Legacy L A NG R ETIR ING AFTER 47 YEAR S OF SERVICE
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n June of 1966, the Supreme Court established Miranda Rights, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded and the ABC soap opera “Dark Shadows” premiered. And on June 13, 1966, Anita Lang started her first day of work at Stevens, as a secretary inside the Alumni Office, at $85 a week. Dressed in proper hat and gloves, this teenager joined a college that had not yet opened to undergraduate women. President Jess H. Davis led the school, along with an all-male Board of Trustees. “Stevens has had seven presidents; I’ve worked for four of them,” Lang says. Lang became the first woman and first non-alumnus appointed executive director of the Stevens Alumni Association, in 1980. Now, after 47 years with the SAA, one of Stevens’ longest serving employees who has worked under 34 SAA presidents is retiring. Lang will retire on June 30, 2013, but will work as a consultant twice a week for at least the next two years. Among her duties will be working with the Old Guard, SAA Executive Committee business and Alumni Weekend. Michael Smullen, currently SAA associate 32 THE STEVENS INDICATOR
BY BETH KISSINGER, EDITOR
executive director, will become executive director as of July 1. Over five decades, so many alumni say, Lang has been a treasure trove of knowledge about Stevens’ alumni and history—and a talented professional who connected alumni across the decades. When one thought of the SAA, no matter what changed, Lang was always there—a gracious presence who made every alumnus feel special, says Past SAA President Marty Valerio ’68. “She devoted her life,” he said. Knowledge of Stevens’ alumni and the university’s history is so ingrained in her, he says. So is how to treat people. “She has a personal connection to so many people,” Valerio says. “She’s a very caring person. I’m going to miss her. Her spirit will always be there.” Past SAA President and Stevens Professor Dick Magee ’63 called Lang’s 47 years of service “unprecedented.” “Anita has always addressed the needs of Stevens and the SAA professionally, with integrity and with an unyielding commitment to excellence,” Magee says. “It is hard to en-
vision the SAA without Anita.” The SAA and institute will honor Lang with a retirement celebration on Saturday, Sept. 7, on campus. More details will follow. One recent May afternoon, Lang took a few moments inside her Howe Center office to reflect on her 47 years at Stevens. “I grew up here,” she says. A graduate of the Katharine Gibbs School, this Guttenberg, N.J., resident first worked for Larry Minck ’53 and with Harold R. Fee ’20, then the SAA’s executive director. She rose to administrative director in 1976 and, upon Minck’s retirement as executive director, was encouraged to apply for the job. Undergraduate women had only been on campus since 1971 and few women held management positions at that time. But a group of alumni encouraged her and were very supportive. As executive director, she has been a guiding force behind The Stevens Indicator, from advising on story selection and design to her well-known copy editing skills. But her main mission has always been alumni relations and the many events that she has guided over the years. Among the