Mills Quarterly summer 2004

Mills Quarterly Summer 2004 Alumnae Magazine

The New Vera M. Long Building for the Social Sciences plus Commencement 2004 A Little Slip of Paper

Mills Quarterly

CONTENTS SUMMER 2004 12

Commencement 2004 The latest crop of graduates walks with confidence into an uncertain world.

16

A Little Slip of Paper: The Story of Two Families Dru Eaton Binney, ’58 A bit of serendipity connects two Mills families across generations and geography.

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Grounded in the Past, Focused on the Future: The New Vera M. Long Building for the Social Sciences Professor of European History Bert Gordon The new home of the social sciences division, built in 1930, has been lovingly restored, modernized, and renamed for its benefactor, Vera Mai Skaggs Long, ’35.

D E PA R T M E N T S 2

Letters

4

Inside Mills

8

Mills Matters

10

Alumnae Action

24

Profiles

27

Passages

Facing page: Seniors from the Class of 2004 prepare to graduate.

Photo by Ariel Eaton Thomas, ’63.

ABOUT THE COVER: Associate Professor Wah Cheng meets students in his History of Traditional China class in the solarium of the newly remodeled Vera M. Long Building for the Social Sciences. Cover photo by Bruce Cook.

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BRUCE COOK

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COURTESY OF THE IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM TRUST. USED BY PERMISSION.

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DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

BRUCE COOK

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Mills Quarterly Volume XCIII Number 1 (USPS 349-900) Summer 2004 Alumnae Director Anne Gillespie Brown, ’68 Editor David M. Brin, MA ’75 <dbrin@mills.edu> (510) 430-3312 Design and Art Direction Benjamin Piekut, MA ’01 Associate Editor Pat Soberanis Summer Intern Ajay Rao, MFA ’05 Quarterly Advisory Board Marian Hirsch, ’75 Jane Cudlip King, ’42, Jane Redmond Mueller, ’68 Cathy Chew Smith, ’84, Ramona Lisa Smith, ’01, MBA, ’02 Sharon K. Tatai, ’80, Heidi Wachter, ’01 Lynette Williams Williamson, ’72, MA ’74 Class Notes Writers Barb Barry, ’94, Laura Compton, ’93 Barbara Bennion Friedlich, ’49, Heather Hanley, ’00 Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48, Marian Hirsch, ’75 Cathy Chew Smith, ’84 Special Thanks to Jane Cudlip King, ’42 David M. Hedden Board of Governors President Thomasina S. Woida, ’80 Vice Presidents Anita Aragon Bowers, ’63 Jane Cudlip King, ’42 Treasurer Ramona Lisa Smith, ’01, MBA ’02 Alumnae Trustees Leone La Duke Evans, MA ’45 Sara Ellen McClure, ’81 Sharon K. Tatai, ’80 Governors Micheline A. Beam, ’72, Cecille Caterson, MA ’90 Harriet Fong Chan, ’98, Connie Swan Davidson, ’73 Lynn Eve Fortin, ’87, Amy Franklin-Willis, ’94 Krishen Laetsch, MA ’01, Mary Liu, ’71 Leah Hardcastle Mac Neil, MA ’51 Rachael E. Meny, ’92, Nangee Warner Morrison, ’63 Diana Birtwistle Odermatt, ’60, Ruth O. Saxton, MA ’72 Lynette Williamson, ’72, Karilee Wirthlin, ’92 Sheryl Y. Wooldridge, ’77 Regional Governors Joyce Menter Wallace, ’50, Eastern Great Lakes Joan Alper, ’62, Middle Atlantic Albertina Padilla, ’78, Middle California Adrienne Bronstein Becker, ’86, Middle California Judith Smrha, ’87, Midwest Linda Cohen Turner, ’68, North Central Brandy Tuzon Boyd, ’91, Northern California Gayle Rothrock, ’68, Northwest Louise Hurlbut, ’75, Rocky Mountains Colleen Almeida Smith, ’92, South Central Dr. Candace Brand Kaspers, ’70, Southeast Julia Almazan, ’92, Southern California Elaine Chew, ’68, Southwest The Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly in April, July, October, and January by the Alumnae Association of Mills College, Reinhardt Alumnae House, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94613.

Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, CA and at additional mailing office(s). Postmaster: Send address changes to the Mills Quarterly, Alumnae Association of Mills College, P.O. Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613-0998.

Statement of Purpose The purpose of the Mills Quarterly is to report the activities of the Alumnae Association and its branches; to reflect the quality, dignity, and academic achievement of the College family; to communicate the exuberance and vitality of student life; and to demonstrate the worldwide-ranging interests, occupations, and achievements of alumnae.

Letters to the Editor Bringing History to Life Professor Edna Mitchell’s article in the Spring 2004 Quarterly is the most meaningful feature I’ve read in commemoration of the 50-year anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. I was amazed to learn about Esther Swirk Brown and to know how an ordinary “housewife turned activist“ (the most inspiring of individuals) was a catalyst for the case that changed the course of history.

When I was at Mills (Class of ’63), I was an English major and uninterested in history. I was, however, involved in Model United Nations, and we MUNers enjoyed debating the big issues of the world. Our advisor was Dr. Charles Larsen, who attended our meetings and accompanied us to our conferences. It was my first exposure to the issues of apartheid, genocide, and the background of nationalism. It brought history to life.

Dr. Larsen was our mentor as we play-acted as delegates in negotiations to achieve justice and world peace. He inspired and guided us but never stepped in to influence our opinions, wanting us to discover the path to truth for ourselves. Still, I felt he was our moral compass.

As I read about the late Dr. Larsen in Passages, I see the title of the book—The Good Fight: The Life and Times of Ben B. Lindsey—that he was working on when we knew him as students. The words are like a beacon.

In 1992 I was proud to present Dr. Larsen with a copy of my book, Chinatown, San Jose, U.S.A. It tells the story of a Chinatown that existed because one individual, John Heinlen, allowed a Chinese community, driven by arson out of their homes in 1887, to lease his property. This is where my father was born. Like “the White Brown,” Heinlen was personally attacked and his family threatened, but he too persisted in his cause. Dr. Larsen wrote me an appreciative letter after he

read my book, but said that I had mistakenly written that President Rutherford Hayes signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, when it was President Chester Arthur. He told me not to feel bad, adding graciously that even in his book on Ben Lindsey there was an error of this nature. On every copy of the Chinatown book I could get my hands on, I crossed out “Hayes” and wrote in “Arthur.” In 2000 my book was reprinted and the correction made.

Dr. Larsen was ever my mentor, and I remain always grateful to him and to Mills for my love of history and wanting “to fight the good fight.”

Connie Young Yu, ’63 Role Model Thank you for your recent article in the Spring 2004 Quarterly on the accomplishments of Sydney Silverman Lindauer, ’31. Mrs. Lindauer is the main reason I attended Mills College. I grew up with Mrs. Lindauer’s granddaughter, Susan. We would listen attentively to her grandmother’s stories of attending Mills and living in the Bay Area during the Depression. I was always impressed

by Mrs. Lindauer’s spunk. She’s a world traveler, active in her community, a great writer, and a committed newspaper columnist—she hasn’t missed a deadline in 45 years! She is well read and stays on top of current events.

She is an ideal role model for all women. Mrs. Lindauer exemplifies all the wonderful characteristics that Mills values and instills in its students: dedication, thirst for knowledge, and generosity.

Colleen Kinney, ’90 Parallel Universe Dipping slowly into the Winter 2004 Mills Quarterly this morning, I came to Esther Rosenblatt Landa’s “Recollections of Life at Mills: 1929–1933” and was struck by the similarities in the Mills experiences of the author and [those of]

another non-California westerner who arrived at Mills in September 1934.

Like Mrs. Landa, my mother, Deborah Shwayder Sims, was one of a group of young women from East High School, this time in Denver (and the grouping was family), who came to study at Mills; just like Mrs. Landa, before [my mother] arrived, not one of those cousins told her how warm it could be in California in early September, and so, on her 17th birthday, she took her placement exams dressed in her newest—and warmest— winter suit; like Mrs. Landa, Mills women in 1934 sang the same song about the train as Christmas vacation approached—I know, because I learned it from Deborah; as with Mrs. Landa’s group, the Depression had its effect on Deborah, and she stayed in Denver for her sophomore and junior years, returning to Mills to receive a BA in 1938; like Mrs. Landa, she too then earned an MA at Mills, but in music and just a bit more quickly, in 1940.

After Mills, Deborah taught music at the University of Denver until she moved to Detroit for her marriage and a host of other activities, including the musical direction of a newly established Reform Jewish congregation in suburban Detroit. In 1950 she became a member of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee, which has built and sustained the libraries of Brandeis University. She joined its Detroit Chapter, eventually becoming its president (in 1964, the year of my graduation from Mills), and then president of the Midwest Regional Chapter.

For her years of service to Brandeis she was named a President’s Councilor.

The lives of educated women today, from Mills and elsewhere, take very different paths than did those of Esther Rosenblatt and Deborah Shwayder: full academic lives—not to speak of careers in business, law, medicine, politics, and

government—are not only open to women but no longer preclude marriage and a family, as they did for our mothers. But it is clear as crystal that they made their own very productive, useful, and accomplished lives at a time when women’s opportunities were more circumscribed. Mills has changed greatly since those days, and it is good to be reminded of the role the College has played in a past that is still within living memory.

Eleanor Sims, ’64 An Accomplished Life It has been three years since Anne Kish, ’49, MA ’51, my classmate and good friend, died. I was reminded of what a creative and energetic life of accomplishment Anne led when I received the latest issue of the Darius Milhaud Society Newsletter, which included an impressive memorial to Anne.

Quoting from the tribute, written by her longtime friend Diana Fackenthal: “Anne was a consummate musician—a concert violinist who performed throughout the United States and Europe, a composer, and an inspiring teacher.”

Anne was a devoted composition student of Darius Milhaud at Mills and at the Conservatoire National de Paris in 1950, where she earned a diploma in violin. She also studied with Olivier Messiaen, Roger Sessions, Nadia Boulanger, and Manfred Bukofzer, and was on the faculty at Cornell College in Iowa, Bryn Mawr College, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

In the 1960s, while working toward her PhD in musicology at Bryn Mawr, Anne became an expert in Baroque music performance, which led her to create the School of Orpheus on her return to the Bay Area. She formed a chamber orchestra, a chorus of professional singers, and a wind ensemble to teach the true style of playing Baroque

music. She is considered one of the pioneers in the realization of the Baroque style as it is performed today.

Following her success in the Bay Area, she transported the School of Orpheus to France in 1973 for a summer festival in Chartres, continuing there for seven years. In the later years, the festival drew musicians from all parts of Europe and America.

Anne organized her last but unfinished project, called “Findings,” for young composers, dancers, and poets to collaborate intensively to create and perform new work. During her lifetime, Anne composed at least 100 compositions in various forms for instruments and voice; all had successful performances.

Mary Hoch Walsh, ’49 Small College, Big Impact As an alum and as a member of the Mills staff, thank you for the wonderful work you are doing with the Quarterly. I am always interested to learn more about the history and people who have and continue to make Mills such a special place. You put in print much to help us realize the impact one small institution can have on the bigger world.

Suzanne Di Lillo, MA ’01 Director, Administration and Admissions, Mills College Children’s School Mills “Post-It” Notes Post-it notes custom-designed for Mills College are available from the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club. These 3-by4–inch notepads show a eucalyptus branch and the motto “Remember who you are & what you represent.” The calligraphic lettering is green on yellow paper, and they come in pads of 50 at $2.50 each plus $1 shipping and handling for each order. Mail your check, payable to PAAMCC, to Cynthia McLaughlin, 797 Castle Hill Road, Redwood City, CA 94061.

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inside mills MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT A year ago the College sent Mills alumnae information about our new strategic plan in the Summer issue of the Mills Quarterly. Comments that I have received from numerous alumnae over the past year show that many of you read our plan, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Expanding Avenues to Leadership,â&#x20AC;? with great interest and hope for the future. In this issue of the Quarterly, I am pleased to report on our progress toward goals in the plan.

The last few months at Mills have been a whirlwind of fundraising successes. Since February 2004, we have been the grateful recipients of $14 million in gifts and pledges.

This surge in giving to the College is largely the result of donor enthusiasm for a variety of specific, concrete objectives in the strategic plan. For example, donor Lorry I. Lokey was so impressed with our fledgling MBA program that he pledged $10 million to support its rapid expansion over the next five years. The program, which allows undergraduate women at Mills to earn a BA in economics and an MBA in five years of integrated study, appealed to Mr. Lokey because it was designed with the needs of both the business world and women in mind. You can learn more about the philanthropic spirit behind his gifts to Mills on page 6 of this issue of the Quarterly.

Two donors who wish to remain anonymous recently made lead gifts to support other priorities in our strategic plan for Mills. One donor gave $2 million to help preserve the Music Building, a glorious and historic building in need of substantial renovation work.

Preservation of the Music Building is essential both to keep an architectural gem on our campus and to maintain a tradition of innovative teaching that has made Mills the center of new developments in contemporary music for many years.

A second donor gave $1 million to support an upgrade of our Life Sciences Building.

This building project is vital to enhancing our excellent science instruction and facultydirected research projects with modern facilities and equipment. With this educational background, science students at Mills will be well prepared for advanced study and successful careers in science.

As you can see, the learning environment at Mills is being shaped from year to year by the gifts and contributions of our alumnae and their families. More than 50 percent of the $101.5 million raised in the campaign so far has come from gifts and pledges made by alumnae or their estates, while another 13 percent has come from parents of current and former students.

On behalf of the entire Mills community, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the support of every donor, especially our alumnae and their families. We could not succeed without you!

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JENNIFER SAUER

The strategic plan has provided a strong focus for fundraising efforts at Mills. I am happy to report that the Sesquicentennial Campaign total stands at $101.5 million as of June 17, surpassing our $100 million goal! This is the most successful fundraising campaign in the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history. Moreover, there is every reason to believe the fundraising momentum will continue beyond the campaign, as Mills strives to develop its already excellent reputation for responding to the educational needs of women with cuttingedge programs that appeal to the hearts and minds of students and donors alike.

S E S Q U I C E N T E N N I A L C A M PA I G N N E W S

GOING BEYOND OUR GOAL

$100 million

$24,500,000 Facilities and Technology $80

In 2000 Mills announced its goal to raise $100 million during the Sesquicentennial Campaign. We have now gone beyond $100 million.

As of June 17, 2004, the total raised is $101,500,000.

The finest colleges and universities surpass their original campaign goals, and Mills is working to surpass ours by as much as possible.

Areas still in need of funding include the expansion of the Life Sciences Building, renovation of the Music Building, and operating funds and endowment for academic offerings such as a 4+1 program in public policy, and new undergraduate majors in environmental sciences and intermedia arts.

$60

$36,300,000 Endowment

$40

$37,600,000 $20

Operating Funds

$4,100,000 Other

SOURCES OF GIVING It is no surprise that Mills alumnae are the source of more than 50 percent of the gifts and pledges made during the Sesquicentennial Campaign so far. Alumnae giving has been an important resource for the College for more than 100 years.

57%

ALUMNAE

($58,600,000)

14%

FOUNDATIONS

($14,100,000)

14%

PARENTS

($14,800,000)

13%

FRIENDS

($13,200,000)

2%

CORPORATIONS

($1,800,000)

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inside mills DONOR PROFILE:

LORRY I. LOKEY

by April Ninomiya Hopkins, MFA ’03

D

uring commencement ceremonies in May, the College community learned of Lorry I. Lokey’s pledge of $10 million to create a graduate business school at Mills. Mr. Lokey’s gift, along with an additional $3 million he has donated to the new Education Complex and the recently renovated Vera M. Long Building, amount to the largest gifts the College has ever received from a living donor. Mr. Lokey (Lo-kay) was awarded an honorary doctorate at commencement.

President Holmgren called him a visionary “who believes that education changes societies and lives for the better.”

Mr. Lokey founded Business Wire, a news wire service, in 1961. He is the father of Ann Lokey, ’85. When asked about her father’s gifts to Mills, Ann replied, “I want to see Mills thrive. It is a top college and deserves this boost.”

The Business Wire headquarters are located in a skyscraper in the financial district of San Francisco. From his desk, Mr. Lokey has a spectacular view of the top half of the Transamerica Building just a few blocks away, Coit Tower, and San Francisco Bay. One expects the CEO of a $100-million company to have that kind of view. Nothing else about Mr. Lokey, though, reveals him as a multimillionaire corporate tycoon.

Dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and tie, Lorry (he says it’s easier to pronounce than Lokey) greeted me himself in the reception area, rather than have a personal assistant escort me back to his office. He has no personal assistant.

His office is modestly furnished and decorated with paintings that he and his girlfriend, Joanne Harrington, have purchased at charity auctions and on bargain hunts. Behind his desk are a computer, fax machine, a microwave oven, a French press, and a jar of instant coffee. Also on the walls and on his desk are plaques with clever sayings like: Flying is the second greatest thrill known to man. Landing is the first.

Lorry I. Lokey outside the Charles E. Larsen classroom, which was dedicated on April 13.

BRUCE COOK

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AH: I read that you have given away close to $100 million, mostly to educational institutions. Why have you given away so much?

LL: By 1985 this business was tremendously successful, obscenely so, and the basis for its success was education. We need more schools like Mills, Stanford, and Santa Clara University in the Bay Area. At one point I had the notion of starting a new, quality college; then I saw the price tag.

AH: Why did you want to start a college?

LL: Because there’s room for one.

Students who score 1,200 on the SAT, have high school GPAs of 4.0, and are student body presidents are turned away from private colleges. Santa Clara turns away 1,200 to 1,800 candidates and Stanford turns away 12,000 to 14,000. I can’t afford to build a college. I don’t have $700 million—that’s the minimum needed to start a 2,000student college. About four or five months ago Joanne and I had lunch at Jan’s [President Janet L. Holmgren’s] house and I got the idea, “Why not put the money into existing schools and allow them to do things they otherwise couldn’t do?” If I couldn’t build one, I wanted to do something that would change the complexion of a school and make it a more valuable institution.

I went to Jan’s with the intention of popping the idea of a business school.

Darned if she didn’t bring up the subject first. [Laughs] Our conversation was a race of ideas; not how will we get the money, but how soon can we start building!

AH: Why Mills and why a business school?

LL: Because of Ann’s history at Mills, it is much easier for me to come up with the money for Mills. Seeing her suc-

cess propels me to say Mills is every bit as good as I thought it was. You know, she started here at Business Wire as an editor, then she was a biller, and after that a sales manager.

Now she is vice president of product development integration.

The business school is just the first of the schools Mills needs to consider.

Law is a natural. Computer high-tech might be one. But not a medical school—that’s too expensive. This is the first step in the Mills venture.

AH: You have a reputation for being good to your employees. You gave 46 percent of the business to more than 40 of your key employees. You invite them along on sightseeing tours all over the world, and you provided onsite child-care for a while. Why are you so good to your employees?

LL: What am I going to do with the money? Buy a plane? Buy a yacht?

That’s not my style. I’m a Depression kid; I was six or seven years old in 1933 when the worst hit. I remember my mother screeching over every penny.

AH: Do you have more fun making money or giving it away?

LL: It’s a lot of fun making it so I can give it away. To give part of it away now is a tremendous thrill—not for the act of giving it away but seeing the finished product. For instance, it was delightful to see the Charles E. Larsen Classroom at the Vera M. Long Building dedication and to speak with Dr. Larsen’s widow, Grace. They both put their lives into teaching. They gave of themselves; they gave their lives. All I’m giving is money, not blood.

AH: Do you see yourself changing the world with your philanthropy, or just making it better?

LL: Just making it better. I can’t save the world. I picked a category: education.

Virtually 99 percent goes there. That’s where I want to concentrate. The discipline one receives at home, complemented by education, determines in most cases the quality of life one lives.

Not everyone is going to hit it like I did. I don’t know why I hit it. In college I was voted the least likely to succeed.

No one in my class comes close to what I’ve done, and it doesn’t seem right when there were so many brighter and more gifted people in my class; but it happened. So OK, it can happen to anyone. I lucked into it; I knew the business thoroughly. I knew journalism, I knew public relations, and I knew the people, and when you know your field well, then you’re ready when the opportunity hits. I was lucky.

Education is everything. How many people would be anywhere near where they are if they didn’t have the education they have?

AH: You live in Atherton and have a place on Maui. What do you do when you’re not working?

LL: I put in four to six hours a day of work on Maui, too. I’m on the computer during the weekends here and over there. The second home is a nice change in environment but the same tune plays on over there. The older grandkids come to visit and we have fun. I want to get back to gardening, and I like to play with the two dogs.

Other than that? Joanne and I love to shop. We don’t buy anything lavish or extravagant, but we love estate sales, antique shops, and consignment shops.

We bargain so hard you would think we’re poor. [Laughs.] She shops for her grandkids and I look for Christmas gifts.

April Ninomiya Hopkins, MFA ’03, is director of advancement systems and services at Mills.

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MILLS MATTERS

Faculty and Staff Say Farewell to Mills Edward John Milowicki, professor of English, is retiring after 36 years of teaching at Mills. “In all his work— teaching and scholarship—he brings a meticulous eye for correct style, a passion for historical detail, and a dry humor that brought him a cadre of student devotees,” states Associate Professor of English Cynthia Scheinberg, former chair of the department.

Dr. Milowicki came to Mills in 1968 after receiving his PhD

Edward John Milowicki

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Washington, D.C., for Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos. These experiences were transformative for her and for her colleagues at Mills as well.”

Visiting Distinguished Professor of Education Richard “Pete” Mesa is leaving after eight years of teaching at Mills. Dr. Mesa is a former superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District. He worked first as a professional baseball player, later earning a teaching credential and completing graduate work at Stanford. He went on to become influential at the state and national levels, working with the California State Board of Education and the National Science Foundation. “It was a coup for us to get this incredibly talented and successful person at Mills,” says Jane Bowyer. “He recruited students from all over and helped us put together a program in administrative leadership that is second to none.”

Pete Mesa

Edna Mitchell

ARIEL EATON THOMAS, ’63

from the University of Oregon. He has published numerous scholarly articles and book reviews focusing on texts by classical and medieval authors, including Homer, Ovid, Chaucer, and Shakespeare.

Associate Professor of English Madeleine Kahn came to Mills after earning her PhD from Stanford University in 1989. “I truly believe that if women can learn to think analytically and to write and speak persuasively, then they have the most important skills they need to go forward in life,” Dr. Kahn said in a Mills

Weekly interview. She is known for her studies in 18thcentury English literature and its intersection with feminist theory and the Gothic genre.

These themes crystallize in her book Narrative Transvestism: Rhetoric and Gender in the Eighteenth-Century English Novel, which was published in 1992. Describing Dr. Kahn, Cynthia Scheinberg writes, “Her dedication to teaching and pushing students toward excellence was noted by all who were lucky enough to get into her classes.”

Discussing teaching at Mills, Professor of Education Edna Mitchell writes, “The preparation of teachers at Mills today is unified by a core commitment to respect diversity in all forms.” Dr. Mitchell is leaving Mills after 31 years of teaching. She was the founding director of the Mills Women’s Leadership Institute, director of graduate studies, and director of the experimental evening degree program for working women. She is currently working with the U.S. Department of State, heading a project with the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan. Jane Bowyer, head of the education department and chair of the division of education, said, “Edna was a very popular, intellectually challenging professor who took an exceptional interest in all her students. She is also an adventurer with a political awareness, as can be seen from the sabbaticals she took: She worked in Nepal, in the United Arab Emirates, and in

A talented painter in her personal life, Mary Catherine Jorgensen taught French studies as assistant professor at Mills for 19 years after receiving her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Recently interviewed in the Mills Weekly, Dr. Jorgensen said that the driving force behind her teaching at Mills came from her students, whom she will miss. She is looking forward to relaxing and spending more time in her painting studio at home.

In conjunction with the closing of the Mills dramatic arts department this year, three faculty members left at the end of the spring semester. Gemma Whelan served as the head and director of theater for the dramatic arts department. She received her MFA from San Francisco State University and directed numerous plays at Mills, Ohlone College in Fremont, California, and UC Berkeley. As drama lecturer in education and professional training, Martin Berman directed 16 plays at Mills College. Before arriving

NEWS OF THE COLLEGE

at Mills, Berman was an actor for the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and the Berkeley Stage Company.

Deborah Sussel also acted for the American Conservatory Theatre and the Berkeley Stage Company before coming to Mills in 1976. As a lecturer in drama, Sussel directed five plays at Mills, as well as directing five plays for ACT. Maud Steyaert, ’88, is leaving her position as chaplain of Mills College after serving since November 2001.

She studied in the master of divinity program at Harvard Divinity School, and her faith tradition is Unitarian Universalist. During her senior year at Mills, Steyaert was ASMC president; after graduation, she served on the Board of Trustees as a recent graduate trustee. Alumnae Director Anne Gillespie Brown, ‘68, notes, “Those of us who are alumnae will continue to enjoy Maud’s good heart and soul, and infectious laugh, when she joins us in alumnae activities—no matter where that might be!”

Beth Johnson, ’84, has worked at Mills in several capacities over the past 20 years, including a stint helping to coach the crew team. Since 2001, Johnson has been with the Office of Institutional Advancement as development research coordinator. She contributed to the success of the Sesquicentennial Campaign by identifying and researching sources of funding for the College. Just prior to her position at OIA, Johnson served

as the director of annual giving at the AAMC, where she oversaw the successful completion of the Million for the Millennium Challenge and put in place the Participation Bonus Challenge. Johnson enjoyed working with many generations of alumnae, who provided her with “role models for who I can be at my 60th reunion.”

Marjorie Christensen, ’85, MA ’90, is leaving her position as development research coordinator. She came to work at Mills when her youngest child started school, and she continued during the terms of five Mills presidents.

“Faculty, staff, and students— anyone lucky enough to have crossed paths with Marj— have always been impressed by her insatiable intellectual curiosity, her dedication to her work, her sense of adventure, and her elegant presence,” says coworker Sandra Burghardt. “Her colleagues and her many friends across campus already miss her but wish her the best that retirement has to offer.”

Myrt Whitcomb began her Mills career as dean of students and concluded it as vice president for enrollment management. Her tenure at Mills was filled with highlights benefiting all community members. She came to Mills from Princeton University, where she was associate dean of students and co-acting dean of students. “Her dedication to the education of women was experienced by many, and she will be deeply

missed by students, staff, faculty, alumnae, and trustees,” writes Kennedy Golden of the Office of Student Life. “All who had the privilege of working with her wish her well as she moves on to the next phase of her life.”

After receiving a master’s degree in education from the University of Vermont, Liza Kuney, ’88, returned to Mills as assistant dean of students. She also held the positions of director of student activities and first-year dean.

“In her varied roles she worked closely with many Mills community constituencies, always keeping in mind her multiple connections with the College,” writes Kennedy Golden.

After one year in the Office of the President, Karina Robinson, ’88, leaves Mills to pursue graduate studies in history at Arizona State University, where she will study government-sponsored migration. Robinson’s other interests include public history and genealogy.

AAMC Task Force on Fundraising The Task Force on Fundraising, an ad hoc committee recommended by AAMC President Karen May and approved by the Board of Governors at their April 14 meeting, has been formed to study issues raised by several alumnae. The committee, co-chaired by Anita Aragon Bowers, ’63, and Melissa Stevenson Dile, ’91, is in the process of collecting data regarding fundraising efforts by the Alumnae Association and the College’s Office of Institutional Advancement. With the goal of evaluating fundraising activities, the committee will address alumnae concerns in three areas: donor confusion about how their gifts will be used, the possible duplication in AAMC and College fundraising efforts, and a perceived need to improve the working relationship between the AAMC and the College. The task force will also study issues regarding the structure of the AAMC and its relationship to the College. Committee members will compile and analyze data gathered through interviews with AAMC and OIA staff, Mills alumnae, Mills College officers, and alumnae association representatives from similarly situated colleges.

Committee members plan to report their findings and make recommendations to the Board of Governors in the fall. If you have any questions or suggestions for the committee, please contact either Anita Aragon Bowers or Melissa Stevenson Dile through Reinhardt House at <aamc@mills.edu> or (510) 430-2110.

Your ideas are vital to us as we study the issues.

—Anita Aragon Bowers and Melissa Stevenson Dile

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ALUMNAE ACTION

N E W S O F T H E A L U M N A E A S S O C I AT I O N

Alumnae Pearl M Dinner

DONNA CASTRO

Great weather set the stage for a beautiful Alumnae Pearl M Dinner and Champagne Reception sponsored by the AAMC’s Alumnae Student Relations Committee in honor of the Class of 2004. More than 90 seniors together with alumnae and staff participated in the Lantern Procession and Ceremony, gathered around the pond near the Music Building, and sang the “Lantern Song,” “Remember,” and “Fires of Wisdom.” AAMC Vice President Jane Cudlip King, ’42, led the evening program.

Baljeet Purewal, ’04, and Cynthia Guevara, ’04, were recipients of Pearl M pins. Baljeet received her donated Pearl M from Betty Jo Wilson Goff, ’46, and Cynthia received her Pearl M from Peggy Parker Eccles, ’42. Following the Lantern Procession, seniors attended a reception at Reinhardt Alumnae House where Alumna Trustee Leone La Duke Evans, MA ’45, led a toast.

Above: Joui Willmarth, ’04 (left), Baljeet Purewal, ’04, Viji NakkaCammauf, MA ’82, and Sarah Wigdor, ’04, paused for a moment on their way to meet fellow classmates at the pond near the Music Building.

Above right: Members of the Class of 2004 gathered around the pond near the Music Building to sing Mills songs. Foreground: Liz Chinlund, ’04 (right), Emily Kaufmann, ’04, and Shannon Wood, ’04.

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DONNA CASTRO

DONNA CASTRO

Top Right: Cynthia Guevara, ’04 (right), and Baljeet Purewal, ’04, received Pearl M’s as recognition of their service to the AAMC. Cynthia originally came from Anchorage, Alaska, majored in anthropology and sociology, and plans to enter a graduate program in education. Baljeet hails from Sacramento, majored in business economics, and will enter the MBA program at Mills this fall.

Reinhardt House for Rent One of the benefits of being an alumna or alumnus is that you can rent Reinhardt Alumnae House for wedding receptions, birthdays, family reunions, or any occasion you want to celebrate. We can accommodate groups of up to 150. We recently installed a new patio, a new lawn, and outdoor lighting to add to the beauty of this magical setting. Reinhardt House can be rented Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays. Contact Laurie Krane at (510) 430-2110, or email her at <lkrane@mills.edu> for available dates and prices.

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Reunion!

It’s One Big Weekend Party! September 9–12 Accommodations, food, drink, recreation, cultural activities—Mills turns into your own vacation resort this one weekend. So come and get away from it all September 10 to 12; and if you’re a member of the Class of 1954, the new Golden Girls, you get one extra day, September 9, all to yourselves.

You’ll want to see the old Infirmary/Children’s School now entering its third life as the Vera M. Long Social Sciences Building. You’ll want to hear the College president, Janet L. Holmgren, talk about what’s new and what’s to come.

Have you heard about the new business school? What’s happening at the Alumnae Association will be handled by the new president, Thomasina Woida, ’80. Thomasina, incidentally, has been co-chairing Reunion for six years now, so she’s experienced in knowing what you’ll like at this party.

The Celebration of the Arts will cover the Oral History Project,

our own alumnae literary giants from classes ending in 4 and 9, and a two-piano recital featuring the Janus Duo with Francis Whang and Barbara Rowan Whang, ’54.

You can stroll the campus on a tour and get your class picture taken during a picnic on Toyon Meadow, which on a more formal occasion is the site of the College’s commencement ceremonies. On top of it all, you can don academic regalia once again and march into the Concert Hall for convocation. What memories that brings! That afternoon there’s a College colloquium and a student panel. Definitely, there’s something for everyone and something every minute.

Find that Reunion Brochure—it arrived in June—fill it out and mail it today. You’ll be glad you did, because Reunion is—yes, indeed!—one big weekend party.

—Jane Cudlip King, ’42

MILLS TRIPS 2004 Journey of the Czars: Exploring the Waterways of Russia August 11–24 Three days each in St. Petersburg and Moscow with a cruise along the Volga, Svir, and Neva Rivers. $1,595 plus air.

Alumni College in Kilkenny, Ireland September 15–22 A town famous for its strong artistic expression as well as its stately castle and cathedral. Unpack just once and discover the southeast of Ireland. $1,795 plus air; $2,495 including air.

New England October 19–27 We will be visiting small museums in New England at a time when the fall foliage will be in full color. Stephan Jost, director of the Mills

Art Museum, will be accompanying the tour. $2,917 plus air.

The Temples and Waterways of Vietnam and Cambodia November 2–20 Featured will be the major cities of both countries and several “off the beaten track” places. A highlight is a Mekong River cruise from Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. $4,195 plus air.

European Holiday River Cruise November 27–December 5 Cruise along the Danube River and visit the Austrian cities of Vienna and Salzburg, ending in Nuremberg, Germany, with a visit to the famous Christmas market there. $1,398 plus air; $1,998 from San Francisco.

If you would like additional information on any of these trips, please call the AAMC at (510) 430-2110; email us at <aamc@mills.edu>; or write us at Reinhardt Alumnae House, PO Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613.

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>

Commencement 2004 was an inspiring event as members of the Class of 2004 became Mills College’s newest alumnae and alumni. More than 200 bachelor’s degrees were awarded, including students who completed their degrees in January.

Six EdD degrees and 13 MBA degrees were awarded, as well as approximately 85 master of arts degrees, 70 master of fine arts degrees, 50 teaching credentials, and 30 post-baccalaureate premedical certificates.

Lorry Lokey, founder of Business Wire and generous donor to Mills College, was presented with an honorary doctorate, and Angela Glover Blackwell, a member of the Mills College Board of Trustees and founder of PolicyLink, a nonprofit organization that promotes ecoDAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

nomic and social equity, delivered the keynote address.

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ARIEL EATON THOMAS, ’63

DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

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“Today, we all make the jump. And we are blessed with the rare opportunity to jump together. To jump as a group—as a force. And when your feet leave the ground and the breeze swells beneath you, know that the community you have created here at Mills will support you, guide you, honor you, and set you free. Together we are capable of so much!”

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DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

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—Sarah Lambie, ’04

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ARIEL EATON THOMAS, ’63

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Seniors line up in front of El Campanil before the ceremony.

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Seniors wait for the academic procession to start.

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Sunshine Ludder will be studying in Cairo on a Fulbright Scholarship.

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Sarah Lambie spoke on behalf of the senior class.

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Graduates applaud the keynote speaker.

Lorry I. Lokey received the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Left to right: Lorry I. Lokey, keynote speaker Angela Glover Blackwell, President Janet L. Holmgren, and Vivian Stephenson, chair of the Board of Trustees.

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ARIEL EATON THOMAS, ’63

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“I look out at all of you with whom I shared the past two years, and think of all your successes—our successes—and the amazing, talented people I’ve met, and I realize there’s hope for me yet. I look at the bright and accomplished alumnae who’ve graduated from Mills—women, men; politicians, publishers, musicians, artists, activists, dancers, scientists, and,

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DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

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yes, writers—and feel just a little more confident that maybe the time I’ve spent here will help me create a place for myself out in the world.”

—Sarah Jamila Stevenson, MFA ’04 “I grew up in Oakland and when it came time to choose a college the first time around, I overlooked Mills because of its sheer vicinity. Ten years later, though, I couldn’t feel any prouder or more fortunate to be a Mills woman. I’m so glad I finally found what was right in front of me all along!”

DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

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—Kyra Clarkson, ’04

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DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

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DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

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Mary Rose Kaczorowski, known as Redwood Mary, worked with the Botanical-Ecology Club to facilitate a number of activities on campus, including the celebration of Earth Day in April.

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The processional and recessional at commencement 2004 were performed by the Mills College Gamelan, an Indonesian percussion orchestra.

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Mother and daughter Eden Mottershead and Hazel Mottershead both earned BA degrees in 2004.

Pearline Victoria Harris, captain of the crew team, received the Mary Laughlin Beardmore Award for excellence in art history.

5 Sarah Jamila Stevenson, MFA ’04, spoke for graduate students.

6 Kyra Clarkson graduated with a degree in child development.

7 Mills conferred six doctorates in educational leadership in 2004. The recipients were (left to right) Shirley Shu Clem, Stacy Thompson, Kathleen Hern, Marianne Nolte, Iris Wesselmann, and Sarah Feldman.

Bent Twigs DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75 DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75 DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

Clockwise from top left: Jennifer Allen and her godmother, Susan Brown Penrod, ’71. Kathryn Nelson Peters, ’66, and her daughter, Erin Peters, who earned a Teachers for Tomorrow’s Schools credential. Cousins Ethel Hameed, ’85, left, and Rebecca Hill Long, ’87. JayLiana Mathes and her mother, Eloise Mathes, ’02. Leanne Fujiko Olsgaard and her mother, Yoko Tashiro Olsgaard, ’77.

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f Paper A Little Slip oFa milies) o (The Story of Tw

by Dru Eaton Binney, â&#x20AC;&#x2122;58

could have gone to Mills in the ’30s.

I looked in the 1988 Mills College Alumnae Directory (the latest one I had) and sure enough found Joan David’s name, cross-indexed with Joan Brambila, class of 1939. Unbelievable! There was an address and phone number for her in Astoria, Oregon. But that, of course, was in 1988. She would have to be about 84 now.

With some trepidation we called the number in Astoria—but no Joan David there. No one had heard of her. Well, I wasn’t about to give up yet. I called Reinhardt Alumnae House. Sure enough, they still had Joan David listed. Unfortunately, the address and phone were the same as in the apparently obsolete 1988 listing. I asked about her children. There were photos in the box of two, Carol and William. Carol would be about 60 now; did Mills have her address? They had no addresses, no Bent Twigs, although they had the names of four children.

They noted that Joan had exhibited in art galleries around Astoria. Having majored in art myself, I thought perhaps the galleries might know how to find her.

Amazingly, they did. I got the numbers of four galleries in Astoria, and the first gallery I called knew her and had her phone number at a retirement home. That had to be too easy! But there she was. She answered right away. So! Joan said she was in an assisted living home and her son lived nearby. She was very gracious on the phone and delighted to reminisce about Mills and the art professors we both knew. Best of all, she remembered her grandmother Ella and Ella’s best friend, whom she had Imogen Cunningham took this photo of Joan Brambila David while Joan was a student at Mills.

COURTESY OF THE IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM TRUST. USED BY PERMISSION.

“

wish I could do something about these photographs. We can’t just throw them away; somewhere there is someone who cared about these people and would treasure these pictures.”

This surely must have been the hundredth time David, my husband, had said this. And for the hundredth time he was picking through the boxes of family photos that his grandmother and his father in turn had carefully saved over the decades. He would say to me, “This box labeled ‘Ella Bates Misner Family’—there are some fine portraits in here from at least the 1870s.” And they obviously were special, almost all of them meticulously labeled with names and dates.

Ella Bates was his grandmother Jennie’s lifelong best friend.

And so, once again, David was going through the box piece by piece, hoping to find some clue, some way to find the Misners. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could find Ella’s descendants and give them the pictures?” David mused.

Ella and Jennie grew up together in Wisconsin, and, when they each married, they moved to different states but kept in touch all their lives. Ella sent Jennie pictures and snapshots, each with a description on the back.

Even without knowing the people, you could seemingly reconstruct their histories through these annotated photographs.

Ella Bates Misner and Jennie Binney both died in 1949, and so the picture stories ended. But not quite.

You see, Jennie saved more than the photos. She saved wedding announcements and odd bits of poems and papers. Among those papers was a small slip of paper—an amazing clue to the past, and a remarkable coincidence.

David called out to me from where he was buried in boxes of photos: “What do you think of this?”

I couldn’t believe my eyes! “Well, I’ll be darned,” I said. “What’s it doing in the Misner box? I didn’t put it there!” But it obviously belonged there. It was a blank telephone record labeled Mills College. The paper had been used to scribble numbers on the back. It read, in Ella Bates Misner’s handwriting, “Booth phone—Trinidad 9896, Regular college phone Trinidad 2700 until 9:30 p.m.”

I recognized the mimeographed paper instantly. We were using them at Mills when I was there in the ’50s. The Trinidad exchange was also familiar. Judging by the type of phone numbers, I could see they were a little earlier than my time at Mills, but not much earlier—perhaps from the ’30s or early ’40s.

So, who in all those photos went to Mills? Maybe we had the clue we needed to find the Misner family. David went through the papers and photos again and laid out a possible timeline.

A wedding invitation showed that Ella had a daughter, Doris, who married Lieutenant Colonel Robert Brambila in 1917. Another invitation announced that Doris’s daughter Joan Brambila was to marry Edward David in 1940. Joan

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Joan Brambila David, ‘39

By Ellen David Nelson

My mother, Joan Brambila David, ’39, spent her life as an artist. Her talent was recognized at an early age, and as a child she studied at an art school in Pittsburgh.

While the adult students worked with nude models, eight-year-old Joan was relegated to a separate room with a plaster cast of a foot. “When I would finish drawing the foot one way, the teacher would change the angle and I would have to draw it again,” Joan laughed as she remembered. Seventy-five years later, she still draws feet, but Joan has had a varied and successful artistic life . . . including painting nudes.

As an art major at Mills, Joan Brambila lived in Orchard Meadow Hall and studied under Roi Partridge and Alfred Neumeyer. She struck up a friendship with Ron Partridge, the son of Roi Partridge and Imogen Cunningham, and spent numerous hours at their home, enjoying evening meals with the family and their guests, including the photographers Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange. Imogen Cunningham photographed Joan and created several treasured portraits.

After she graduated from Mills, Joan studied at the Art Students League in New York City. She married news writer Ed David and became a textile designer for Vera; some of the logos she developed for Vera and Hanes hosiery are still being used today. During her years at Vera, she designed the clock-patterned scarf that was used to strangle a victim in the 1951 E. A. Dupont thriller The Scarf, starring Mercedes McCambridge. Joan later operated her own design business.

A move to Michigan in the late 1950s also precipitated a move from two-dimensional art to pottery. For the next 20 years, Joan spun her talents on the potter’s wheel, creating functional pieces that are in the Detroit Art Institute, the Winterthur Museum, and the Michigan governor’s office.

My father retired from the industrial film industry in 1979, and, with their four children grown, my parents moved to Astoria, Oregon. My mother’s art continued to evolve, and now included paintings, etchings, monoprints, and linocuts. Her series entitled View From My Window captured interesting scenic views from windows along the coast, including one that KMUN radio station in Astoria uses for promotions. Her artwork was once again spotlighted in movies, although not with such violent ends. The monoprint “Nude with Parasol” is seen in the 1992 Faye Dunaway movie The Temp. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Kindergarten Cop (1990) features two prints and a painting.

My mother now lives in Seaside, Oregon, where she still enjoys sketching and daily walks. Her recent artwork may be viewed on her website at <www.joandavid.com>.

Ellen David Nelson is a professional writer and photographer living in Evergreen, Colorado.

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This photo brought together the descendents of Ella Bates Misner and Jennie Binney; it shows three generations of Ellen David Nelson’s family: her great-grandmother, Ella Bates Misner, her mother, Joan Brambila David, and her oldest sister, Carol David Jones.

The photo was taken in 1942.

always known as Aunt Jennie.

But our story of coincidences doesn’t end yet. As we were chatting about Mills and the telephone booth in Orchard Meadow, Joan suddenly realized I had told her I was calling from Colorado. “One of my daughters lives in Colorado. Ellen Nelson. I have her phone number.” So there we were. At last, a way to “return” the photos. And we did.

The following weekend the Nelson family drove the three hours from northern Colorado to our house in Monte Vista to meet, as Ellen put it, “our new family and hear the delightful story directly.” She had found her great-grandma. And we had found new friends.

“I was named after her,” Ellen told us, “although my parents named me Ellen Bates instead of Ella. . . . We had a few family photos, but in them she was a wizened old lady.” Ellen Nelson’s own story, “Finding GreatGrandma,” was featured in the July 2003 issue of Colorado Serenity, a northern Colorado magazine. Ella Bates Misner, Joan Brambila David, ’39, and Carol David Jones are pictured on the issue’s cover.

If it hadn’t been for Mills keeping track of all of us wandering alumnae, we would never have found Ella’s long-lost family. The box of photos and mementos surely would not have waited another century and would have gone the way of so many forgotten keepsakes. The slip of paper from Mills would have slipped away forever.

Dru Eaton Binney received her BA in art from Mills in 1958. The first five years after Mills she held eight different jobs and lived in six different cities, finally settling down to teaching for six years in San Diego. In 1991, she retired after 21 years as assistant to the director of the statewide Institute of Marine Resources at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. She lives with her husband, David, in southern central Colorado in the foothills of the San Juan Mountains.

Happy New Year!

Our new fiscal year started July 1 and brings new opportunities for you to show your support for Mills.

Please use the enclosed envelope to make your annual gift. Whether a one-time gift now, regular monthly credit card charges, or a pledge to be fulfilled later this year, your contribution goes a long way to support Mills' excellence.

Your participation in the Annual Fund helps Mills attract and retain capable and talented students and faculty. Your gifts make so much possible.

HELP US BEGIN OUR 2005 FUNDRAISING YEAR WITH A BANG!

Grounded in the Past, Focused on the Future THE NEW VERA M. LONG BUILDING FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

by Professor of European History Bert Gordon, Chair, Social Sciences Division

T

BRUCE COOK

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he social sciences division’s move from Kimball House to the newly remodeled Vera M. Long Building on the Mills campus became real to me one night last fall when my wife, Suzanne Perkins, an art historian, asked, “Will the portraits of Cyrus and Susan Mills move with the division to the new building?” In ornate Renaissance revival-style wooden frames, the portraits had followed the social sciences division into Kimball House, our former quarters, and, as it turned out, they would now follow us out, into the Ann Sulzberger Wolff, ’42, Conference Room in the new facility.

The portraits are emblematic of the ways in which the new building looks toward the future of the social sciences division at the College, while also providing a feeling of continuity with those who have gone before us at Mills. The new is evident everywhere in the building, from the polished and sparkling oak floors to the new office carpeting and furnishings, which are made from recycled or renewable materials. Computer printers are located at strategic points and, of course, the building’s name, “Vera M. Long,” honoring the late Vera Mai Skaggs Long, ’35, former Mills trustee and patron of the remodeling, is new.

Curvilinear iron grillwork has been restored and painted a shade of green, while the polychromatic decorative tiles near the main entrance have been cleaned and refreshed. Three plaques at the main entrance tell the visitor of the rich history of this building. The earliest refers to the building’s first incarnation as the Norman Bridge Health Center and the Nell Ford Stone Clinic, from the building’s opening in 1930 until 1966.

The second plaque commemorates the Mills College Children’s School, dedicated March 29, 1968, in memory of Donna Healy Cameron (1941–1963), who died in childbirth and was the daughter of

and a longtime resident of Kimball House that also moved with the division. The clock is cared for and wound on workdays by Paul Schulman, professor of government, our resident historic clock expert.

Down the long corridor past Holly’s desk are faculty offices that line both sides of the hallway. Some of the offices open onto outdoor patios or walkways; others have small balconies.

The landscaping has just been finished, so many of our outdoor activities still lie ahead. A corridor leads outside to a breezeway and a few steps across this breezeway is the Charles E. Larsen classroom (Room 140), a new free-standing structure built in a Mediterranean style compatible with the renovated building, complete with red tile roof. Outdoors is a meticulously landscaped patio, which was the setting for the dedication, on April 13,

2004, of the Vera M. Long Building, presided over by President Janet L. Holmgren. Many who had made the building possible were present, including members of the Long family and Lorry I. Lokey. Mr. Lokey’s generous support, together with that of the Longs and the Fletcher Jones Foundation, helped make the building renovation possible. In addition, Mr. Lokey supported the construction of the new Larsen classroom.

A bright and airy space, the Larsen classroom contains the latest in educational technology, facilitating PowerPoint and other high-tech presentations. A plaque in this room honors Professor Larsen, a highly respected colleague and teacher in both the history and government departments from 1957 through 1993, as well as Mr. Lokey. The Larsen room, opened in April 2004, has already been used for

Robert M. Long, Marion Souyoultzis, and Nan Gefen, children of Vera M. Long, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 13.

BRUCE COOK

Daniel B. and Madeleine “Doolie” Sharp Healy, ’39, of San Marino, California. The third, and most recent, plaque proclaims the Vera M. Long Building for the Social Sciences.

Inside the building are several centers of activity. Although members of the social sciences faculty had been housed together when they first moved to Kimball House in 1960, their offices had since been gradually scattered around the campus. They are reunited, however, in the new building, which has incorporated the Public Policy Program (Room 118), and in the fall 2004 semester will become home to the Institute for Civic Leadership.

Both of these programs, which are relatively new at Mills, train students for political and social leadership careers, and both are being incorporated into the social sciences division. These two programs join the older social science disciplines of anthropology, economics, government, history, philosophy, and sociology.

An expansive reception area, with comfortable 1930s-style sofas and chairs, and a large desk, behind which sits our administrative assistant, Holly Robinson, welcomes the visitor. Prints by colleague-artist Hung Liu grace two of the walls, and along a third wall is a large glass-door bookcase that currently displays pictures of the new building. The reception area is often the scene of informal conversations among faculty members and students.

Students have begun to use this area as a study space: shortly before final exams in May, students Rosalie McGie, Sara Laufer, and Grace Campbell, all members of the class of 2006, were seen huddled there studying intensely one evening as late as 11 p.m. Gracing this space is a 19th-century long-case clock—the case made of California redwood, a gift of the class of 1896—

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classes by Associate Professor of Anthropology Ann Metcalf and is in much demand for the fall semester.

Special events, such as a lecture by Dr. Jennifer Jordan, visiting research scholar from the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., have also been held there.

The Sixth Annual Student Research Conference, held Saturday, April 24, 2004, took place in both the Larsen classroom and the Ann S. Wolff Conference Room. An all-day event in which students from the social sciences division and other divisions present their seminar papers in a format that replicates a professional meeting, the Research Conference offers students the opportunity to practice making public presentations and responding to criticism from peers and faculty. Twentytwo students presented their research, with another 25 to 30 in attendance.

The Ann S. Wolff Conference Room is in the main building opposite the Larsen classroom. It is a cozy meeting room, with Cyrus and Susan Mills looking down from their portraits above the fireplace in an atmosphere reminiscent of the universities at Oxford and Cambridge. A large oak refectory-like table fills the center of the room. Along one side are three arch-shaped windows. A separate door to the outside can be opened on warm, sunny days.

A smaller side table near the window is also made of oak, and a small marbletop table between the chairs along another wall came from Kimball House.

The furnishings were selected to match that of the period when the Vera M. Long Building was first built. Assistant Vice President for Business Affairs Karen Maggio notes that the chairs with green floral fabric in this room are reupholstered chairs from the late 1920s and early 1930s and came from Orchard Meadow Hall. The ceramic tile floor, as well as the windows and fireplace, are original to the building. This

Lorry Lokey and Grace Larsen, widow of Charles Larsen, for whom the new classroom in the Vera M. Long Building was named.

room has been restored to its original state and new lighting and a glass door to the hallway have been added.

The Ann S. Wolff Conference Room, into which 20 people can fit, is ideal for meetings and seminars.

Sociology Professor Laura Nathan met her sociology proseminar there this past semester, and I used it to meet students doing independent studies in the history of political theory. I also conducted review sessions with students there. We now hold social sciences division faculty meetings in this room. Faculty members who arrive late to meetings, and for whom there is no room at the table, sit in the upholstered chairs or on ottomans along the walls of the room. It is the first time since the early 1970s that the social sciences faculty has been able to meet in its own space.

Another corridor leads from the reception area to the old health center

solarium, past the Public Policy Program office, where Professor Emery Roe presides. Farther on are the offices of Professor of History Andrew Workman and Professor of History Marianne Sheldon, who were both instrumental in planning the new facility and the move-in. The solarium is also known now as the “sun porch” and the “kitchen,” because it contains a modern kitchen, a refrigerator, and the division’s dining supplies. With end-of-theyear meetings, parties, and receptions, this room quickly emerged as a major center of activity. It seems to be especially popular with students. The solarium was restored as far as possible to the way it appeared in the old health center days, notes Karen Maggio, but the kitchen is new and the lighting is improved. There are several moveable tables and chairs. I conducted informal classes with students in the kitchen, and Associate Professor Wah Cheng

ordered for the occasion. The met his History of Traditional China government department used the class there this past spring. Teaching Conference Room to conduct weekly assistants for several classes have held meetings with its majors. The anthrooffice hours in the solarium. pology-sociology department had its The Vera M. Long Building’s lower year-end barbecue on the patio just level consists of a new computer room, outside the building. Prospective available for student use 24 hours a students are given tours of the new day, seven days a week. This room is building—we rarely saw them in especially convenient for commuting Kimball House. students who need to use it during offFor the faculty, having all the hours. The Public Policy Program has social sciences departments in one just earmarked funds for a new combuilding facilitates interdisciplinary puter there. curriculum planning, such as the Key to redesigning the building incorporation of the Public Policy has been accessibility and a welcomProgram into the division. The friending feeling to all members of the liness and central location of the Vera College community. Except for the M. Long Building has increased inforlower-level computer room, everymal out-of-class contact with stuthing is on one floor. Faculty and dents. Enhanced audio-visual and students frequently encounter one computer support, including conveanother informally; one student said niently located printers, plus a classthat she liked to study in the Vera M. room and meeting spaces in our own Long Building because the faculty building increase student-faculty conwere close by and she could stop in tact, which is what Mills is all about. and have questions answered. The Ann S. Wolff Conference Room is directly across from my Vera M. Long, ’35 office, and I often see students studying there. The building’s location, close to the center of campus, also brings more students to us. For years, social sciences faculty joked that only the hardiest of students would make the trek from their dorms or classrooms to Kimball House, located at one of the remote ends of the campus.

Considering that we have had only one semester in the new facility and that parts of the building and grounds were opened only in mid-semester, we are still exploring potential uses of the site. This past spring, the history department held the dinner that it organizes once a semester for its majors and minors in the Ann S. Wolff Conference Room. Pizzas were

Even the bulletin boards, placed strategically next to each faculty office door, facilitate communication.

Student use of the building will increase even more as word spreads about the availability of the lower level computer room.

The Vera M. Long Building has also helped increase contact between social sciences faculty and other members of the College community. We have invited the Alumnae Association to use our meeting rooms when needed, and this is in the planning stages for next year.

Faculty from outside the social sciences division have stopped by for informal discussions, something that rarely occurred prior to our move into the Vera M. Long Building.

A visit to the new Vera M. Long Building shows the many ways in which it was designed to promote a spirit of community, and so far it is more than fulfilling its promise. Praise for it has been copious and complaints virtually non-existent. On behalf of the social sciences division, I invite all alumnae to visit our new building. Stroll into the Ann S. Wolff Conference Room. Cyrus and Susan will be glad to greet you there.

Anne Gillespie Brown, ’68, executive director of the Alumnae Association of Mills College, Marjorie Christensen, development research coordinator at Mills, Karen Maggio, assistant vice president for business affairs, and Professor Emerita of Economics Marion Ross, ’44, all helped with research for this article.

Bert Gordon is professor of European history and chair of the social sciences division at Mills. From 1999 to 2001 he was acting provost at the College. He writes about French history, the history of cuisine, the history of tourism, and is also at work on the Mills Bicentennial History Project. In 2002 he taught a course on the history of Mills College.

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Profiles

RETIRED ENGINEER B E RT H U G H E S GIVES GIFTS TO MILLS

by Elizabeth Johnson, ’84 The F.W. Olin Library and Housekeeping Services required more repairs than the others, or maybe it are both beneficiaries of generous gifts from was just the last stop on his list and he had more Robert “Bert” Hughes, who worked as an engitime to talk.” Pamela Carr adds, “I always got the neer at Mills from 1978 to 1990. His unique gift designation inspired people in the community to reflect on the time he spent on campus. “Mr. Hughes was a very sweet, sincere, and quiet man,” says Karen Maggio in Housing Services, “part of our housing family and always wanting to make things perfect.” Pamela Carr, ’84, who now works in the Office of Institutional Advancement, says, “He stayed in a room off of Ethel Moore, so I frequently saw him coming or going. I often had meals with him at Founders, and we talked about whatever was on our minds.” Mr. Hughes had an outgoing side as well. Some remember his zest for kayaking—even wanting to give Bert Hughes, center, with his son, Douglas, and Douglas’ wife, Aileen lessons on Lake Aliso—while others can still picture him biking around cam- (right). On the left are two of his grandchildren, Octaviano and Samantha. pus. His son, Dr. Douglas Hughes, conimpression he enjoyed Mills and the students, [if firmed his father’s commitment to these sports, only because we] were grist for his own musings noting that in 1972 he biked across the United about human nature.” Mr. Hughes’ generous gift States. Although Mr. Hughes, 87, now lives in to the Library was given in memory of his New Mexico, he was and remains a part of the maternal grandmother, Olive Skeel Foley. The gift Mills community. “For some reason I have the to Housekeeping was given in the name of his most vivid memories of him in Orchard Meadow mother, Flora Foley Hughes.

Hall,” Karen Maggio says, “maybe because OM

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Profiles

THIS DOCTOR MAKES HOUSE CALLS: J U L I E VA I L S , ’ 9 5

by Pat Soberanis “You can take on a lot,” says Dr. Julie Vails, ’95, “but you have to break it down into baby pieces that are easily accomplished.”

That’s just one of the answers she gives when people ask, “How did you do it?” In a classic against-the-odds story, Julie went from teen pregnancy to MD in just 15 years while raising two daughters on her own.

Other answers convey the fierce determination you sense the moment you meet her. “I was brought up with a strong sense of pride,” she says. “You either do it right or don’t do it at all.

“Also,” she admits, “I get bored easily.”

A child of poverty, Julie attended San Francisco’s exclusive private schools on scholarship until she became pregnant at 14. She married at 16, had her second child a year later, and by 19 found herself a single mother with a high school

SACRAMENTO BEE/RANDY PENCH

Julie Vails’ bedside manner is evident as she greets a baby she delivered, Brayden Hawkins.

diploma, living on public assistance and taking in foster children to make ends meet. When she decided to turn her life around, she began in a big way, by completing a four-year legal-specialist program in two years at a community college.

Then she came to Mills. Julie credits Mills with inadvertently guiding her toward medicine. “I decided to become a doctor when the Mills application made me put something in the major category,” she says. In her four years at Mills, she served as copresident of the Association of Pre-Health Science Students and graduated with honors.

“Being in classes with 14 people was beautiful for me,” she says, as was the “incredible” math instructor who taught the intensive precalculus course she needed to prepare for her biology major.

Her advice to the premed students she now mentors is highly practical. “Don’t go to college till you’re ready to get straight A’s. Work the system to get what you want. If you’re still deciding what you want, do it at a community college.”

She chose the University of California, San Francisco, over Harvard Medical School because UCSF offered family housing. But when she finally reached her long-sought goal as a well-paid physician at a large medical group in Sacramento, California, she discovered she was profoundly unhappy.

“There’s an art to medicine,” Julie says, “and you can’t hear the patient and do it in ten minutes.”

That’s all the time she was given per patient. “I’ve worked at five or six urgent care clinics, in emergency rooms, and at a large medical group. All of them were the same.”

So in November 2002 she took her fierce determination and strong sense of pride and opened her own office, Vails Family Practice, in Elk Grove, just outside of Sacramento. Her 19-year-old, Genevieve Vails-Dobson, is the office manager, and her four-year-old, Isabella, flits in and out of the examination rooms. Her middle daughter, 17-yearold Gabrielle, recently graduated from high school.

“Here, I can treat patients according to their own philosophy and their own approach to their health.”

As anyone who has felt shunted through the brave new world of managed health care will recognize instantly, Julie’s approach is her patients’ blessing. She spends a full hour with new patients and 30 minutes in follow-up sessions, offers cotton gowns, and takes a whole-person, whole-family approach to health care. She even makes occasional house calls.

“My patients are extremely loyal,” Julie says of the thousand or so on her roster. “We have a very high staff-patient ratio, great customer service, food and drink, music, back massage, fountains, tons of plants. It’s comfortable, not sterile.

“We also have a new-patient orientation,” she adds. “Patients are expected to do their part.

We’re not going to make them take their pill.

We’re not here to get yelled at. If they call and say their prescription is going to run out tomorrow, I say, ‘Why did you wait till the last minute?’”

It’s a tradeoff they’re happy to make. “My office is filled with thank-you letters,” Julie says.

As for the tradeoff all women face—family versus career—Julie is typically frank. “Dr. Laura says you can’t do both, and in reality, you can’t.

“My motto is ‘Love the struggle,’ because the truth is, it’s not going to go away.”

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Profiles

A PA S S I O N F O R T R AV E L A ND ADVENTURE: C A R L A D O L E , ’ 9 5

by David M. Brin, MA ’75

BRUCE COOK

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She’s traveled around the world by herself. She’s walked in Australia’s outback. She’s escorted groups to the Galapagos Islands, Bhutan, and Antarctica. She recently spent her 65th birthday in Paris.

Carla Dole, ’95, loves adventure and travel. “I’m fascinated by strangers and the unknown,” she says. “When I travel alone I can absorb the culture, scenery, and activity of a place.”

Carla worked for 20 years in the travel business as a reservations manager and tour escort, having left a career as an x-ray technician when she realized she didn’t like machines.

She came to Mills in 1993 and earned a BA in anthropology two years later. “I was able to devote my full time and attention to academic studies, and I loved every minute of the process and challenge,” she says. In addition to anthropology, Carla studied journalism at Mills and took a course on the anthropology of tourism at UC Berkeley. In her senior year she wrote a research paper called “Women Traveling Beyond: Leaving Traditional Gender Roles at Home.” While reading travel articles and looking at the history of women and travel for this paper, Carla got the idea of putting together a magazine for women who travel.

After researching the topic for eight months, she discovered that Nanette C-Lee had just launched a publication called Maiden Voyages, a magazine that incorporated Carla’s vision of a travel publication for women. Shortly after the first issue rolled off the press, Nanette and Carla formed a partnership, and Carla assumed the title of copublisher and articles editor. The magazine folded after a few years, unable to raise enough advertising revenue in a competitive market. However, during its short life Carla and Nanette published many colorful and informative issues. “Maiden Voyages celebrates the woman’s voice in travel with the premise that journeys taken by women are different from those taken by men,” the magazine stated in its masthead. “Women are as absorbed with point of view and the transformation process of the journey as they are with the destination.”

“I encourage women to follow their travel hearts,” says Carla. “I recommend that women take time for themselves to travel, whether it’s to a nearby city for a weekend or for a week in Paris.” (Next to Paris, Carla’s favorite town is Elko, Nevada, where she’s been attending cowboy poetry gatherings since 1985.)

Carla belongs to the Society of Woman Geographers, founded in the 1920s for women who were blazing trails in geography, ethnology, and natural history. Members have included Amelia Earhart, Pearl S. Buck, and Margaret Mead. The society currently has about 600 members and includes researchers, scientists, writers, and artists. At meetings in the Bay Area, Carla is able to “rub elbows” with today’s adventurers and scholars.

Harboring a fascination with camels and nomads, Carla has found opportunities to travel with camels all around the world, beginning with a trip to Afghanistan in 1971. In fall 2001 she traveled to the Taklamakan Desert in China.

Her husband must share her passion: In 1990 the two of them rode camels and walked across 350 miles of the Sahara. “We lived like nomads deep in the desert, following our guides from one water hole to the next.” Carla loves every aspect of travel and will try anything once. “If I’m not traveling, the next best thing is talking about travel,” she says.

PASSAGES Gifts in Honor of

Gifts in Memory of

Elmaz Abinader by April Hopkins, MFA ’03 Florence and Del Aragon

by Anita Aragon Bowers, ’63 Robert Ashley by Kazuko “Koko” Tsunematsu Tajima, ’69, MA ’71 Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35, by Marina Kershaw Simenstad, ’68 The Class of 1954

by Marion Hellyer King, ’54 Dr. Bertram Gordon

by Michelle Balovich, ’03 Barbara Hunter, ’57,

by Sharon Heaton Kinney, ’56 Dr. Leonard Klein

by Kazuko “Koko” Tsunematsu Tajima, ’69, MA ’71 Esther “Es” Rosenblatt Landa, ’33, MA ’37,

by Florence Selvin Drake, ’35 Elizabeth “Betsy” McCall, ’88,

by Joan Wolowick Dark, ’75 Edith Ottenheimer Miller, ’25,

by Madeline Nelson Ruth Okimoto, ’78, by the Quarterly Advisory Board Cecily Peterson, ’88,

by Christine Daniel, ’86 Ednamay Smith

by Kenneth Emigh Sharon Smith by Kenneth Emigh Sarah Wong Soong, ’71,

by Ji Soong Sharon Tatai, ’80,

by Michelle Balovich, ’03 Cynthia “Cindy” Taves, ’48,

by Lynda Taves Ogren, ’54 Ariel Eaton Thomas, ’63,

by Michelle Balovich, ’03 Jorie Bolton Townsley, ’69,

by Barbara Bundschu, ’38 Margaret “Peggy” Weber, ’65,

by Theodosia “Missy” Van Fossen McConnell, ’51 Kate Morrow Whitley, ’43,

by Michelle Balovich, ’03 Betty “Betsy” Taves Whitman, ’46, by Lynda Taves Ogren, ’54 Dr. Reynold Wik by Sara “Sally” Matthews Buchanan, ’64 Josephine Wuwsch

by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35

Evelyn White Affleck, ’37,

by Sara “Sally” Matthews Buchanan, ’64 Una Kelly Aiken, ’35, by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35, Sara Moore, and Margaret “Margie” Thompson Stryble, ’35 Laura Balas, MA ’94,

by Helen Hovdesven Sylvia Baquie, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Gloria Ambrose Bartholomew, ’44,

by Beverly Beckman Avery, ’49 Marjorie “Midge” McLaren Bolton, ’35,

by Isabelle Hagopian Arabian, ’45, Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35, Barbara Bundschu, ’38, Anne Sherwood Copenhagen, ’44, Florence Selvin Drake, ’35, Kathryn “Kay” Thrift Files, ’33, Melody Fujimori, ’69, Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48, Marina Kershaw Simenstad, ’68, Paula Merrix Sporck, ’46, Margaret “Margie” Thompson Stryble, ’35, Tomoye Tatai, William and Margaret “Marge” Miskelly Thomas, MA ’67, Laurie Sachs Travers, ’71, Emma-Jane

“Emmie” Peck White, ’35, Harriet Silverblatt Worobey, ’69, and Beverly “Bevo” Johnson Zellick, ’49, MA ’50 Carole Breed

by Seiko Kawasaki Tamura, ’62 Georgine “Greni” Porter Caldecott, ’39,

by Pauline Trabucco, ’39 Beverley Nielsen Canterbury, ’50,

by Zoe Fischer Willa Wolcott Condon, MA ’32,

by Ann Condon Barbour, ’69 Harry Chinn

by Bette Chinn Dare, ’62 Mary Davis by Madeleine Ebbesen Davis, ’46 Ralph Davis, Jr. by Madeleine Ebbesen Davis, ’46 Evelyn “Peg” Deane, ’41,

by Mary Hart Clark, ’42 Rona Murray Dexter, ’45,

by Marion Ross, ’44 Patricia “Patti” Capouch Eidson, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Alison Berry Evans, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Virginia Cochrell Flory, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Anne Parsons Frame, ’24,

by Joanne “Anne” Regalia Repass, ’66 Julia McBride Frantz, ’46, MA ’48,

by Paul Ricketson Charlotte Frey

by Elinor Coleman, ’71 Kathleen “Keiki” Wallace Gibson, ’46,

by Lucile “Lupe” Pedler Griffiths, ’46, MA ’47, and Anne “Frosty” McMillin Lightbody, ’46 William Giles, III

by Nancy Seff Giles, ’59 Ruth Palmer Gist, ’22,

by Cynthia “Cindy” Taves, ’48, and Betty “Betsy” Taves Whitman, ’46 Mary Larsen Glavin, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Thalia Gouma-Peterson, ’54, MA ’57, by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Elizabeth “Betsy” Rulison Harrington, ’40,

by Helen Smith Beth Berry Herrstrom, ’43, by Jean McMinn Greenwood, ’43 E. Clarice Hickox, ’39,

by Lucy Cowdin Maisel, ’38 Jean Holdsworth, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Mildred Heffelfinger Humphrey, ’54, by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Jerol Jaquess, ’70,

by Evany Lewis Miller, ’70 Sheila Morrow Joost, ’48,

by Joan Harrison, ’48, Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48, Joan “Joanie” Cummings Hobbs, ’48,

Jenny Makofsky, ’91, 1969–2004

COURTESY OF THE BOYD FAMILY

A PROMINENT STORYTELLER AND EDUCATOR OF CHILDREN, Jennifer Makofsky died in an auto accident in Oakland on February 17, 2004, at the age of 34. Ms. Makofsky was “so ahead of her time in many important ways . . . politically and socially always a humanitarian [and] never afraid to speak her mind on issues that others flinched at—even when we were teenagers,” writes fellow storyteller and close friend Amanda Casabianca. After earning her undergraduate degree from Mills in English and environmental studies, Ms. Makofsky received a master’s degree in education from Holy Names College and was working toward her second master’s degree in library and information science at San Jose State.

After graduating from Mills, Ms. Makofsky immersed herself in the Bay Area community. She was the former administrator of the after-school program at the Seven Hills School in Walnut Creek and a longtime participant in the Bay Area Storytelling Festival, which will be held this year in her honor. In recognition of her creativity, the Oakland Cultural Arts Funding Program awarded Ms. Makofsky with consecutive grants in 2002 and 2003 that allowed her to take a break from teaching and devote more time to the craft of storytelling. She was writing the quarterly zine Have You Seen the Dog Lately? and participating in a series of storytelling programs at the Oakland Public Library at the time of her death. “It is staggering news to a faculty who love her,” Seven Hills headmaster Bill Miller says. “She inspired kids through her storytelling, her pranks, and her [sense of] fun.”

Jenny Makofsky is survived by her parents, her sister, Serena Makofsky, ’89, and brother-in-law, and her nephew Max, to whom she was a dedicated auntie.

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Passages Cynthia “Cindy” Taves ’48, and Kate Morrow Whitley, ’43 Rocelia “Bordy” Bordeaux Kellogg, ’45, by Joanne “Anne” Regalia Repass, ’66 Dr. Charles Larsen

by Alissa Baker, Derwent “Deri” Craven Bowen, ’65, Anita Aragon Bowers, ’63, Christine Daniel, ’86, Shampa Das, Grace Dote, ’63, Devendra Dubey, Liisa Karne Hale, ’77, Darlene Holbrook, ’64, Mura Kievman, ’64, Alexandra Kleyman, Miriam “Mipsy” Herrick Melendez, ’54, Juniper Neill, ’91, Michelle Ploutz, Cheryl Reid, ’87, Gayle Rothrock, ’68, Paula Merrix Sporck, ’46, Tomoye Tatai, Evelyn “Muffy” McKinstry Thorne, ’48, Allan Wendt, and Connie Young Yu, ’63 Jean “Bushie” Bush Lathrap, ’45,

by Philip Lathrap Naomi Turner Lind, ’42,

by Phyllis Carman Marling, ’41, and Joan Turner Dolores Moe Lindberg, ’39,

by Barbara “Barb” Fairfax Phinney, ’40 Marian Rye Livingston, ’44,

by Marilyn Malm Linscott, ’44, and Russell Roessler Margaret Lyon, ’35, MM ’42,

by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35, David Devine, Anne Klopman, Martha Henninger Rubin, ’75, and Hazel Ziegler Simon, MA ’48 Jean Turner Macduff, ’33,

by Deborah Reade and Dorothea Meyer London, ’33 Sarah “Sally” Graham Madsen, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Jennifer “Jenny” Makofsky, ’91,

by Lisa Kosiewicz, ’91 Miriam Miller Middleton, ’47,

by Miriam “Mimi” Dye, ’70, and Orlando Miller Patricia Pomeroy Nelson, ’47,

by Lydia Nelson McCollum, ’43

Kate Nigh, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Lowell Noonan by Marion Ross, ’44 Dolores Remmy Poindexter, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 David Porter

by Joy Glascock Harvey, ’60 Anne Willner Railton, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Rubye Campodonico Reade, ’33,

by Dorothea Meyer London, ’33 Mary Kuster Roesch, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Shirley Smith Rompel, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Constance Cook Ruch, ’78,

by Liisa Karne Hale, ’77 Marjorie Runser, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Nancy Palm Seebass, ’58,

Margaret E. Lyon, ’35, MM ’42, 1914–2004 Professor Emerita Margaret E. Lyon, who played a major role in shaping the history of the Mills College music department, died on April 7, at the age of 90. Dr. Lyon earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music from Mills. In 1957, she became the first woman to receive a PhD in musicology from UC Berkeley. A specialist in Renaissance music, Dr. Lyon taught at Mills from 1942 to 1979; in 1955 she began her 24-year tenure as department head.

The music department flourished under her leadership, becoming an internationally recognized center for new music. Dr. Lyon was responsible for bringing many acclaimed composers and performers to Mills, including Terry Riley, Pandit Pran Nath, Robert Ashley, David Berhman, and the Kronos Quartet. In the 1960s she oversaw the establishment of the Mills Performing Group and the Mills Tape Music Center (later renamed the Center for Contemporary Music).

Pauline Oliveros, the Tape Music Center’s first director, recalled that Dr. Lyon clearly understood the “importance of new and experimental music at Mills, though her interests were in traditional and early music.” Piano virtuoso and composer Blue Gene Tyranny, who taught at Mills during the 1970s and early ’80s, said, “she firmly believed in the classic idea of a college as a place for creative learning, invention, and research, and strongly encouraged the development of contemporary music performance and composition.” Robert Ashley believes that Dr. Lyon was “the cause of the fame of Mills College as a home for contemporary music. Her genius guided us all.” Dr. Lyon did not take credit for her accomplishments. She was modest and reserved, but also had an empowering faith in the people with whom she worked. As Terry Riley recalled, “Her almost half-century of guidance for the Mills music department has left a legacy to build on for years to come.” Performance faculty member Belle Bulwinkle, MFA ’80, a former student and friend of Dr. Lyon, remembered her “love for Mozart’s music, for visiting Italy, for her idiosyncratically trained Corgis, for Chez Panisse pizzettas, and for her garden.”

On May 17, members of her family, colleagues, and former students acknowledged Dr. Lyon’s achievements during a ceremony in the Mills Concert Hall organized by Dr. Lyon’s nephew James Gibbs. Terry Riley, the Kronos Quartet, and Katrina Krimsky performed musical works in honor of Dr. Lyon. For those of us working in the music department today, the event provided an opportunity not only to reflect upon Mills’ rich history, but also to affirm our continuing commitment to Dr. Lyon’s creative and educational vision.

—Professor of Music David W. Bernstein

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by Judy Palm Marit Wentzel Smith, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Barbara Stevenson

by Lisa Kosiewicz, ’91 Martha Gaines Stoebe, ’36,

by Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48 Wallace Stoebe

by Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48 Margaret “Margie” Thompson Stryble, ’35,

by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35, and Jean Eichelberger Marlene Soriano Thal, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Helen Wall Thompson, ’26,

by Nancy Thompson Price, ’61 Mike Villard

by Phyllis Carman Marling, ’41 Esther Waite, ’22,

by Lynda Taves Ogren, ’54 Shirley Yearwood Wilkerson, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Patricia Rowe Willrich, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Jean Wirth, ’54, MA ’57,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Suzanne Robinson Yost, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54 Saranne D’Ambrogio Zeigler, ’54,

by Rosalie “Peggy” Langerman Hammond, ’54

ANNE GILLESPIE BROWN, ’68

Members of the Class of 2004 created these artworks in Anna Murch’s sculpture class.

Above: Marin Hood’s Clocks without Hands. Below: Jennifer Loorz’s In Between.

In the Studio

ANNE GILLESPIE BROWN, ’68

Q U A R T E R LY S U M M E R

MILLS

Cactus, watercolor by Joan Brambila David, ’39. Please see “A Little Slip of Paper” on page 16.

Mills Quarterly Alumnae Association of Mills College Reinhardt Alumnae House Mills College PO Box 9998 Oakland, CA 94613-0998 (510) 430-2110 aamc@mills.edu www.mills.edu

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