Hollins University Alumnae Magazine, Spring 2019 issue

SPRING 2019

The

R ELUCTA N T PLA I N T I FF Ann Branigar Hopkins ’65 and the U.S. Supreme Court case that bears her name

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Hollins Hollins Magazine Vol. 69, No. 4 April - June 2019 GUEST EDITOR Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11 ADVISORY BOARD President Pareena Lawrence, Vice President for External Relations Suzy Mink ’74, Director of Alumnae Relations Lauren Sells Walker ’04, Director of Public Relations Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ann Atkins Hackworth ’82, M.A.L.S. ’95; Mary Ann Harvey Johnson ’67, M.A. ’71; Lucy Lee M.A.L.S. ’85, C.A.S. ’03; Linda Martin; Brenda McDaniel HON ’12; Sharon Meador; Kathy Rucker

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President Pareena Lawrence, Dean of Academic Success Michael Gettings, and Executive Director of Career Development Karen Cardozo give highlights of the new strategic plan.

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PRINTER Progress Printing, Lynchburg, VA Hollins (USPS 247/440) is published quarterly by Hollins University, Roanoke, VA 24020. Entered as Periodicals Postage Paid at Roanoke, VA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hollins, Hollins University, Box 9688, Roanoke, VA 24020 or call (800) TINKER1.

The articles and class letters in Hollins do not necessarily represent the official policies of Hollins University, nor are they always the opinions of the editor. Hollins University does not discriminate in admission because of race, color, religion, age, disability, genetic information, national or ethnic origin, veteran status, or sexual orientation and maintains a nondiscriminatory policy throughout its operation. For more information, contact the director of human resources/Title IX coordinator, (540) 362-6660 or hollinshr@hollins.edu.

Questions, comments, corrections, or story ideas may be sent to:

Emptying a Home, Filling the Heart Kathy “Huddy” Hudson ’71 interviews Marietta McCarty ’69 about her new book, Leaving 1203, a philosophical musing on closing a beloved family home.

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This Is Us This section of the magazine shows recent highlights of the Hollins experience.

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Beyond Measure Five faculty members—Jean Fallon, Jeanne Larsen M.A. ’72, George Ledger, Joe W. Leedom, and Bob Sulkin—retire at the end of the academic year. Members of the Hollins community pay tribute to their immeasurable contributions to the university.

CLASS LETTERS EDITORS Olivia Body ’08 and Samantha Hoover DESIGNERS Sarah Sprigings, David Hodge Anstey Hodge Advertising Group, Roanoke, VA

Building a Life of Consequence

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The Reluctant Plaintiff Ann Branigar Hopkins ’65 gave her name to a landmark sex discrimination case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

By Mary Welek Atwell

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From STEM to STEAM Integrating science and the creative arts prepares students for a changing job market and global challenges.

By Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11

D E P A R T M E N T S 2

Letters to the Editor

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In the Loop

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Alumnae Connections

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Focus on Philanthropy

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Class Letters, with profiles of Dannette Gomez Beane ’02 and Jasmine Kettenacker ’12

Magazine Editor Hollins University Box 9657 Roanoke, VA 24020 magazine@hollins.edu

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Visit the online version of Hollins magazine at hollins.edu/magazine.

LETTERS TO THE

Editor

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hanks, Hollins, my alma mater, for a reminder that I need to find a balance in my grad school life. #womengoingplaces #myhollins —Lan Nguyen ’18, via Instagram

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just read as much as I could of the latest edition of Hollins magazine. I say “as much as I could” because the layout/design prevented me from reading the magazine in its entirety. Reason? Color choices and size of type. Most especially, I was unable to read the “In Memoriam” column on Larry Becker because the type was tiny, and black on a brown background. My level of frustration went off the charts. What were your designers thinking?

Just because a design choice is pretty, or edgy, or whatever, doesn’t make it functional.

I am a member of the class of 1974, which makes me in my (upper) mid-60s. For alumnae of my age, our eyes aren’t what they were even 10 or 15 years ago. Please keep us older alumnae in mind when you lay out the magazine.

—Donna K. Hughes-Oldenburg ’74, M.A. ’75, via email EDITOR’S RESPONSE: We agree with you and have taken steps to improve readability by running the profiles and class letters in larger type and monitoring background colors.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU FOR THE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PAGE.

SEND YOUR LETTER TO: Magazine Editor Hollins University Box 9657 Roanoke, VA 24020 OR magazine@hollins.edu

Building a Life of Consequence Reimagining the Hollins Experience for the 21st Century Learner

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ike the myriad trails winding through the Blue Ridge Mountains that surround our campus, Hollins students blaze their own paths of self-discovery that culminate in lifelong engagement with the world.

This adventurous spirit is the heart and soul of Hollins’ mission—and it is this same force that drives our new strategic plan, recently approved by our Board of Trustees.

Reimagining the Hollins experience for our students will help guide our beloved liberal arts university toward a stronger future. Meeting the needs of the 21st century learner begins by altering how we think about the majors we offer and the educational experiences that support our students. At Hollins, we have recently approved several new majors, minors, and concentrations.

• A new data analytics minor is preparing our undergraduates to work in a datadriven world in which data scientists are being sought by every major company and organization. Students learn the cutting-edge, open-source software used by industries today.

• Our redesigned business major emphasizes the development of women as leaders and innovators and features the new Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning, which focuses on developing an entrepreneurial outlook across all disciplines.

• Establishing a major in public health provides our students with the opportunity to understand health issues from multidisciplinary

perspectives—environmental, global, communications, business, science, analytics, policy, and more.

• The addition of counseling as a concentration within the psychology major will better prepare students for graduate work in those fields, as well as increase student opportunities for skills development.

• Building upon its concentration and minor in creative writing in addition to a Master of Fine Arts degree in the field, the Jackson Center for Creative Writing this academic year introduced an undergraduate major in creative writing. This strengthens our commitment to helping students develop ways of seeing and saying that are distinctly their own.

To help our students explore their options and personalize their journeys at Hollins and beyond, we have developed three new initiatives: • Launch for Life: Professional and Life Skills Development is a four-year program that will prepare students to enter the world of work and life with greater assurance and competence, as well as attitudes that foster resilience and well-being toward lifelong success. This includes the attributes the National Association of Colleges and Employers identifies as most sought by organizations, which Karen Cardozo, executive director of career development, lists in her essay. A major differentiator for the program is its focus on helping students navigate

Sharon Meador

Integrated and innovative opportunities will challenge our students to learn and grow holistically across traditional boundaries. B Y P R E S I D E N T P A R E E N A L A W R E N C E

and overcome gender disparities in cultural and professional socialization and structures. Training in specific aspects of professional and leadership development will be offered, such as networking, negotiations, financial literacy, teamwork, time management, and workplace-relevant technology.

The program also focuses on the other essential aspects of a growth mindset, cross-cultural fluency, and overall welfare. These broader orientations provide fuel to ensure our students can go the distance and overcome challenges in the classroom and in the workplace.

• Experience Plus ensures that all Hollins students can engage in at least two high-impact experiential learning opportunities by the time they graduate. These include internships, study abroad, undergraduate research and creative work, leadership, experiential courses, and select on-campus employment opportunities. Featuring a

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Advising 360˚: Dedicated Mentoring varied and flexible format, Experience Plus allows students to pursue their chosen interests while cultivating breadth and exposure to experiential learning in different contexts.

• Changes in both student populations and learning opportunities require us to rethink traditional student advising, which has largely been a matter of getting students into the right classes at the right times so that they can complete their degrees. Advising 360° is a student-centered approach that ensures our students take advantage of the many opportunities offered at Hollins and reach their personal and career aspirations. The purpose is to go beyond traversing academic requirements and help students find their way past obstacles that interfere with full engagement and inhibit degree completion. Under this new model, explained more fully by Dean of Academic Success Michael Gettings in the following article, students will have a team of advisors during their four years focused on their personal growth and development.

The advisors will help ensure the achievement of two crucial goals: persistence to graduation and engagement in the rich array of learning experiences that position our students for success in college and beyond.

Launch for Life, Experience Plus, and Advising 360˚ involve all members of the Hollins community: parents, faculty, administrators, trustees, and alumnae/i. More than ever, I am excited to ask you to join me in creating a distinctive, vibrant educational and professional experience that will empower our students to lead Lives of Consequence.

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Advising teams work with students to promote on- and off-campus success. B Y M I C H A E L G E T T I N G S

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hat is Advising 360˚ and why is it important?

Today’s students have many educational choices, from residential colleges to fully online degree programs.

In addition, this generation faces more challenges than ever before—financial struggles, family issues, health concerns, and more. For prospective students to understand why it’s so beneficial to attend a college like Hollins, they need to see the value of pursuing a degree on our campus, with its myriad offerings, both curricular and otherwise. And they need to know that they will have dedicated mentoring in navigating their options.

We want students to craft their own meaningful Hollins experience, and to do that, all students will have an advisor who helps them think holistically about that experience.

To make the most of a Hollins education, students should not only

pursue a major, minor, concentrations, or certificates, but they should consider study abroad, internships, and community-based learning, among other options. In addition, education at Hollins extends into campus employment, athletics, clubs, student government, outdoor activities, guest speakers, conferences, and much more.

We all know that life throws us curveballs and things don’t always go according to plan. The holistic advisor is there as a trusted resource when students encounter obstacles.

Advisors are trained to provide expert referrals to any number of resources when students find they have needs, from academic tutoring to health support to financial aid advice to career development. The advisor’s role is to make sure the student knows where to go and who to talk to when needs arise.

Much of the focus on supporting student success is already baked into our culture. For generations, Hollins students and alumnae have testified that a professor or staff member helped them grow and succeed at just the right time. Advising 360˚ formally extends that kind of support to every student, from the time she first arrives on campus. It’s a model that fits us incredibly well.

How will it work?

These holistic advisors will begin with students during first-year orientation; their role is to get to know the students and understand their interests and goals.

Initially, select faculty members will serve in this advising role and will be specially trained and certified. They will have frequent contact with students during the first year in particular. After students declare their majors by the end of their sophomore year, they will primarily meet with their major advisor, as they do currently. The holistic advisor remains a member of a team that supports the student, and holistic advisors will be at commencement to celebrate the student’s accomplishments as they receive their degrees. Other members of the faculty and staff will serve on the advising team, as

well as a student peer mentor who will work with the student from the beginning.

What will students gain?

Students will immediately gain a trusted source of support from the day they arrive at Hollins. More broadly, however, they will gain confidence in and connection to all that Hollins offers them, including advisors who will help them develop their own sense of agency, so they can make choices that help them reach their goals.

Many current students are the first in their families to attend college, and any student may encounter challenges along the way that make pursuing goals difficult.

In addition to ensuring support for those who may encounter challenges, the Advising 360˚ program recognizes that even strong students who arrive well prepared for the academic rigor at Hollins can still benefit from guidance and access to resources. Hollins is committed to the success of every student admitted to the university.

What does success look like?

With Advising 360˚ in place, along with other new initiatives such as the life and career skills curriculum and Experience Plus, we imagine being able to better

Gettings

attract and retain students as they fully realize all that Hollins has to offer.

More important, these initiatives will help students realize all that they are capable of—we envision students graduating with more confidence and a clearer sense of purpose because they have been charting their course at Hollins more intentionally from the start, and with a greater sense of cohort and community.

Michael Gettings is dean of academic success.

Taking Inventory in the Present and Imagining the Future Two innovative programs teach students how to be resilient in a world of disruptive change.

BY KAREN M. CARDOZO

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oday, a career isn’t a single outcome or destination. It’s the journey itself.

And what will students need for that lifelong trip? A sense of direction or purpose, navigational skills, and fuel.

Together, the new four-year life skills and career development program and Experience Plus will stimulate creativity, build confidence, and spark enjoyment as

students explore their interests, claim their aspirations, and acquire the competencies to achieve their goals.

How will the four-year life skills and career development program work?

Many colleges and universities recognize the need to better prepare students for changing careers and life in the 21st cen-

tury. However, few have committed to a thoughtfully sequenced four-year platform that will help every student launch strong into the world. Our program is shaped by “bookends” as students enter and exit Hollins, with key checkpoints in the sophomore and junior years. The bookends are a first-year holistic advising cohort and a senior seminar closely aligned with

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and financial literacy, along with goal setting, prioritization, and time management. Highlights of the 2019-20 programs include: YEAR 1

Fall advising sessions on goal setting, time management, and well-being basics support students during their transition to college. J-Term offers both time and programming to dive deeper into self-assessment and career exploration.

Cardozo

our Advising 360˚ initiative, in which students will be encouraged to ask: Who am I and where am I going? That query looks both inward and outward; it takes inventory in the present while imagining the future. By engaging early and often with this question, students can be more intentional about designing lives of consequence at Hollins and beyond. They can dream big and figure out how to make their own unique contributions.

The program seeks to foster what the National Association of Colleges and Employers call the “NACE 8,” top competencies sought by employers: career management, communication (verbal and written), critical thinking, cross-cultural fluency, collaboration/ teamwork, leadership, digital/information literacy, and professional work ethic.

Hollins faculty, staff, students, and alumnae identified other key orientations: an agile or growth mindset, creativity and curiosity, self-care/well-being,

YEAR 2

Sophomores explore the relationship between major and career. A “boot camp” in May teaches financial literacy by asking students to model the cost-benefit analysis of different career choices.

YEAR 3

Juniors move toward “a summer that counts,” through a workshop series that helps them secure substantive high-impact experiences that will distinguish them in job or graduate school applications in their senior year (see Experience Plus, below).

YEAR 4

Seniors take a Real World Launch course in which they engage in life design and pursue their ideal first destination after Hollins; they will also learn about many opportunities to actively network and engage in the alumnae association.

What is Experience Plus?

Hollins already offers a wide variety of experiential learning opportunities— leadership studies in the Batten

Leadership Institute and student leadership positions; internships and on-campus employment; study abroad; community-based learning; and undergraduate research, including senior theses or other capstone projects.

Experience Plus ensures that students have access to at least two of these experiences.

How will these programs leverage the Roanoke region?

Hollins’ new Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning is designed to foster dynamic interactions between the classroom and the growing community of innovators in the region. Moreover, an expanded C3 format this fall will include regional partners for industry-based networking; and each spring the HireHollins: Employer-Talent Showcase hosts regional organizations for a dynamic mix of networking, mentoring, and recruiting.

How can alumnae/i get involved?

There are many opportunities for alumnae/i to engage, from serving as a professional mentor to hosting internships or networking events in your region.

We recommend that you sign up for Hollins’ Career Advising Network (CAN) and join Handshake: Career Network for College Students & Recent Grads (www.hollins.joinhandshake.com) as an employer so you can post internship and job opportunities. No one builds a life of consequence alone—we need all of you. We appreciate your commitment and support.

Karen Cardozo is executive director of career development.

NEW ACADEMIC PROGR AMS A redesigned business major has been approved and includes an entrepreneurship track and minor.

A data analytics minor and a creative writing major have also been approved, and we have added clinical psychology and counseling as a concentra-

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tion within the psychology major. During the spring semester, faculty approved a new major in public health. All new programs will launch in fall 2019.

New graduate programs are being explored in higher-demand areas in the health sciences,

including speech-language pathology, addiction counseling, and medical social work. In addition, we will review existing graduate programs to assess market strengths and limitations and make informed decisions regarding strategic investments.

IN THE

For love of the game Senior lacrosse player plans career in sports administration

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alerie “Val” Heflin ’19 was shy as a student in her Orange County, California, high school.

So when she moved across the country to attend Hollins, she decided, “I’m gonna be a new me. I want to be outgoing.” The single-sex environment taught her to speak up. Now, she says, “I love raising my hand.”

A senior majoring in communication studies, with a minor in psychology, Heflin has been building toward a career she imagined for herself in high school: working in sports administration. As a basketball player in high school and a lacrosse player at Hollins, she knows firsthand the culture of athletes.

“I like the sociability of being on a team,” she says.

Hollins athletes are “very genuine; we support each other’s games. If you’re an athlete, you’re just sort of expected to be there. I don’t think you see that at every college campus.”

She wrote her senior thesis on how broadcasters use the “female apologetic” when talking about female athletes—a term she defined “as ways [broadcasters] describe female athletes as feminine to make up for the fact that they’re athletic, usually a masculine trait. For example, they’ll say, ‘She gracefully fell.’

A lot of the time they won’t say anything—and not saying anything is almost worse, because no one likes a silent broadcast. But because they aren’t experts in [women’s athletics], they have nothing to say.”

She serves as athletic chair for the Student Government Association, a role in which she’s a “bridge between the student government and the rest of the student body to the athletics department and student athletes.”

And she spent her senior J-Term interning with the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, or ODAC, of which Hollins is a member. She helped her supervisor, Bethany Dannelly, director of championships, get ready for upcoming basketball and swimming tournaments, made playlists and updated record books, and attended coaches’ meetings.

The internship “definitely reaffirmed what I want to do professionally,” she says.

Her experience as a student athlete at Hollins also confirms her decision to stay in the field. “I have nothing but positive things to say about [Director of Athletics] Myra Sims and [Head Lacrosse Coach] Kate Keagins. Hollins sports are definitely getting better and performing at a higher level. I’m so excited to see what happens in the next two years.”

The Influence of Women: A showcase of student artists Sponsored by Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

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orks by Hollins students highlighted an exhibition that explored and celebrated the many ways women affect their worlds.

Students in Associate Professor of Art Jennifer Printz’s Intaglio Printmaking class contributed their creativity to The Influence of Women, which was on display at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM) through March 1, 2019.

“Each student produced two amazing prints about women who have influenced them, from friends, to family, to fictional heroines,” Printz explains.

Sponsored by VTCSOM’s Creativity in Healthcare Education program, The Influence of Women is one of three exhibitions held annually for local artists to showcase their works to the community and to reinforce to medical students the importance of having a community connection.

Rachel Jackson ’19, Hikaru, dry-point print with watercolor, 2018

Idella Glenn (shown), special advisor on inclusivity and diversity; Board of Trustees Chair Alexandra Trower ’86; and Cheryl Taylor ’09, biology lab technician, were among those who spoke during the Hollins Day celebration in February about the institution’s beginning, the contributions made and milestones achieved over the past 177 years, what Hollins means to them now, and their vision for the future.

Sharon Meador

Sharon Meador

Loop

ALUMNAE

Connections Turnout was excellent for the annual internship reception in New York City in January.

Bibhu Sapkota ’19, Board of Trustees Chair Alexandra Trower ’86, and Jyoti Thapa ’21

Maria Jdid ’21, Harika Bommana ’21, and Mary Cochran ’21

Holly Hunt ’90, Helen Miller ’77, and Judy Morrill ’84

Malia Diaz ’19, Ivana Martinez ’21, and Danielle Sawyer ’19

Susie Marckwald Mackay ’62, Linn Montjoy Carl ’64, and Frances Hoffa Hershkowitz ’64

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FOCUS ON

Philanthropy Rooms with a view

Recent changes on the Board of Trustees

Ground broken on new student village

New and emeritus members

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Frist

Graves

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ew members of the Board of Trustees include Tracy Roberts Frist M.A. ’03, M.F.A. ’14 and Tiffany Marshall Graves ’97. William “Bill” Johnston, who served on the board [for nine years], has been named a trustee emeritus, joining a select group of individuals who have served Hollins with distinction.

TRACY ROBERTS FRIST M.A. ’03, M.F.A. ’14 Franklin, Tennessee

Frist is the founder, owner, and operator of Sinking Creek Land and Cattle, LLC, a primarily woman-run agricultural operation in Southwest Virginia.

At Sinking Creek, Tracy promotes human-animal therapy, literacy programs, federal and state conservation and environmental programs, and multi-university internships.

An award-winning writer, Frist holds master’s degrees in creative and in analytical writing from Hollins.

She has been active in social and economic development in Haiti, Cuba, China, and Ireland, working through the global board of the Nature Conservancy, Nashville Health Care Council, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. She serves on the boards of Centerstone Tennessee, a nonprofit organization that provides community mental health and substance abuse treatment and support across multiple states, and the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County.

TIFFANY MARSHALL GRAVES ’97 Ridgeland, Mississippi

Graves graduated with honors from Hollins with a B.A. in Spanish and political science. She went on to earn her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2006. As a law student, she was honored with the Powell Fellowship in Legal Services, which allowed her to pursue her commitment to assisting disadvantaged populations by working at the Mississippi Center for Justice. She is currently pro bono counsel at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP, where she oversees the development and administration of the firm’s pro bono programs.

Graves is the immediate past president of the Capital Area Bar Association, a member of the Mississippi Board of Bar Commissioners, a member of the Community Advisory Board of The MIND Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and a member of the Board of Visitors of Millsaps College. In 2016, Attorney General Jim Hood appointed her to the Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women.

onstruction began in March on the new student apartment village, located on the road formerly known as Faculty Avenue.

Under construction are the first four of 10 apartment village buildings, with the expectation that students will be able to move in at the beginning of fall semester.

The cost of the entire project is $10 million, and with four houses now funded, we continue to seek contributions for the remainder of the project. If you wish to make a commitment of a naming opportunity in the village, these opportunities are available: Name a building: Name an apartment: Name a common room: Name a kitchen: Name a porch: Name a bedroom:

$500,000 $200,000 $100,000 $ 50,000 $ 35,000 $ 25,000

For more information, please contact Suzy Mink, vice president for external relations, at minks@hollins.edu or (202) 309-1750.

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For details about the student village and to follow the construction progress, visit hollins.edu/village.

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Emptying a Home,

Filling the Heart Kathy “Huddy” Hudson ’71 interviews Marietta McCarty ’69 about her new book, Leaving 1203, a philosophical musing on closing a beloved family home.

Book cover photo by David Heald; cover design by Roger Cunningham and Daniel Mason

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arietta McCarty ’69 is well known for a trio of books that make philosophy accessible.

Her best-selling Little Big Minds: Sharing Philosophy with Kids has been published internationally, as has her second, the Nautilus Gold Award-winning How Philosophy Can Save Your Life: 10 Ideas That Matter Most.

A third, The Philosopher’s Table, includes recipes, music selections, and topics for meaningful dinner conversation.

It garnered McCarty the title of 2014 Newsmaker from the Virginia Professional Communicators.

Into each she wove her experiences as scholar, teacher, and lifelong athlete (Hollins Athletic Hall of Fame ’99). A Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude philosophy major, McCarty received a master’s degree in philosophy at the University of Virginia. She taught philosophy at Piedmont Virginia Community College for 28 years and was director of Blue Ridge Tennis Camp for 14.

Now her latest book, Leaving 1203: Emptying a Home, Filling the Heart, shares her accumulated wisdom in a memoir of the three transformative months she spent closing her family’s Richmond home. This concise, intimate, and often humorous volume is more than memoir.

It serves as a guide to the fine art of

remembering, letting go, and holding onto what matters most.

Every room and garden space comes alive with McCarty’s family, friends, and neighbors, past and present. Readers join McCarty and Billy, the West Highland terrier she inherited from her mother, as they go about the deliberate and rewarding process of discovery and disbursement of tangible possessions in a home of 56 years. In doing so, new connections and previously unknown stories surface.

Most important, McCarty’s vivid account reveals the intangibles at the bedrock of a family home. Readers see how the universal task of closing a beloved place can enrich present lives.

In embracing the experience, McCarty, and all who helped her, received gifts that transcended the walls of her “beloved brick teacher on the hill” and the time her family spent there.

“This is a work about a kind of rootedness and connectedness that no distance of time or place can erase,” says reviewer Christopher Phillips, author of Socrates Café. And while Leaving 1203 is the story of leaving a home, readers do not need to be engaged in leave-taking to be inspired by it.

It also gave this reader, who lives in her childhood home, the opportunity to ask McCarty some questions.

Leaving 1203 is more personal than your previous books. Was it difficult to write something so personal?

I knew in an instant, on a hot July day amidst Christmas decorations and linen tablecloths, that there was a story right here waiting to be told. The hard part was figuring out what story, exactly, and how best to tell it. Leaving, forever, a beloved home is a universal experience yet so achingly personal. I sat and walked with it for two years, thinking and remembering, letting inspiration awaken to its own beat. Slowly, I began to nibble around the edges, adding and subtracting, and the story took shape as if on its own.

Some days my work consisted in getting out of the way of the free-flowing words.

That early stillness rewarded me with an exhilarating creative ride.

Q

Leaving a beloved home is difficult.

You had to leave 1203 first when you went as a young player on the tennis circuit, then later when you went to Hollins.

Can you remember what those times felt like? What helped you as you made the transition to college life?

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Has there ever been a more homesick-prone child or adult?

I practiced leaving 1203, first on sleepovers not far from home, because I knew I could find my way back. When I traveled from Richmond to my first tennis tournament in Suffolk at age 10, I called home collect every morning at 6 a.m., and not because I lost every one of my eight matches. And how vividly I remember my first night at Hollins— sunset in the mountains and homesick in my heart. Playing sports helped from the start, as the tennis court had long been home to me, and I liked everything about the place. I didn’t blame Hollins for missing 1203!

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You quickly became an academic, athletic, and community leader at Hollins, a second home for four years. When you graduated, was it hard to leave Hollins?

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I wept on the drive away from Hollins after graduation, looking down on the chapel and up at the mountains I’d grown to rely on. I knew I’d made lifelong friends, but I would miss the beauty of the campus. Hollins exudes a strong sense of place.

Q A

Chuck Shifflett

Q A

How did 1203, and your family there, figure in your life in your adult homes in Washington and in Charlottesville?

Out the gate of 1203 and drifting my way—candlesticks, cobblers’ benches, lamps, glasses, sleigh bells for the front door, mirrors, books, rocking chairs, paintings, rugs—all my homes warmed by gifts from my childhood home. When my parents and grandparents visited, they often left something behind for me to discover. How lucky— I’ve never liked shopping.

Q A

Did 1203 take on a new role as your parents aged?

The simple house on a hill wrapped its walls around all of us. It held steady, our safe house, as we moved with all the changes brought by time’s passage.

Q A

What do you think is most important to do when closing a beloved home?

Welcome the responsibility as an opportunity to play your part in multigenerational relationships.

Appreciate all the many lives intertwined under one roof. Step back, take time, and reflect. Get to know better, more intimately, the people you thought you knew best—grandparents dating, parents as kids, you as an unborn! Wallow in gratitude.

Q A

Would you have changed anything about the way you went about leaving 1203?

No.

Q A

As you have gone around the country with this new book, what have you learned from your audiences?

Readers were ready for stories about my mother’s acclaimed potato salad and evenings on the patio.

Storytelling binds us. Shared memories reaffirm our connectedness. I’m listening to tender tales of other loved homes and hard leave-takings. Audiences are happily surprised by the humor and joy that accompanied my bittersweet farewell and take to heart its enduring, positive impact on my life. Many appreciate its usefulness as they look back on, engage in, or anticipate home emptying.

And I’m so very pleased that many see it as a book celebrating the good life— a philosophy of good living, a reminder of what really matters. Hospitality, courage, generosity, play and relaxation, appreciation of simple pleasures, gratitude, sacrifice, breaking bread over good conversation—these never go out of fashion.

Finally, readers are crazy about Billy, my mother’s dog who became mine and served as the mascot of home-emptying days. I should never have written a book that didn’t include a dog.

Q A

Anything else you’d like to say to the Hollins community?

Thank you.

Kathy Hudson is the author of the award-winning On Walnut Hill—The Evolution of a Garden. For 25 years she has written freelance articles and essays for Baltimore Style, The Baltimore Messenger, Chesapeake Life, Chesapeake Home, The Baltimore Sun, and The Washington Post.

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Valerie Sargeant ’21 during a match against Ferrum College.

The set of Fun Home, the theatre department’s spring production.

Meredith Keppel ’22 with children touring Roanoke’s Science Museum of Western Virginia during her J-Term internship.

Carrying the wreath honoring the Hollins community on Hollins Day in February were seniors Bianca Augustin, Nina Keller, Rose Franzen, and Kaitlynn Hall.

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Michael Falco

Sharon Meador

For Valentine’s Day, students papered a custodial closet door in the Wetherill Visual Arts Center with hearts and messages.

Sharon Meador

This new section of the magazine shows some recent highlights of the Hollins experience.

Christina Henry ’19 during her J-Term internship with the Berland Team in New York City.

Tegan Harcourt ’17 sponsored the internship.

Students hiking in the early morning light of St. John, where biologists Renee Godard and Morgan Wilson led a J-Term trip. Students explored marine diversity in the Caribbean as well as St. John’s environmental concerns and cultural history.

Mary Daley ’19

Elise Schloff ’19 during her J-Term internship at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Kayla Surles ’22 in the final home game of the season.

The Alpha Iota Rho chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society in education, was officially established on campus in March with 21 inductees. Shalan Mitchell ’19 and Lindsey Grubb ’19 are chapter copresidents.

In March, student activities and the Wilson Museum teamed up to sponsor the first “Kickin’ It on Front Quad” event. For this one, students made flower crowns.

The Hollins University Combined Choirs performing during the Hollins Day celebration in February.

Sharon Meador

Kelsey DeForest ’13 with Danielle Sawyer ’19 (left) and Ivana Martinez ’21. DeForest sponsored their internship with International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region, New York City.

Via Instagram: “Students, faculty, staff, and their families helped plant seedlings along our creek yesterday at Hollins Tree Planting Day.”

Sharon Meador

Michael Falco

J-Term offered trips to Greece (led by Christina Salowey, classics, and Chris Richter, communication studies) and Ireland (led by Shelbie Wahl-Fouts, Judith Cline, and Bill Krause, music).

Beyond

MEASURE Five faculty members retire at the end of the academic year.

What follows are tributes acknowledging their immeasurable contributions to Hollins.

Jean Fallon

I

t is an honor and privilege to write this tribute for Jean Fallon, professor of French, on the occasion of her retirement from Hollins. Jean joined the faculty in 1990.

During her estimable career, she has been an active scholar, publishing two books, and has contributed new and interesting courses to the curriculum.

Those of us who have had the pleasure of observing her teach can attest to the fact that she is a creative, highenergy, passionate, funny, and engaging professor. Her students love her teaching style and have been inspired by her love of French language and culture, as evidenced by the following remarks: Professor Fallon was the first professor I connected with at Hollins.

She has a heart of gold, and I’ve never had a professor who cared more for students than she does. She made class fun for everyone and was always cheerful. She encouraged me to travel abroad, and I credit her for having such faith in me for all I have achieved here at Hollins.

Monica Osborne ’20 Madame Fallon taught me my firstever French class, and her amazing teaching abilities, positive attitude, and sincere concern for her students were a large part of what led me to becoming a French major. She always brings so much joy into a room, and her creativity and compassion do not go unnoticed. She has been a vital part of my education, and I wish her nothing but the most well-deserved rest and happiness during her retirement.

María Fernanda Junco Rivera ’19 During Jean’s time at Hollins, she has made significant and lasting contributions to our community.

She worked on such important endeavors as the Heritage Committee and served

as a passionate advocate for Hollins Abroad–Paris (HAP), writing a booklength manuscript about the program that captures the memories of countless alumnae participants. Jean served as our departmental liaison to HAP for many years and corresponded with each and every student while they were abroad. This kind of personal attention to her students—and to her colleagues and friends who also frequently receive kind, handwritten notes—has made an indelible impression on all of us. She is thoughtful beyond measure and cares deeply about everyone in her life.

In addition to her admirable contributions to Hollins, Jean has other passions. She is a dedicated runner, an avid gardener, and a gifted photographer.

Of this last talent Morgan Wilson notes, “Jean is able to capture some of nature’s most subtle and beautiful moments in ways that most people would either miss or never take the time to see.” This keen observation says so much about Jean’s character.

While the Hollins community will miss Jean dearly, we are happy for her to have more time to dedicate to her passions, and to her husband, Mike M.A.T. ’01; her sons, Aaron M.F.A. ’12 and Jordan; and her daughter-in-law, Stephanie Lohmann Fallon ’08, M.F.A. ’12.

In closing, I include below a few reflections from Jean’s colleagues and friends.

Jean is a much-beloved teacher known for her creativity, kindness, and devotion to students. We are so very grateful to Jean for her many years of commitment and contributions to the department of modern languages and to Hollins.

Annette Sampon-Nicolas, French I met Jean in 1992 when she invited me to read for an International Women's Day event she was helping to organize. The next year, Jean let

Olivia Body '08

FRENCH

me sit in on her French class to refresh my very rusty skills, and I experienced what a generous and effective teacher she was. Our friendship grew from there.

Cathryn Hankla ’80, M.A. ’82, English I’ve always admired Jean, and though our paths don’t cross as often as I would like, I’ve always seen her as a mentor and faculty role model.

She’s also one of the kindest, most generous people I know.

Morgan Wilson, biology Though too infrequent, every encounter with Jean was marked by her joy, goodwill, and graciousness.

These are the qualities, among others, that have benefited generations of Hollins students fortunate enough to be in her classes as well as the Hollins community.

Bob Sulkin, art Alison Ridley, professor of Spanish

Spring 2019 15

Jeanne Larsen M.A. ’72 ENGLISH

16 Hollins

Sharon Meador

S

trangers passing Jeanne Larsen on the sidewalk can’t be blamed for doing a double take.

Like Andy Warhol, like Patti Smith, like Prince, Larsen possesses that most intangible quality: some essence of coolness. It’s a certain something infiltrating every molecule of her being, right down to the way she sort of glides across Front Quad.

I’m sure I stared the first time I met Larsen, some 20-plus years ago. She sat a stack of books on the circulation desk at Fishburn Library, where I spent my work-study hours my first year.

It wasn’t only her famous crown of glorious, copper-red curls I found so startling. It was the way she peered at me with the intensity of a tropical cyclone.

Today, I know that’s just how Larsen talks to people. A seeker of genuine connection, she reaches out to people of all ages and walks of life. In conversation, all her attention is focused on the here and now. She’s not daydreaming about the hawk she spotted on a recent hike or worrying whether her cats are waiting to be fed. It’s all you and her and a shared moment in time.

Of course, I hadn’t seen anything yet. To witness Larsen in a classroom is to see Yo-Yo Ma at the cello, Julia Child mixing in the kitchen.

When I started this essay, I searched my file cabinet to find an old syllabus from her Contemporary American Poetry class. It’s classic Larsen. Don’t rehash what has been said in class. Do not use other critics’ work. Think for yourself.

It reminded me how Larsen directs her classroom discussions with the precision of an air-traffic controller.

She somehow manages to keep blowhards in check, while inspiring even the biggest introverts to speak. After all these years of teaching, she’s certainly heard a hundred students wax on about the religious themes in Denise Levertov’s poems, yet she listens to each comment with an expression of deep interest.

When a student finishes, Larsen pauses for a beat, mulling over the comment as if swishing a fine wine. She rephrases the observation (elevating it in the process) and uses it to move forward to the next element of the text. Every student who graduates from one of Larsen’s classes leaves feeling like she has a gift worthy of offering the world.

While she may be known for her unflinching kindness, Larsen takes the responsibility of honing young minds seriously. She doesn’t mince words when attention is required: You need to learn to use a semicolon. Go further with your analysis. The prose needs to be tighter. That said, the edicts are always followed by encouragement. You’re a real writer. Don’t stop now!

As a senior, I won the golden ticket: I had Larsen as my thesis advisor. For an entire year, I had the good fortune to meet with her one-on-one in a dim but cozy office in Bradley Hall to talk about the novel I was attempting. We discussed diagrams, character development, and pace. Lovely language, she reminded me, can’t compensate for a skeletal plot.

The sessions gave me a chance to know Larsen more as a person, instead of the near-mythic figure English majors sometimes turned her into. Here are some things I know: she worships cats; she delights in the year’s first snowfall, newly blooming plants, and her

husband’s homemade pies; after growing up on U.S. Army posts, she’s continued traveling the globe; she treasures the richness of the world’s languages and cultures; she loathes bigotry; she’s a feminist, like whoa; she enjoys picturing the far reaches of space.

Larsen sees the study of the written word as the opposite of luxury. Words are a thing of power and magic.

Even though I’ve had some months to digest the news, I struggle to picture Hollins without Professor Larsen.

I’ve taken to reassuring myself that less Larsen on campus might mean more Larsen for the world. Her award-winning book of poems, What Penelope Chooses, came out in March. She’s hinted a novel might be in the works. Surely, there will be more traveling, which will indubitably sire more creative offerings.

And so, all I can do is borrow a phrase she used to write on my papers. I say to Jeanne, my mentor, my friend: Push on!

Check out www.jeannelarsen.com to keep up with Larsen’s post-Hollins adventures. For details about What Penelope Chooses, winner of the Cider Press Review Book Award, visit www.hollins.edu/penelope.

Beth JoJack ’98 is a Roanoke writer who has never sweated punctuation more than with this essay.

George Ledger

G

eorge Ledger is one of the most surprising teachers at Hollins.

For nearly 40 years he has taught psychology, specializing in cognitive science—the technical subjects such as testing, patterning, abnormal psychology (which he insists is not to be applied to his colleagues). He is also tech savvy: I remember working with George on encryption programs, going through them byte by byte to break the copy protection. In spite of this he has, his colleague Bonnie Bowers insists, “maintained a strong and principled aversion to online platforms like Moodle and is not terribly fond of PowerPoint.

You can always tell where George has taught a class, because the boards are covered with his spidery notes and complicated diagrams.”

For the most part, George is a solitary who likes solitary activities: fishing, a longtime passion; riding his motorcycle; wandering the halls of Dana at all hours; gardening. Unlike a lot of contemplatives, George’s ruminations as often lead to exasperation as calm: He is very smart, and like a lot of smart people, he believes that problems are, at base, fairly simple; which is why he doesn’t actually think he’s that smart, and why he is surprised (and annoyed) that so many people just don’t get it. If George had a theme song, it would be Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business.”

All of which is not to say that George lacks an empathetic side. The evident care he takes with plants—his office is easily mistaken for a greenhouse— suggests a nurturing side, reinforced if you’ve ever seen him deal with children.

Years ago, George went fishing with my son and his daughter, and was very plain that “the first rule of fishing is don’t drown.” He is a student of the flora and fauna outside Dana (colleagues excluded) and can tell you where the foxes hang out and where the ducks

nest. If his empathy seems to extend in a rather more attenuated form to students, it’s because he has confidence in them: Do the work and don’t drown and all will be fine.

If you walk around Dana you will probably find George there, no matter the time of day: 3 (a.m. or p.m.), 8:30 (a.m. or p.m.), 5:30 (a.m. or p.m.).

This confounds everyone. Several of us have discussed this, and, having dismissed the obvious explanation that he is Nosferatu, find ourselves mystified: It’s possible that he moonlights as a security guard, albeit without the uniform. Perhaps he doesn’t sleep and subsists on catnaps or dozing off during meetings.

Of particular interest is how well educated he is: How does a cognitive psychologist make the time to read (and finish) Gravity’s Rainbow? When the faculty had a reading group that went through The Iliad, Moby-Dick, The Aeneid, and Paradise Lost, George was there every step of the way. I have had conversations with George about changing brake shoes, subatomic particles, contemporary literature, cognitive development, the friction coefficient of rubber tires and asphalt (important if you ride a Triumph). All professors at Hollins are well trained in their field, and many know a fair amount about other subjects; but to bridge the humanities-sciences divide so effortlessly is very rare. The earl of Chesterfield said that erudition should be like a watch: Keep it hidden until needed.

Chesterfield would find no more devoted acolyte than George Ledger, whose depths are deeper than the vasty deep.

Although much of this goes unnoticed by colleagues, George has firmly established the confidence of the faculty.

They elected him chair a few years ago, and he has served on nearly every committee, council, and ad-hoc advisory whatever for the last four decades.

Unflappable, affable, direct, and funny,

Olivia Body '08

PSYCHOLOGY

George has proven to be one of the most valuable faculty members during his time at Hollins.

To say that’s he’s irreplaceable is false, because someone will fill that slot; but more important, it’s incomplete: George goes so far beyond what is expected in a colleague that we would need to hire three or four people to take his place.

Joe W. Leedom, professor of history

Spring 2019 17

Joe W. Leedom H ISTORY

N

Sharon Meador

aturally, Joe’s favorite book is Moby-Dick. The man himself is physically and intellectually imposing, truly a big fish—and Melville assures us that a whale is indeed a fish—in the small pond of Hollins. A colleague described him as “awash in his own abundant knowledge,” and I confess that I have never known a person with a wider compass of reading. Not a passive or forgetful reader, Joe is a rigorous, curious, and contrarian critic. He eagerly engages in debate with colleagues or students on an article in Slate, a verse in the Gnostic Gospels, a review in Rolling Stone, a scene in Hamlet, or the sack of Antioch in both Raymond of Aguilers and the anonymous Gesta Francorum,

18 Hollins

whether he read the piece last night or last century. A true professor of the liberal arts and onetime holder of the Berry Professorship for excellence in teaching literature, Joe helped lead Sowell faculty reading groups on the Iliad, Catch-22, and, of course, Moby-Dick.

In many senses a Stoic, not the least his preference for lingering in the portico of Pleasants while smoking Marlboros (menthol, lights), Joe readily offers his thoughts to those willing to listen.

And students do listen: only for very few admired teachers do followers create Twitter accounts like @Sh*tLeedomSays or print pamphlets like “Leedomisms.”

Along with the fierce intellect, he can swear like a sailor and swap salty jokes at poker, which he regularly wins

by combining calculation with timely bluffing. Joe’s semi-annual posters for the now-defunct History Department Party are the stuff of legend, and, as with all satire, valuable documents on the Zeitgeist of an institution. I recall the penultimate HDP when he saved us all from the county policeman who (honest-to-God!) while cracking his knuckles sneered: “It smells like a brewery here”; to which Joe replied, “Well… you are standing next to a full recycling bin.” Wit, coolness under fire, and an eye for folly.

I gather that a former president blanched at Joe’s election to chair of the faculty. Like Moby Dick, Joe looms mysterious and threatening from the perspective of Ahabs. And, yes, he accepts that those folks may call him by half the whale’s name. But the man is surprisingly gentle, be it playing fetch with the dogs for hours on Tinker Beach with [Professor Emerita of Biology] Harriet Gray, putting on gloves to load [the late Professor of English] John Cunningham’s furniture into a van (“he can never be truly said to handle us without mittens”), or floating across the stage in a gondola for the Hollins production of Nine. He displays a sensitivity for the polite and the ceremonial that comes, perhaps, from having an English mother and an easygoing family.

Principled, precise, and fair even to those who might wish him ill, Joe possesses an understanding of the theories and practices of Roman and English law that any jurisconsult would envy. With all his equanimity, had he not been an academic, I think he would have made a fine judge. I heard that growing up, Joe worked on an oil rig and read Shakespeare on breaks.

Indeed, “very like a whale.”

George Fredric Franko, professor of classical studies and chair of philosophy and classical studies

Bob Sulkin

PHOTOGRAPHY

Sharon Meador

B

ob was hired in the summer of 1980, with a recent M.F.A. from the University of Iowa and a portfolio of photographs that were unique and distinctive. He drew on his negatives to accentuate forms and rhythms. This tactic was often considered a destructive way to create a photo, as the integrity of the negative was considered sacrosanct. Since his University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill undergraduate work was in history, he brought a different mindset to making photos.

Bob was an immediate success as a teacher, and he became a valued colleague. He proved to be an able administrator, too, as he revitalized and reorganized the January Short Term, keeping it a signal feature of Hollins’ experiential model of education.

Bob was innovative in his thinking about the content of classes and explored such topics as cell phone and scannerbased image making. Almost everyone has a smartphone, he reasoned, so let’s learn how to use it for more than taking a selfie.

He initiated and taught the History of Photography course, which began with innovations in the 19th century and ended with the most avant-garde works. Bob has been a valued mentor to many students in the art department and beyond over the decades, and I had often heard them express their appreciation for his insights and support.

I too learned much from Bob about the content embedded in the art of photography. In the summers when [the late Professor of Art] Lewis Thompson, Bob, and I shared studio space in the old Parsonage on the hill, we would discuss ideas about perception, perspective, and the imagination of space in art.

His own work has evolved into complex studio constructions of implied dramatic narrative, which brought out his interests in popular culture and history to reveal themselves in his

imagery. His extensive bodies of work have garnered critical attention in numerous exhibitions, including at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Bob’s legacy to Hollins derives from his long and dedicated service as teacher, mentor, and colleague. I am so pleased to see that he will have the time in his retirement to focus on his creative life in his studio. I am eager to see what comes next.

Bill White, professor emeritus of art

I

t was my privilege to be Bob’s colleague in the art department for 25 years. His inquisitive spirit and broad knowledge of photographic possibilities and traditions shaped the content of his courses and his dedication to bringing the art world to Hollins.

He provided students with in-depth experiences in a broad range of studio and art history courses, including analog and digital photography, often focusing on alternative processes and methods for creating images. In his interactions with students, there was always a sense of mutual respect and encouragement.

His knowledge of photographic possibilities and traditions was combined with an emphasis on each student’s talents and concerns.

His legacy outside the classroom includes countless contributions to the cultural life of Hollins. He curated

numerous exhibitions of nationally recognized photographers for the gallery program and brought many artists and curators to campus to speak, meet students, and visit classes. He was instrumental in designing the outstanding photography facility in the Wetherill Visual Art Center. On two occasions, he sponsored a photography festival that featured a themed approach to contemporary photography, facilitating an exchange between students and the artistic community.

Bob’s modest and enthusiastic approach to art always created an appetite for further exploration of ideas, whether you were a student or faculty member. His own photographs evolved into studio assemblages themed on identity, culture, metaphysical machines, and prototypes. He invented imagined worlds from the most unlikely objects, using a view camera to photograph his constructions. Each semester he roamed the design studio, where the detritus of art-making remained after the students left. I learned how the camera lens transforms items like dirty plexi, odd artifacts, paper, rope, foam, foil, shards, wheels, or plaster into something new by watching him select objects for his use. There are only a handful of artists who change the way you see and make art in your lifetime.

Bob is one of those individuals who changed me.

Jan Knipe, professor emerita of art

Spring 2019 19

The

R ELUCTA N T PLA I N T I FF

Ann Branigar Hopkins ’65 gave her name to a landmark sex discrimination case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. B Y M A R Y W E L E K A T W E L L

I

n the 1989 ruling Price Waterhouse v.

Hopkins, the court determined that gender stereotyping constituted a form of discrimination on the basis of sex prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Scholars have found Ann Hopkins’ legal action one of the most “generative” cases in discrimination law. It is a case that has led to many subsequent decisions expanding the reach of protection for women, minorities, and gay, lesbian, and transgender persons in the workplace.

Among other things, Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins opened the door to the use of social science research in the interpretation of antidiscrimination law. Many women who have encountered the glass ceiling in their careers have cited the Hopkins lawsuit as precedent, as have others who experienced harassment at work based on their sexual orientation.

The decision also set the standard of proof for employers who claim they did not discriminate in hiring or promotion.

Hopkins was a reluctant plaintiff in the development of discrimination law.

She told The Washington Post, “I had no choice but to sue. I had to do it as a matter of principle. It was inevitable and predictable. I did not set out to be a leader.”

Ann Hopkins earned a B.A. in mathematics at Hollins. She wrote positively about her experience at a single-sex college, noting that the most interesting women she knew had attended women’s colleges. There they learned to depend on themselves and to rely on “analytical integrity” in addressing problems, rather than depending on or deferring to men. Her career exemplified the independence she described. After graduation, Hopkins went on to get a master’s degree at Indiana University. She was invited back to Hollins the following year to fill in as an instructor for her mentor, Professor of Mathematics Claude Thompson, who was on sabbatical. She next took a position at IBM and worked in technical areas at several other large corporations before being hired by the accounting firm Touche Ross, where she was a project manager for their expanding computer systems.

While at Touche Ross, Hopkins met fellow motorcycle enthusiast and her future husband, Tom Gallagher. Neither apparently worried about the effect of their marriage on their professional lives until a few years later, when Hopkins and Gallagher ran up against Touche Ross’ anti-nepotism policy.

If both spouses were employed at the company, neither could be considered for partner. Hopkins decided to leave, and in 1978 she took a job in the Office of Government Services at Price Waterhouse, another of the Big Eight accounting firms. Gallagher remained

the number of candidates who could be approved. Hopkins seemed to be a strong nominee. An accomplished manager and a successful rainmaker, she had landed Price Waterhouse’s biggest ever consulting deal, a multimillion-dollar contract with the U.S. Department of State. That year, along with Hopkins, 87 men and no other women were nominated for partnerships. None of the men had her track record for bringing in high-value clients. And yet, when the votes were counted, 13 partners supported Hopkins, eight voted against her, three wanted to hold her nomina-

Many women who have encountered the glass ceiling in their careers have cited the Hopkins lawsuit as precedent, as have others who experienced harassment at work based on their sexual orientation. at Touche Ross and became a partner there. However, the complications of being married to a fellow professional followed Hopkins to Price Waterhouse, where she was informed that she was ineligible for partnership as long as her husband was a partner in a competing firm. In 1982, Gallagher left Touche Ross to form his own consulting business.

That year Ann Hopkins was nominated to become a partner at Price Waterhouse, and her legal odyssey began.

Despite her Hollins education, her decision to maintain her family name after marriage, and her strong commitment to having both a career and family, Hopkins seemed surprisingly unaware of the feminist movement or the larger patterns of discrimination.

She experienced a number of professional issues unique to women, yet she apparently viewed these as personal, individual problems rather than examples of structural biases that disadvantaged women as a group. That changed as she navigated the path to partnership.

At Price Waterhouse, the process for electing partners was “collegial.”

The existing partners were asked to vote and provide written comments about the nominees they knew. There were no particular guidelines and no limit on

tion for another year, and eight had insufficient information to cast a ballot.

Sixty-two men were promoted, while Hopkins was told she could reapply in 1984. However, when she learned that it was very unlikely she would ever earn a partnership, Hopkins left Price Waterhouse, set up her own consulting firm, and filed suit for sex discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Hopkins provided written comments made by the partners as evidence that her promotion had been tainted by prejudice against her as a woman.

The negative responses to her candidacy focused on her “interpersonal skills.”

She was criticized for being aggressive, for being difficult, for being impatient with staff. Others noted that she used profanity, that she was “macho.” One proposed that she should take a course in “charm school.” The advice quoted most often, even by the Supreme Court, came from a supporter, the partner in charge of her office. He suggested that to win over the senior partners Hopkins should “walk more femininely, talk more femininely, wear makeup, have her hair styled, and wear jewelry.” It seems revealing that an ally recognized implicitly that Hopkins’ difficulties with

Spring 2019 21

the partners stemmed, not from her performance at work, but from her failure to conform to their vision of how a woman should look and behave.

The case was first heard in the District Court in Washington, D.C. It was fortuitous that Hopkins sued Price Waterhouse at that time and in that court. Earlier in 1984, the Supreme Court had handed down a decision that impacted her legal situation. In Hishon v. King and Spalding, the court had ruled for the first time that partnerships, like other businesses and corporations, were covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and were prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, sex, or national origin. The ruling in Hishon meant that partnerships, including Price Waterhouse, could no longer claim to be voluntary

stereotypes, if, as one partner claimed, she “walked with authority,” that criticism had nothing to do with her qualifications and everything to do with her sex.

Furthermore, Price Waterhouse had no policy prohibiting sex discrimination in partnership decisions, leaving the process open to the sort of “highly suspect” criteria that other courts had found unacceptable. Hopkins testified that she had been told to stop smoking, to quit drinking beer at lunch, and not to carry a briefcase, but to carry a handbag instead. Other witnesses described her strengths, her success with clients, and her significant role in attracting business to the firm.

Probably the most significant testimony in support of Ann Hopkins came from psychologist Susan Fiske, who

They were expected to display masculine qualities to be successful, yet if they did so, they would be judged as “the wrong kind of woman.” associations who could choose their own members. They would be required by law to demonstrate that their promotion decisions were made without prejudice.

It was also fortunate that the Hopkins case was argued before Judge Gerhard Gesell, a judge with a strong civil rights record. In addition, he was the son of noted child psychologist Arnold Gesell— a connection that may well have influenced how the judge responded to psychological testimony that was a key part of Hopkins’ argument.

In Judge Gesell’s court, her attorneys made the same points they would repeat throughout the litigation. They noted that out of 662 partners in the entire Price Waterhouse organization, only seven were women and two of them had been admitted since Hopkins filed her complaint with the EEOC. They argued that the partnership process at Price Waterhouse was subjective, that there were no clear standards for recommending partners, that Ann Hopkins’ “interpersonal skills” were evaluated by standards seldom applied to men.

If Hopkins did not conform to feminine 22 Hollins

made the point that sexual stereotypes played a major determining role in denying the partnership. In an organization like Price Waterhouse, where women were a tiny minority among the partners, “tokens” in Fiske’s term, attention to their gender would be unavoidable. In analyzing the comments about Hopkins, Fiske found examples of categorical thinking—the view that “men do x” and “women do y.” She testified that many people have gendered expectations and they tend to see things that confirm those expectations. As she described stereotyping, it created a “double bind” for professional women who faced a conflict between socially approved notions of femininity and professional standards of competence.

They were expected to display masculine qualities to be successful, yet if they did so, they would be judged as “the wrong kind of woman.” The loose, “standardless” partnership process at Price Waterhouse meant that women could be scrutinized more closely on the “feminine dimensions” of their performance, such as interpersonal skills,

factors that could not be measured like earnings or contracts negotiated.

In Fiske’s view, Price Waterhouse made no effort to diminish stereotyping.

Until Hopkins took them to court, they even tolerated the comments of one senior partner that he “could not consider any woman seriously as a partnership candidate and believed that women were not even capable of functioning as senior managers.”

Price Waterhouse defended their process and their decision about Ann Hopkins, claiming that they judged potential partners only on the basis of standards, criteria that were applied without regard to sex, race, or religion.

As for Hopkins, it was her lack of interpersonal skills, her pervasive weakness. Even had she been a man, they asserted, she would have been denied promotion.

Judge Gesell found that Hopkins had been the victim of discrimination, but he refused to require that Price Waterhouse make her a partner and award her back pay. He ruled that the firm had acted on both permissible factors (poor interpersonal skills) and impermissible factors (sex discrimination).

Once Hopkins had shown that bias had played a part in the decision, the burden shifted to the employer to prove that they would have reached the same decision without the discrimination.

The ruling was historic for defining sexual stereotyping as a form of discrimination. When Price Waterhouse appealed the decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court, both not only agreed that Hopkins had suffered discrimination, they also ordered Price Waterhouse to make her a partner.

It is the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court that go beyond the individual case and that must be applied in every jurisdiction. Thus when Justice William Brennan wrote the decision in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, it was a legal and historic landmark. A major consequence of the ruling was the definition of a “mixed motive” framework to interpret claims of discrimination. If an employee can show that sex (or race, age, religion,

or national origin) was one of the motives in an unfavorable decision, the burden of proof shifts to the employer, who must show that sex was not the controlling motive. The employer must prove that the decision would have been the same had sex not been a factor.

Perhaps equally significant was the Supreme Court’s acceptance of sex stereotyping as a form of discrimination.

Justice Brennan wrote, “We do not sit to determine whether Ms. Hopkins is nice, but to decide whether partners reacted negatively to her personality because she was a woman.”

The court’s decision was not without its critics. Three of the more conservative justices—Kennedy, Rehnquist, and Scalia—joined a dissent that supported Price Waterhouse’s position. They found that employers had no responsibility to “disclaim reliance on sex stereotypes,” no duty to sensitize their employees about bias, and no duty to “root out sexist thoughts.” But the majority of the court was not demanding an end to sexist thoughts, only that they not control decisions about employment and promotion.

Hopkins

At first, Hopkins was assigned to a quiet office in Bethesda, Maryland, where there were few colleagues and little activity. Although she was often invited to make speeches and to appear at events to discuss her case, Hopkins felt she had “nothing to do.” She decided to write a book about her life and experience, So Ordered: Making Partner the Hard Way. Eventually, Hopkins returned to her old area of expertise,

Justice Brennan wrote, “We do not sit to determine whether Ms. Hopkins is nice, but to decide whether partners reacted negatively to her personality because she was a woman.”

The case returned to the District Court and Judge Gesell to decide an appropriate remedy, once Price Waterhouse had been found liable for discrimination. Despite misgivings that led him to ask Hopkins if she really wanted to work at a firm that did not seem to want her, Gesell ordered that Ann Hopkins be made a partner and that she be awarded back pay of about $371,000 as well as legal costs. In February 1991, almost nine years after the initial vote against her, she returned to Price Waterhouse as a partner.

the Office of Government Services, and, in her own words, she “became an outspoken advocate for a culture that prized diversity and sought and nurtured it in the workplace.” She retired from Price Waterhouse in 2002.

Ann Hopkins was onto something when she mentioned workplace culture that prized and nurtured diversity.

Supreme Court decisions resolve disputes over the meaning of laws or the Constitution. Beyond such rulings, actual changes that would significantly restructure power relationships are

often slow in coming. Hopkins, a reluctant litigant, deserves to be remembered by the many women and men who benefited from her case. But despite progress, the glass ceiling has not yet been dismantled, nor has stereotyping disappeared from the decision-making process in business, academia, or public life.

Mary Welek Atwell retired after 40+ years of teaching at Hollins and Radford University.

She is the author of four books on the topics of gender, law, and criminal justice.

She is currently working on a book on sexual harassment.

Ann Hopkins died at her home in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 2018, of acute peripheral sensory neuropathy.

The Hollins Digital Commons contains a gallery for finding guides to a collection of papers related to the Price Waterhouse v.

Hopkins Supreme Court case. It includes numerous newspaper and periodical articles that document Hopkins’ journey from beginning to end, court transcripts, personal and professional correspondence, materials related to her 1996 memoir, a scrapbook album, and other papers.

For more information, contact Beth Harris at bharris@hollins.edu.

A N O T E O N S O U R C E S | Quotations from Ann Hopkins came from her memoir, So Ordered: Making Partner the Hard Way, from interviews with The Washington Post and The New York Times, and from “Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins: A Personal Account of a Sexual Discrimination Plaintiff,” Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal (22:2) 2005.

Spring 2019 23

From

STEM

to

STEAM T hree years ago, Associate Professor of Art Jennifer Printz and Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics Brian Gentry launched a January Short Term class whose philosophy, rooted in the Renaissance, is now regaining attention among 21st-century teachers and learners.

Engaging Reality: Interpreting Matter, Energy, Space, and Time Through Science and Art immersed students in the concept of blending two disciplines that have been largely kept separate for hundreds of years. “We’re seeing that convergence as artists are wanting to play with scientists’ technology, or scientists [are] realizing there’s a crucial importance to the creative act,” Printz explains. “Learning how to see and learning how to be creative are paramount to making new discoveries or coming up with new ways of doing things.”

Printz and Gentry had such a positive experience with the class, especially after team teaching it again in 2018, that they wanted to share their energy and excitement with the campus community and the public at large. In March, they conceived and presented Transect/Intersect/Transform, a weeklong symposium featuring readings, discussions, performances, lectures, and exhibitions, all focusing on the connections between the sciences and the creative arts.

Gentry says the symposium was designed in part to complement Hollins’ growing focus on entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurial activity is inherently creative, and we need to focus on that process in order to solve difficult problems. This has helped open doors to a renewed sense of overlap. We’re going from STEM, which is science, technology, engineering, and math, to STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Large problems such as climate change are going to

56 Hollins

Integrating science and the creative arts prepares students for a changing job market and global challenges.

B Y J E F F H O D G E S M . A . L . S . ’ 11

Printz

require everything we’ve got, and that means we’ve got to approach it from all sides. These types of issues are bringing people together in that sense.”

“If we stay in silos,” Printz adds, “we’re limiting the way we have a discourse on what we can do. But when we start to integrate, it becomes much more powerful in how we can change what we’re doing in the classroom or out in the world at large. If an art student, for example, creates work that deals with the sciences, or history, or whatever, it becomes so much richer. They’re working from an informed place. I can always see the level of quality in their work go up once they’ve got that kind of hook into something else. I’ve certainly seen that in our team-teaching efforts.

Students will come into the class and say, ‘I am an artist’ or ‘I am a scientist,’ and they begin making this amazing work and taking down those labels.”

Transect/Intersect/Transform featured academics who are actively embracing both disciplines. These included Andrew Yang of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, whose scholarly interests range across the visual arts, the sciences, and natural history, and David Trinkle, M.D.,

Gentry

associate dean for community and culture at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, where the training of new physicians reflects the needs of today’s workplace.

“Most medical schools are sending a lot of their first-year students to take art and art history courses because they want that well-rounded person who has sharp skills of observation, which is one of the greatest assets a physician can have,” says Gentry. “Medical schools don’t want cookie-cutter scientists anymore. It’s not enough to have strong MCAT scores and good grades in your biology and chemistry classes. They want students who are interesting, doing things outside of science, and know how to talk to other people.”

Gentry is encouraged to see this mindset gaining a foothold. “What parents, alumnae, and students are thinking about is the job market. People change jobs all the time, and whether they graduate now or in five years, students have to be prepared to respond creatively and flexibly, because they may end up somewhere way, way different than the degree they earned.”

Jeff Hodges is director of public relations.

Q&A W I T H

L

Evelyn Julia “Judy” Lambeth ’73

ambeth received her J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1977. She served as in-house counsel to three Fortune 500 companies—DuPont, ConocoPhillips, and Reynolds American. Her legal career included a wide range of assignments in corporate, commercial, environmental, and international law and litigation. She is a member of Hollins’ Board of Trustees and served as chair from 2015 through 2018.

Did you enter Hollins with the plan to attend law school?

No, definitely not. At the time I attended Hollins, it felt as though the career paths for women were limited. There were two—you could be a nurse or a teacher, both excellent career choices—but I was not drawn to either. My recollection is that I just blindly hoped something would turn up by the time I graduated.

Between my sophomore and junior year, my father sat me down and began a discussion with, “Judy, dear, hope is not a strategy…”

When you went to Wake Forest University School of Law, how many other women were in your class?

There were 12 women in our class out of a total of 167. Wake had staggered admissions, accepting applicants midyear, so by the time I finished first year there were probably about 25.

Were there still barriers to women advancing in the field when you started your career?

In North Carolina there were. Law firms would not hire women, or they would hire just one and think they had satisfied the goal of diversity. During one job interview, I was told that while I had excellent credentials, they did not believe their clients would accept a woman.

A justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court rejected the application of a female member of my class for a judicial

clerkship, saying that although she appeared to be well qualified for the job, he “intended to continue his practice of hiring only male graduates from Wake Forest School of Law.” The first day of law school, one of the professors opened his address to our class by saying, “I see that unfortunately more and more women are attending law school these days.

Fortunately, most women are still staying at home and laying the law down there.” Things have changed for the better.

And as for Wake Forest, one of my female classmates, Suzanne Reynolds, is presently dean of the law school, and I know it is a totally different place.

What did you find most rewarding during your 30+ years of practicing law?

My practice was in-house at three Fortune 500 companies. The business problems we had were generally large in scope and composed of many cuttingedge issues, so there was always a challenging learning curve and an element of risk—and finding solutions required incredible teamwork among many people. All three companies had strong corporate responsibility and philanthropy platforms, and because of the nature of my job, I was involved with them, which helped satisfy my desire for community service. I also had the good fortune to live and work in Hong Kong for three-and-a-half years, where I had responsibility for a legal network that incorporated all of the Asia-Pacific region. I traveled extensively and enjoyed learning from many different cultures.

If you hadn’t been a lawyer, what would you have been?

I would like to have been the curator of the costume division of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Wow, do they have some great exhibits!

This from someone who now spends most of her days in sweatpants.

You joined the Hollins Board of Trustees in 2010 and served as its chair from 2015 through 2018. What are the highlights of serving your alma mater in this way?

Every single board meeting is a highlight because my trustee colleagues—the president, the staff, the faculty, and the students—are some of the smartest, most committed, and engaging people I’ve ever met. I leave the meetings with my thoughts and feelings just flying! I have treasured being involved with our career and alumnae engagement initiatives.

And I have had the privilege of working with two sensational presidents, Nancy Gray and Pareena Lawrence. It just doesn’t get better than that.

What is your favorite Hollins memory?

It’s a gestalt. Forging deep and lasting friendships. A transformative J-Term trip to Greece. Discovering how wonderful art history is. Buster Keaton films.

All of Julia Randall’s and Professor Dillard’s classes. What an immense pleasure it was to be an English major— it is a discipline packed with life lessons where you don’t have to be the one who makes the mistakes.

What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?

Take full advantage of your time at Hollins. The education you receive there will nourish and sustain you for the rest of your life.

During reunion last June, Lambeth received the Rath Award for extraordinary participation in the life of Hollins.

Letitia “Lettie” Thym ’22 HOMETOWN: Nashville, Tennessee MAJOR: Psychology MINOR: Undecided AT HOLLINS: Riding program, riding team, Hollins Riding Club, theatre program AFTER GRADUATION: I plan to earn my master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology, specializing in testing and assessment/diagnosis.

I am also interested in marriage and family counseling.

THE HOLLINS FUND Supporting Outstanding Students By giving annually to the Hollins Fund, you support the education of exceptional Hollins women like Lettie.

Hollins THE

EXPERIENCE

Three ways to give: - Online through our secure website at www.hollins.edu/giveonline - Via check to the Hollins Fund, Hollins University, Box 9629, Roanoke, VA 24020 - By calling us with your credit card number: (800) TINKER1 (800-846-5371)

Photo by Sarah Himes ’22, a double major in economics and communication studies from Washington, D.C. She was trained at the International Center for Photography in New York.