard Hall, the Unity Space offers a safe place for dialogue and programming related to culture and diversity. The space, envisioned by a committee of students and staff during the early planning stages of the Community Center, offers students a place where they can celebrate their many intersecting identities. Overseen by the Division of Student Life and led by Annette M. McDermott and Latrina L. Denson of the offices of Religious and Spiritual Life and Community and Inclusion, the space is home to specific student groups, including the First Generation Low-Income Partnership Organization, Undocumented Immigrant
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the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association honored 14 alumnae at the Alumnae Symposium of the Centenary Days. Recipients of the first Medal of Honor awards were selected for “eminent service in promoting the effectiveness of the Alumnae Association, for service in completing definite projects undertaken by the College, or for other noteworthy services which strengthen the position of the College,� as written by members of the selection committee. 18
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Young Alumna Volunteer Leadership Award ———
In the years since, the Alumnae Association’s awards program has expanded to six distinct awards, presented to alumnae during the two weekends of Reunion after a yearlong nomination and selection process overseen by the Nominating Committee. Here we share a snapshot of some of this year’s award winners, many of whom took a few moments to tell us about the paths they took to get to this stage and what the awards mean to them.
Awarded to an alumna within 10 years of graduation who has demonstrated strong leadership, consistent effort over time and active involvement in one or more areas of service.
Elaine C. Cheung ’09 “Club events don’t just happen, alum meet-ups don’t just happen, Reunion doesn’t just happen! There are so many fellow alums volunteering their time behind the scenes to make them happen, and I’m grateful to be able to give back to the community that has given so much to me. … There is also a misconception that volunteering takes up a lot of time or effort (or requires a huge donation to be considered for a position) and that’s not true. There are so many ways to volunteer and give back. … All of our efforts combined are what make our network so strong.” FROM THE CITATION:
Natalya Marusich ’04 You are the driving force behind the Mount Holyoke community in Singapore, and, with the College community becoming ever more global, you have been instrumental in promoting Mount Holyoke’s mission and values. … You have the innate ability to pull a team together and provide outstanding leadership.
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Loyalty Award ———
Awarded to an alumna who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Alumnae Association and/or College through her consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time.
Nancy Cousins Wilder ’49 Since 1955, when Wilder was a founding member of the Fairfield (Connecticut) Villages club, she has been involved as a volunteer and currently is class president. “I have always so enjoyed my club and class involvement and stayed very close to a large group of friends, so I feel very, very lucky that Mount Holyoke has always been such an important part of my life. “Receiving the Loyalty Award was the icing on the cake. I know I will wear the beautiful pin often and be reminded of how much the College has meant to me all these years.”
Jane Milliken Finleon ’59 “As I look back, I realize that Mount Holyoke gave me the confidence to head in a new direction and the tools to learn new skills. “My first volunteer role came
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when I attended my first reunion — the 45th — and was elected class president! I had not anticipated what a meaningful opportunity that would be as I was not only working with mature classmates with varied life experiences but also was exposed to the dynamic and diverse 21st-century MHC campus. The opportunities to visit classes, speak with students, faculty and administration, attend LEAP and Senior Symposium presentations and renew acquaintances with interesting and accomplished classmates all gave me a greater understanding of the importance and unique qualities of a women’s liberal arts institution and made my volunteer duties enjoyable as well as rewarding.”
Jennett Gower Teece ’59 When Teece first volunteered for Mount Holyoke as a class agent in the 1960s, the work, she says, was organized “by region, rather than class. During that time I began to stress participation rather than amount. “I was new to the [South Hadley] area when I began but sensed
alumnae closer to the College could interact with the College in ways other than what was stereotyped as alumnae roles. I have been thrilled to see the activity of the younger Pioneer Valley club grow and their effort to include all classes.”
Diane Kelley Fenton ’64 “I am pleased and honored to receive the Loyalty Award. I’ve always supported the annual funds because I value my MHC education and want it available for other women. “The Class of 1964 is a tightknit, gung-ho group of class agents. We greatly enjoy getting together especially at the Volunteer Conference. I get more back than I give being a part of this special group of ladies.”
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Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award ———
Awarded to an alumna for outstanding achievement in and contributions to the field of education that exemplify the values and virtues set forth by the College.
Ellen M. Cosgrove ’84
Priscilla Jane Morse Huston ’64 “In many ways, directly and indirectly, Mount Holyoke College continues to educate me nearly every day of my life. The College brought me in contact with a wide range of alumnae, and the involvement with various alumnae brought me into more involvement with the College.”
FROM THE CITATION:
Ellen Manfredonia Nutter ’64 You have brought both organizational and delegation skills to your class roles. As a skillful diplomat, you unite class members when issues emerge by reaching out personally and being as inclusive as possible. You are committed to Mount Holyoke and highly respected by your classmates, and you have contributed to the cohesion and enthusiasm of the class of 1964.
“I have such respect for the work the Association does to foster Mount Holyoke’s excellence and continued relevance in the world. It is particularly inspiring to receive an award named after President Kennan, who was president when I was a student. I arrived at MHC in 1980 and had not been exposed to many women leaders. President Kennan was a role model and led an administration and faculty that included many exceptional women who all showed, by example, what it meant to lead. That was transformative for me. I went out into a male-dominated business world fortified by the examples of remarkable women leaders from MHC.” FROM THE CITATIONS:
Mary Williamson McHenry ’54 Your trailblazing leadership in education has helped to pave the way for many of your students, who credit you with being a major influence on their own education and success.
Fahima Aziz ’79 As a distinguished faculty member and leader in higher education institutions in the United States and around the world, you have been a passionate supporter of women’s education and a champion for educational access.
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Innovator Award ———
Awarded to an alumna who has demonstrated innovative leadership in a single area of service or for a singular accomplishment that has resulted in significant change and exemplifies the values and virtues set forth by the College.
Leslie Smith Green ’94 The inaugural Innovator Award winner, Green was recognized for launching the Mount Holyoke College Alumnae International Student Sponsorship program, which matches alumnae to incoming international students, especially those who may need assistance and support while traveling alone to a new country. Green attributes the genesis of this project to her own experience as an exchange student in Russia when she was an MHC undergraduate. “To come up with an idea and have it take off the way it has — and to know that I have added value to the lives of students and alums of the College — honestly fills me up with pride and gratitude and the warmest of fuzzies. One class of ’22 student from India stated last fall that she chose MHC because she heard about this project.”
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Achievement Award ———
Awarded to an alumna for outstanding achievements and service to society that exemplify the values and virtues set forth by the College.
Susan J. Koch ’64 “My government career provided extraordinary opportunities to advance arms reduction and proliferation prevention at a time of great change in U.S.Soviet and U.S.-Russian relations. While the productive years of the 1990s and early 2000s are sadly behind us, many of our achievements are long-lasting. I am honored that the Association appears to value those accomplishments and hope that I might help counsel students and recent graduates about public service careers in international affairs.”
Mary Lee Warren ’64 “In my career, I worked to persuade judges and juries, negotiated with justice leaders around the world, pressed constitutional and institutional changes with foreign heads of state, and encouraged the true rule of law patriots working against all odds in the jungles of Colombia, rubble that was Afghanistan, and inner cities of Mexico. My knees may have nearly buckled a few times, my stomach often churned, but it never occurred to me that I was not capable or equipped. … “Looking back with a broader and more removed view, I am certain of what girded me with this perhaps outrageous confidence. It was the sum total of my days at Mount Holyoke. Today I am tardy in recognizing, but nonetheless sure, of my gratitude to the College.”
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| Barbara Elizabeth Kream ’69
AWARDS 2019
Mary F. Platt ’74
“Mount Holyoke helped me develop the self-confidence I “I received excellent mentoring needed to advance and become at Mount Holyoke, and this was a leader in the legal profession, also instrumental in guiding which was dominated by white me toward a career in research, men when I graduated from teaching and working with Georgetown University Law students. When I speak with Center in 1979. young trainees about career “I am thrilled to receive this choices, I often tell them about award. I very much appreciate my experiences at Mount being recognized for my Holyoke and how they inspired me to pursue a career in science.” achievements, but want to say I admire my fellow alumnae for all of their achievements. Barbara Dombkowski It has not been easy for our Desoer ’74 generation of women to suc“To be receiving this award has ceed in our careers and our been very humbling. All I am lives, but hopefully the progress trying to do is give back in some that we have made with respect way, and having had the honor of to improving equality and the serving on the Board of Trustees rights we continue to fight for and through my donations are will make it easier for recent my ways of doing so. … Mount Mount Holyoke graduates to Holyoke made a real difference succeed in their careers and be for me. I selected the College, happy throughout their lives.” sight unseen, because of a counselor recommendation from the American School of Paris, where I was living, and an alumna interview in Paris. “I was the first in my family to graduate from college, and my parents made huge sacrifices, and I am forever grateful. I discovered so much about myself at Mount Holyoke that has served me extremely well in the 45 years since. I have worked over those years and accomplished so much more than I ever expected, because of the confidence I built while at Mount Holyoke.”
THE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WAS ALSO PRESENTED TO TWO COLLEGE PRESIDENTS:
Helen G. Drinan ’69
is a national expert on women’s education and is known for her unwavering focus and dedication to the mission of Simmons University in her role as its eighth president.
Leocadia I. Zak ’79
has had a distinguished career in the top ranks of the public and private sectors and is currently the president of Agnes Scott College.
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Alumnae Medal of Honor ———
Awarded to an alumna at her 20th reunion or beyond for long-term eminent services and significant leadership in promoting the effectiveness of the Alumnae Association and/or College.
Patricia Altman Falkenberg ’64 “The awards ceremony turned out to be much more moving and meaningful than expected. Sitting on the stage and looking out at the auditorium I had visited so many times in the audience — as a student and later as an alum at various celebratory events — I felt enormously honored and grateful. The friendships made at Mount Holyoke, many of them launched freshman year in South Rocky, have been an integral part of my life ever since. … When I moved from Manhattan to Scarsdale in 1973, it seemed natural to gravitate to that connection. I joined the Westchester club and soon became its president. We built a strong network of women … who enjoyed being together and supporting the College. … When I stepped down, my sister followed as president, continuing the tradition. College ties remained an important part of our lives, and we always enjoyed attending and hosting MHC gatherings, both in Scarsdale and later in NYC.”
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Barbara Schmidt ’69 “My first engagement with Mount Holyoke alumnae was in 1987 at a Sesquicentennial Celebration in London, organized by Renee Scialom Cary ’48. About 300 alumnae gathered, 150 of whom lived in Europe. It was the first time many of us met, the first time we knew any of us was living in Europe. “And here we are 32 years later on our 15th symposium in Greece in October 2019. We have developed an alumnae community that stretches from the Scandinavian countries in the north to Greece in the south and from Ireland in the west to Russia in the east. More than 1,300 alumnae from classes 1947–2019. A survey a few years back revealed that alumnae are a combination of Americans living in Europe and Europeans who graduated from Mount Holyoke. I am passionate about the European alumnae and the European Alumnae Council.”
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AWARDS 2019
Elizabeth Cochary Gross ’79
Vijaya Pastala ’89
“Mount Holyoke gave me the confidence to do what I wanted as I grew professionally. … I am very honored to receive this award, considering all of the amazing things that other recipients have done. Typically my husband, Phill, and I don’t want acknowledgment. Seeing the positive growth in buildings and programs is enough. We want to keep [Mount Holyoke] in business for a long time!”
“The love and opportunity I received as an MHC student — which made me who I am today — made me realise the importance of paying it forward. As I worked in the social impact space and never had enough to donate financially to MHC, I choose to give my time and energy.”
Elizabeth Taylor ’79 “Many of my deep and abiding friendships crossed the boundaries of our graduation year, and many were formed in the classrooms, around seminar tables. We were hot in the pursuit of new ideas, and the best of the professors not only taught us to question conventional wisdom but also engage and learn from one another. We were pushed forward by faculty members who inspired us to continue conversation beyond the classrooms, challenging and engaging one another to extend our educations and lead purposeful lives enriched by real human connection, meaningful work and engagement with the world.”
Jennifer Rochlis ’94
“I feel honored and humbled to be recognized for my work with the College. It is especially exciting since I used to serve on the External Achievement Awards Committee, so I know the care and rigor that goes into surfacing, researching and vetting candidates for these prestigious awards. To be included among the outstanding women who have been recognized with the Alumnae Medal of Honor is just remarkable.”
Nominations for Reunion 2020 awardees will be accepted until July 31, 2019. For Reunion 2021 classes, nominations will be accepted until July 1, 2020. Learn more and submit your nomination at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/award.
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Powering
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In a spacious new location, the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab swings into high gear
By Abe Loomis Phot0graphs by Joanna Chattman
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Students work together on a lightboard designed and assembled as part of a class project.
On a sunny afternoon in April, the ground floor of Prospect Hall is alive with activity. In the light streaming through floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on Lower Lake, several students are assembling a cardboard model of a wooden desk where a student worker will greet visitors to the lab. Built of reclaimed materials, the piece will stand in the space long after its creators have graduated, and they plan to add their signatures to it, making it a legacy project for their class. Noticing a new face in the room, Makerspace Consultant Miranda Schmidt ’19 steps away from the group and approaches the visitor with a smile: “Welcome to the Fimbel Lab!” Even with such a friendly reception, it can take a few minutes for the scope of the transformation to sink in. The makerspace’s move this year from its former quarters of less than 1,000 square feet in Art 211 to its new home of more than 8,000 square feet in Prospect Hall created room for an astonishing array of neatly marshalled tools and machinery. In addition to the laser cutter, vacuum former, two 3D printers, sewing machines, soldering tools and computers that the former space held, users of the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab — named for benefactor Nancie L. Fimbel ’68, who donated $1 million to support its creation — now have at their disposal a fully appointed (and skylighted) wood and metal shop; a computer-operated CNC milling machine; a second laser cutter; five additional 3D printers; and a water-jet cutter that can slice through stone. Hand tools of all descriptions are available. A fume hood and spray booth ensure the rapid removal of noxious vapors when students are varnishing or spray-painting their work. On the other side of the large windows is an
outdoor space that has been discussed as a possible site for teaching and learning about auto mechanics. With five large work rooms and many more work spaces, numerous independent projects can progress even as classes are conducted.
Exciting synergies “The phrase that I often use when discussing the Fimbel Lab is ‘cross-pollination,’” says Technical Lead and Design Mentor Kris Camp, who was hired in November 2018 as part of the makerspace’s expansion and move to its newly renovated location. “Because I see the space as a place where a diverse set of users come together to implement, adapt and expand concepts of creation that are often as diverse as the subject matter that each of us brings to the space. I see the lab as a space where people and ideas come together to intermingle and become greater than the sum of all their parts.”
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Hands-on and hands in Five courses met in the Fimbel Lab during the spring 2019 semester n
Fundamentals of Maker Culture – Introduction to common shop practices in the Fimbel Lab.
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iDesign Studio — Hands-on workshops in which students produce technological prototypes
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Engineering for Everyone — Learning focuses on the interaction between technology and society
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Engineering for Robotic Systems — A hands-on introduction to robotics
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Topics in Architectural Studies: “Makerspace Design-Build Studio” — Traditional and digital making culminated in the construction of a reception desk for the new space
Kinesthetic learning
Darling, a practicing architect and Five College assistant professor of sustainable architecture, says the kind of hands-on work students do in the Lab is essential to learning design competency. “A big part of knowing how to design things is knowing how they actually get built,” she says. “It’s really important for students to go through the experience of designing, and then doing the drawings that communicate that design, and then actually building it. Once
you know how materials come together, the lines that are really abstractions of a process become a lot more real.” Aidala agrees. “Getting the feel of what it’s like to push a drill bit through the material is actually important to be able to fully use the computer-controlled technology in the metal and wood shop,” she says. “You can’t get that feel when you’re using the laser.” Both Darling and Aidala note that the challenges students wrestle with in the
TOP A student presents a proposal for the desk project in Professor Naomi Darling’s design-build course; BOTTOM a 3D model in progress.
In the general workshop, the muted whine of the CNC mill in the wood and metal shop can be heard through noise-reducing walls and windows, accompanied by the whoosh of the state-of-the-art dust collection system. While some students continue work on massing the desk in the lounge or “touchdown space,” others mill chair parts under Camp’s watchful guidance. Two students sit together in the large multipurpose room, watching a video on a laptop. Their presence confirms that in the months since the move, the Fimbel Lab has begun to fully realize the purpose for which it was created. “The fact that it’s not part of an academic building is significant,” says Director of the Fimbel Lab and Professor of Physics Katherine Aidala, who serves as faculty lead for the makerspace. “This is a space owned by everyone at the College, and everybody is welcome. The idea that students can just drop in and hang out is critical to the feel and the friendliness and the welcoming nature of the space.”
Academic classes and projects still take priority. But one advantage of the new space, Aidala says, is that diverse maker projects can now happen simultaneously. Following the Lab’s soft launch in January 2019, numerous independent and studentdirected projects have comfortably coexisted alongside the desk- and chair-making happening in Naomi Darling’s design-build course as well as the activity generated by four additional academic courses that met regularly in the Fimbel Lab during the spring semester.
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Fimbel Lab serve not only as effective technical training but also as opportunities to learn confidence and gain a broader skill set. “People find it really empowering to translate an idea into physical form,” Darling says. “It’s a different way of learning and thinking than reading or writing an essay or doing a problem set.”
Life lessons
Miranda Schmidt ’19 (left), a student in Naomi Darling’s Topics in Architectural Studies class, talks with teaching assistant Monika Sharma ’19.
The Fundamentals of Maker Culture class that Aidala teaches with Shani Mensing ’15, the Fimbel Lab’s technical specialist, in which students learn to safely operate tools and machines and to develop and mentor projects, began as a practical course in using the lab and helping others to do so. The course still provides that training, but it also offers students a chance to gain self-awareness by reflecting on how they learn and communicate. “It’s an opportunity to teach students not just about what kind of equipment is in the space but about the culture behind making,” Mensing says. “What does it mean to make in this space? What does it mean to be a mentor in this space? We dive into how to deal with difficult moments, the emotional intelligence necessary for problemsolving and how to figure out their own learning styles. The class originated as a way to get students trained for the space, but then we realized we could turn it into an opportunity to learn about what it means to be a mentor in general, and how students can apply those situations to everyday life.” “Making embodies the liberal arts,” Aidala says. “It’s a unique form of learning, of knowing, of experiencing the world. It’s something that starts tying into ideas in entrepreneurship, ideas of project-based learning, where there’s something pretty unique about making
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a tangible object where there is no ‘undo’ option — if you make a mistake, you have to pivot or start from scratch again. It encourages risk-taking, and builds resilience, and it’s something where the idea of failure is flipped. It’s this idea that of course you’re going to make mistakes and of course things don’t work on the first try, so just keep trying and keep learning and keep iterating. And these are values
of the liberal arts: critical thinking, analysis and problem-solving are explicitly goals that we work on throughout the curriculum. It also provides opportunities to apply tools to problems that you deeply care about, whether it’s social justice, environmental sustainability or something else.”
Conscious constructions In keeping with those ideals, students using the space are encouraged to consider the impact
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“The ability to have a second laser cutter was huge,” Mensing adds. “When we were in Art 211 and we got the first one up and running, it was like a wildfire. But it was constantly in demand, so much so that we weren’t able to always meet the demand, and it put a lot of strain on the space to try to manage that. The ability to
have a second laser cutter allowed for things to run a lot more smoothly, and we were able to get additional 3D printers in the space as well, which also helped. Now we’re able to meet the needs of the campus.” The fervor around making shows no signs of subsiding, and the list of independent student projects keeps growing. Examples from the astonishing array of ideas being pursued
ABOVE The reception desk designed and built by students (pictured left with Professor Naomi Darling, front right) in the design-build class held in the Fimbel Lab.
Desk photos by Sage Shea (4)
LEFT The reception desk was built from repurposed campus materials and includes student names imprinted into its front.
of their creations. The working surface of the greeter desk from Darling’s design-build class — which was completed in May — is fashioned from the wood of the oak tree that was felled to make room for the Blanchard extension. Historic floorboards that had been in storage in facilities for nearly 100 years compose the desk’s body, while former window handles have been repurposed as drawer pulls. “The Fimbel Lab helps students think about the materiality of the world we live in,” Aidala says. “We train students to consider efficient use of materials to generate less waste, along with reuse and recycling. We see the interests of our students come through in the projects, whether it’s developing a solar lantern for afterdark schoolwork in remote villages or researching alternative natural materials for textiles that could have the same physical properties as the synthetically derived textiles popular for clothing.” While data on the number and frequency of users in the space is still being collected, Mensing, whose office is on-site, says she has seen a surge in interest since the move — which was itself promoted by the impossibility of fitting the creative impulses stirring on campus within the confines of one classroom. “It brought a lot of energy to the Art Building,” Aidala says, “And it was clearly beneficial to many of those involved, but even from the outset, because we were in a digital media lab that was fundamentally a computational facility, we couldn’t really make dust, and it wasn’t designed as a lab facility where we had easy dust collection and ventilation for more complicated equipment.” In light of the overwhelming success of the space in Art 211, and bolstered by the Fimbel gift and other funding, the College invested $3.5 million in a renovation of Prospect Hall. That amount allowed for the renovation and development of multiple spaces, as well as the ability to break a logjam around the high-tech cutting and prototyping machines, which had quickly grown popular.
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Sparking Curiosity The first time Nancie Fimbel ’68 stepped onto campus, she knew she belonged. “This is where I wanted to be,” she says. And since that very first moment, she has been engaged in and inspired by the work of Mount Holyoke. Fimbel’s career shaped her understanding of the needs of a modern institution of higher education as well as the personal rewards of philanthropy. During many years working in higher education, including as a professor and administrator at San José State University, she watched the changes that technology brought to all aspects of campus life. “When I was a freshman,” she says, “we brought with us a clock and maybe a radio, and electric typewriters were just coming out … but that was it.”
Fimbel notes that today’s caliber of students demand greater technological innovation, and she is impressed with the ways Mount Holyoke has responded to the changing needs of the campus population. She cites in particular the College’s MEDIAL Project renovations to Pratt Hall that created digital music laboratories where students can explore the nexus between music and technology. “I was very impressed that Mount Holyoke would come up with such great practice facilities … to expand the upper limits of what the College could do,” she says. And now she has helped create a space where today’s students can expand the limits of their education with tools and technology that she could not have dreamed would be a part of a Mount Holyoke education. When the College identified upgrading the former makerspace in the Art Building as an institutional priority, Fimbel was inspired to support the project. The new space, she says, is a natural resource and gathering place where “people who are curious or inventive can go to … see about their own creativity and inventiveness.”
Fimbel herself has a creative side. “I am a maker in my own more traditional ways,” she says. “I love quilting because you can make anything. It is so much fun to create the design and then implement all the plans you had in mind.” Last spring, Fimbel put the finishing touches on a quilt that will be displayed in the new space. “I started from the idea of knowing that I wanted it to be about a spark,” she says. After outlining her ideas, she found a pattern called “Fireworks.” Rather than using the vibrant colors the pattern called for to represent those celebratory explosions, she adapted, “making it,” she says, “lighter colors in the middle and darker colors on the outside.” Fimbel will see the completed Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab when she returns to campus at the start of the new academic term, but she already has a vision for the impact of the space. “I hope it will ignite innovation. I hope it will spark more curiosity in an already curious group and make them feel as though their campus experience is deeper, wider, bigger than anything that has been experienced before in their lifetimes.” —By Jessica Riel
“I hope it will ignite innovation. I hope it will spark more curiosity in an already curious group and make students feel as though their campus experience is deeper, wider, bigger than anything that has been experienced before.” —Nancie Fimbel ’68, on the College’s new makerspace
The fabrics Fimbel chose for her quilt that will be installed in the Lab feature images of circuit boards, wires, tools and words, and she overlaid the pattern with images of more tools and machinery.
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in the Fimbel Lab include printed plastic splints to treat injured geese; jeans designed specifically for trans men; and topographic 3D models illustrating the discrepancies between student and faculty understanding of the vocabulary contained in a scene from “Hamlet.”
“The Chemistry of Pasta”
“I worked in the admission office,” Walters says, “and I often talked to prospective students about the Fimbel Lab as a microcosm of what makes Mount Holyoke a really special place. It’s a very intersectional space, and I think Mount Holyoke as a liberal arts college really understands diversity and intersectionality on a different level. We can have a student in here hand-carving something out of wood in the woodshop, or laser-cutting a button for a friend, or painting a little psych-up picture for their teammate, or 3D-printing a splint for a goose. There are so many different levels of projects and community engagement happening here at any given time. And I think that that’s really unique to this space — and I think really unique to Mount Holyoke: Our students can find their own kind of crazy, interesting passion and then, with the resources here, take it even further.”
Madison Walters ’19 (left) and Miranda Schmidt ’19 were two of the students enrolled in classes held in the new Fimbel Lab this spring.
Some of the projects are even edible. Madison Walters ’19 found a way to turn a personal passion into a fun and educational experience to share with other students. The child of a chef, and a student consultant in the Fimbel Lab, the architectural studies major and music minor saw big potential in the Lab’s kitchen, which was renovated when dining services operations that had been housed in Prospect and other locations on campus were centralized in the Community Center. “While I was growing up, my mom was going to culinary school,” Walters says, “so I’ve always been super involved in cooking at a very fine level. My friends and I cook all the time at home. It’s something that I really connect with, and it surprised me to learn that not a lot of people are comfortable cooking in the kitchen.” That realization sparked an idea: Why not invite others into the Lab to gain familiarity with culinary techniques while also learning a few principles of chemistry and physics and having fun at the same time? Walters had seen the enthusiasm around Chocolate Lab, a recurring event where students use the 3D printer and vacuum former to create delicious, customized gifts and treats while learning about the science behind the tempering of chocolate. “It’s a really fun and engaging way to get people into the space,” Walters says, “because you’re motivated by the food aspect, but you also learn some science and you learn about a ton of the different technologies. So I was really hoping to do something similar to that.” Working with Associate Professor of Chemistry Kathryn A. McMenimen ’03 in a 300-level chemistry independent study, Walters spent the spring semester learning about food science and gluten formation
and developing a single-session class, The Chemistry of Pasta, in which students can gain skills in the kitchen, learn how to make food on a budget and explore the science behind how pasta is made and why it tastes the way it does. “Our student staff gets together every other Saturday or so for a staff night where we’ll hang out in the space, play video games or go out on a field trip or something,” Walters says. “It’s a way for us to bond as a community. We’ll also use that time to learn new skills or to do some training in the woodshop. I asked Shani if we could set aside a staff night to do test my workshop before I did it with students, and she said, ‘Absolutely! Let’s do it!’” For Walters, who is considering pursuing a graduate degree in historic preservation, the Fimbel Lab embodies some of the best aspects of their undergraduate experience.
Abe Loomis is a freelance writer in Brooklyn, New York. Contact him at abe. loomis@gmail.com.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read about a Fimbel Lab project by Yvaine Neyhard FP’20 that explores the topography of “Hamlet” at alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/neyhard.
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ON DI S PL AY
A PL AC E OF OU R OW N
MoHomeMemories Remembering Wendy Wasserstein ’71 The original “Uncommon Woman”
THIRT Y Y E A R S AG O, Wendy Wasserstein ’71
became the first woman to receive a Tony Award, for her play “The Heidi Chronicles.” That same year, 1989, Wasserstein also received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, at the time the ninth woman to receive the prize in its 70-year history. Wasserstein’s first play, “Uncommon Women and Others,” began as a thesis during her time as a graduate student at Yale. It was produced off-Broadway in 1977, and the Mount Holyoke community quickly took ownership of the phrase “uncommon women.” (The front section
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—BY JENNIFER GROW ’94
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When I look back, what really scares me is how very much I was frightened of pursuing what I really liked to do. I didn’t think I would become a playwright. I wanted to make a more reasonable choice … to fall in line. … I believe I had the confidence to become a playwright because I learned at Mount Holyoke the value of an individual woman’s voice. There was a higher purpose to what I enjoyed the most here: talking to my friends and taking the time to really know them. … What may well resonate in your later life is … the sense of self that you formed here. — W E N DY WA S S E R S T E I N ’ 7 1 , 1 9 9 0 CO M M E N C E M E N T A D D R E S S
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WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read more of Wendy’s Commencement address to the class of 1990 at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ wasserstein.
Courtesy MHC Archives and Special Collections
Wendy Wasserstein, in a 1971 yearbook photo
of this magazine is a nod to Wasserstein’s work.) During her 30-year career, Wasserstein wrote and published dozens of plays and screenplays and numerous articles, essays and speeches. She was recognized by peers, audiences and reviewers as a pioneer of telling women’s stories authentically, writing into her own work — and always with compassion and humor — the women that she hadn’t seen on stage when she attended plays as a child. In addition to the Pulitzer and the Tony, Wasserstein was awarded nearly every major theater prize, including a New York Drama Critics Circle Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama Desk Award and the Dramatists Guild’s HullWarriner Award. When she died of lymphoma in 2006, the lights of Broadway were dimmed in her honor. The Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections has in its collection Wasserstein’s papers, spanning the years 1954 to 2006. Learn more about the collection at mtholyoke.edu/ wendywasserstein/papers.
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Spreading Joy Painted rocks hidden across campus
Kindness rocks painted by Molly Dietrich Morris ’99 are part of a global grassroots campaign to spread joy. The rocks shown here were hidden around campus during Reunion in May.
Morris ’99 joined The Kindness Rocks Project™, a grassroots campaign launched when a rock painted with a note of encouragement was found and taken to heart. Last July, as Morris anticipated her upcoming 20th college reunion, she painted a rock with the lyrics of “Bread and Roses” and set it aside to hide on campus. “Once I decided to ‘rock’ campus,” Morris says, “I set myself an ambitious goal of making 99 rocks for Reunion (to represent my class of 1999).” Over the next several months Morris decorated about 70 rocks with Mount Holyoke themes: the College seal and images of and quotes by Mary Lyon, Frances Perkins, class of 1902, and Emily Dickinson, class of 1849. The other 30 were colorfully painted with general words of encouragement or funny images. When she got to campus in May, Morris enlisted her classmates’ help to hide the rocks as they revisited favorite places at the College. Rocks were left all over campus, including the very special “Bread and Roses” rock that Morris placed near Mary Lyon’s grave. The exercise, Morris says, “added a new level of engagement and connection to an already wonderful weekend.” Several classmates brought painted rocks home to place in their own communities, literally bringing pieces of Mount Holyoke into the world. — BY JE N N I FE R G ROW ’ 94
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Molly Dietrich Morris ’99
A B OUT A Y E A R AG O Molly Dietrich
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Out of the entirety of Commencement Weekend,
the most emotional moment for me was the Laurel Parade. ... Our class was greeted by cheering from the Class of 1969, back for their 50th reunion. ... What an honor it is to be boisterously initiated into a group of strong, powerful individuals. —MI R AN DA SC H MIDT ’19
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Joanna Chattman
R E AD MO R E A BO UT SC H MIDT STA RT ING O N PAGE 26.
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On Belonging By S E H B A S ARWAR ’86
WHI L E I F O LD AN D PACK my saris, bedcovers, carpets and
curtains — fabrics I’ve collected from Pakistan and India for more than 30 years — my friend Anita drops by my Houston house to help me pack my books. My preteen daughter and I are closing down our home in Houston, Texas, so we can join my partner in Los Angeles, where he has accepted a position. Rolling up her sleeves, Anita pulls a hardcover off the bookshelf. “You want to keep this?” she asks. “Tell me why.” “It’s signed to me,” I reply.
backs that I shipped from South Hadley to Karachi only to give away. At the end of my two-day session with Anita, my books are reduced from 25 boxes to 10; my family is shipping just one storage container to Los Angeles. And though my departure does not entail the crossing of an international border, I recall my mother’s story when she and her family left their home in northern India to enter Pakistan. After crossing the Wagah border, she descended from her train carriage carrying her only possession, a badminton racquet. ***
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Sunlight streams, Casting a golden glow Floorboards creak, Making my footsteps known Wind escorts my worries Through open doors Wisps of jasmine incense Welcome me home.
Sehba Sarwar ’86 was commissioned by The Menil Collection to create her “On Belonging” performance, which she is currently touring. Author of “Black Wings,” a novel that was released in the U.S. earlier this year, Sarwar is based in Los Angeles, where she is completing a memoir, from which this essay is excerpted.
Paul Hester, courtesy Sehba Sarwar ’86
Though a writer herself, Anita responds by tearing out the signed page. “Make an art installation later,” she says. Having recently moved from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Houston to be with her parents who were born in India, Anita understands relocation. “If I want a book now,” she tells me, “I visit the library.” As we pack and discard, I am reminded of 1986, when after graduating from Mount Holyoke — but before catching my flight to Karachi — I shipped books home by writers including Chinua Achebe, Nadine Gordimer, Bapsi Sidhwa and more; I did not expect to return and live in the U.S. But a few years later, while enrolled in a graduate program in Austin, Texas, I met and fell in love with a Chicano educator, who was born in Brownsville, Texas, on the Texas-Mexico border and is also connected to two sides of a forced line. And I, like my parents’ families, who in the 1950s moved from India to Pakistan with no long-term plans, remained in Texas for more than 20 years, during which time I gave birth to a girl and initiated a women’s literary collective that morphed into a social justice arts organization. Feeling as if my body is being gashed with a knife each time I make a choice to keep or discard a book, I remember the paper-
Eighteen months after my family’s move to Los Angeles, I step into a space owned by Houston’s Menil Collection to offer a performance about my migration and movement, excerpts of my mother’s journey and the urgency of memory. Outside stands an oak tree upon which I’ve installed ajrak fabric — a design claimed by Pakistan’s Sindh province as well as by Indian provinces Gujarat and Rajasthan. Notecards about “belonging,” created by community members around the U.S. (Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, Austin, the U.S.Mexico border), dance around the tree like stars. My mother and my sister have flown to Houston from Boston (where my mother was visiting) to help me install, while my husband and daughter have returned to the city to attend my show. Lights dim. I pick up my notebook and exit the chapel center. A recording of my daughter’s voice floats into the dark room as she sings lyrics she wrote about our Houston house — her first home:
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YOU STR ENGTH EN TH E CH A IN. Our experience at Mount Holyoke connects us around the globe and across the generations. When you invest in Mount Holyoke, you lead the way for all those who follow in your footsteps. x
T H A N K YOU.
Office of Advancement
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50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075
“This is where I learned to think deeply, where I first was completely surrounded by unabashedly smart people, where expectations of me in every course were sky high.” —Barbara M. Baumann ’77, who in June completed a four-year term as chair of the Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustees
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