In Memoriam

Almost immediately after the merger agreement between Mills and Northeastern was signed on September 14, 2021, officials from both schools started a series of cross-continental visits to bring the two institutions together on a more personal level.

The first visit, on September 27–28, saw Northeastern President Joseph Aoun travel to Mills along with some of his top reports, including Senior Vice President for University Advancement Diane MacGillivray, Senior Vice President for University Affairs Mike Armini, and Senior Chancellor and Provost Mary Ludden. In addition to meeting with various departments on campus and getting to know Mills staff members and students, the group toured College landmarks such as the Art Museum and Community Farm (above left). The team from Northeastern was also welcomed by local Oakland officials, including Mayor Libby Schaaf, District 6 Councilmember Loren Taylor, and BART Board Director Lateefah Simon ’14, as well as members of the Board of Trustees.

In October, it was Mills’ turn to send administrators and faculty members across the country to visit Northeastern’s urban Boston campus (above right). The Mills team consisted of Dean of Students Chicora Martin; Associate Provosts Christie Chung and Beth Kochly; Associate Vice President of Student Life Allie Littlefox, MBA ’20; Assistant Dean Inès Barbosa; and Professor of Public Policy Mark Henderson, all of whom spent time with Northeastern students considering this spring’s Leading Social Change program on the Mills campus. They also toured the campus to get a flavor of the Northeastern culture and appreciate the scope of the institution, which has more than 25,000 students enrolled.

“Every member of the Mills team was struck by the enthusiasm and excitement expressed by each student, faculty member, and staff member we met! Our conversations with students and staff at the Center for Intercultural Engagement and with the Cultural Center directors made visible our shared core values at the intersection of social justice and leadership,” Kochly said. “We are thrilled to welcome a cohort of these students to Mills this spring to learn alongside our Mills students, and look forward to creating a bicoastal community of Leaders for Social Change.”

Additional groups—including the Northeastern facilities team and Mills event staff and members of the Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA)—exchanged visits in advance of the holiday season.

Trustees Katie Sanborn ‘85 and Kirsten Wolfe ‘88 also traveled to Boston with the OIA team members so they could meet with Mills alumnae at a reception on the Northeastern campus.

Above: Photos by Greer Rivera and Matthew Moodono

GREER RIVERA

Please see our online store for all of your shopping needs at aamc-mills.org/aamc-merchandise. As of this writing, we still have Pearl Ms in stock, as well as El Campanil, Art Building, Music Building, Mills Hall, and Eucalyptus Tree holiday ornaments. Additionally, with grateful appreciation, we are honored to have procured additional limited-edition Hung Liu scarves.

As many who attended Reunion weekend may have noticed, we are also selling For Generations Still merchandise. The For Generations Still campaign is an AAMC effort, but due to current staffing limitations, items are available through our website (though outside of the online store). Visit aamc-mills.org/fgs-merch to view available items and learn more about how to order. You will find For Generations Still shirts, hats, calendars, mugs, notecards, postcards, magnets, and stickers!

Leisure travel is coming alive again! The AAMC 2022 Travel Program offers opportunities such as: exploring exciting destinations, learning about diverse cultures, and sharing camaraderie, fun, and good food with fellow Mills alumnae and others from colleges and universities across the country.

Scottish Isles GOHAGAN & COMPANY (cruises)

Treasures of Caribbean Scottish Isles and Norwegian Fjords Cruising the Baltic Sea Oberammergau Play and Danube River Cruise Coastal Life Along the Adriatic Coast Cruising the Great Lakes 2/26-3/5 6/2-6/10 7/11-7/20 7/17-7/27 9/22-9/30 10/9-11/12

AHI TRAVEL (land tours)

United Arab Emirates, featuring the Dubai Expo New Orleans, The African American Experience Spain—Andalucia in a Parador Alaskan Heritage & Wildlife Japan The Charm of the Amalfi Coast Wonders of Peru 1/28-2/6 4/24-4/29 5/26-6/3 7/24-7/31 9/22-10/3 9/28-10/6 10/13-10/24

Our experienced travel companies, AHI Travel and Gohagan & Company, have set in place enhanced CDC-recommended safety protocols, and they monitor CDC travel advisories closely to make each trip safe and worry-free. See the AAMC Travel Program website at alumnae.mills.edu/ travel or email aamc@mills.edu for more information.

Mills College 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA 94613-1301 510.430.3312 quarterly@mills.edu www.mills.edu

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Since graduating from Mills, Suzanne Newman Fricke ’89 has worked to promote Native American work in a wider art world. As a curator, an adjunct professor at colleges including the University of New Mexico and the Institute for American Indian Arts, and the director of Gallery Hózhó at Hotel Chaco in Albuquerque, she highlights the work of Indigenous artists to counter stereotypes of Native art. The work isn’t just ancient pottery and baskets—it’s still being made by thriving communities today. “I’ve always thought that you can’t go back and drag people forward. But you can make a beacon in front of them and make them look forward,” she says.

When she entered the art world in the early 1990s, the academic study of Indigenous art was limited, and it was very much dominated by non-Natives. Fricke, who grew up in New Mexico, understands the awkwardness of her position. “Now that I have a chance to reflect, 30 to 40 years later, maybe I would have made a different choice,” she says. “There are more Native scholars now, but there are still problems—schools will hire someone, but they have no perception that the systems in place are going to work against these scholars.”

Over her time in the field, she has thankfully seen some evolution in what’s recognized as Indigenous art, from dreamcatchers and looted ceramics to newer bodies of work. For the last 10 or so years, Fricke has been involved in curating shows, including Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future for the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe. She is currently curating a show on the same topic for the Autry Museum in Los Angeles. Catch up with the beginning of this story on page 14!

Above, “Tracker” by Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti) was part of the Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future exhibition at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which was co-curated by Suzanne Newman Fricke ’89. Photo courtesy of MoCNA.