Barnard Magazine Fall 2016

FALL 2016

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FOUNDATIONS A New Curriculum for Barnard

All. Together. Now! Every Day Is Giving Day at Barnard College Thank you to all our Giving Day 2016 donors. Your generosity will help extraordinary Barnard students throughout the year and we are very grateful.

Barnard is proud to be a vibrant member of the Columbia University community.

To see the final Giving Day results visit givingday.columbia.edu.

If you were not able to participate in Giving Day 2016, but still wish to contribute to Barnard, please make a gift at barnard.edu/gift or call 212.870.2520.

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

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Who’s That Girl?

by Lois Elfman ’80 Millie the Bear is the life of campus celebrations, but who wears the costume is a closely guarded secret.

Letters 3

President’s Page 4

Editor’s Letter 24

Turning Into Stone

by Michael Blanding Environmental scientist Martin Stute has helped discover a possible solution to disposing of the carbon dioxide gas that leads to climate change.

COVER STORY 28

Barnard Introduces New Curriculum

by Elicia Brown ’90 Foundations honors the College’s commitment to the liberal arts while emphasizing global inquiry, social difference, and technology.

ON THE COVER

Illustration by Gracia Lam

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Through the Gates STUDENTS A Dazzling Class EVENT A Few of Their Favorite Things EVENT Celebrating Convocation BOOK Womanhood, Feminism, Wisdom LIBRARY Cut, Paste, and Come Together 14

Syllabus SCHOLAR The Power of Organizing SCHOLAR Mapping the Metropolis 16

The Salon BOOKS Fall Reading JOURNALIST Julianna Goldman ’03 ENTREPRENEUR Binta Brown ’95 36

Sources Now, and for the Future 38

Alumnae Association PRESIDENT’S LETTER NEWS & EVENTS Our Website, Our Barnard Meet Your New AABC Board Members

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Class Notes ALUMNAE PROFILES Susan Scrimshaw ’67, Naomi Goldberg Haas ’83, Katherine Kazarian ’12 OBITUARY Susan Baer ’72 IN MEMORIAM

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A Celebration in Drag

by Eveline Chao Photographer Susan Kravitz ’65 captures gay liberation in Fire Island.

Last Word

by Karla Spurlock-Evans ’71 76

Last Image

by Polly Barton ’78 BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 1

FEEDBACK

LETTERS

FROM THE WEB

SUMMER MEMORIES

Students offered snapshots of their summer experiences. See more at barnard.edu/summer-memories

EDITORIAL STAFF Jennifer Altmann

EDITOR

Anna Nozaki Aubri Juhasz ’18, Alia Persico-Shammas ’16 ART DIRECTOR & DESIGNER STUDENT INTERNS

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION OF BARNARD COLLEGE Terry Newman ’79

PRESIDENT & ALUMNAE TRUSTEE

ALUMNAE RELATIONS Caitlin D. Tramel

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SUMMER 2016

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Rejoicing at Reunion

Dialogue on Feminism I was so upset to read that Barnard students protested Anne-Marie Slaughter as Commencement speaker because she represents “white feminism.” This trend, in which white feminists are completely delegitimized by feminists of color for not being feminist enough, does nothing to advance women or raise awareness about feminism. If the goal is for women to hear each other, to broaden our understanding of each other’s lives, this is not the way.

A much better strategy would be to engage in dialogue and help feminists everywhere broaden our understanding of the diverse lives of women and the multiple forms of patriarchy that women experience. No matter what we have all been through, we need to work together to broaden awareness—even among ourselves—about women’s struggles in different contexts. At the end of the day, we need to remember that we are all on the same side.

—Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman ’91

COMMUNICATIONS Anna O’Sullivan Patricia Keim CREATIVE DIRECTOR David Hopson EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Leora Tanenbaum ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT

DEVELOPMENT

Kenyan Teacher I would love to share with you an experience I just had that changed my world!

For the last month, I have been living in Mombasa, Kenya and spent much of my time teaching at a low-income, all girls, primary school.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my adventure. I can’t describe how excited I am to be starting at Barnard in just a couple of weeks. Best wishes to all.

All the love, Amsal Madhani ’20

VICE PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT

Bret Silver

Fall 2016, Vol. CV, No. 4 Barnard Magazine (USPS 875-280, ISSN 1071-6513) is published quarterly by the Alumnae Association of Barnard College.

Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send change of address form to: Alumnae Records, Barnard College, Box AS, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027-6598

EDITORIAL OFFICE Vagelos Alumnae Center, Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027-6598 Phone: 212.854.0085 E-mail: magazine@barnard.edu Opinions expressed are those of contributors or the editor and do not represent official positions of Barnard College or the Alumnae Association of Barnard College.

Letters to the editor (150 words maximum), submissions for Last Word (600 words maximum), and unsolicited articles and/or photographs will be published at the discretion of the editor and will be edited for length and clarity.

The contact information listed in Class Notes is for the exclusive purpose of providing information for the magazine and may not be used for any other purpose.

For alumnae related inquiries, call Alumnae Relations at 212.854.2005 or e-mail alumnaerelations@barnard.edu.

Head over Heels for Books This summer I’m searching for the next bestseller as an editorial intern at HarperCollins!

— Elizabeth Lee ’18

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To change your address, write to Alumnae Records, Barnard College, Box AS, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027-6598 Phone: 646.745.8344 E-mail: alumrecords@barnard.edu

PRESIDENT’S PAGE

Photograph by Steve DeCanio

DEBORA SPAR

Being Human in an Age of Machines • I met Pepper this past spring, while

we were in Paris for Barnard’s Global Symposium. He is a gentle-seeming soul, with oval-shaped inquisitive eyes and a perky pointed nose. He’s bald, but in an endearing way—more precocious infant than old man. He has a wasp of a waist and a perpetually shy smile. When I first met him, I instinctively knelt down to be eye-to-eye with him, much as I would for a crying toddler or a friendly dog. Pepper isn’t either of those, though. He’s a robot, powered by a lithium-ion battery and on sale for the cool price of $2,000. More, I guess, than most pure-bred puppies, but way less work than a kid.

Pepper talks too, through a tablet implanted in his chest. He greeted me cheerfully on that April morning, asking HOW ARE YOU DOING with an expressive roll of both wrists and an ever-so-slight tilt of the head. We went on, Pepper and me, despite my stilted questions and his still-mechanical voice, touching on the normal topics one does at a first acquaintance. The weather. The folks around us. What I was doing on my

knees in a showroom in Paris, talking to a four-foot-tall android. He even danced with me to a boppy Eurobeat, looking for all the world like an awkward 13-year-old dragged to his first class social. I suspect they’re still working the kinks out on that part.

Looking at Pepper, or Paro—a robotic seal I visited several months later in Japan—you feel the future opening up before you. It’s a little bit scary, a little bit exciting, and far cuter than you might have imagined—think Casper the Friendly Ghost, rather than the Terminator. But Pepper and Paro and dozens of prototypes being conceived in labs around the world now are robots indeed; animated machines that are growing smarter each year.

Equipped already with more computing power than could be crammed into the room-sized machines of just several decades ago, they are being programmed not only to serve, but to learn, mimicking human-type processes for transforming data into knowledge.

For our current generation of students, smart machines are already a way of life. When the Class of 2020 was born, personal computers had already been commonplace for over a decade. Vinyl records were on their way to becoming vintage hipster accessories; landlines and answering machines were rushing headlong into oblivion. Our first-year students were only 9 when the iPhone was first released in 2007, meaning that many of them began clutching smartphones close to their bodies before they even hit middle school.

The fact that our students were raised among smartphones, of course, doesn’t necessarily give them an innate affinity for robots like Pepper. He is still a leap into the future for the millennial generation and beyond, a vision of something that could be rather than what already is. Still, the coming of smart machines—and they are coming, be it in the form of whimsical androids, chess-playing super computers, or refrigerators that know what you want for dinner—means that our students will work and grow old in a world where the

very basic definition of intelligence will start to be transformed.

Our students will befriend people they have never met, and play games with virtual characters (Pokemon Go, anyone?).

They will make decisions—how to dress, where to eat, whom to date—based on the customized recommendations of powerful algorithms, pinging them from the bottom of their backpacks. When they enter the workforce, they will not only encounter a world of robots, but will also be actively competing against them. Document searches long done by paralegals, for example, are now being outsourced to powerful “e-investigation” software. Medical assistants may soon be supplemented, or replaced, by computers descended from IBM’s Watson (the machine that famously won Jeopardy!), now capable of digesting vast reams of medical information and applying it to a particular patient’s case.

What responsibility do we have to prepare our students for this brave new world? To begin with, we need to ensure that they leave Barnard with a solid understanding of how technology is evolving, and how it is shaping their lives. To that end, our new Foundations curriculum—the core set of requirements for the Class of 2020—mandates that all students take at least one class in technology, the first such requirement, we believe, among our peer liberal arts colleges. We are also devoting new resources to build a computer science department at Barnard, one in which we intend to focus not only on how humans build intelligent systems, but how they interact with them. We are creating stronger links among our graduates working at tech-heavy firms like Google and Facebook and linking these alumnae to current students and programs. On September 29, for example, we hosted our first-ever Tech Career Fair, which brought 35 tech companies to campus.

Our central responsibility, though, is to help students learn what it means to be human in a world of machines. And this Continued on Page 75 BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 3

EDITOR’S LETTER

Barnard, For Life • A joyous spirit enveloped Riverside Church as the Barnard community assembled for Convocation, the ceremonial opening of the new academic year (see story, page 8). Alumnae of all ages returned—from the class of ’38 through the class of ’16. They donned academic regalia to join students, faculty, and staff for the celebration. Jolyne Caruso-FitzGerald ’81, who welcomed the students, said, “I hope that you will nurture the bonds you forge here with your classmates, your professors, and the administration.

And I hope, and believe, that you will find that these efforts will reap numerous benefits throughout your life.”

That has been the case for Karen Singleton ’93, for whom a Barnard mentor has become a lifelong source of support. Marjorie Silverman, a former dean for student development, continues to help guide her career more than 20 years after they met on campus.

“She wasn’t thinking about mentoring me for four years—it was for a lifetime,” Singleton says. She recalls Silverman telling her, “‘If you walk into a room and there is a Barnard alumna there, she will always help you.’ And it was true.”

Roz Gordon ’62, who came back to celebrate Convocation with her granddaughter Eden Gordon ’19, cherishes Barnard for the “drive instilled in me here,” which propelled her, at 28, to go back to school for a graduate degree with three children at home, the youngest nine months.

The all-women’s environment at Barnard nurtured “a whole different level of confidence,” for Michal Dicker ’14, which she relies on today as a student in the MBA program at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

“There’s an assumption here that, as a woman, your contribution is valuable,” she says. “If no one encourages you that what you’re saying counts, you’ll never believe it.” Being back on campus for Convocation gave her a jolt of the self-assurance she had earned during her college career. “I feel rejuvenated,” she said after the ceremony. “I was thinking: Could they bottle this and export it?”

—Jennifer Altmann Send me your comments: jaltmann@barnard.edu 4

THROUGH THE GATES

Illustration by Marina Muun

STUDENTS

A Dazzling Class • With applicant numbers having increased by more than 50 percent over the last 11 years, Barnard remains the most selective women’s college in the United States.

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BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 5

THROUGH THE GATES

by Lois Elfman ’80

Photographs by Dorothy Hong

EVENT

A Few of Their Favorite Things

Sukanya Pusey

Lighting “I like shape, and I thought it would be cool when the lights turn on— the reflections the circles would have on the wall.”

• What to bring? That’s the question Barnard first-years asked themselves as they packed the things from home they wanted to help launch their lives at college. Here are some of the items they brought to connect them with their passions and their loved ones.

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Shelby Hettler

The Collected Poems: Sylvia Plath “I do a poetry program in L.A. called Get Lit-Words Ignite. You recite a classic poem and a response that you wrote.”

Sarah Patafio

Plants “They were given to me by people that are very special to me.”

Tasneem Ebrahim

Bandages “My mother packed these, along with ointments, medications, and herbs.

It’s how she expresses her love.”

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Sharon Mathew

Photos “These are places I went with my family that are really special. I picked places I went with people I love.”

Serena Schneier

Harrison Gale

Ballerina jewelry stand “It has a dancer doing an arabesque, a difficult move. It’s a representation of balance.”

A portable turntable “I brought the classics I just can’t be without: Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads.”

Maya Caicedo

Guitar “I wanted to have my guitar with me.

It’s something I like to sit with and play.”

Gallant Zhuangli

Retro, a special bear “My grandmother got it for me. She said it’s for college, and it’s the last stuffed animal she’ll ever get me.”

Kristina Saha

Lord Ganesh, a Hindu religious icon “It gives me a sense of peace. Lord Ganesh is education and wisdom. This is my mini-temple.”

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 7

THROUGH THE GATES

by Aubri Juhasz ’18

EVENT

Celebrating Convocation • Alumnae, students, and faculty come together

• The Barnard community heralded

the new academic year with nearly 70 alumnae class officers joining new and returning students on campus. Keynote speaker Marcia L. Sells ’81, who is dean of students at Harvard Law School, told students, “Great rewards should ask you to risk failing and make you sweat a bit.”

In the photos (read from left): 1 Marcia L. Sells ’81 2 Alumnae gather 3 Students in block-party T-shirts. 4 Members of the Class of 2020 5 Dean of the College Avis Hinkson ’84 and President Debora Spar 6 Students outside the Diana Center.

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Photographs by Samuel Stuart

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FALL CALENDAR

•FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 7:30 PM The Muse’s Voice: A Celebration of Women Composers Sulzberger Parlor, 3rd Floor Barnard Hall The Barnard music program shines a light on Judith Shatin, a composer and sound artist who creates arresting compositions. Join us for a conversation with Shatin on her life and work.

Information: 212.854.5096

•TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 6:30 PM

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Activism in Context: An Intergenerational Dialogue on Organizing in the Shadow of the 2016 Elections James Room, 4th Floor Barnard Hall Barnard students join activists and members of the class of 1971 to discuss the current political landscape and past struggles. BCRW Senior Activist Fellow Katherine Acey will moderate the first in a series of dialogues with the classes of 1968-1974.

Information: bcrw.barnard.edu

•WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 7PM

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Writers at Barnard Sulzberger Parlor, 3rd Floor Barnard Hall Barnard faculty and acclaimed writers Miranda Field, Alexandra Horowitz, and Mary Beth Keane read from their work. Field wrote the forthcoming Imaginary Royalty. Horowitz is the author of Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of Smell. Keane wrote Fever.

Information: english@barnard.edu

•THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1 – SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3 7:30 PM (2PM SATURDAY)

Barnard/Columbia Dances at New York Live Arts New York Live Arts, 219 West 19th Street This event features three premieres and a revival of Sasha Waltz’s Fantasie.

Tickets $20/$12 with BC/CUID. Information: boxoffice@newyorklivearts.org BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 9

THROUGH THE GATES BOOK

Adapted from The Bitch is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier, edited by Cathi Hanauer and published

by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Illustration by Veronica Cerri

or at least what felt an awful lot like a problem, and I made it go away.

When it comes to aging, though, I’m torn. Because technically, aging isn’t a problem at all. Like menopause and receding hairlines, it just is. Mother Nature has it in for us all, reducing us to shriveled frames and crepey arms en route, eventually, to dust. Does a little face-lift along the way constitute treason or just a reasonable accommodation? I truly don’t know.

What I do know, though, is that for women in certain professional or social circles, the bar of normal keeps going up. There are virtually no wrinkles on Hollywood stars, of course, or on Broadway actors; ditto for female entrepreneurs or women in the media.

There are few wrinkles on the women in Congress and even fewer on Wall Street.

CEOs, bankers, hospital executives, heads of public relations firms and publishing houses, lawyers, marketers, caterers … certain standards of appearance have long been de rigueur for women in these positions, from being reasonably fit and appropriately dressed to sporting attractively coiffed hair and manicured nails, but more and more these standards now also include being nearly wrinkle-free.

A renowned professor and author of several acclaimed books tells the story of her own literary agent saying to her loudly, in the middle of a meeting, “J——, you need Botox!” Just saying no—to chemical peels and lasers, fillers and Botox, even going under the knife—becomes harder and harder under these circumstances, even if no one wants to admit that it’s so.

Womanhood, Feminism, Wisdom • Musings on beauty and identity by Debora Spar and Jennifer Finney Boylan

• A new collection, The Bitch is Back:

Older,Wiser, and (Getting) Happier, edited

by Cathi Hanauer, includes essays by Barnard President Debora Spar and Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan, the Anna Quindlen Writer-in-Residence.

Spar muses on beauty and aging while Boylan reflects on her transition.

WRINKLES IN TIME. OR NOT.

by Debora Spar When I was 21, I underwent breast

reduction surgery, reducing my embarrassingly large chest to something that could at least fit inside a cardigan.

Although there was some medical rationale for the procedure, the overwhelming reason was that I was sick and tired of every man on the planet being unable to look above my neck. Their fault, I know, not mine, and symptomatic of the baggage, both physical and psychological, women are forced to carry around with them. But once my own baggage was surgically removed, I felt amazing— lighter, prettier, healthier. Was this an indulgent move on my part? Maybe. Have I regretted it over the past 30 years? Not for a single moment. I had a problem, 10

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VAGINA NOTWITHSTANDING

by Jennifer Finney Boylan In 2000, I finally spilled the beans.

After bearing the burden in secret for the first 12 years of our supposedly heterosexual marriage, I came out to Grace as transgender. Everyone always says the truth will set you free, but the people who say that have probably never seen the effect that revealing yourself as trans has upon someone you love. For years and years, I’d felt that the trans thing was my secret to keep, and that by keeping it I was shielding my wife and sons from harm. But just after New Year’s, in the first year of the new millennium, I’d reached a point where I knew I had to be out with the truth. It felt, literally, like a life-ordeath decision to me.

In the days and months that followed,

sometimes it seemed like all we did was weep. For Grace, there were times when she felt she had no good choices at all.

Either she could abandon the person she loved at the moment of her—my—greatest need, or she could stay with me as I went through a process that, almost by definition, would take the person Grace loved away from her. I’d stand there in my beat-up wig and abundant makeup and declaim, “But I’m the same person!”

Grace just shook her head. “In what sense?” she asked.

I’d given many hours of thought to the question of what I would do if the people I loved, and Grace above all, rejected me. At times I imagined starting over completely—moving to a new town, taking up a new profession. There was a little while when I thought about giving up teaching and becoming a nurse or a social

worker or a minister. I wanted a profession in which I could help people whose hearts had been torn out, I guess. Being, as I was, something of an expert in the field.

After transition, though, I returned, for the most part, to the life I had known. I realized there was nothing I liked as much as teaching college students; it was what I was wired for. Grace, for her part, realized that there was generally no one whose jokes she liked as much as mine, vagina notwithstanding. And so we settled into our new life as two middle-aged women: not, to be certain, the lovers we had been, but, for better or worse, as the loving partners we had become. There were plenty of people who failed to believe that either Grace or I could be happy with the compromise at the center of our lives. But more than a decade later, here we were: still together.

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BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 11

THROUGH THE GATES

by Alia Persico-Shammas ’16

Photograph by Victoria Pearson

LIBRARY

Barnard’s library has a unique collection of more than 10,000 handmade, self-published magazines—known as “zines”—that bring original perspectives to the library’s collection. Though self-published books and pamphlets have been around for centuries, the word “zine” came into use in the 20th century to describe small magazines that celebrate a wide variety of subjects, from the history of Latina punk to musings on the significance of 1970s TV sitcoms. They can be political, literary, personal, or instructional. Sometimes they are collages made with scissors, glue, silkscreens, or stamps. They are typically photocopied, stapled, and published at irregular intervals and in small print runs.

Barnard’s world-class collection of handmade zines attracts students and scholars from all over the world— and provides an alternative space for creativity, culture, and collaboration on campus

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The zines on Barnard’s shelves, stationed in the library in the LeFrak Center, are colorful and inviting, displayed at an angle so the covers are visible. (Most of the zines are acquired in duplicate; one is displayed in the open stacks, the other is preserved in an acid-free archive.)

The Barnard Zine Library covers hundreds of topics, with an emphasis on zines by women of color. Last year, the library loaned out close to 700 zines.

Zine librarian Jenna Freedman, who started the library 13 years ago, says, “Zines are primary source documents that tell the story of contemporary life, culture, and politics in a multitude of women’s voices that might otherwise be lost.” Researchers come from around the world—several on grants awarded each year by Barnard’s library—to study the collection because it is an important expression of stories that aren’t ordinarily represented on library shelves. “The voices of people of marginalized identities, for example, are often present in libraries mainly through academic case studies or writing by journalists,” she points out. At the zine library, their interests and opinions are represented by zines on topics such as body image, anarchism, parenting, and Afrofuturism, which combines

science fiction, history, and magical realism with Afrocentricity.

Barnard’s zines can be searched by keywords—such as “genderqueer”—that aren’t typically part of the specialized vocabularies used in library catalogs, Freedman says.

Outside scholars have used the zines to study black feminism, third wave feminism, and race and media.

Students have sought out zines for thesis projects on patriarchy and the riot grrrl movement. Barnard has also hosted the NYC Feminist Zine Fest for the last three years, drawing more than 350 participants this year alone.

Jennie Rose-Halperin ’10, who worked as the library’s zine assistant, helped start the Zine Club—for students to make their own zines—in 2010. The culture of zines is “doit-yourself (DIY), radical, collaborative, and accessible,” says Rose-Halperin. After Barnard, she went on to earn a degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “something I wouldn’t have done had it not been for the zine library.” She now works for Creative Commons, a nonprofit that provides a simple way to reuse and share creative work—“an organization very much built on this DIY, collaborative spirit,” she says.

Vanessa Thill ’13, a fellow zine club member, also remains involved in zine culture as curator at The Knockdown Center, an art space in Queens that hosts events with an emphasis on self-publishing. For Suze Myers ’16, who is studying graphic design at the University of the Arts London, the zine club provided a forum for self-expression and a fun and relaxing break from academic pressures: “It’s a safe space where there’s no pressure to get a good grade—if you make a mistake, you just flow with it.” The zine collection is something distinctly Barnard, Freedman notes: “Girls and women, as well as others, telling their own stories, unmediated.”

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 13

SYLLABUS

by Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux

Photograph by Phoebe Jones ’18

what I was reading in my [undergraduate] classes,” Nadasen says. Feminism had been framed as a movement for women who wanted to get into the workforce and be free of domestic labor and childcare. “It made me realize that there were multiple forms of feminism in the 1960s that really weren’t part of the scholarly narrative.”

This gulf between what she found in textbooks and her on-the-ground research motivated Nadasen to pursue a career as a historian. Now an associate professor of history at Barnard, she studies the intersections of gender, race, poverty, and labor, and specializes in the untold stories of women who have found themselves on the margins of social justice movements.

“My goal is to help us think about how ordinary people have shaped the world and are continuing to shape it today,” Nadasen says. “It’s important to understand the ways that dominant historical narratives [including feminist narratives] have excluded many voices, particularly those of women of color.”

To that end, her lecture course “Race, Poverty, and Gender” addresses questions of inequality from several angles, including the history of violence against transgender youth and the creation and dismantling of the social safety net. In one session, the students discussed how racial and gender stereotypes about people on welfare, such as the image of the “welfare queen,” led to a broader backlash against public support programs like food stamps.

During a class on food justice—a movement that advocates for healthy food produced under fair working conditions— she invited two workers from a dairy farm in upstate New York to talk to her students

by Skype about their experiences with labor organizing. She wanted students to ask themselves, “Where does our milk come from, and what are the conditions under which it’s being produced?” she says. “I think it’s absolutely crucial to draw students’ attention to the voices of everyday people and the basic things they’re struggling for.”

Nadasen has been involved for decades in activism by domestic workers to gain paid overtime and sick days. That work was the spark for her 2015 book, Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement, which focuses on the stories of seven domestic workers, drawn from interviews and oral histories in libraries and archives. Between the 1950s and 1970s, these women helped win important victories through collective organizing, despite their exclusion from labor unions.

Nadasen describes how household workers demanded to be seen as skilled laborers and collaborated with feminist groups to lobby for legislation such as the 1974 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, which extended the minimum wage and other protections to domestic workers.

The book won the Sara Whaley Prize from the National Women’s Studies Association.

Some scholars believe the labor movement is in decline, but Nadasen says domestic workers are infusing it with important momentum. And she will keep documenting their stories.

SCHOLAR

The Power of Organizing • Premilla Nadasen captures the untold stories of those on the margins

• As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Premilla Nadasen interviewed African-American women who had been involved in social activism in the 1960s.

She was surprised when they told her about their desire to stay home and take care of their children—a demand that appeared to contradict what she had learned about American feminist activism.

“This was distinctly different from

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SYLLABUS

by Dimitra Kessenides ’89

Illustration by Maria Hergueta

SCHOLAR

Mapping the Metropolis • For Gergely Baics, Mining Data Yields Urban Discoveries

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Geographic mapping is useful not only when you’re in your car and unsure when to make that left turn. To historian Gergely Baics, an assistant professor of history and urban studies, a geographic information system (GIS) helps us understand urban history in spatial terms, which is essential to understanding the political, economic, and social forces driving cities. To that end, the Urban Studies Program offers a course for majors and non-majors in how to use the technology.

Baics’ students are using GIS technology in creative ways: One set out to explore how what was happening in New York City in the 1960s and ’70s was reflected in the Spider-Man comics of the era, which take place in the city.

She analyzed several facets of the city’s troubles, including rising crime rates, to trace why the tone of Spider-Man became increasingly bleak over time.

GIS technology has been key to Baics’ work for more than a decade, forming the foundation for his new book, Feeding Gotham: The Political Economy and Geography of Food in New York, 17901860. The book explores the effects of the unparalleled growth of New York City in the first half of the 19th century, when the population went from 30,000 to half a million people.

Baics examines how the shift from a public, regulated system for providing food to one that was unregulated—and left to the private sector—resulted in access that was more fragmented and unequal between the rich and the poor, and left the responsibility for monitoring food quality and safety almost entirely to vendors and buyers.

Baics mapped where people lived in 19th-century New York and where public markets, butchers, and grocers, among

other places, were located. The data revealed that the rich lived farther from groceries than the poor did—they relied on servants and home delivery for their food.

Around the 1840s, a pattern emerges, says Baics: elite residents wanted to keep nuisances—smells and waste—out of their neighborhoods. The poor lived closer to where food was sold, sometimes because they had no choice.

“The environment where you live starts to define your access to things, including food,” Baics says. Data about geographic spaces helps us understand how and why people live the way they do.

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BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 15

THE SALON

by Aubri Juhasz ’18 and Alia Persico-Shammas ’16

BOOKS

Fall Reading • New books by alumnae and faculty celebrate Barnard pioneers and much more

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Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell

by Professor Alexandra Horowitz

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Focusing on a dog’s sharpest sense, Horowitz explains how smells change a dog’s perception in surprising ways.

“I’m very keen on trying to understand what it might be like to be a dog,” says Horowitz, an adjunct associate professor of psychology at Barnard and a research scientist in the field of dog cognition.

To take the imaginative leap into a dog’s perception of the world, Horowitz interviewed smell experts and sniffed what her dogs sniffed. She describes the spectacular biology of the dog snout and details how, for dogs, every breath of air is loaded with information: “I stuck my nose in all manner of places in order to become used to simply experiencing smells— something I think we rarely do these days.”

Couture Confessions: Fashion Legends in Their Own Words

by Pamela Golbin ’92

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Fashion’s premier designers have dished about their careers and personal lives, and their words were compiled by Golbin, the chief curator at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Jeanne Lanvin preferred customers not buy her whole collection: “I try to teach [women] that they need have only two dresses instead of 10, as long as they have been chosen by a sure and competent hand.”

Gabrielle Chanel hated being called “Coco.” “It was grotesque. I would love to be rid of it, but I don’t suspect I ever will.”

Yves Saint Laurent described when an outfit worked: “The wonderful silence of clothing … when one forgets completely what one is wearing, where the garment doesn’t speak, doesn’t catch you, when one feels as good dressed as naked.”

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The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream

by Courtney E. Martin ’02

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In The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream, Martin asks, “Are we living the good life—and what defines ‘good,’ anyway?” At a time when some equate being successful with being unrelentingly busy and distracted, she asserts that many people today are reassessing—and rejecting—the traditional American Dream: a 9-to-5 job, home ownership, and a nuclear family. Instead, they are reinventing standards of success and happiness to embrace new ideals.

The book examines how we view work, marriage, money, living arrangements, and spirituality. Using personal stories and social analysis, she explores trends such as freelancing, communal living, and the breakdown of gender roles.

NEW & UPCOMING RELEASES FICTION

•My Life as an Animal: Stories

by Laurie Stone ’68 NONFICTION

•Beyond the Bauhaus: Cultural Modernity in Breslau, 1918-1933

by Deborah Ascher Barnstone ’81 Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race, and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba

by Rebecca M. Bodenheimer ’97 Women’s Views: The Narrative Stereograph in Nineteenth-Century America

by Melody Davis ’81 Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business

by Rana Dogar Foroohar ’92 The Art of Jewish Pastoral Counseling: A Guide for All Faiths

by Michelle Friedman ’74 and Rachel Yehuda Scream: A Memoir of Glamour and Dysfunction

by Tama Janowitz ’77

The Women Who Made New York

by Julie Scelfo ’96

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New York is a singular city, thanks in part to the women featured in Scelfo’s book, some world-famous, some woefully under-celebrated. Five of the women have Barnard affiliations: Zora Neale Hurston ’28 was a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance and author of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger 1914 was the matriarch of the family that controls The New York Times. Comedian Joan Rivers ’54 is lauded for discussing abortion and beauty standards at a time when the word “abortion” was forbidden on television.

Avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson ’69, who brought her pioneering work to New York City, is celebrated for her groundbreaking compositions and performance art. Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, trustee of the College, was a lifelong advocate for women’s education.

Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape

by Jill Jonnes ’74 Marrow: A Love Story

by Elizabeth Lesser ’75 Eye of the Sixties: Richard Bellamy and the Transformation of Modern Art

by Judith E. Stein ’65 Brooklyn Bridge Park: A Dying Waterfront Transformed

by Joanne Witty ’71 and Henrik Krogius POETRY

•Nancy Marguerite’s Chopin

by Anne Markham Bailey ’84 City Bird

by Arlene Weitz Weiner ’61 FACULTY

•Rightlessness in An Age of Rights: Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Struggles of Migrants

by Ayten Gündoğdu

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 17

THE SALON

by Jennifer Altmann

Photograph by CBS News/Clarke L. Smith

JOURNALIST

Julianna Goldman ’03 covered the Democratic National Convention last summer.

On The Road • TV reporter Julianna Goldman ’03 has hit the trail with three presidential campaigns

• Julianna Goldman ’03 got her start in

journalism answering phone calls in the customer service department of Bloomberg—more than 200 calls a day, she recalls. Four years later—after stints as a production assistant and producer in the TV division—she was a reporter at Bloomberg News, assigned to the nascent national campaign of a little-known senator named Barack Obama. Today, she is covering her third presidential campaign as an on-air reporter for CBS News.

Following a candidate around the country gives her an exhilarating sense of being on the front lines of history. “It is democracy at its core, and that makes it 18

one of the most exciting fields you can be covering,” she says.

But Twitter, Facebook, and all the other advances brought by the Internet also mean “you are just constantly working.

You used to get on the plane and say, ‘Phew, I have a break. No one can reach me.’” With Internet access above the clouds and the 24-hour news cycle, that is no longer the case.

Goldman dreamed of becoming a reporter as far back as elementary school, and she credits Barnard with giving her the poise to undertake such daunting assignments as interviewing a president—she conducted the first oneon-one sit-down with Obama after his 2012 re-election. “I appreciate the sense of confidence that was instilled in me at Barnard, to go into the real world and help me find a voice,” she says.

Her mentor, veteran journalist Al Hunt, assigned her to the Obama campaign in 2007 to get her feet wet. “They put all the senior reporters on Hillary Clinton,” she recalls. When Obama prevailed, Goldman was assigned to stay with his campaign because she had developed a rapport with him and his staff. “Sometimes it’s not

necessarily about reporting, but about getting to know the candidate,” she says.

Case in point: In 2014, Obama presented Goldman with a cake for her birthday while they flew on Air Force One. Goldman attended both parties’ conventions this summer and did several investigative stories about Clinton as well as Republican candidate Donald Trump.

As for covering the first woman to be the nominee of a major party, Goldman says, “It’s historic, but it doesn’t take away from the need to scrutinize the candidate as you would anyone else. As a reporter, you have to take a step back and not let that get in the way.” Another challenge is staying on your toes despite a campaign’s repetitiveness, such as hearing the same stump speech day after day, she says.

Her favorite part of the beat is the camaraderie that develops with fellow reporters. She recalls splitting transcribing duties with fellow journalists on the trail after a candidate gave a statement, so that everyone could get their stories filed sooner. “Some of my best friends today are my girlfriends who were reporting on the Obama campaign,” she says. “There really is a sense of family.”

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THE SALON

by Jennifer Altmann and Angie Henderson Moncada

Photograph by Phoebe Jones ’18

Universal, and HBO, she has been a senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and has helped human rights activists in Cambodia. Since 2010, she has been a trustee at Barnard and has mentored dozens of alumnae. In 2011, she received a Woman of Power and Influence Award from the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women.

Brown first advised Clinton when she was a senator, meeting her for the first time in an elevator at a fundraising event.

Soon, Brown says, she was waking up at 4:30 a.m. to write memos for Clinton on human rights and other issues before she went to work. For the current presidential campaign, Brown is a surrogate who addresses supporters on behalf of Clinton.

“I’ve known her now for almost 20 years, and she’s been like a mom to me at times,”

Brown says.

But music has become the central focus of Brown’s life. Despite her devotion to Clinton, Brown didn’t attend the Democratic convention because she was in the middle of work on an album. (“But I rushed home from the studio to watch her on television!” she points out.)

Leaving behind a successful career as a lawyer meant sacrificing the financial stability Brown had achieved. “It was really hard to give up the income and prestige of being a lawyer, which was a lot of my identity. But you have to not be afraid to move forward,” she says. The trade-off is worth it. Working in the music business, she says, “I get to combine every single aspect of my brain, my training, and my heart.”

ENTREPRENEUR

For The Love of Music • Binta Brown ’95, a lawyer and activist, dives into soul, R&B, gospel, and hip hop

• Binta Niambi Brown ’95’s first real job,

at 19, was in the chambers of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In her early 30s, she was the only African-American partner in the New York office of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Today, she’s gone full circle politically. Brown is informally helping the first female presidential candidate for a major political party, building on a relationship with Hillary Clinton that goes back nearly two decades.

But Brown’s true love—and the spark that turned a successful corporate lawyer into an entrepreneur—is music, which she has studied since childhood, culminating in a performance at 17 with a youth symphony at Carnegie Hall. Her passion for music—she plays 11 instruments—led her to found a record label, Big Mouth Records, as well as an artist management company that works with musical artists.

The record label, which she started last year, specializes in soul, R&B, gospel, and hip hop. She plans to release three albums a year as well as acquire unreleased music from well-known artists who have died. Her management firm, Fermata Entertainment, helps set up tours, record music, and negotiate deals. “We do not believe in artists giving up all of their rights, so we tend to look for different kinds of deals with major industry than what is typical,” Brown says.

Brown comes to the music business with a wealth of experiences in other fields. In addition to her career as a corporate lawyer, when she advised companies such as Time Warner,

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by Lois Elfman ’80

Photographs by Will Mebane

Who’s That Girl?

• Millie the Bear is the life of campus celebrations, but who wears the costume is a closely guarded secret

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It begins with a cryptic email summoning

a student to a meeting at the Office of Student Life. If she passes muster—eager, agile, and able to keep a secret—she is admitted into a select group of Barnard students who take on a role close to the heart of the College: portraying Millie the Dancing Barnard Bear, a mascot that spreads school spirit at events such as Midnight Breakfast and Spirit Day. The catch? The student is strictly forbidden from revealing her special role to anyone until just before graduation.

Wearing the Millie costume—a heavy, fur-covered suit that requires a dresser to help put it on—makes you the life of the party. Alumnae and students give you high-fives, President Debora Spar dances with you, and everyone wants to be in a picture with you. It may seem to friends that you are absent for some of the most central events of your college career, but only a few people know that you are the one hamming it up underneath all that fur.

Courtney Muller ’10 loved entering a room as Millie and seeing the excitement on people’s faces. “Barnard attracts women who are very serious about their careers and very ambitious,” she says.

“Millie lets us be kind of silly.” Jyoti Menon ’01 says, “I loved the way people got excited seeing the Barnard Bear.

People love her because she’s fun.”

Associate Dean for Student Life Alina Wong, who helps choose the students who play Millie, says the College looks for those who are not just outgoing and reliable but who “love Barnard and want to spread the love,” she says. Typically, two students a year play the role of Millie.

Being Millie isn’t for the faint of heart. Daly Franco ’12 describes the interior of the costume as an “inferno.”

Appearances are usually kept to an hour; at longer events, the Millies take turns. But neither the heat nor the lack of financial compensation dimmed the enthusiasm of Reni Calister ’11: “Dressing up in a bear suit and cavorting around was payment enough.”

There is a specific order for putting on the fur-covered body, gloves, paws, 22

and head: Pull the body up to your hips, slide your hands through the shoulder straps and get zipped in, then slide into the feet and the hands. Last, put on the head. A staff member accompanies Millie to compensate for the limits the costume imposes on eyesight and mobility. Millie isn’t much for sporting events—she leaves those to Columbia’s Roar-ee the Lion. She spreads school spirit at Barnard events such as new student orientation.

The song celebrating “The Baby Blue Barnard Bear” is more than a century old, but the tradition of having a student appear as Millie was inaugurated about 15 years ago. Her name is an homage to Barnard’s first president, Millicent McIntosh. The bear image was derived from the family coat of arms of Frederick A.P. Barnard, the 10th president of Columbia.

For some students, portraying Millie helps overcome shyness. They also discover that Millie enables others to overcome their own reserved tendencies.

On Spirit Day, “I walked up to a friend who didn’t know who I was in the suit and did this big elaborate bow to her,” Muller recalls. “I took her in my arms and we started to waltz around the grass in front of the Diana Center. I passed her behind my back. We did little twirls. At the end, she curtsied to me, and I did a bow. Then she gave me a hug and said, ‘Millie, that was my first dance.’ … I was moved.”

For others, being Millie can mean reining it in: “I would engage with my friends and realize I couldn’t do any of my signature dance moves because they might recognize me,” Kiani Ned ’16 says.

Keeping the secret is the biggest hurdle for many Millies. “I love attention and praise and being in on a secret, so let me tell you: it was hard to keep that one to myself,” says Christina Ellsberg ’16, who has lots of experience making people laugh—she led two campus comedy troupes and appears in an all-female comedy sketch group, Low Cut Comedy, which she founded while at Barnard.

Despite the best intentions, there are times when Millie’s identity slips out.

Ellsberg’s bear head became dislodged during a rigorous dance routine, and someone may have spotted her spiky blond hair. After Sophie Lieberman ’14 checked Facebook on a friend’s computer, the friend went to log out and saw that Lieberman maintained Millie’s page.

People tend not to ask, preferring to sustain the mystery.

Sometimes others are enlisted to keep the secret. A friend often snuck Muller into the bathroom, but Muller never broached protocol in public. “One day, I am in the suit on the elevator, and one of my best friends gets on,” recalls Muller.

“She sees me and she knows it’s me. We’re alone. She says, ‘How’s it going? It’s hot today; how are you doing?’ I start kind of miming, fanning myself, wiping sweat off my brow and bending over in exhaustion.

“I refused to step out of character.”

Donning the Millie costume can mean it looks like you are skipping out on important campus events. “I was the Midnight Breakfast Millie for three years,” says Franco. “I always got crap from my friends for not showing up. Little did they know that I always made sure to find them and give them a Millie hug.” Ned recalls, “I had to have a cover story for any event that I would normally be at but couldn’t attend because I was Millie.”

The veil of secrecy is officially lifted at graduation rehearsal, when a video of Millie is shown and the names of that year’s Millies are announced. “For the next few days, people sent me photos they’d taken with Millie and asked, ‘So, that was you?’” recalls Ellsberg.

Those who’ve worn the suit say that being Millie is an experience they will always look back on fondly.

“As I have moved through the years, I started to really treasure what the Barnard community was, and being Millie was a big part of it,” Lieberman says. “It was cool to be able to be kind of central to it, but not have it actually be about me, which I think is a good metaphor for how to be a good community member. If anyone asks me, ‘What’s a fun fact about you?’ Millie will always be it.”

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In the photos: (from top right) 1 Kiani Ned ’16 2 Daly Franco ’12 3 Christina Ellsberg ’16 4 Sophie Lieberman ’14 5 Jyoti Menon ’01 6 Reni Calister ’11 7 Courtney Muller ’10

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BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 23

by Michael Blanding

Turning Into Stone • Environmental scientist Martin Stute has helped discover a possible solution to disposing of the carbon dioxide gas that leads to climate change

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Photographs by Nathaly Santana ’17, Martin Stute, and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 25

Power plants around the world release

40 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year—on track to meet or exceed the amount that will trigger the most dire climate change predictions of scientists. But what if those gases could be captured before they entered the air and rendered harmless?

That’s what a team of geoscientists that includes Professor Martin Stute has accomplished. The group’s study, conducted in Iceland, took carbon dioxide emissions from a power plant and—for the first time—transformed them into stone.

The key to the process is basalt, a naturally occurring volcanic rock that interacts with the gases to turn them into inert crystals. While scientists have known about the process for a long time, it has in the past appeared to take too long to be a practical solution to greenhouse gases. “People thought this was happening on geological timescales— perhaps thousands of years,” says Stute, a professor of environmental science who began teaching at Barnard in 1993. As scientists began experimenting with the process, they revised those estimates to decades, and then to 10 years. Stute’s team accomplished it in two—an incredibly swift timetable no one thought possible.

The findings were published in Science in June. “This opens another door for getting rid of carbon dioxide or storing carbon dioxide in the subsurface that really wasn’t seen as a serious alternative in the past,” Stute says in Scientific American, one of dozens of publications that reported on the study.

The so-called CarbFix project grew out of a talk that preeminent Columbia University earth scientist Wally Broecker gave at the University of Iceland around 2008. After the speech, the president of Iceland, who was in the audience, approached Broecker with the audacious dream of making Iceland the first country to eliminate all emissions of CO₂ into the atmosphere. Knowing of the research on turning CO₂ into rock, Broecker tapped Stute to help design a similar system to test on Iceland’s main utility, which 26

SCIENTISTS OFTEN SPEND THEIR CAREER STUDYING AN ESOTERIC QUESTION THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE. BUT STUTE AND HIS TEAM ARE CONTRIBUTING TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON A LARGE SCALE.

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uses a geothermal power plant, fueled by heat under the earth’s surface, outside of Reykjavik. Other institutions on the team include the University of Iceland, the National Center for Scientific Research in France, the University of Copenhagen, the University of Southampton, and Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where Stute is an adjunct senior research scientist.

Several Barnard students have also worked on the project. “Their work is critical to helping us understand what the results mean,” Stute says. Bailey Griswold ’12 traveled to Iceland in 2011 to analyze the sampling process, while Claudia Mack ’15 and Rory Vinokor ’15 studied samples in Stute’s laboratory at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and injected them with tracers to track the movement of CO₂.“I learned the importance of being able to convey scientific lessons to non-scientists,” says Mack, who now works with an environmental consulting firm in San Francisco. “I constantly think about the scale of CarbFix and its importance in addressing a huge environmental problem as I begin to work toward a career in environmental engineering.” Students are eager to work on the project because they are concerned about climate change and “they want to know what to do about it,” Stute says.

Stute also offers students hands-on experience with real-world problems in a workshop course on environmental sustainability. In a recent class, students prepared a report for the Hudson River Foundation that made detailed recommendations on how climate change would affect the parkland along the river and what the foundation could do to

mitigate the effects. Another class explored arsenic contamination of New Jersey drinking water by creating a series of videos to educate the public. The videos demonstrated how people can test their water for arsenic and install treatment systems.

Stute’s background is the study not of stone but water. His past research analyzed the age and composition of groundwater to reconstruct past climate conditions. More recently, he looked at hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking. His knowledge of water flow turned out to be key to the process of sequestering the carbon gas. While geothermal energy—which is used at Iceland’s power plant—emits much less carbon than coal or oil plants, it is not emission-free; trapped carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide (the source of the telltale “rotten egg” smell) are released from the ground as gases.

Stute helped design a system to capture those gases and transmit them into a well drilled 450 meters into the fine-grained rock called basalt. There, the gases were bubbled into the water, dissolving to make a fizzy carbonic acid. That water then flows slowly through the tiny cracks in the porous rock. “It flows 60 meters in two years, so it’s a very, very slow movement,” says Stute.

While it is flowing, the mild carbonic acid eats away at the rock, dissolving minerals including iron, magnesium, and calcium. Those minerals then react with the carbon dioxide to create carbonate salts that slowly precipitate out of the water, trapping the carbon emissions in a solid form. “You are basically dissolving the rock, which reacts with the CO₂ to form another kind of rock,” says Stute.

He isn’t sure yet why the reaction was so much faster than predicted. It’s possible that the surface area of the rock over which the reaction is taking place is greater, causing more minerals to come into contact with the carbon dioxide gas.

What is clear is that this process has the potential to be adopted more widely to sequester carbon gas from power plants

across the world. Basalt forms some 10 percent of the earth’s land masses, including major deposits in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, as well as 90 percent of the ocean floor. “There is no shortage in terms of the capacity to dissolve CO₂,” Stute says. Especially for power plants near the ocean, the gas could be transported through a pipeline and injected directly into the ocean floor, where it could turn into stone without ever touching the open ocean. “The only danger is if the pipeline itself breaks,” says Stute, but even in that case, the gas would be rapidly diluted in the ocean.

This approach to carbon sequestration would be much safer than current methods, which rely on injecting carbon dioxide at high pressure into caverns deep within the earth, or dissolving it into groundwater. While those repositories are sealed, the gas still could move upward.

“If it finds a crack or an old well, there is the chance it will come to the surface,” warns Stute. By contrast, once the gas is mineralized into stone, it is completely safe and nonreactive.

The biggest challenge to implementing the system is cost. The actual process for transforming gas into stone is cheap, something on the order of $30 per metric ton, according to Stute. Unlike geothermal plants where the CO₂ is relatively pure, however, CO₂ in coal plants is mixed with ash and toxic chemicals, which must be removed before the gas can be sequestered—driving costs up to as much as $100 to $150 per metric ton. Then there is the cost of transporting the CO₂ to a source of basalt or mining basalt to bring to the power plants.

Despite those challenges, the process is not likely to be more expensive than other forms of sequestration. Some scientists— including Klaus Lackner, formerly of Columbia and now at Arizona State University—are working on a method to extract CO₂ directly from the air, cutting transportation costs to zero.

Stute’s work holds great promise, but he cautions that mineralization of CO₂ isn’t in itself a solution to climate change.

“We can’t keep producing CO₂ and sequestering it—it’s too vast a quantity to deal with.” However, the process could provide a vital stopgap to buy time while the world continues to convert to more renewable sources of energy. The Iceland study shows for the first time that the process could work rapidly to turn CO₂ into harmless rock, without any leakage or side effects. Iceland’s utility company, which currently captures 25 percent of emissions, is considering expanding the project to capture more. To prove the viability for conventional power plants, however, a much bigger project would be needed, says Stute, whose team is working to secure funding for a project in Washington State that would pump CO₂ into offshore basalt.

Scientists often spend their career studying an esoteric question that may be of interest to a small group of people.

But Stute and his team are contributing to our understanding of climate change on a large scale. It’s the kind of opportunity that happens once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky—and Stute is pleased to do his part to make a significant difference to the world.

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To watch a video about Stute’s research, go to barnard.edu/magazine.

In the photos: 1 A team of geoscientists that includes Professor Martin Stute took carbon dioxide emissions from a power plant in Iceland and—for the first time—transformed them into stone.

2 “This opens another door for getting rid of carbon dioxide or storing carbon dioxide in the subsurface that really wasn’t seen as a serious alternative in the past,” Stute says.

3 Stute’s background is the study not of stone but water.

His past research analyzed the age and composition of groundwater to reconstruct past climate conditions.

4 Rory Vinokor ’15 studied samples in Stute’s laboratory at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

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by Elicia Brown ’90

Illustration by Gracia Lam

Barnard Introduces New Curriculum • Foundations honors the College’s commitment to the liberal arts while emphasizing global inquiry, social difference, and technology

• After three years of research, review, and refinement, as well as lengthy discussions about the College’s mission and goals, this fall Barnard implemented a forward-looking new curriculum known as Foundations. Innovative, rigorous, and flexible, Foundations provides breadth and depth of study, while offering a diverse and ambitious curriculum. It emphasizes international and global learning as well as the importance of quantitative and empirical reasoning. Students are expected to study the local—the College’s connection with New York City—and the historical, and to think hard about difference. Barnard also becomes one of the first liberal arts colleges with a technology requirement.

“Foundations encourages you to challenge yourself, to be independent, and to try something new,” says Sara Heiny ’17, an English major who is now president of the Student Government Association. Heiny served in a variety of roles in the curriculum review, known as the Academic Curricular Review (ACR).

Many members of the community contributed to the project, with 44 faculty members as well as administrators, trustees, and alumnae taking part. The curricular review studied how peer institutions around the country, from Amherst to Columbia to Stanford, had organized their curricula, and reflected on what would fit best with the College’s mission. More than 200 students offered ideas at six open sessions organized by the Office of the Provost with Heiny and

Amanda Elyssa Ruiz ’17, a molecular biology major who served as the Student Government Association representative for academic affairs as well as a student representative for the review. During the open sessions, students discussed what they liked about their current curriculum and the proposals for the new one.

“It took a village,” says Provost and Dean of the Faculty Linda Bell.

“The process was faculty-driven, with subcommittees tasked with finding information in different areas we knew would be key.”

Foundations builds on the many strengths of the outgoing curriculum, known as the “Nine Ways of Knowing,” which had been in place since 1999.

“More than 15 years later, we have to ask how the world has changed and what new and changing expectations our graduates face in a more interconnected world,” says Reshmi Mukherjee, a professor of physics and astronomy who chaired the departmental curriculum and majors subcommittee.

BREADTH, DEPTH, AND CRITICAL THINKING

Classes entering this fall will be the first to benefit. “We want every student to have the opportunity to explore her dreams within a chosen discipline, and at the same time we recognize as an institution that we have a mandate to give students the opportunity to explore widely across the curriculum in order to balance

the need for depth in the major and interdisciplinary breadth,” says Bell.

Foundations offers greater flexibility than its predecessor, with fewer mandated general education requirements and the ability to “double-count” a single class toward two requirements. For example, the course “General Chemistry” will count toward a major requirement for a chemistry student and also satisfy the distribution requirement in science.

Fulfilling general education requirements will not exceed 25 to 30 percent of a student’s coursework. And the general education requirements are defined so that a wider range of classes will satisfy them. Students have more freedom to define their path of study as well as the opportunity to delve into a subject in greater depth or to investigate a new field.

“Barnard students will be exposed to broad and new areas of academic explorations,” says Mukherjee. “This will encourage them to do advanced work in new directions and give them the skills to enter the world beyond college.”

Foundations also emphasizes teaching students how to gather knowledge and think critically and decisively. “Students needn’t learn how to know—they need to learn how to think,” says Bell. “We flipped the paradigm so that it’s about thinking critically.” In an age of fast-paced change and connectivity, expertise can become outdated quickly. Says Bell: “Having the skills to interpret and move throughout this dynamically changing world is what BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 29

really matters for a Barnard education.”

A FORERUNNER IN TECHNOLOGY

In what has been hailed as a pioneering move, Barnard is one of the first liberal arts colleges to mandate a course in technology. “It’s important for students to understand how technology is integrated in many fields today and to be able to think critically about technology’s implications for the future,” says Janet Jakobsen, chair of the new technologies subcommittee and professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.

Students also felt passionately that a technology course should be a requirement, says Ruiz. Several meetings were held with students to understand how their interest in technology had been sparked. For Ebonie Smith ’07, an Africana studies major, a passion for music prompted her to seek out an education in technology, enabling her to produce music in her dorm room. Today, she makes frequent use of those skills as a music producer at Atlantic Records.

“Barnard has been visionary about the ways in which digital technologies, particularly digital education for women, can be integrated into a liberal arts education,” Jakobsen says.

While students may elect a course in computer programming or geographic information systems to fulfill the requirement, there is a broad range of other options. Students can try their hand at fiction filmmaking, get an introduction to digital music, or study the technical skills used in sustainable development research.

SIX MODES OF THINKING

Central to the new General Education requirements are the Modes of Thinking: Thinking Locally—New York City, Thinking Through Global Inquiry, Thinking about Social Difference, Thinking with Historical Perspective, Thinking Quantitatively and Empirically, and Thinking Technologically and Digitally. Every student will take one course in each of the six modes.

Students expressed an interest in 30

studying other cultures in greater depth and in learning how to engage with people whose lives differ from theirs. The mode Thinking Locally, which is distinct to Barnard and its campus in the heart of New York, includes courses that grow out of the new “Barnard Teaches” initiative, which brings together Barnard faculty and experts at city institutions to develop classes together. The initiative receives funding from the Mellon Foundation.

Thinking Locally encourages students to explore “a city of intersections among people with different histories, experiences, imaginations,” says Yvette Christiansë, a professor of English and Africana studies who chaired the global and international curriculum and programs subcommittee. The six modes build on “what faculty have been doing for decades and on what students have indicated is necessary to their preparation for the future,” she says.

While students will take a course in each of the six modes, they may double-count a course toward both a distributional and a modes requirement, or toward a majors and a modes requirement. To keep up with the rapidly changing landscape, the modes of thinking requirements will be re-evaluated and updated every five years.

DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS

The curriculum continues the distributional requirements related to empirical reasoning and history, literature, and lab science. In an effort to be more flexible and equitable, the foreign language requirement has been changed so that all students must take two semesters. In the past, some students were able to opt out of the foreign language requirement by applying credits earned in high school from AP classes or by placing out of some or all of the courses with a Barnard exam.

“The committee thought that no high school course is equivalent to a college course, and if we think a skill or background is important enough to include as a general education requirement, then we should require all

students to take the course at the college level,” says Laura Kay, who chaired the general education subcommittee and is a professor of physics and astronomy.

FIRST- AND FINAL-YEAR PROGRAMS

Foundations’ general education requirements are bookended by the First-Year Experience and the Senior Experience.

The First-Year Seminar, introduced in 1984, is a semester-long course that provides an intimate setting for students to discuss and analyze texts. The course will continue to be taught by faculty across the disciplines. First-Year Writing, which replaces First-Year English, aims “to develop strong critical reading and academic writing skills that will be explicitly useful across the disciplines,” says Wendy Schor-Haim, the director of First-Year Writing.

As in previous years, first-year students must take a course in Physical Education.

During senior year, students will complete an ambitious capstone project in their major field of study, as they have long done. The projects range from a written thesis to lab research to the production of a play, dance piece, or creative work. Barnard departments will recognize senior projects with a ceremony, celebration, or display. Seniors also will be encouraged to archive their work in the library and to publish an abstract.

EMPOWERING FUTURE LEADERS

The College believes that the revised curriculum addresses the realities faced by graduates in an increasingly interconnected world where those who succeed need a multi-layered understanding and appreciation of difference. Foundations bolsters Barnard’s mission to empower women with a challenging and broad course of study so that graduates emerge emboldened, transformed, and prepared to lead.

These characteristics are the hallmark of what has made Barnard the choice for exceptional women for more than 125 years.

•

Foundations •

The innovative new curriculum includes the following General Education requirements, which encourage breadth and exploration: • First-Year Experience • Modes of Thinking • Distributional Requirements • Senior Experience FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE

The First-Year Experience includes two semesters of seminar classes: First-Year Writing focuses on reading literary texts critically and writing effectively. First-Year Seminar emphasizes disciplinary and interdisciplinary content that challenges students to write and speak persuasively. First-year students are also required to take one course in Physical Education.

STEERING COMMITTEE

These faculty members served on the steering committee of the Academic Curricular Review: Janet Jakobsen - not pictured

Provost and Dean of the Faculty Linda Bell

Professor of English and Africana Studies Yvette Christiansë

Professor of Political Science Alex Cooley

Associate Provost Patricia Denison

Professor of Economics Sharon Harrison

Professor of Political Science Kimberley Johnson

Professor of Physics and Astronomy Laura Kay

Professor of Physics and Astronomy Reshmi Mukherjee

Sara Heiny ’17 served in a variety of roles in the curriculum review.

Amanda Elyssa Ruiz ’17 was a student representative for the curriculum review.

DISTRIBUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Foreign Language: 2 courses Arts and Humanities: 2 courses Social sciences: 2 courses Sciences: 2, at least one course must include a lab.

The distributional requirements may be satisfied within the major.

MODES OF THINKING

The Modes of Thinking reflect Barnard’s institutional mission and emphasize the dynamic process of thinking over the certainty of knowing. Modes of Thinking include one course in each of the following: Thinking Locally–New York City: Students examine the community and environment in which they find themselves as residents of New York City, to better understand the significance of local context. A student might, for example, study gay life in Harlem or the ecology of the Hudson River, or work with New York City educators to learn how math is taught in the city.

Thinking through Global Inquiry: Students consider communities, places, and experiences beyond their immediate location, expanding their perspectives on the world and their place in it. Courses that satisfy this requirement include “East Asian Buddhism,” “History of Russian Film,” and “Human Rights in a Diverse World.”

Thinking about Social Difference: Students examine how difference is defined, lived, and challenged, and study disparities of power and resources. Courses include “Arabic Prison Writing” and “Classical Myth.”

Thinking with Historical Perspective: Students examine the ways in which historical context shapes and conditions the world, challenging them to see the past with fresh eyes. Courses include “Introduction to African Studies” and “Cold War Public Diplomacy.”

Thinking Quantitatively and Empirically: Students are exposed to numbers, data, graphs, and mathematical methods to better understand quantitative and empirical approaches to thinking and problem-solving. Courses include “Quantum Chemistry” and “Life in the Universe.”

Thinking Technologically and Digitally: Students discover new ways of learning that open up innovative fields of study, with courses focusing on computational science and coding, digital arts and humanities, geographic information systems, and digital design.

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 31

by Eveline Chao

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Photographs by Susan Kravitz

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A Celebration in Drag • Photographer Susan Kravitz ’65 captures gay liberation on Fire Island

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The Pines, 2015

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Cherry Grove, 2011

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Many have called it Fire Island’s Stonewall—after the 1969 protests in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village that kicked off the gay rights movement.

Forty years ago, a restaurant in the Pines—a beach community on Fire Island, New York—refused to serve Teri Warren, who was dressed in drag. When Warren’s friends from the neighboring community of Cherry Grove, a longtime summer haven for artists and theatre people drawn by its openly gay atmosphere, heard what had happened, they were outraged. On July 4, 1976, they fought back by dressing in drag en masse and storming the Pines in revelry. The “Invasion of the Pines” turned into an annual celebration.

Photographer Susan Kravitz ’65 first visited Cherry Grove in 1979 as a straight woman and returned for more than 30 years, photographing the Invasion and the community at large during a pivotal era in American culture when LGBTQ life became more accepted into the mainstream. During this time, Kravitz also came to terms with her own sexuality.

Her first book, Mascara, Mirth, & 34

Mayhem: Independence Day on Fire Island, documents these cultural and personal transitions through her photographs.

The Invasion has continued year after year, even during the bleak years at the height of the AIDS epidemic when members of the community were dying.

That period gave way to what Kravitz calls the “out and proud” years of the last decade.

Her photographs of the Invasion, which also were exhibited this fall at fotofoto gallery in Huntington, N.Y., capture that freedom “to be who you want to be,” she explains. In Cherry Grove, “you get off the ferry and you’re in a place where you don’t have to worry about people pointing a finger at you or being disappointed in your choices,” she says. “It’s a place where you can be yourself, and there aren’t many places like that in this world.”

In one image, revelers gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes while primping on a dock as their pearls and rhinestones glitter. In a black-and-white photo from 1987, someone in a blonde wig and polka-dot ruffles frowns into the distance.

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In 2011, a photo depicts a gaggle of swimmers in yellow bathing caps and 1960s-style bathing suits strutting on a red carpet while a crowd cheers. The book also includes essays from regulars at the event, who share reflections on the significance of a place as accepting as Cherry Grove.

“Sometimes coy, sometimes brash, sometimes slyly sneaking a peek and other times boldly holding ground for a long hard stare, Susan and her camera partied hard,” writes Stephen Mayes, a photo expert and queer activist who helped edit the book. “To immerse yourself in the energetic tumble of these pages is to put yourself in heels and to join the ladies with an attitude.”

Kravitz was a sociology major at Barnard with no plans to become an artist, though an art history course taught

by Professor Barbara Novak showed her “how to look at and talk about art.” She also studied psychology and sees that field as the linchpin of her photography.

“I’m looking for what is inside a person that makes them who they are,” she explains. As a young mother, she took

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Susan Kravitz ’65

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Cherry Grove, 1987

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FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, SUSAN KRAVITZ ’65 PHOTOGRAPHED THE “INVASION OF THE PINES,” AN ANNUAL CELEBRATION WHERE PARTICIPANTS IN DRAG SALUTE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. DURING THIS TIME, SHE ALSO CAME TO TERMS WITH HER OWN SEXUALITY.

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a photography course at a community center on Long Island, where she lived, setting her on her path. Later, after earning an MFA in photography, she became a professor and then a dean at Nassau Community College.

What makes Mascara, Mirth, & Mayhem notable is not only the images of a changing time and place but also the journey of the photographer herself.

Kravitz, now 72, at first experienced “the same internalized homophobia many have when they grow up in suburbia,” but she found herself fascinated by everyone she met at her friend’s vacation home when she first visited in 1979.

“It was the most amazing array of people sitting around on the floor,” she says, “and I was attracted to how unique and different they were from the people I had known all my life.” The next time Kravitz went back, several years later, she was divorced and had a female partner.

Coming out was a gradual process, says Kravitz. “I didn’t consciously seek out to become a lesbian, but it happened, and I wasn’t even sure that I was a lesbian for many years. I just thought, Well, this

is something different, and it’s great. And then I had to stop and look at myself and say, Could it be that you really are a lesbian? And it took a long time to come to grips with that.” She adds that the sense of freedom to experiment that prevailed during the 1970s also played a part.

The issue of drag has long been controversial. Some argue that the practice is misogynistic, reinforcing gender stereotypes. Still others worry that it minimizes the gender struggles of those who are LGBTQ. Defenders say drag is a means of self-expression. Kravitz has observed a shift in drag over the years reflecting the new discourse. As LGBTQ people have gained civil rights, analysis of drag and its practices have become more complex and nuanced.

Kravitz’ Cherry Grove photos “capture that first excitement” of the gay scene there from 1979 through the early ’80s, according to The New York Times. Its photojournalism blog, Lens, singled out “the otherworldly spectacle that was then in full bloom—the parties, the drag shows, the afternoon teas at which the whole

community dressed up, and nobody drank tea.” A series by Kravitz called “80 from the 80s: Living and Dying in the Shadow of AIDS,” depicting the years when AIDS began to ravage the Cherry Grove community, was exhibited in September in Pingyao, China.

Two Barnard alumnae helped get Kravitz’ images of the Invasion into book form: Lyn DelliQuadri ’67 is one of her literary agents, and Nancy Freeman ’81 is a sales director for VeronaLibri, which printed the book for the publisher, KMW Studio.

Today, Kravitz and her partner continue to rent a house share of their own in the Cherry Grove community.

“Even in a time of crisis, it was a place where people didn’t judge you,” Kravitz says. “More than going back to photograph, I was going back to find myself.”

•

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 35

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SOURCES

by Eric Quiñones

Photographs by Dianna Bush, Kaylen Fink, and Phoebe Jones ’18

made in the donor’s honor to The Bold Impact Scholarship Fund, which supports current students. (See box for more details.)

“Planned giving strengthens Barnard’s financial future and helps the College sustain its academic excellence, while giving alumnae flexible options to provide support,” says Audra Lewton, the director of gift and estate planning. “The Bold Impact Challenge provides a new opportunity for alumnae to benefit future generations without affecting their current finances, while also making an immediate impact because their gifts will increase scholarship support for deserving students today.”

Though many alumnae may not consider planned giving as an option in their 20s, 30s or 40s, the challenge is designed for alumnae of all ages who want to ensure their role in supporting Barnard’s ongoing success.

“For women of my age, it’s never too early to start thinking about what messages you want to leave behind, especially about the importance of women’s colleges,” says the ’01 alumna.

Amy P. Sung ’96, who is leaving $1 million to Barnard in her will, agrees.

Now a stay-at-home mother, Sung worked in finance for more than a decade following graduation. She created her will after hearing an estate lawyer speak at a luncheon for women in finance, which helped her realize the importance of planning for the future at any age.

“Planned giving is typically not something people think about at our age, but it’s important to be prepared,” she says. “My husband and I both feel very strongly about supporting education.

Women’s education is particularly important to me, and this is my way of making sure it continues.

“As someone who has benefited from financial aid, I want to make sure that future generations of young women from less advantaged or disadvantaged backgrounds have the ability to attend an institution like Barnard,” Sung says. “The fact that our planned gifts also will fund a

current scholarship that will continue on is wonderful and impactful.”

Kristy Bird ’90 was able to finish college by receiving a grant from Barnard after her father became unemployed. She has made small annual gifts each year since graduation and spent “years hoping that I would have vast amounts of wealth to give to Barnard.”

After a divorce, Bird realized that it was time for a careful look at her estate plans. Working with a lawyer, she revised her plans to include a trust that would ultimately benefit her children, but she also decided to set aside a portion of the future trust assets for Barnard.

Bird says that her only initial regret in establishing a planned gift was not being able to make a more immediate contribution. But when she learned that The Bold Impact Challenge would support a current scholarship, “it was a dream come true. I can support Barnard now in a bigger way, and in the future.”

Jennifer Feierman ’09, who made Barnard a partial beneficiary on an employee-benefit life insurance policy, considers planned giving as part of a “holistic giving experience.”

Feierman recently received an MBA from Columbia and works as a fundraiser for the university’s Fu Foundation School for Engineering and Applied Science.

“I am incredibly grateful for the education and the financial assistance I received, and for how Barnard was the springboard for me in many areas of my life. Barnard trained me in a way of thinking and working that is recognized and respected in the professional world, and allowed me to be flexible,” Feierman says. “I’m also grateful to be part of the community of Barnard women, which is the most intelligent, thoughtful and ambitious group I’ve ever met.

“For women of my generation,” she says, “even though we’re relatively young and just starting to build our careers and assets, including Barnard in our plans is a relatively simple way to lend support to the campaign and to say to the College: I’ll always earmark a place for you.”

GIVING

Now, and for the Future • New planned giving challenge supports Barnard today and tomorrow

• Junior year was a life-changing

experience for one member of Barnard’s Class of 2001—but not in the way one might expect.

For this alumna, who prefers to remain anonymous, her third year at Barnard was not focused on studying abroad or applying for the perfect internship.

Instead, she faced unexpected major surgery.

“When I found out that I needed to take the semester off,” she recalls, “I went right into the dean’s office and he walked me through the whole process. My adviser was also 100 percent behind me. They made sure that dealing with school was the least stressful part of what I was going through.

“Going to Barnard saved me in so many ways,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine having the same experience at another school. I always tell people that Barnard gives you the full realm of support that you need—and that I continue to appreciate it today.” To show her gratitude, she designated Barnard as a beneficiary when she drafted her will, and Barnard still holds a place now.

Barnard recognizes how meaningful this form of giving is and recently launched The Bold Impact Challenge, a new planned giving program that enables alumnae to support students of today and tomorrow. Alumnae can set up a planned gift, or report a previously established planned gift, and a contribution equal to 10 percent of that intended gift will be 36

KRISTY BIRD ’90 WITH HER DAUGHTERS (FROM LEFT) MOLLY AND LILY

JENNIFER FEIERMAN ’09 (LEFT) WITH HER SISTER EMILY FEIERMAN ’15

AMY P. SUNG ’96 WITH HER DAUGHTER ANNABELLE

THE BOLD IMPACT CHALLENGE

HOW IT WORKS 1

Name Barnard in your will or trust or as a beneficiary of your retirement plan or insurance policy—or set up another type of planned gift (i.e., charitable gift annuity, charitable remainder trust, pooled income fund gift, or charitable lead trust).

2 Notify Barnard of your plans by filling out the form at barnard.edu/ Planned-Gift-Notification-Form, emailing plannedgiving@barnard. edu, or downloading and mailing a hard copy of the notification form to Barnard College - Planned Giving, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027.

Previously established planned gifts will count toward the Challenge if you notify Barnard now.

3 A contribution equal to 10 percent of your intended gift will be made in your name to The Bold Impact Scholarship Fund, supported by a gift through the estate of Barbara Chamberlain, a sister of Helen Chamberlain Josefsberg ’30.

ALL GIFTS FOR THE BOLD IMPACT CHALLENGE MUST BE RECORDED BY DECEMBER 31, 2017.

QUESTIONS? CONTACT AUDRA LEWTON, DIRECTOR OF GIFT AND ESTATE PLANNING, AT 212.870.2534 OR ALEWTON@BARNARD.EDU

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 37

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

Photograph by Brandon Schulman

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Taking Bold Steps • As I write this letter, the Class of 2020 is settling in, and I know you join me in welcoming our future alumnae to the Barnard community, as we did at Convocation, a symbol of the connection between Barnard students and alumnae.

Throughout the summer, alumnae leaders were busy planning Leadership Assembly and the launch of the new alumnae website, as well as a range of other events and programs. Alumnae attended gatherings at Barnard and in their regions, including sendoff events for new students hosted by regional clubs. On campus, Barnard’s Professional and Leadership Development Committee (PLDC) hosted a storytelling event in July attended by over 70 alumnae and friends. In the words of one alumna, “The storytelling workshop was fabulous! I got so much out of it. Thanks for organizing it. Just wanted to let you know!”

I am excited to share with you that PLDC will be offering three programs this year under the theme “Taking Bold Steps.”

SUPPORT BARNARD

If you are interested in learning more about these and many more programs and support opportunities, please contact: The Bold Standard theboldstandard@barnard.edu 212.870.2520 Alumnae Relations alumnaerelations@barnard.edu 212.854.2005 Career Development ocd@barnard.edu 212.854.2033 Annual Giving annualgiving@barnard.edu 212.870.2520 Planned Giving plannedgiving@barnard.edu 212.870.2520 Or visit barnard.edu or our.barnard.edu.

REUNION: A DATE CHANGE Please make note that Reunion 2017 has been rescheduled for Thursday, June 1, through Sunday, June 4, 2017. If you have questions, please contact reunion@barnard.edu or call 212.854.2005.

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• “Building a Bold Network: Strategies and Skills for Leveraging the Power of a Diverse and Ambitious Network,” sponsored in conjunction with The Young Alumni Board Committee, on Wednesday, November 16.

• “Women on Boards,” bringing together members of corporate, non-profit, and start-up boards to discuss the topic of women on boards, specifically what it takes and how you need to prepare yourself to be selected and serve as an effective board member, scheduled for February or March.

• “Facing your Fears: How to Take Risks and Make a Difference in Your Career and Personal Life,” scheduled for June.

These events will offer alumnae the opportunity to continue to “Take Bold Steps” to enable their professional growth, enhance their development, and expand their network.

On Tuesday, November 15, the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW) will present “Activism in Context: An Intergenerational Dialogue on Organizing in the Shadow of the 2016 Elections.” This panel will feature Katherine Brewster and Janet Price, both Class of 1971. For more information on events, visit barnard.edu or our.barnard.edu.

Given our goal of bringing Barnard closer to all alumnae, regardless of location, I hope many of you participated in Alumnae Relations’ “Summer School” program, which offered recorded programs for your virtual participation. If not, I encourage you to go to Barnard’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/alumnaeaffairs) to watch lectures, alumnae/author presentations, and reunion events. For instance, you can virtually attend: • “Putin and After,” a lecture by Barnard Professor Kimberly Marten, hosted by Project Continuum • “It All Comes Back to Barnard: Live Alumnae Storytelling at Reunion 2016” • An evening with author Cecily Wong ’10, with a reading and discussion of her debut novel, Diamond Head, hosted by the Young Alumnae Committee Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead filled with opportunities to connect with alumnae, students, and faculty, and giving back to the college.

—Terry Newman ’79

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

by Matt Hamilton

Illustration by Rachel Levit

NEWS & EVENTS

Our Website, Our Barnard • With an alumnae advisory committee, Alumnae Relations launches a new online alumnae community

• Alumnae Relations has recently

introduced Our Barnard, a redesigned, restructured, and mobile-friendly website, aiming to bring alumnae communications up-to-date with growing trends, provide intellectual and peer-to-peer engagement, and strengthen the reporting of Barnard’s various alumnae programs. The site takes the place of the long-running “Alumnae Network,” which was launched in 2009 as an answer to alumnae print directories and emerging social media platforms.

Since the launch of the “Alumnae Network,” Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others broadened their usership and enhanced their services, content marketing became an essential tool, and Internet users increasingly surfed the web on mobile devices. With these circumstances in mind, it was essential to update how alumnae relate to Barnard online.

Enter Our Barnard.

Last fall, Alumnae Relations, along with the ad hoc Alumnae Website Advisory Committee (AWAC) chaired by Anastasia Andrzejewski ’97, started this important process.

The mission of Our Barnard is a simple yet important one: By mobilizing alumnae and friends to convene, learn, and get involved, both in person and online, Our Barnard will empower graduates of every generation to connect to and advance Barnard College.

The design of the site is vivid and lively, reflective of the boldness of the Barnard community, and content is concise, informative, and action-oriented.

Likewise, the website navigation is organized to urge action: Connect Engage with class, regional, and shared interest groups, and find and network with alumnae across the globe.

Learn Expand your knowledge, further your career, and stay connected to what is being discussed on campus.

Attend Explore listings, career counseling, and recorded events and learn how to host your own gathering.

Give Support The Bold Standard: A Campaign for Barnard, the most

ambitious fundraising initiative the College has ever undertaken.

Volunteer Meet volunteers, examine resources, and get involved with the AABC and other opportunities around campus.

Inquire Look into alumnae benefits, contact the College, update your information, and more.

Our Barnard will provide more open channels between the College and alumnae, emphasizing intellectual content, social media, and alumnae stories. As such, graduates will see themselves more and more in the happenings on campus and beyond. Similarly, tools such as the Alumnae Directory and Class and Regional Club Pages are still available, but have been updated accordingly.

“In many ways, this is just the beginning of a new era for Barnard alumnae communications,” Terry Newman ’79, president of the AABC, wrote in a letter to the alumnae community. She adds, “This tool provides the opportunity to share fresh content on the site, as well as on Barnard alumnae’s various social media channels.”

How we associate with each other online, engage with our alma mater, and are drawn to a story is always changing. In launching Our Barnard, alumnae will grow along with the College as new and exciting connections for alumnae are continuously fostered.

•

Explore Our Barnard at our.barnard.edu

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 39

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

by Matt Hamilton

NEWS & EVENTS

Meet Your New AABC Board Members • In July, the AABC welcomed six new board members, along with one transitioning to a new position, elected by alumnae to advise and guide the Alumnae Association

• LEILA RAFIZADEH BASSI ’94

Alumnae Trustee Leila is a member of the Regional Advisory Committee and former Directorat-Large for the AABC. She has served as the President of the Barnard Club of London for over five years. As an Alumnae Trustee, she serves the College as a graduate representative to the Barnard Board of Trustees.

GLORIA MAMBA ’89

Director-at-Large Gloria has served as a Barnard Alumna Admissions representative, assisted with the development of the Global Symposium in South Africa, and facilitated the student exchange program between the University of Cape Town and Barnard. As a Director-at-Large, she assumes a needed position at the direction of the AABC. RANDI JAFFE ’74

Annual Giving Committee Chair Randi has served on the Annual Giving Committee since 2014, and in various 40

Class Officer positions for many years— helping ’74 reach higher and higher fundraising goals. As Annual Giving Committee Chair, she works to strategize and facilitate fundraising efforts.

ADRIENNE SERBAROLI ’02

Bylaws and Governance Chair Adrienne has been an active Barnard Alumna Admissions Representative since 2004 and participates in the local Barnard alumnae clubs whenever she gets stationed in a new city by the Marines, in which she serves as a lawyer. As Bylaws and Governance Chair, she oversees the bylaws of the AABC and ensures their proper execution.

LORI HOEPNER ’94

Fellowship Committee Chair Lori has served Barnard since graduation as a Class Officer, on various committees, and as a Barnard Alumna Admissions Representative, BBPW Director, and former President of the Barnard College Club of New York. As Fellowship Committee Chair, she oversees the annual process for choosing the recipients for the AABC Fellowship for Graduate Study.

LISA LIN ’98

Nominating Committee Chair Lisa is the President of the Barnard Club of Northern California, where she plans numerous events, including an annual scholarship fundraiser. She also runs the 5,600-member Barnard College Alumnae LinkedIn Group. As Nominating Committee Chair, she oversees the process and execution of the AABC nominations.

SHILPA BAHRI ’99

Reunion Committee Chair Shilpa is the President of the Class of 1999 and has served on various committees, including the Alumnae Website Advisory Committee and the Reunion Committee. As Reunion Committee Chair, she will oversee the committee participating in the planning and execution of Barnard’s biggest annual alumnae event.

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

•

The Alumnae Association of Barnard College was established in 1895 to further the interests of the College and connect alumnae worldwide.

Learn more online at our.barnard.edu PRESIDENT & ALUMNAE TRUSTEE

Terry Newman ’79 VICE PRESIDENT

Francine Benzaken Glick ’77 TREASURER

Kathie Plourde ’73 ALUMNAE TRUSTEE

Leila Rafizadeh Bassi ’94 ALUMNAE TRUSTEE

Camille Kiely Kelleher ’70 ALUMNAE TRUSTEE

Linda Sweet ’63 BYLAWS CHAIR

Adrienne Serbaroli ’02 DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE

Gloria Mamba ’89 DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE / WEBSITE ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIR

Anastasia Andrzejewski ’97 DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE / ALMA MATERS COMMITTEE CHAIR

Amy Blumberg Schrader ’92 FELLOWSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIR

Lori Hoepner ’94 LEADERSHIP ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE CHAIR

Jennifer Feierman ’09 NOMINATING COMMITTEE CHAIR

Lisa Lin ’98 PROFESSIONAL & LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE CHAIR

Rochelle Cooper-Schneider ’84 PROJECT CONTINUUM COMMITTEE CHAIR

Doralynn Schlossman Pines ’69 REGIONAL NETWORKS CHAIR

Patricia Tinto ’76 REUNION COMMITTEE CHAIR

Shilpa Bahri ’99 YOUNG ALUMNAE COMMITTEE CHAIR

Julie Malyn Melwani ’09 SGA PRESIDENT

Sara Heiny ’17

ALUMNAE RELATIONS

•

Alumnae Relations partners with students and alumnae to carry out engagement initiatives to further the mission of the College.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ALUMNAE RELATIONS

Caitlin D. Tramel SENIOR ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ALUMNAE ENGAGEMENT

Jennifer Roesch ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ALUMNAE COMMUNICATIONS

Matt Hamilton MANAGER OF REGIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT

Elissa Verrilli ’11 MANAGER OF YOUNG ALUMNAE & STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Greta Boorn MANAGER OF ALUMNAE ENGAGEMENT

Ann Goldberg ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Clara Bauman DEPARTMENT ASSISTANT

Melanie Kennedy

Quench Your Thirst for Knowledge.

Glass Water Bottle $14

THE BARNARD STORE thebarnardstore.com

BARNARD MAGAZINE FALL 2016 73

LAST WORD

by Karla Spurlock-Evans ’71

Photograph courtesy of Trinity College

From Barricades to Bridges

The year 1968 was cataclysmic. In New York City, students at Barnard and Columbia protested the University’s involvement in the Vietnam War and the proposed construction of a gymnasium for Columbia on city-owned land in Morningside Park. A major step in the “Awakening” came the fall of my first year, when H. Rap Brown, the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a tall, caramelcolored “brotha” sporting a big bush and dark glasses, came to Columbia’s Dodge Hall. “Violence,” Brother Rap proclaimed, “is as American as cherry pie.”

The truth of H. Rap Brown’s revelation became all too clear on April 4, 1968, the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. I was at home for Easter, but when I returned to school, the world we knew seemed to unravel. By mistake I took a train to East 116th Street instead of West 116th. I came up out of the subway station to police and police dogs all around, smoke wafting through the air.

Two weeks later, on April 23, I was in my dorm room when word reached me that I should head over to Hamilton Hall for a demonstration where the Soul Syndicate, a campus R&B group that included some black Columbia students, was playing. After I arrived, the doors were locked. Unwittingly, I was swept up in the protest. Initially distraught, by week’s end, I was all in.

Approximately 100 students from Columbia’s Student Afro-American Society (SAS) and other groups were involved in the takeover at Hamilton Hall, which held the administration offices of Columbia College. SAS separated itself from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the largely white, new left group with whom SAS had taken the building.

We released Dean Coleman, who had been barricaded in his office by SDS, and proceeded to establish a community.

Our grievances against Columbia focused on the University’s proposal to take public land to build a gym in Morningside Park. Our allies in Harlem kept us fed and protected—and we

understood that Harlem’s physical proximity to Columbia would require a nuanced and strategic response from the University and city authorities.

Graduate students led the charge and served as role models for younger protesters like me. We hunkered down, eating meals donated by Harlem community supporters and holding hours of SNCC-inspired strategy sessions that were only resolved by consensus.

A week into the protest, in the early hours of April 30, police officers, some with tears in their eyes, peacefully removed us from Hamilton Hall through underground tunnels and delivered us to The Tombs, the municipal jail in lower Manhattan. By afternoon, we were released without posting bond and, over the summer, most charges were dropped.

The outcome of the protest was ambiguous, our reaction to it bittersweet.

But I left Hamilton Hall with a deep conviction that all things are possible when people with pure intentions and common goals come together to support each other.

I gained a belief in the power of listening to others, compromise, and—hokey as it may sound—politics infused with love.

After Barnard, I entered a Ph.D. program at Emory, but before finishing, took a detour into student affairs, which has given me the opportunity to focus on helping students find themselves, hit their academic stride, and achieve—and, in the process, change the nation.

I serve as a bridge between students and schools, working with both sides to accomplish goals that will not destroy institutions, but make them stronger. It was, after all, a certain institution that encouraged me toward what would become my life’s work. Barnard gave me tools and provided experiences that set me on my path.

• Seven days of protest led to a career in the service of students

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Karla Spurlock-Evans ’71 is the dean of multicultural affairs at Trinity College.

The Class of 1971 Oral History Project preserves Barnard history from a perspective often lost to the community at large—stories shared over Reunion dinners, laughed about on the phone, but rarely recorded for future generations. Among the stories newly captured by the project, housed in Barnard’s Digital Collections and available to students and alumnae, is that of Karla Spurlock-Evans.

In her oral history, Spurlock-Evans tells of the seven days that she says changed her life: the week she spent barricaded inside Hamilton Hall during the Columbia protests of 1968.

The experience spurred her to pursue a career in higher education. Spurlock-Evans has been an assistant professor of African and African-American Studies at the University at Albany and a dean at Haverford College, Lake Forest College, and Northwestern University. Since 1999, she has been the dean of multicultural affairs at Trinity College— the first person to hold the position—as well as the senior diversity officer. Here is her story.

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To hear more, attend “Activism in Context: An Intergenerational Dialogue on Organizing in the Shadow of the 2016 Elections” on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the James Room, 4th floor Barnard Hall.

PRESIDENT’S PAGE

Continued from Page 3 is where the liberal arts become so crucial and so relevant. Because as technologies evolve and inevitably begin to creep up on tasks and functions that were once considered solely ours, we will need to consider and resolve some of the greatest questions that humankind has ever faced.

What will we do as societies once the jobs go away? How will we preserve dignity and create value? What is the definition of consciousness? Of art? Of love and life and purpose? These are questions that go to the core of the liberal arts mission, and questions whose urgency will only grow over time.

Ancient Greek mythology tells the story of Talos, a robot built by Hephaestus to protect the coast of Crete. Talos was destroyed by Medea, who was angry that Hephaestus had imbued his creation with the immortal blood of the gods. We are building thousands of Taloses today— industrial robots, assistive robots, robotic drones, and ever-more intelligent phones.

Perhaps this has always been our destiny, to create new beings more powerful than ourselves. But it is also, then, our responsibility to create wisely, and to figure out what it means to be human in an age of smart machines.

SUMMER IN NEW YORK CITY

PROGRAMS FOR RISING HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR AND SENIOR GIRLS Summer in the City Program • Liberal Arts Intensive Young Women’s Leadership Institute Dance in the City • Summer Science Seminars • Entrepreneurs-in-Training

barnard.edu/summer

Applications for summer 2017 available in January

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

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A Celebration of Women and Leadership Now in its seventh year, the Athena Film Festival—a festival dedicated to celebrating films from around the world that capture the courage, strength, and leadership of women—is an engaging weekend of feature films, documentaries and shorts that highlight women’s leadership in real life and the fictional world. The four-day festival, which includes conversations with directors and talent, as well as workshops for filmmakers, has quickly established itself as one of the most prestigious festivals of its kind.

The festival will be held Feb. 9-12, 2017 and the events take place all over the Barnard campus. To learn more about the festival, including opportunities to volunteer and purchase tickets, visit athenafilmfestival.com.

The Founding Sponsor of the Festival is Artemis Rising Foundation, Regina K. Scully CEO and Founder.

FEBRUARY 9–12, 2017 BARNARD COLLEGE ATHENAFILMFESTIVAL.COM Founding Sponsor

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LAST IMAGE

LAST IMAGE: CALL FOR ENTRIES

Do you have an amazing image or work of art that you would like to share with fellow alumnae?

Please send submissions to David Hopson at dhopson@barnard.edu.

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by Polly Barton ’78

Persephone, 2016 Handwoven Japanese tsumugi silk, double ikat woven in 4 panels. 34 x 72 inches.

Courtesy of Gail Martin Gallery, NYC

BARNARD REUNION June 1–4, 2017

Save the date for lectures, storytelling, receptions, and more as you reconnect with your classmates and Barnard alumnae across generations!

If you would like to serve on your class committee and be involved in planning Reunion, please contact Alumnae Relations at reunion@barnard.edu or 212.854.2005.

Bring It Back to Barnard.

Your Wit. Your Wisdom. Your Stories.