Scripps Magazine Spring 2020

SPRING 2020

TH E WOM EN ’ S CO LLEG E · CL AREMO NT

Science with Soul

The 21st century has seen a surge in the proliferation and sophistication of scientific and technological discovery, from self-driving cars to big data, genetic engineering to climate science. With these advanced technologies come profound moral and ethical questions, and today’s scientists are required to consider the implications of science and technology on humankind and on the planet. In the context of COVID-19, these questions of science and society are perhaps more urgent than ever.

When Scripps College was founded more than 90 years ago, its goal was to provide a liberal arts education for women. Dating back to the earliest universities—nearly a millennium ago—the “liberal arts” curriculum referred to those areas of study required for a free—“liberal”—person to function in civic life, which included grammar, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy and excluded professional and vocational studies (like medicine and the law). The liberal arts education today— similar in its inclusion of the arts, humanities, social sciences, and science—hasn’t changed all that much, but the way in which we study those fields has.

Scripps College’s interdisciplinary liberal arts education ensures that our graduates aren’t siloed in their fields, unaware of how the impact of their work may reverberate.

That’s one reason why the humanities are at the core of our joint science program.

This issue of Scripps magazine explores the many ways that our students, faculty, and alumnae infuse their science with humanistic considerations. Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Diane Thomson takes readers to the field station where she researches fire recovery and native flora. We profile the intercollegiate program Science, Technology, and Society to show the ways in which the Scripps community is invested in the interplay between science and its motivations, outcomes, and implications. And we spotlight three Scripps scientists who demonstrate how their work, while scientific in method and practice, is at heart driven by the desire to improve humankind.

In March, the W.M. Keck Science Department donated personal protective equipment to a local hospital, truly embodying the College’s commitment to community. The College has also established the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, which provides critical support to our students and faculty through online learning tools, resources, and health and wellness assistance. You can learn more about how Scripps is continuing to support faculty and students and provide a transformative Scripps education at scrippscollege.edu/covidhelp .

As Scripps College continues to grow—we are preparing to break ground on the new Scripps-Pitzer Science Center—we stay ever true to the tradition of the liberal arts— to provide our graduates with the tools necessary to participate in and improve civic life—while continually dedicating ourselves to confronting the most vexing problems of our time with ingenuity, humanity, and a view to the future.

Lara Tiedens President

IN THIS ISSUE

Browsing Room —2—

Focus on the Faculty — 10 —

Diane Thomson, Professor of Biology and Environmental Science by ella murdock gardner ’22

Science with Soul — 14 —

by rachael warecki ’08

Science, Technology, and Society — 20 —

by rachel morrison

Empowering the Rising Generation of STEM Leaders — 26 —

by rachel morrison reporting by sharone carmona

Alumnae News

— 32 — ManuScripps 42 | Remembrances 44 | PostScripps 52

SCRIPPS MAGAZINE Scripps is published two times a year by the Scripps College Office of Marketing and Communications.

STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS Binti Harvey Vice President for External Relations and Institutional Advancement Carolyn Robles Executive Director for Marketing and Communications Maureen Panos Director for Creative and Editorial Strategy Rachel Morrison Magazine Editor Jacqueline Legazcue Photography DISTINC_ Design and Art Direction Southern California Graphics Printing EDITORIAL BOARD Lara Tiedens President Amy Marcus-Newhall Dean of Faculty Vol. 90, No. 1, Scripps, 1030 Columbia Avenue, P.O. Box 2004 (USPS #486-940), Claremont, CA 91711 © 2020 Scripps College

spring 2020

Newsflash

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LASPA CENTER INTRODUCES GRANT FOR COVID-19 RECOVERY The Laspa Center for Leadership introduced the 2020 Community Action Grant this spring, which is designed to support the creation of a project that helps a student’s hometown community better cope with the impact of COVID-19. All currently enrolled Scripps students are eligible for grants ranging from $250 to $2,000.

Learn more about how Scripps is supporting students and faculty during this time, as well asways to help, at scrippscollege.edu/covidhelp .

ALL-AMERICAN HONORS IN ATHENAS VOLLEYBALL Amanda Walker ’20 earned second-team All-American honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association for her senior season with the Claremont-MuddScripps women’s volleyball team. Walker finished her career as a right-side hitter for the Athenas, with a total of 879 kills and 185 blocks. Her 407 kills during her junior season ranks third all-time for a single season in CMS program history.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT Assistant Professor of Biology Sarah Budischak received a National Science Foundation grant to study the role of “superspreaders,” or hosts that transmit illnesses at a higher rate than average infected individuals. “You probably know some people who are always catching colds and others who never get sick,” Budischak says. “Some individuals and environments are bigger spreaders of disease. A big missing link is how variation among individuals scales up to populations.”

CAMPUS TRADITION “OLIVE AND WELL” Under the direction of Joya Salas, landscape operations manager, Scripps revived its traditional autumn olive harvest after a three-year hiatus. The harvest yielded over 1,500 pounds of fruit, which was then pressed into 14 gallons of olive oil. The oil went on to win bronze at the 2020 International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition this past February.

Proceeds from the sale of the olive oil will fund future sustainability initiatives on campus.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

By Jennifer Martinez Wormser ’95 Director and Sally Preston Swan Librarian for the Ella Strong Denison Library Early publications about women’s healthcare were much more numerous than many realize; in fact, over 250 published texts in various languages appeared in Europe before 1700. In subsequent centuries, health-related treatises, herbals, and advice literature became increasingly popular for midwives and individuals seeking self-help guidance in the absence of a physician.

Denison Library has a range of books in this genre, and while some of the cures and recipes for different ailments do not change much over the centuries, others shifted dramatically as medical practices and scientific understanding evolved.

Many books on women’s health focus primarily on pregnancy and childbirth, with volumes such as J. P. Maygrier’s second edition of Midwifery Illustrated (1833), which outlines the practical study of obstetrics with 82 detailed engravings to illustrate the work with “the most scrupulous exactness . . . combined with unrivalled beauty.” Some particularly interesting images feature the various tools that may be used by the attending physician or midwife: calipers and forceps, along with the less familiar Mr. Martin’s pelvigraph or Coutuly’s pelvimeter.

For Scripps students who intend to pursue careers that relate to women’s health in fields such as obstetrics and gynecology, midwifery, physical therapy, or gerontology, a grounding in the field’s history provides a deeper understanding of the trajectory of scientific inquiry and knowledge. While some advice, recipes, and guidelines in these historic volumes may seem more humorous than practical to today’s reader, engaging with texts from a particular era provides students and faculty with an authentic perspective from that time and place that reflects societal expectations for women’s health and appearance. As part of the interdisciplinary nature of a Scripps education, these books speak volumes about the interplay between science and society and the continuing scientific quest to better attend to women’s health.

Photos from J. P. Maygrier’s Midwifery Illustrated Top: Mr. Martin’s pelvigraph Bottom: Detailed illustration of female pelvic area

Cures and guidelines related to nourishment, rest, exercise, appearance, and constitution also abound. Remedies for what Dr. Walter C. Taylor describes in his 1871 Counsels to Women: In Health and Disease as “that eccentricity of the nerves known as hysteria” include the use of the extract of hyoscyamus, a toxic plant in the nightshade family, mixed with powdered camphor. Other texts focus on health and appearance, such as Anna Kingsford’s Health, Beauty and the Toilet (1886), which includes a hair-darkening agent made up of “rust of iron, old ale (strong), [and] oil of rosemary,” shaken daily for 10 to 12 days before use. Mrs. M. L. Shew’s Water-Cure for Ladies (1844) outlines various methods by which the use of baths, wet sheets, and sweating practices may help afflictions such as fevers and measles.

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Trustee News Scripps honors four trustees for their commitment and dedication to the College as they conclude their service on the Board.

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SNEHA DEO ’17 Sneha Deo joined the Board of Trustees in 2017. She served steadfastly as a member of the Audit, Risk, and Compliance, Buildings and Grounds, Mission Fulfillment, and Student Affairs Committees. She demonstrated passion about the student experience and focused on maximizing her status as a recent graduate trustee.

BOB BREECH A member of the Board for 15 years, Bob Breech consistently demonstrated his dedication to the mission of the College. He faithfully served on the Educational Policy, Finance, Institutional Advancement, Nominations and Governance, and Scripps Beyond Committees. As a member and vice chair of the Investment Subcommittee, he contributed to developing the College’s investment objectives and strategy on investing to ensure optimal performance of the portfolio.

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NANCY KATAYAMA ’77 As chair of the Campaign Steering Committee, Nancy Katayama provided leadership on the most ambitious campaign in the College’s history, The Campaign for Scripps College: More Scripps, which raised an unprecedented $179 million. A member of the Board since 2000 and a dedicated alumna, Nancy dutifully served as a member of the Audit, Risk, and Compliance, Buildings and Grounds, Campaign Steering, Educational Policy, Executive, Finance, Financial Stewardship, Institutional Advancement, Mission Fulfillment, Nominations and Governance, and Student Affairs Committees. Her personal example of generosity has been inspiring to many and has laid literal and figurative foundations, enabling building projects and initiatives to be realized. She steadfastly fulfilled her role as a Board member, rigorously examining matters brought before the Board and offering thoughtful recommendations, with the goal of advancing the mission of the College.

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ROXANNE WILSON ’76 Roxanne Wilson served on the Scripps College Board of Trustees in the capacity of president of the Alumnae Association from 1992 to 1994 and rejoined the Board as a trustee in 1997. As Board chair from 2004 to 2009, she led by example as a visionary and progressive thinker to stimulate Board discussions about the future of the College and provided outstanding guidance during a time of presidential transition. She faithfully served as a member of the Audit, Risk, and Compliance, Buildings and Grounds, Educational Policy, Executive, Finance, Institutional Advancement, Mission Fulfillment, Nominations and Governance, Scripps Beyond, and Student Affairs Committees. Her lifetime support of furthering the advancement of women is illustrated by her philanthropy, which includes, but is not limited to, her establishment of the Roxanne Wilson Fund for Women’s Leadership, which continues to have a lasting impact. Her commitment to the College is exemplified by her leadership in the Strategic Planning Committee, which developed the 2007 plan Scripps College in the Next Decade: Leading with Excellence.

Wilson’s fellow trustees describe her as a “wonderful Board chair who inspired her colleagues with her warmth and candor and who always led with clarity and fairness, keeping Scripps at the forefront.”

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New Scripps-Pitzer Science Center ILLUSTRATION BY RICK CAUGHMAN Learn more at scrippscollege.edu/sciencewithsoul

TEACHING SUPPORT • Laboratory Prep Room • Equipment Room

STUDENT-FACULTY COLLABORATION SPACES • Conference Room • Computer Room • Study Niches (4) • Student Lounges and Study Areas (5) • Meeting Rooms (5)

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TEACHING LABORATORIES • Physics (2) • Advanced Chemistry (3) • Chemistry Instrumentation Lab (1) • Introductory Chemistry (2) • Biology (4) • Environmental Science (1) • Interdisciplinary (4)

OFFICES • Faculty (10) • Lab Coordinator (2)

OUTSIDE SPACES, GATHERING PLACES, AND SPECIAL FEATURES • 3 Plazas and Courtyards • Rooftop Greenhouse

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SEEN AND HEARD AT SCRIPPS On February 6, 2020, disabled dancer and choreographer Alice Sheppard performed her latest piece, Where Good Souls Fear, in Garrison Theater, as part of the College’s signature event series, Scripps Presents, as the culmination of her week-long residency on the Scripps College campus.

“ Why have we built a culture where walking is linked to status, and not walking makes you a second-class citizen?”

— Alice Sheppard

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FOCUS ON THE FACULTY:

Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Diane Thomson

By Ella Murdock Gardner ’22 Photography by Elisa Ferrari

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focus on the faculty

California’s wildfires are notorious for their power to wreak phenomenal damage and devastation. But when an accidental blaze burned portions of Claremont’s Robert J. Bernard Biological Field Station (BFS) in 2013, Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Diane Thomson and her students worked to generate something positive from the situation by collecting valuable data about the fire’s effects on the natural landscape.

“Anyone opening up the newspaper these days can tell we’re in a period of environmental transformation,” Thomson says. “Climate change is the most obvious source, but it interacts with other human-made changes in the environment and creates a kind of feedback loop, where climate change affects plants and animals, which in turn has an impact on climate change.

People in my field are trying to make sense of these complicated interactions.”

The limited past research on the response of heavily invaded non-native grasslands to fire had shown plant communities reestablishing themselves soon after burning, with a relatively similar makeup of species. However, Thomson’s data showed how the recent California drought affected the types of plants that were able to recover, leading to a very different species composition than before. Armed with this new data, she is studying how this change will affect the probabilities of future fires by looking at the biomass and height of vegetation in areas that burned and measuring the energy released when different plant species combust.

Thomson is involved in what she calls a “smorgasbord of research” aimed at understanding the effect of global change on ecological communities and applying these findings to problems in environmental management. In addition to studying fire recovery at the BFS, Thomson is also looking at the way landscaping in Claremont yards impacts native pollinators, as well as monitoring rare, endemic plants on the Channel Islands.

For the past nine years, Thomson and her students have traveled to the Channel Islands, an eight-island archipelago off the coast of Southern

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Opposite: The bee in front is the valley carpenter bee; in the back, a sweat bee. Both are important pollinators under threat of decline.

California, to study how drought and the recent removal of non-native herbivores are affecting the endemic plant communities. Using statistical and mathematical tools, and collaborating with the U.S. Geological Survey, Thomson is aiming to predict whether these plant communities are stable or at high risk for extinction.

Closer to home, Thomson and her students are using the Google Maps timeline feature to study how changes in landscaping in Claremont yards impact water scarcity and native bee habitats. “Southern California is one of the largest biodiversity hotspots on Earth for bees, which I think would surprise a lot of people,” she says.

Thomson’s appreciation for the intricacies of ecology took root during her childhood in Tucson, Arizona, amid the stark beauty of the Sonoran Desert. “For me, a lot of the motivation for my research in Claremont and Southern California is to help students and the community see the magic of the place where they live,” she says.

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“ A lot of the motivation for my research . . . is to help students and the community see the magic of the place where they live.”

focus on the faculty

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BY R AC H A E L WA R EC KI ’0 8

SCIENCE WITH

SOUL

As the world becomes increasingly globalized and virus transmission occurs more easily across continents, medical research scientists are focusing on treatments that provide positive health outcomes for the greatest number of people. In true liberal arts tradition, three Scripps chemists—a professor, a student, and an alumna—are using their research to make medications safer, advocate for more inclusive clinical trials, and improve conditions for humankind.

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SC I E N C E I N TH E SOC IA L S P H E R E AS SOCIATE PRO FES SO R O F CH EM ISTRY AN NA WENZEL When she’s not in the classroom, Associate Professor of Chemistry Anna Wenzel can often be found with members of the Chemistry Club, advancing scientific knowledge in the Claremont community and beyond.

Since Wenzel founded the club during her first year at Scripps, its projects have included environmental soil analysis with local elementary school students, volunteering at the Southern California Science Olympiad championships, and a Scripps-Pitzer Science Center cookbook that is raising funds for the humanitarian-focused organization Chemists Without Borders.

A current collaboration with Chemists Without Borders involves the chemical analysis of pharmaceutical samples to evaluate suspect medications collected by research partners in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, India, Nepal, and Malawi. This

Anna Wenzel, photographed

by Katherine Levin Sheehan

spring, courtesy of a Keck Foundation donation, Wenzel acquired a mass spectrometry instrument capable of this level of chemical analysis, enabling students in her natural science courses to participate.

This kind of community engagement—what she calls “science in the social sphere”—is one of Wenzel’s core principles. Bringing science out of the lab and demonstrating its real-world applications, whether by performing a chemical analysis of the College’s olive oil or showing high school students how to make liquid-nitrogen ice cream, is key to battling the public’s growing mistrust of scientific research.

“There are a lot of really big policy decisions that involve some fundamental understanding of science.

People need to be able to trust their scientists—and they don’t trust people they don’t know,” she says.

“Going out into the community really breaks down that mistrust and allows people to be more openminded about scientific discovery.”

For this reason, non-major chemistry courses are Wenzel’s favorites to teach, since they give her another opportunity to introduce non-scientists to chemistry’s practical applications. Her students learn about the “bench to bedside” process, through which lab research at the cellular level (the “bench”) is converted into human drugs and therapeutics (“bedside”). This process includes creating safety nets that prevent dangerous drug interactions, as well as taking steps to boost a medication’s efficacy and reduce its toxicity.

Wenzel also wants her students to understand the current and historical shortfalls of drug discovery.

Women and people of color frequently aren’t part of clinical trials, despite their different metabolisms and enzyme functions, but the recommended dosages on the sides of prescription bottles are still one-size-fitsall. The recommended dosage for a man, for example, could lead to a very different outcome for a woman. Wenzel hopes that this knowledge will help students better navigate and advocate for their own medical care.

“If you’re only going to take one chemistry class, a course linking inquiry-based learning to daily life and popular culture can afford the most impactful learning outcomes,” she says. “It’s important for students to look around and see how research has an impact on the world around them.”

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TU B E RCU LO S I S TR E ATM E NT FO R TH E 2 1 ST C E NTU RY K AR A D U N N E- D OM B RIN K ’ 20 Tuberculosis, commonly known as TB, is often depicted as a 19th-century illness in Western popular culture. But in many developing nations, it’s still a major cause of death, according to the World Health Organization’s list of 30 countries with a high burden of the disease. If left untreated, TB can be fatal to almost half of those affected—but the recent emergence of drug-resistant strains has made TB treatment even more difficult.

Kara Dunne-Dombrink ’20, a dual major in biochemistry and French studies, is exploring the development of an enzyme-based medication that could combat drug-resistant tuberculosis. DunneDombrink is conducting this research under principal investigators Mary Hatcher-Skeers, professor of chemistry and Sidney J. Weinberg Jr. Chair in Natural Science, and Bethany Caulkins, visiting assistant professor of chemistry, with funding from the Weinberg Foundation. The bacteria that causes the disease needs tryptophan—that amino acid that makes you feel sleepy after eating turkey—to survive.

By targeting and inhibiting the enzyme that creates tryptophan, scientists can kill the tuberculosis bacteria. Dunne-Dombrink hopes this approach, which replicates a reaction that already occurs naturally in the body, could lead to more effective TB treatment.

“We’re now in an age when so many diseases are more resistant to the usual medications, so finding new ways to treat new strains is really important,” she says. “We need to design drugs that are more similar to the body’s natural processes and reactions.”

In addition to the disease’s resistance to traditional therapies, the creation, testing, and administration of existing TB medication has also proven challenging. Dunne-Dombrink says it’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae of laboratory work and think of science as an isolated discipline. But medical research can often overlook the populations that would most benefit from drug discovery during clinical trials, resulting in treatments that are often expensive, with dosages designed for a narrow demographic. Dunne-Dombrink credits an anthropology class on Latinx workers in the garment industry with making her aware of the need for a more human-centered approach to scientific research. In examining the ways in which oppressive systems are interrelated, she realized that clinical 16

research often reinforces other systems of inequality—and that scientists must think about how their work connects to the rest of society.

“A lot of scientific research hasn’t benefited everyone equally,” she says. “We need to start thinking more holistically about how scientists can catalyze change across all communities and minimize harm to our environment and bodies.”

With a “big disease” like tuberculosis, for which antibiotics have existed for years, that means finding a treatment that is low-cost, environmentally green, and less likely to have adverse side effects, such as vomiting, jaundice, fever, and bleeding. Moving from a synthetic drug model to a more natural therapeutic that causes enzyme inhibition could help create such a treatment. Eliminating the expenses associated with synthetic creation would also lessen the medication’s cost.

However, this new treatment model comes with potential trade-offs. More natural, less carcinogenic medications are better for the body in the long term, but they may not be as efficient at treating the disease in the short term. These trade-offs are some of the issues she hopes to study further at the National Institutes of Health, where Dunne-Dombrink will be working in disease treatment next year.

“Science is about sharing your results with the wider world,” she says. “Thinking about the actual people this research might affect makes it valuable to more than just the scientific community. It places the science in the context of the real world.”

Kara DunneDombrink, photographed

by Katherine Levin Sheehan

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“When faced with complex situations, my liberal arts education taught me how to hold back my own preconceived notions and embrace challenging viewpoints.�

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C H EM I STRY W ITH A CO N SC I E N C E CL AIRE KN E ZEVI C ’0 8 Claire Knezevic ’08 is the director of critical care laboratories and an assistant professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins Medicine. As a clinical chemist, she oversees the areas of the hospital laboratory in which chemical tests are performed on patient samples, such as electrolyte and cholesterol levels in blood and urine. Because she works in health care, particularly with medical test results, she regularly considers the impacts and implications of scientific research on patients. She calls a clinician’s ability to accurately perform these tests and report the results “the bread and butter of a clinical chemist’s job.”

“When faced with complex situations, my liberal arts education taught me how to hold back my own preconceived notions and embrace challenging viewpoints,” she says. “I think my education gave me the confidence to push myself in areas where I’m not strong, so that I can be more comprehensive in my understanding of my work.”

Knezevic has focused on research that she believes will benefit the most people from the widest variety of populations, such as drug discovery and the improvement of clinical practice. She also participates in collaborative translational research, which translates scientific discoveries into practices that directly benefit human health. Knezevic’s current research supports clinical trials for new formulations of pre-exposure prophylaxis, more commonly known as PrEP, an HIV-prevention drug. Existing PrEP medications require patients to take a once-daily pill. It’s a dosage routine that isn’t easy for everyone to maintain, Knezevic explains, but missed pills can lower the drug’s effectiveness. The new formulations she’s helping to develop—such as implants, injectables, and rings similar to hormonal birth control methods—would allow more people to choose the formulation that works best for them and improve the medication’s efficacy rate.

effect on human health—especially when 80 to 90 percent of a person’s health outcomes are based on social determinants such as race, class, and neighborhood of origin. That’s why Knezevic also works to create a more equitable society outside the lab. She volunteers with the Fair Development Roundtable to change the housing landscape in Baltimore, a city impacted by decades of red lining, disinvestment, and damaging real estate speculation.

Her volunteer work is one of the reasons she chose to stay at Johns Hopkins after completing her fellowship.

“Ultimately, I’m able to apply my values both in the lab and outside the lab,” she says. “And those values aren’t in conflict, but complementary to each other.” A

Claire Knezevic, photographed

by Will Newton

There’s no guarantee that Knezevic’s small slice of scientific research will have any long-term

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Science, Technology, and Society

By Rachel Morrison

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Over 2,000 years ago, when Aristotle began to explore the nature of scientific inquiry, he was setting the stage for the modern field of the philosophy of science—the philosophical inquiry into science’s foundations, methods, assumptions, and merit.

But by the end of the 20th century, the increased complexity of scientific and technological development—from the microchip to nuclear power, the internet to the deciphering of the entire human genetic code—necessitated an additional set of tools for understanding how society is affected by these developments, and how, in turn, those developments are influenced by society.

Enter the interdisciplinary Science, Technology, and Society (STS) program of The Claremont Colleges, formalized as a major in 1990, which brings together courses taught in a variety of departments, with content divided into three principal areas: history of science and technology; philosophy of science; and political, cultural, and social perspectives on science and technology.

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“STS majors take several courses in a scientific or technical discipline, so they have some firsthand experience with the important developments in that field,” says Associate Professor of Philosophy at Pomona College Laura Perini, who serves as the STS coordinator. “But they also bring in a whole conceptual toolkit that enables them to think through various possibilities for how and why that result happened and how it may be influencing society now and in the future.”

Take, for example, the worldwide gap in vaccination rates where vaccines are available. According to the World Health Organization, about 86 percent of infants worldwide received the scheduled three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine in 2018. This statistic isn’t news to physicians, but why 14 percent of infants—not counting those who didn’t have access to DTP3—had parents opt out of the vaccine has long confounded the medical community.

Having come to Scripps with interests in virology, internet culture, and the history of vaccinations, Marta Bean ’14 set out to answer this question in her STS thesis. By analyzing the ways that people justify not vaccinating themselves or their children in online parenting forums, she found that these virtual communities maintain themselves, even while rejecting scientific consensus, by deploying specific strains of anti-vaccination rhetoric.

“It’s interesting, because even if there exists the most compelling scientific data, people have a way of tossing it aside,” explains Bean, who is now an internal medicine resident at Penn Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “Some people try to manipulate data, others think vaccination programs are about government control, others still just don’t understand the science, and 22

others know vaccines work, but are against the preservatives used in vaccines and think that they are toxic.”

As a physician, she says that this understanding of science and society is fundamental to her work with patients.

“There are many patients I encounter daily that are resistant to medical interventions, and my research at Scripps has made me more empathetic, because I understand all of the different social forces that lead them to come to those conclusions. I’m more understanding and willing to work slowly but surely to help my patients understand more about their conditions and share in their decision making about how to best move forward in a way that aligns with their values,” Bean says.

For Amelia Hamiter ’16, the STS framework enabled her to write a thesis that posits that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) exists due to a network of external factors that we take for granted, in contrast to the more widespread understanding of the disorder as having a neurological basis. These external factors include, among others, a cultural value system that pathologizes certain behaviors and not others.

“Specific expectations for an individual’s behavior and capabilities are built into our society, and ADHD consists of traits that are barriers to meeting these expectations, and therefore have been conceptualized as symptoms of a disorder,” explains Hamiter, who works in the field of public health and maintains that regardless, the traits of ADHD do function as a disorder and should be taken seriously. “But what if these implicit expectations were vastly different? Can we imagine a different world in which ADHD traits are neutral or even beneficial?”

Scripps students have also explored how a clever marketing campaign led to the

science, technology, and society

“Some people try to manipulate data, others think vaccination programs are about government control . . .

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“STS encourages us to recognize that scientific knowledge and technology shape the ways we think, observe, and act.

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widespread acceptance of the lobotomy, conducted an STS analysis of refugee camps, and explored why the U.S. was so slow to recognize that the AIDS crisis was a threat to women. “The projects coming out of Scripps have been wonderful,” says Perini.

“They’re thinking about how technology can disrupt society in ways that are hard to foresee—they’re looking at the history and thinking about long-term effects.”

These projects emerge out of the type of critical analysis encouraged by faculty like Jih-Fei Cheng, assistant professor in the Department of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In his STS class, Feminist and Queer Science, Cheng teaches students to consider how scientific and technological discoveries and the advent of scientific fields of study emerge in concert with their larger historical, political, and economic contexts.

For Cheng, the AIDS pandemic is a prime example of the confluence of science and context. He studies the pandemic not just from the standpoint of biological infection—the epidemiological tracking of HIV transmission—but also from a socioeconomic standpoint: Why did the HIV/AIDS diagnosis emerge during the late 20th century when the infection had been present in certain communities for much longer?

“HIV had already begun affecting people of color and the global south much earlier, but public health concern and theorization of this new virus did not happen until white men were impacted during the early 1980s. In turn, Black and Brown people, and especially women and trans people of color, often did not fit the models and definitions of AIDS, which were based largely upon the bodies and lives of mostly white men,” explains Cheng. This is crucial, he says, because meeting the criteria of AIDS determines whether someone can access life-saving

resources such as public subsidies for pharmaceutical therapies and housing.

The consideration of the conditions under which the production, distribution, and utilization of scientific knowledge and technological systems occur, and the consequences of these activities upon different groups of people, is of paramount importance in an increasingly complex and globalized world. “STS encourages us to recognize that scientific knowledge and technology shape the ways we think, observe, and act,” says Hamiter. “They structure the questions we ask and the ideas we come up with, and this applies just as much to the scientists and engineers themselves. This is not to discredit the value and relevance of scientific research, but rather to affirm the importance of self-examination and awareness.”

As for Bean, she says that her STS degree was instrumental in her medical school admission because she offered a humanistic take on the hard sciences.

“People loved to talk to me about my thesis.

Physicians are fascinated by this research, because in their own practice they see this phenomenon of rejecting science, and they [want to know] about the history,” she says, adding: “And I have to say, as a physician trained in humanistic inquiry, vaccines are still good.” A 25

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Empowering the Rising Generation of STEM Leaders

BY RACHEL MORRISON REPORTING BY SHARONE CARMONA PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILL NEWTON Erin Fry Sosne ’05 is the deputy director of advocacy and policy at PATH, a global health nonprofit. A bioethics major who went on to earn a Master of Public Health degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, she had originally planned on a research career.

“But during my post-grad fellowship as a science and technology fellow at the National Archives, I realized that while raw data was interesting, I didn’t love going in every day and sitting at my computer alone,” she says. “Some people really love that, but I knew then that I needed to work with people.”

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The general population has these preconceived notions that leadership means ‘CEO, white, male, wealthy, and corporate.’ We’re trying to break down those notions.

”

Fry Sosne was telling the story of her unlikely route into policy leadership in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to a group of Scripps students and alums. They were in Washington, D.C., at a mixer during the Women in STEM policy seminar put on by Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN). The five-day seminar offered students from women’s colleges around the country the opportunity to learn from and network with senior women professionals in STEM, as well as engage in career development workshops.

Consider the national state of affairs of women in STEM: Despite some growth over the last 20 years, women still make up only 28 percent of the science and engineering workforce, despite earning 58 percent of those undergraduate degrees in 2016. The numbers are even lower for women of color, with Latina and Black women holding one percent and three percent of these jobs, respectively.

And among those who are employed in all STEM fields, women only compose 18 percent of leadership positions. “The general population has these preconceived notions that leadership means ‘CEO, white, male, wealthy, and corporate.’

We’re trying to break down those notions and teach that leadership looks very different if we push down those barriers,” says Vicki Klopsch, the executive director of the Laspa Center for Leadership, Scripps’ women’s leadership center, which has been bringing students to the PLEN seminar for three years running.

Along with the Scripps student-alumnae mixer, the PLEN seminar included visits to Amazon’s D.C. metro-area headquarters, local STEM policy organizations, the halls of Congress, the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center,

28

Opposite: Delaney Hartmann ’21 Below: Erin Fry Sosne ’05 Right: Binita Pandya ’22

and more. On the second day of the seminar, students visited the sprawling red-brick edifice that is the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in Bethesda, Maryland. For Binita Pandya ’22, who plans to study human biology, meeting with the women leaders employed at the NIH was the most memorable aspect of the trip. “We heard from [mostly] scientists of color and a lot of immigrants.

They talked about the importance of mentorship and putting yourself out there, taking positions that you’re not super comfortable with,” Pandya says.

“A lot of them were getting pretty vulnerable, just woman to woman, which was really inspiring.”

Sabrina Wu ’20, who plans to attend medical school after graduation, echoes Pandya’s sentiments. “These are people with high positions and established careers, and to see them share their struggles and triumphs with a bunch of students was invigorating and very refreshing,” Wu says. She attributes this openness to the environment PLEN creates: “They know that this is building up women for leadership.”

The idea that women need greater representation in board rooms and the C-suite is not new; these conversations have been going on for decades, if not longer. But why this representation is important is a question that can often elude those who serve as gatekeepers to leadership positions. For Fry Sosne, the reasons for increased representation are clear: Women make good decisions, and these good decisions increase technological and economic development. A recent McKinsey & Company report backs up these claims,

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noting that “when more women sit at the decision-making tables, better decisions are made.” And one of the ways that women make these good decisions is by drawing on their personal experiences.

“Women look at evidence and data differently than men. We look at it from our own lived experience. So not only do we ask different questions, we see different nuances in the evidence,” Fry Sosne explains. She gives an example from the Food and Drug Administration, which avoids conducting research on pregnant women. While there are legitimate reasons for this, including potential harm to the mother and the fetus, the lack of research leads to worse outcomes for pregnant women. “As a mother of two, I remember how horrible it was that I couldn’t take certain medications because there had been no studies on pregnant women—these medications hadn’t been proven harmful, they just hadn’t been studied! Women see where women are left out of major health policy considerations,” she says.

Personal reflections on health, career, and family like the one Fry Sosne shared were an aspect of the PLEN seminar designed to cultivate a deeper level of connection between attendees and presenters. Jordan Wellington ’21, who is double majoring in math and gender studies, says, “I felt I could ask about gender in a way you can’t in big conferences. People shared their personal experiences, which was useful for students to hear. A speaker spoke about impostor syndrome. It was really powerful.”

Providing mentorship opportunities like PLEN is a key piece of the Laspa Center’s larger and more ambitious project: Klopsch and her team want Scripps students to be in the vanguard of redefining what it means to be a leader in the 21st century, and that means rethinking traditional definitions of leadership. “Leadership doesn’t require being in an executive role,” explains Gretchen Maldonado, assistant director of the Laspa Center. “If you have put yourself at the table, you’re a leader—and, crucially, leaders also have the responsibility of making sure others have access to a seat at the table, too.”

That’s why Klopsch and the Laspa team have made professional networking a key priority for the Laspa Center. “People rely on their personal and professional networks to explore career options,” Klopsch says. “PLEN pulls together an impressive representation of women in leadership, and partnering with PLEN allows the Laspa Center to help students expand their own network. These new relationships have the potential to increase our students’ confidence to believe in their own leadership potential and the courage to pursue it.”

Adds Fry Sosne, “It’s the obligation of both men and women to find opportunities to mentor women and women of color into leadership positions.

Companies and organizations need to apply structure, like women’s leadership development, recruitment, and advancement goals, to ensure equitable access to these roles; it’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing.” A

30

empowering the rising generation of stem leaders

“

Left: Kaeley Stout ’20, Right: Naiti Bhatt ’21

When more women sit at the decisionmaking tables, better decisions are made.

”

Emma Garval ’20, Delaney Hartmann ’21, Sabrina Wu ’20, Kaeley Stout ’20, Jaela Alvarez-Muhammad ’23, Naiti Bhatt ’21, Jordan Wellington ’21, and Binita Pandya ’22

Kasey Mitchell ’11

Emma Garval ’20

“

I felt I could ask about gender in a way you can’t in big conferences.

”

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Alumnae News ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES FOR ALUMNAE AND FAMILIES

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FROM THE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT

Juanita Nash-Dahlen ’72 One of my greatest desires when I stepped into the role of Alumnae Association president was to help strengthen connections throughout the alumnae community.

I have been inspired by the many ways that alums engage with the Scripps community on campus and around the world, but I also recognize the opportunity to increase those connections. In this time of global crisis, the power of the Scripps community is increasingly evident to me, along with our potential to forge even stronger connections in new ways. Now more than ever, I lean on the support of my own Scripps alumnae community: my classmates, my fellow Campers, and my partners on the Alumnae Leadership Council (ALC).

The stated purpose of the Alumnae Leadership Council is to develop a mutual sense of responsibility between alumnae and the College and encourage a lifelong and mutually beneficial relationship by enlisting support for constructive endeavors and activities of the College. In my letter printed in the fall 2019 issue of Scripps magazine, I expressed the potential of the ALC to serve as a vehicle to connect more with our far-flung alumnae community. Now, I am pleased to report on the ways in which the ALC has developed to align with the strategic goals of Scripps and, most importantly, with the needs of our diverse and ever-changing alumnae community.

In addition to several longstanding committees, such as the Alumnae/Student Diversity Committee and the Honors, Awards, and Recognition Committee, we have added two others. The newly established Engagement and Outreach Committee, led by Ruthie Jones ’87, will focus on re-energizing regional markets and developing engagement strategies for alums at every point on their life paths.

In addition to some of the traditional outreach events, this will include alum-to-alum networking and career mentorship opportunities. Another exciting development is the Young Alum Cabinet, led by Szeyin Lee ’15, that has already begun working with younger alums to generate new ideas and opportunities for volunteerism and engagement. These initiatives—and more—are part of our remodeled ALC, which recognizes the desire and need for a diversity of students and alumnae to connect with each other and for new voices to be heard and valued.

We are all connected by our experiences at Scripps, and we’re further linked by our common experience of the challenges faced in the era of COVID-19. Our ongoing involvement with the alumnae community and with the College can ensure that Scripps remains a vibrant community of shared learning, exploration, and hope, but we cannot do it without you! If you are interested in volunteering with the Scripps community, including networking, mentorship, and other forms of engagement, please email me at jnashdahlen@gmail.com or contact the Office of Alumnae Engagement at alumnae@scrippscollege.edu or (909) 621-8054. We are here for you.

JUANITA NASH-DAHLEN ’72

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2020 Alumnae Association Award Winners ANNE MALTMAN CAMPBELL ’70 2020 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNA OF THE YEAR As a staunch believer in equal education opportunities for students, Anne Maltman Campbell devoted her 40-year career to public education. She began as a middle school language arts and social studies teacher, later serving as a counselor and principal. In 1997, Anne became the superintendent of the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, holding the post until 2003, when she became the superintendent of the Portola Valley School District. In 2010, she was elected San Mateo County superintendent of schools and was re-elected in 2014.

As county superintendent, Anne strongly supported expanding access to quality early care and education. She helped launch The Big Lift, a countywide effort to ensure that all third-grade students become proficient readers. Anne also advocated at the state and national levels for environmental literacy—the understanding of Earth as a physical system. She co-chaired the Superintendents’ Environmental Education Collaborative, a nationwide network of superintendents whose goal is to provide high-quality environmental education to students throughout the United States.

Additionally, she served on State Superintendent Torlakson’s Environmental Literacy Steering Committee. After 40 years of dedication to public education, Anne retired in 2018.

Now, Anne serves as president of the San Mateo Rotary Club and is a co-founder of Every Kid, Every School, a multigenerational, cross-cultural, grassroots 34

effort focused on increasing public awareness and support for well-funded public schools for all California students.

Aside from her devotion to improving public education, Anne is an avid traveler, always makes it to her book group, and is a devoted Stanford women’s basketball fan. She is married with four children, two grandchildren, and has another grandbaby arriving soon.

Anne credits her Scripps education in the humanities with giving her an appreciation of the past and an understanding of the forces impacting today’s world.

EUNJI CHUNG ’06 2020 OUTSTANDING RECENT ALUMNA Eunji Chung received a BA with honors in molecular biology from Scripps and a PhD in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University, and she is currently an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and the Karl Jacob Jr. and Karl Jacob III Early Career Chair at the University of Southern California (USC), with courtesy appointments in the Departments of Medicine, Surgery, and Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

As a researcher in the field of nanomedicine and biomaterials, Eunji leads a laboratory focused on creating nanoparticles that can carry drugs to diseased cells and tissues, providing novel therapies and treatments for difficult-to-treat diseases.

This work earned Eunji a 2014 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pathway to

alumnae news

Independence Award, followed by a 2018 NIH New Innovator Award. This $2.4 million grant provides funding to extraordinarily creative scientists proposing highly innovative research to address major challenges in biomedical science. The New Innovator Award is the highest NIH honor for researchers early in their careers. To add to her growing list of distinctions, in 2017, Eunji was named one of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ “35 Under 35” and an Emerging Investigator by Biomaterials Science. She was also named a Young Innovator by Nano Resarch in 2018 and an Emerging Investigator by the Journal of Materials Chemistry B in 2019. So far in 2020, Eunji has been named a Rising Star in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering from the Biomedical Engineering Society, among other honors.

As an undergraduate at Scripps, Eunji worked under the guidance of Professor of Biology Emily Wiley. She attributes much of her love for and foundation in research, science, and education to her early years with Wiley. Looking ahead, Eunji will continue to pursue the translation of innovations and discoveries from the lab into better treatments for patients.

ALICEN LEWIS '15 2020 VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR Alicen Lewis graduated from Scripps College with a major in digital media studies and a minor in psychology. During her time at Scripps, she worked extensively in technology, leading the Scripps Office of Information Technology’s Faculty Instruction

Technology Support team and helping students prepare for careers in the technology industry.

In alignment with her values of diversity in the technology workforce, Alicen’s first job after graduation was at Laserfiche, a software company founded by a woman of color. While at Laserfiche, she mentored both Scripps students and other young women in tech, in the hopes of making technology careers more accessible to a wider array of people. Now a creative strategist at Bay Area–based Twitch, a live-streaming platform dedicated to all things gaming and pop culture, she volunteers as a gaming mentor for the University of California, Berkeley’s Women in Gaming club. In addition, Alicen volunteers for New Door Ventures, an organization that provides paid jobs, skills training, education, and individualized support to at-risk youth, and Adjacent Academies, an educational program aimed at helping non–computer science students develop the skills, experience, and networks they need to succeed in the job market.

Through her post-Scripps journey, Alicen has maintained a strong commitment to the College. She previously served as the Scripps regional associate for the Los Angeles area, hosting regular events for Scripps and building the alumnae community through a Facebook group and website hub. Now, she’s the chair of the Communications Committee for the Scripps Alumnae Leadership Council and highly recommends that alums reach out to her with any questions about how to get involved.

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MARRIAGES

2010

1991

Abbey Hye (La Jolla, California) In September 2018, Matt and I were married in Julian, California, at our family ranch.

Ariel Detzer (Seattle) I married Erica Hilario under the huppah in Seattle on October 13, 2019.

In attendance was my mother PO ’69, we recalled my father PO ’67, may his memory be a blessing, and we were joined by about 50 relatives and friends.

I am seeing children and families in my psychology practice, Theories of Mind Counseling, which specializes in neurodiverse young people. Erica is a composer and digital media specialist who writes about travel, food, and the natural world at EIGHTHREE MEDIA.

2002 Kirsten Bontrager (Las Vegas) In November 2018, I married Vijay Daniel in a small ceremony with my immediate family at Mystery Castle in Phoenix, Arizona, followed by a “small” reception in his hometown of Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, India. We spent our first year together in Portland, Oregon, relocating to Las Vegas on January 30, 2020. I am attending Claremont Graduate University’s online MS in Evaluation & Applied Research, with anticipated graduation in August 2020.

Hannah Louise Nestler (Somerville, Massachusetts) I wed Owen Kelly in December of 2018 at the Willowdale Estates in Topsfield, Massachusetts. I live in Somerville, Massachusetts, with our dog, Kona.

2012 Evan Friedenberg (Berkeley, California) I married Paige Azarakhsh on October 6, 2018, in Hopland, California. Trans love is beautiful!

Maya Guice (Berlin, Germany) Joscha Kramer and I got married on July 5, 2019. We met in 2014 and have been living together in Berlin, Germany, since 2017. We had a very intimate ceremony in Copenhagen, Denmark.

2005 Kate Lawrence (Vancouver, Canada) Michael Chiang and I got married in Sorrento, Italy, on September 18, 2019! Jessica Rattner ’05 and Mackenzie Chambers CMC ’04 were in attendance.

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Top: Kirsten Bontrager ’02 married Vijay Daniel in a small ceremony with her immediate family at Mystery Castle in Phoenix, Arizona Center: Abbey Hye ’10 and her husband, Matt Bottom: Hannah Louise Nestler ’10 and her husband, Owen Kelly Ariel Detzer ’91 and Erica Hilario on their wedding day

Opposite: Maya Guice ’12 and her husband, Joscha Kramer

alumnae news

1949 Duane Prince Carraher (Pasadena) I just celebrated my 90th birthday.

I am still driving my Miata, running my business, serving as a docent at the USC Pacific Asia Museum, volunteering at the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, working out at the gym, and enjoying good health. It’s a wonderful life!

CLASS NOTES 1936 Ellen Smedley Smith (Fayetteville, Arkansas) I enjoyed the last copy of Scripps magazine, bringing me up to date on all the wonderful things going on at Scripps. I was glad to see there was one of my Class of 1936 listed. Both of my children and their spouses were with me on my annual trip to our cabin in Estes Park on August 26, 2019. This summer, they have decided to invite cousins to join in celebrating my 104-and-a-half birthday here at the cabin for tacos and birthday cake.

1948 Natasha Chapro Josefowitz (La Jolla, California) In the spring 2019 issue of Scripps magazine, I wrote about my trip to Chicago, Illinois, visiting Sally Eppenstein ’49. I was her big sister her freshman year. I later read in the Scripps “Alumnae News” that she had passed away that month.

1950 Beverly Carlson (Portland, Oregon) Still in good health—three children, eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

1951 Patricia Dozier Drew (Laguna Beach, California) Celebrated our 69th anniversary on December 29, 2019.

1953 Diana Kontas Colson (Sarasota, Florida) I’ve done a fair bit of traveling! I spent two weeks in the San Francisco area in July, followed by six weeks in Connecticut and Massachusetts, which included a two-day dash through museums in New York City. For the East Coast expedition, I traveled with Peggy Towne D’Albert ’54, staying in the lovely homes of her children and brother. I go to Pilates and yoga and write for a small local newspaper. My composer partner and I have finally completed 1692, our musical based on the Salem witch trials. We now face the uphill climb of finding a theater that will stage it! (Yuck!)

Undaunted, we have already

embarked upon another show called MERMAIDS. For me, writing lyrics has become a form of brain gymnastics!

1957 Diane Divelbess (Langley, Washington) I am saddened by the deaths of good friends Valerie Thom Read ’57 and Norma Tanega ’60 and miss my conversations with Maxine Borowsky Junge ’59, who has moved to Beacon, New York.

Karen Van Voorst Turner (Mission Hills, Kansas) Thinking of wonderful friends at Grace Scripps Hall.

1958 Ann McEwen Standridge (Harpswell, Maine) I am still alive, healthy, and keeping busy with our garden and garden club, AAUQ, and my book club.

1959 Katherine Ruprecht Wilson (Pasadena) A phone call from Cassy Aleman ’21, a Scripps junior, reminded me to make a pledge to Scripps. I’m glad our students are bright and studying all the time.

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1960

1963

Betsy Edmonston Evans-Banks (Blue Hill, Maine) My second husband, Brian Banks, just died here in Blue Hill, Maine. He enjoyed painting this area, and we have enjoyed 16 summers here in Maine.

Marilyn Gibson Hornor (Los Altos, California) I continue to enjoy involvement in Camp Scripps. It’s such a joy to have Scripps sisters of all ages to call friends.

Katherine Erickson McLeod (Green Valley, Arizona) I spent three months in Montana this summer.

There was no smoke for once, due to splendid rains. I enjoyed family and being at the lake and out of the Arizona heat.

1961 Jean Pratt Arnold (Wrightwood, California) My new book was published in 2019, George Eliot: Interdisciplinary Essays, edited by myself and Lila Harper. Also, my granddaughter, Madison Welsh ’16, is in law school at the University of Washington.

Nancy Parish Grippo (Los Altos, California) Several of our class went to M’Lou Mayo ’61’s wonderful one-woman show of her art at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. Absolutely breathtaking!

M’Lou Martin Mayo (San Luis Obispo, California) M’Lou had an art show at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, M’Lou Mayo: 50 Years of Art. The retrospective show celebrated her 50-year-long career in mixed media, featuring works on paper, metal, photography, and weaving. M’Lou earned an art degree from Scripps, later earning an MA from Claremont Graduate School, after which she taught drawing at Cuesta College for 25 years.

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Marianne Guinney Larsen (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) Sandy Cannon Wainwright ’65 and I traveled to the Adriatic side of Italy and to Russia. We went to Egypt in January of 2020 (with Dr. Palmer’s voice in our heads!).

I also traveled to Peru, Ecuador, and Morocco this year. A Scripps humanities education certainly gives one a deeper understanding and appreciation of world cultures and history.

1965 Noel Hudson (Santa Fe, New Mexico) I was very pleased to have been chosen for an article about me and my nature-inspired paintings, which was published in the 2019 June/July issue of Western Art & Architecture magazine.

1966 Emily Gill (Peoria, Illinois) My fourth book, Free Exercise of Religion in the Liberal Polity: Conflicting Interpretations, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in October 2019.

1970 Shelly Foote (Ventura, California) I am honored to have been made a Fellow of the Costume Society of America. The award was presented at the annual meeting of the organization this last spring.

Kazuko Hayami (New York) I recently received two awards for my work as a concert pianist and as the artistic director of the Fabbri Chamber Concerts of New York City. In 2016, the Armstrong Chamber Concerts of Connecticut presented me with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2017, the Woman of Valor award was presented to me by the Graduate School of Business of Touro College in New York. I am heard in many CD recordings, including the recently released five-CD set Stanley Drucker: Heritage Collection, Live in Concert. The CD booklet includes my essay “Reflections on Making Music with Stanley Drucker.” I am profoundly grateful to Miss Alice Shapiro, my teacher and mentor at Scripps. Without her, my musical accomplishments and professional journey would not have been possible.

1971 Molly Hofstetter Huffman (San Francisco) I successfully retired for 10 months and then became the interim executive director for The Little School, a San Francisco treasure. The school is looking for a permanent executive director, and I will retire again in July of 2020. We just returned from a family vacation to Mexico City for my son’s 40th birthday, where we climbed the pyramids at Teotihuacán. We had seen a fabulous exhibit at the de Young here in San Francisco in 2017 on Teotihuacán, so it was nice to see the site. Michael is in the restaurant business, so we ate at Pujol and Contramar, two of the area’s fabulous restaurants.

My daughter, Brooke Huffman Courtade ’04, is expecting a third child and me, a first

alumnae news

granddaughter. I went to Janet Redding Richardson ’71’s for the Fourth of July weekend. Janet and I share baby and toddler equipment; her grandsons visit from New York and mine from Austin.

Chutatip Vadnasindhu Umavijani (Bangkok) This year we all enter number “7” at the beginning of our age. I have been completely retired for the last two years, after almost 45 years of teaching.

At the moment, I concentrate upon exercise and taking care of my sister, who is now 81. So, every day I try to do Qigong and play table tennis, as my sister loves to play, too. I am most grateful in life for the ease of mind that comes with growing older. My daughter, Ploi, or Pissara, is now in Paris, and has a perfumery, Dusita Perfume, that uses the poems of her father, Montri, in the story of the business. My son, Plue Tassapa, is pursuing his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. Besides exercise, I go to conferences and work on a website for those who are interested in philosophy, education, and meditation. My best wishes to you all, and I’m looking forward to meeting all of us for our 50th reunion, if we survive until then.

Diana Ho (Los Angeles) I was on campus in January in support of the Emerging Professionals Program at the office of Career Planning & Resources (CP&R).

I had the pleasure of meeting 16 current students who participated in a week-long program of learning and selfreflection. I was one of a threemember alumnae/parent panel to share career experience and to provide feedback to each of the

students as they presented their networking “elevator speech.”

The director of CP&R, Rachael Acello, is a gem, and if any of you are inclined to be a resource to the office, please reach out to volunteer at (909) 621-8180.

Tempe Johnson Javitz (Menlo Park, California) In December, my article on my grandmother, Jessamine Spear Johnson, was published in Montana The Magazine of Western History. The article covered my grandmother’s progress as a photographer from the 1920s through the 1940s in southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming. She recorded all of the changes and transitions occurring in cattle, sheep, and dude ranching, along with the adjustments her Native American friends on the Crow and Cheyenne Reservations were struggling with. She was one of the few women photographers from that era and area, and her collection of photographs also includes some amazing artistic photos.

1975

smell of chilies roasting and of mesquite wood after the rains just tickles me! As fall approached, I found myself filled with quiet joy in remembering my years at Scripps, all the papers I wrote, and all of the friends I made. I apply for Medicare soon and wonder where the time went! I am, and always will be, grateful for the opportunity of a college education.

Diana Lee Crew (Denver) We are enjoying retirement and trying to get in as much travel as possible.

I went on a fascinating cruise to Spain, Morocco, and Italy, and I’m hoping to go to the Middle East (peace prevailing) in April 2020. Our children are well launched in their careers. My daughter is an architect in Vail, Colorado, and my son works for Twitter in Boulder, Colorado.

1978 Caroline Post (Cambridge, Massachusetts) I live and work in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Whenever I look at the class notes for my year, there is no news.

Connie De La Vega (Oakland, California) I published A Practical Guide to Using International Human Rights and Criminal Law Procedures in 2019.

1977 Maria Aguilar (Las Cruces, New Mexico) The monsoon season here in Las Cruces, New Mexico, has finally come to an end! The mosquitoes, however, are still making their presence known (I have multiple bites and am still itching). The 39

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1979 Julie Dart (Zionsville, Indiana) Our 40th reunion this past year with the Class of 1979 was one of the most wonderful weekends of my life. Spending time with warm, funny, intellectually curious Scripps classmates like Jane Tannehill Perry ’79, Penny Nichols ’79, Teri Gullo ’79, Andi Berry ’79, Catherine Pyke ’79, Lauren Helm Jared ’79, Ellen Rissman Wong ’79, Debra Erickson Mills ’79, and others grounds me in a way that nothing else can. After 25 years in journalism, I’ve transitioned to a rewarding second career in nonprofit communications and was just promoted from managing editor to strategic communications coordinator at the Indiana State Medical Association. It’s been a thrill to keep learning and doing new things, including being certified in content management and digital communications through the Public Relations Society of America. I’m still running, after starting at Scripps 44 years ago, and am training for a fall half-marathon. I’m slower these days but enjoying it just as much as ever.

A memorable afternoon at Barbara A. Bruner ’76’s house, celebrating the publication of her poignant essay

1985

1995

Rachel Endicott (Bellevue, Washington) After 22 years as an Episcopal priest and five years at my current church, Christ Church in Puyallup, Washington, I went on sabbatical this summer, walking, busing, taxiing, and taking the train through much of Spain, as well as bits of France and Portugal. I also participated in an immigration advocacy workshop in Washington, D.C., and did some trailing on both coasts. Back to lovely Puyallup now.

Julie Scorsatto Weyers (Ventura, California) Exciting news from Ventura, California: I was recently named to the Champion of Change charter class in my industry! A “Champion of Change” is defined as a creative, capable, team-oriented professional who has contributed copiously to the advancement of the success of their company and customers, while acting as a mentor for the growth and development of the next generation of leaders. Each recipient was nominated and selected by a group of their peers.

The award was presented on behalf of GMDC/Retail Tomorrow, in partnership with Winsight Grocery Business. The award was a surprise, and I was honored to accept it at a ceremony in Indianapolis before the holidays.

I am grateful to have been acknowledged and am looking forward to what the future holds!

1986

Julie Dart ’79: still running after all these years

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Alison Singh Gee (Los Angeles) It is my pleasure to inform you that Barbara Bruner ’76, a recent Scripps trustee, recently received the great honor of having her poignant essay “New Shoes” published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul anthology Mom Knows Best. Both Juli Bliss Kinrich ’76 and Barbara Bruner ’76 were students in my UCLA Extension creative nonfiction class, and they continue to study writing with me in my group Eastside Writers.

alumnae news

1998 Stephanie Fisher (West Palm Beach, Florida) I moved back to the United States to West Palm Beach, Florida, after living in Dubai for 11 years. Two thousand nineteen was a busy year of engaging in online education: I competed Blockchain Strategy, Algorithmic Trading, and Venture Finance programs at Oxford, Digital Strategy at MIT, and Cryptocurrency at the MIT Media Lab. Michelle Tung Kwok (Emerald Hills, California) It has been awesome running into Scripps women in life! I have had a chance to connect with Anna Nedelisky ’00 and Zoe Gillispie ’01 in our professional lives as mental health providers. Meanwhile, Jessica Bissell Stoutamire ’89 and I now share a similar life experience: husbands who toil away as co-founders at Kav Sports (kavsports.com). Life is not dull!

2005 Melinda Reider Olsen Simons (Santa Clara, California) I am officially a licensed marriage and family therapist and have started my own private therapy practice, Inviterra Counseling, in San Jose.

2006 Melissa Cypress Pagonis (San Antonio, Texas) I was selected to participate in NASA’s 2019 Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program. My flight week was September 22–28, 2019.

I boarded NASA’s SOFIA, a highly modified Boeing 747SP airliner

Melissa Cypress Pagonis ’06

fitted with a 106-inch telescope, taking off out of Palmdale, California. I'm happy to answer any questions about the program that might come up!

2019 Natalie Lillie (Los Altos, California) It’s been a bit of a whirlwind since graduation.

I miss the community at Scripps every day, but I’ve started to finally get into a little bit more of a routine that works for me these past couple of months. At the end of senior year, I had locked down a job at Intuitive Surgical, a

company devoted to improving patient care through innovative, less-invasive, robotic-assisted systems (granted, this was after many an email had been sent into the void and many an emotional tear had been shed). It was an exciting time—I worked on incredible, forward-thinking projects with passionate people.

While I was at Intuitive, I reconnected with an old friend (a music gal turned clinical researcher), and, with her encouragement, I applied for a position in her lab at Stanford.

I decided to shoot my shot, and BOOM, here I am now as a clinical research coordinator in the neuromuscular division in the Day Lab at Stanford University!

It’s been amazing and difficult, and I’ve experienced high highs and low lows, but I’m constantly reminding myself that it’s all a part of the journey. I would be so happy to talk to or do whatever I can to help other Scripps students on their own journeys!

Our alums are making a difference at the front lines of COVID-19 Priscilla Wang ’17 is volunteering for the organization PPE 2 NYC, which raises funds for and distributes personal protective equipment around New York. Wang has raised enough funds to purchase 1,000 N95 masks for medical workers in underresourced hospitals in Queens and other boroughs.

Amira Athanasios ’15 published an op-ed in the KevinMD.com blog about COVID-19’s toll on health care workers’ mental health. Athanasios is a fourth-year medical student at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and has plans to pursue psychiatry.

Cameron Statton ’16 is part of a project team at Microsoft that has been assigned to help decode COVID-19 immune response and provide open data access.

Share your story from the front lines of COVID-19 at scrippscollege.edu/confidencecouragehope

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ManuScripps

Kathleen Murphy Hellwitz ’60

April Dávila ’96

Emily Gill ’66

Front Row Lady: Stories from a Life

142 Ostriches

Free Exercise of Religion in the Liberal Polity: Conflicting Interpretations

A memoir that grew out of monologues Hellwitz wrote and performed at Kim Maxwell Studio in Ojai, California, Front Row Lady chronicles Hellwitz’s life on—and just in front of—the stage as a performer and avid theater supporter from midcentury Studio City to Ojai.

Set against the unexpected splendor of an ostrich ranch in the California desert, 142 Ostriches conjures an absorbing and compelling heroine in a story of courage, family, and forgiveness.

Kensington, February 25, 2020

Blue Jay Ink, December 6, 2019

This book explores the complexity of protecting the free exercise of religion without allowing that exercise to impinge upon the beliefs and convictions of others.

Palgrave Macmillan, August 21, 2019

Jean Pratt Arnold ’61

Margaret Pumpelly Finnegan ’87

Molly Landreth ’01

George Eliot: Interdisciplinary Essays

We Could Be Heroes

It’s Raining . . . I Love You: Self-Portraits

In this transdisciplinary collection of essays, new and emerging scholars explore Eliot’s wideranging engagement with Victorian historical research, periodicals, poetry, mythology, natural history, realism, the body, gender relations, and animal studies.

Palgrave Macmillan, March 9, 2019

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A coming-of-age story that explores bullying, physical and mental differences, empathy, trust, intergenerational friendships, and compassion for animals.

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, February 25, 2020

The black and white photographs in the book, along with selected correspondences, are drawn from the summer of 1999, when Landreth and co-author Jenny Riffle, home from their first year of college, explored the bonds of photography and friendship in and around their hometown.

Minor Matters, 2020

FROM THE SCRIPPS PARENT LEADERSHIP COUNCIL CO-CHAIRS

Marie and Jamie Crouch P’19, P’23

One of our favorite aspects of the Scripps experience is its vibrant community of alumnae and families. We continue to be inspired by the College’s breadth of ambassadors and supporters who engage with the College in a variety of ways.

Take, for example, fellow Scripps parent Tien Bui P’20. This year, Tien was the recipient of the Michele-Anne and H. Mac Riley P’19 Parent Volunteer Award, which celebrates the contributions of parents in the Scripps community. Named for our Parent Leadership Council co-chair predecessors, this honor was created to recognize parents whose dedication plays a key role in strengthening the Scripps community and is given annually at Scripps Family Weekend.

The inaugural awardee, Tien has been deeply involved with Scripps throughout her daughter Audrey’s time at the College. Over the last four years, Tien has made countless welcome calls to incoming families and hosted numerous events in San Francisco. She has also been an active member of the Scripps Parent Leadership Council, generously supporting The Parent Fund each year. In addition, Tien has worked closely as a volunteer with both our Career Planning & Resources office and the Laspa Center for Leadership, offering her industry connections as principal advisor for the National Institutes of Health Commercialization Accelerator Program to create new opportunities for students.

Tien is just one of many parents who give their time and care to the College, and we are inspired and grateful for the deep level of engagement shown by so many in the parent community. If you are interested in getting involved, we encourage you to reach out to the Office of Parent Engagement and Philanthropy. As we move into the summer, there are a variety of ways to connect. Many of us in recent weeks have become experts in virtual communication, and we are currently inviting parent callers to join us in reaching out to welcome new families across the country.

Whatever your passion, your support enhances the experiences and growth of our students before, during, and after their time at Scripps. As parents of both a current student and an alumna, we applaud this worthy mission!

Cordially yours,

MARIE AND JAMIE CROUCH P’19, P’23

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Remembrances THE COLLEGE HAS LEARNED OF THE DEATHS OF THE FOLLOWING ALUMNAE AND SCRIPPS COMMUNITY MEMBERS.

1938

1939

1940

Barbara Kahn Gardner, of Hillsborough, California, on September 5, 2019. Barbara Kahn Gardner—grande dame, bridge player extraordinaire, exemplary mother, confidante to her daughters-in-law and grandchildren, great friend to hundreds, and second mother to dozens—died of natural causes at her home in Hillsborough well into her 103rd year. Barbara “Vaudy” Kahn Gardner was born in Stockton to Samuel Kahn and Rosalind Weissbein Kahn. She became an accomplished English saddle rider and won numerous trophies and blue ribbons at horse shows around the country. At summer camp, she was given the nickname Vaudy, which remained with her throughout her life. Her parents frowned on coeducation, so she turned down Stanford to attend Scripps College.

On a visit to see family in Texas, she met a young obstetrician and gynecologist, Irvin Bassist Gardner— it was love at first sight, and they married on June 3, 1942, in a garden wedding at her parents’ house. She was on the Women’s Board of Presbyterian Hospital (now the California Pacific Medical Center) and the Mills Hospital Board (now Mills-Peninsula Medical Center).

She was also a member of the Cotillion Committee and was a patron. Vaudy loved her family, her friends, and bridge. She hated poor grammar, bad manners, false pretenses, and blowhards. She held her family and herself to high standards and counseled people to “rise above it.” She combined an innate dignity with a wicked sense of humor and a constant twinkle in her eye. Vaudy is survived by her sons.

Lois Abbott Whitney, of Oakland, California, on June 22, 2019. Born as Lois Virginia Abbott in Albany, New York, she was raised in San Diego with her sisters, Dorothea and Lucia. She graduated from The Bishop’s School and Scripps College, then married Peter Whitney of San Francisco. When the marriage ended in 1954, she moved to Berkeley Hills with her three children, James, Elizabeth, and Stephen. She remained in her home until age 95. She loved tending the garden and traveling in Europe, having lived in Switzerland for two years. She moved to Piedmont Gardens in Oakland for the last six years of her life. She is survived by her three children, two daughters-in-law, seven grandchildren, and nine greatgrandchildren. She was also truly loved and admired by her nieces and nephews and their families and other relatives and friends.

Florence Elizabeth “Betty” Boone Bonvillian, of San Francisco, California, on July 1, 2019.

Florence Elizabeth (Betty) Boone Bonvillian died in Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 1, 2019. She was born in San Francisco, California, in 1918 and died at the age of 101.

She was the daughter of a U.S. Navy physician and surgeon, Captain Horace Ratliff Boone, and his wife, Loretta Irwin Boone.

Betty moved frequently as she grew up; indeed, she once observed that she had spent Christmas Day in 22 different locations during her first 23 years. She spent a year at Scripps College and then graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in home economics with a specialization in dietary nursing.

She highly valued education and insisted upon a strong educational foundation for her children. Betty is survived by two of her children.

Pauline Edwina de Fremery Yaholkovsky, of Oakland, California, on July 19, 2005. Polly first met her husband at Stanford University, where she was serving as a medical secretary in what’s now called the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and he was a pre-medical student.

After graduating from the fashionable Marlborough School in Los Angeles, she attended Scripps College for two years and later graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. Known as “Polly-ed,” she enlisted in the service during World War II, from 1943 to 1945.

1942

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Carey Rockey Evans, of Portland, Oregon, on October 6, 2019.

Carey Rockey Evans was born on November 10, 1921, in Portland, the fourth daughter of Dr. Eugene W. Rockey and Alice Carey Rockey.

She grew up skiing, climbing mountains, and riding horses.

She graduated from Riverdale Elementary School, Catlin Gabel School, Scripps College, and the University of California, Berkeley.

She was a World War II veteran.

During the war in England, in 1946, she met Charles S. Evans, an air force pilot; they married,

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had six children, and were married for 70 years. Horses were always a part of her life. After raising her children, she developed a career around her love of horses. She continued to ride into her 96th year. She is survived by her four children, six grandchildren, including Carey Wickham ’09, one great-granddaughter, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Charline Kendrick Kochhan, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, on September 3, 2019. Charline Kendrick Kochhan, 98, passed away on September 3, 2019, at Saint Elizabeth Home in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. She was the loving wife of the late James A. Moody and the late Joseph E. Kochhan. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, “Cholly” was the fourth of six children of Leslie Ray Kendrick and Eda Burkhalter Kendrick. She was a graduate of East High School in Denver and Scripps College, where she was student body president her senior year. She raised her four children in Denver and Malvern, where she worked as a volunteer with The Trading Post, a consignment shop that raised funds for the American Institute for Cancer Research. She was a member of the League of Women Voters and an honorary member of the North Kingstown Women’s Club.

Gracious, caring, compassionate, and gregarious, with a smile and a twinkle in her eye, she loved people and brightened every life she touched. She is survived by her children, including Pam Kendrick ’65, eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

1943 Rosalie Boyden Kew, of San Diego, California, on October 13, 2019.

Rosalie Boyden “Rolly” Kew, 98, of San Diego, passed away October 13, 2019, peacefully at home. She was born July 30, 1921, in Chicago, Illinois. Rosalie attended the Francis W. Parker School, what was then called The Chicago Latin School for Girls, and Scripps College. She married Stephen Marston Kew on April 11, 1942.

They settled in San Diego after World War II. They enjoyed traveling extensively together.

Rolly belonged to the Junior League of San Diego, La Playa Unit of the Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation, the San Diego Yacht Club, and All Souls’ Episcopal Church. She enjoyed volunteer work as well as tennis, gardening, needlepoint, and Scrabble, only giving up on tennis when she turned 90. She is survived by three sons, 10 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.

1948 Peggy Marie Buttress Hamlin, of San Marino, California, on January 16, 2020. Peggy Marie Hamlin died on January 16 after a brief illness.

Born in Los Angeles on October 19, 1926, she and her family moved to San Marino in 1939. She graduated from what was then called South Pasadena-San Marino High School in the class of 1944. She graduated from Scripps College in 1948. There, she met her future husband, Thornton Hamlin, a student at Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont McKenna College), and the two of them were wed at Westminster Presbyterian in Pasadena in 1948. She served as a docent at Los Angeles County

Museum of Art for some 35 years and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Much loved, she was proud of her family, recently announcing to the staff at Huntington Hospital that she had “four children, nine grandchildren, and five greatgrandchildren,” and quick to add that the last time she was there (or at any hospital) as a patient was when she had her last child in 1957!

Joan Titus Swan, of Hastings, Nebraska, on July 14, 2017. Born June 2, 1926, Hastings resident, loving wife, mother, and friend, Joan Titus Swan passed away peacefully on July 14, 2017. She was surrounded by her family. Joan’s life of selfless service influenced the lives of countless people. Her beauty, elegance, commitment, passion, and strong desire to help others were felt by every hand she touched and every project in which she was involved. She saw the beauty in everyone.

Mary McKinstry Turk, of Pasadena, California, on September 1, 2019.

Mary McKinstry Turk passed away peacefully on September 1, 2019, after a long illness. Mary, 93, is survived by her three children, six grandchildren, and 13 greatgrandchildren. In 1943, she left Hinsdale to attend Scripps College.

Claremont’s mild climate enticed Mary to stay, and she made her home and raised her children in San Marino, California. Mary was an elegant lady, but she also led an active life, enjoying golfing, boating, water skiing, and snow skiing. She always practiced kindness, and she engaged in many charitable activities. She was an ardent supporter and member of the Pasadena Guild of Children’s Hospital.

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1949 Jane Houston Almqvist, of Dublin, Ireland, on April 7, 2018. Jane, late of Marlborough Road, died peacefully at Mount Hybla Nursing Home.

She is sadly missed by her loving daughter, her grandchildren, her son-in-law, her family in America, and her many friends.

1950 Mary Pauline Naftel Wheeler, of Pomona, California, on November 21, 2019. Mary Pauline Naftel Wheeler, called by the voice of Jesus, ascended peacefully to heaven on November 21, 2019, surrounded by her loving family.

She was born to Paul and Ida Mae Naftel on July 26, 1927, in Pomona, California. Her husband and life partner of almost 60 years, Roger S. Wheeler, passed away in 2008.

Mary attended local Claremont schools, where she and her future husband were grade-school classmates, graduating from Claremont High School in 1945.

She attended University of Oregon for one year before attending Scripps College and then graduating from La Verne College (now University of La Verne) with a BA in education in 1949. She and Roger wed on August 28, 1948, while they were students at the local colleges. She loved to play bridge, socialize with friends, spend time at the family’s beach cottage, and travel the world. Mary and Roger traveled to nearly 50 countries. Mary put her family first, and she is one of the last members of the founding families of the Claremont citrus industry, her grandfather having entered the business in 1888 and her father having set out his first grove in 1919.

She was very proud of her heritage.

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She is survived by her four children, 10 grandchildren, and seven greatgrandchildren. She will be missed by all who had the pleasure of making her acquaintance.

1953 Helen Taylor Thiel, of Appleton, Wisconsin, on March 2, 2019.

Helen Taylor Thiel passed away after a sudden illness at age 87 on March 2, 2019, with her family by her side. She is survived by her husband, Peter Thiel, and her children. Helen graduated from Appleton High School in 1949. She spent a year at Scripps College and then went on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As the last of the children went off to college, Helen earned a degree as a certified medical assistant and enjoyed working as an administrator for several doctors.

While living in Easton, Maryland, Helen dedicated much of her time to tutoring elementary school children and adults through the program United for Reading Success. She also served for 12 years as a hospice volunteer.

Beyond music, she enjoyed tennis, canoeing, swimming, walking, and various family games. She shared her time and talent knitting with the Prayer Shawl Ministry. Helen and Peter enjoyed travels to visit their children and friends in various parts of the country. We will miss her gentle ways and playful spirit. Her voice will forever be in our hearts, reminding us that “if there's anything you can count on, it's change.”

1955 Sherry White Bullock, of Huntington Beach, California, on May 16, 2018.

Jeanne Fisher Chandler, of Los Altos Hills, California, on September 11, 2019. Jeanne Fisher Chandler, an accomplished painter, classical pianist, gourmet cook, and gardener extraordinaire, passed away peacefully with her daughters at her side on September 11, 2019.

She graduated from Edmond High School, attended Scripps College, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. She was a gifted artist, and her creative talent emerged at an early age and was a driving force throughout her life.

She played drums in her high school band, studied and played classical piano and guitar, and was a theater major and homecoming queen in college. While devoted to her children—expressed through countless gourmet dinners inspired

by Julia Child, and one year putting over 100,000 miles on her car driving her daughters to tennis tournaments—Jeanne remained dedicated to her own painting, for years working long nights after everyone else was asleep. Her hard work was rewarded with gallery exhibitions of her paintings in Carmel, Healdsburg, Dallas, and Fredericksburg. Jeanne made life so beautiful for her entire family, and they feel so blessed and grateful to carry on her legacy.

1957 Nancy Marr Eckel, of Norfolk, Connecticut, on January 8, 2020.

Nancy Marr Eckel passed away on January 8, surrounded by family and friends. She was born February 12, 1935, in Omaha, Nebraska, the

remembrances

daughter of Harry Spencer Marr and Dorothy May Shabel. Nancy’s family settled in Denver, Colorado, where she enjoyed mountain climbing, skiing, dancing, and art.

Nancy attended Scripps College, majoring in art, but left prior to graduation to marry her high school sweetheart, Charles Richard Eckel. Widowed suddenly in 1968, Nancy continued to raise her six children alone, and she returned to college, earning her BA and MA in pastoral counseling at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford. Nancy was a lifelong, passionate social activist and worked to promote peace and justice in all aspects of her life. She was also committed to the community of Norfolk and the United Church of Christ there. She is survived by her children, 12 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

1960 Norma Tanega, of Claremont, California, on December 29, 2019.

Claremont artist, musician, poet, and teacher Norma Tanega ’60 passed away at her home in December 2019. Norma was a prodigious talent who, as a 16-year-old senior, directed the only high school art gallery west of the Mississippi. Norma was a gifted composer and pianist who taught herself guitar after watching Joan Baez. Norma may be best remembered among musicians as an innovative percussionist. In addition to her Scripps degree, Norma received an MFA from what’s now called Claremont Graduate University in 1962. In 1966 she signed with New Voice Records and her debut single, “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog,” reached #22 on the U.S. Billboard

chart. In September 1966, Norma helped organize a rally in New York to counteract the defamation of the Beatles. When “Cat Named Dog” hit #1 in England, Norma moved to London, where she wrote songs with singer Dusty Springfield. She wrote, collaborated on, recorded, and produced 15 original music albums, which, like her singles, defy genre and are widely regarded as being ahead of their time.

Norma returned to Claremont, where she taught art, English as a second language, piano, and percussion. Norma lived what she referred to as her “many lives” with passion, generosity, and creativity.

Apart from accomplishments in art and music, and the joy she found in the success of her students, one of Norma’s proudest achievements was her Scripps college thesis on the Book of Ecclesiastes. In her own words, Norma was “the true believer [who had] utmost faith in the continuing complexities of life.”

1963 Betsy Ellen Banyard Florence, of Santa Ana, California, on December 8, 2018.

1965 Virginia Evelyn “Ginna” Wilson Ashenfelter, in February 2018. She is survived by her three daughters, five grandchildren, and her spouse, Orley Ashenfelter CMC ’64.

1972 Tracy Hollingsworth, of Alexandria, Virginia, on January 5, 2020. Tracy Hollingsworth died on January 5, 2020, after a long illness. She was born in Chicago and spent her

early years in Manchester-by-theSea and Beverly, Massachusetts, where she enjoyed many hours of sailing in the summers. After graduating from Scripps College with a BA in history, she continued her education at Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1976.

At the time, less than 10 percent of the class were women. She was admitted to the bars of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. For more than 30 years, Tracy worked at Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, where she rose from staff director of tax councils to VP of finance. Among her many accomplishments, she was chair of the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Councils. She was immensely proud of being accepted to plead cases before the United States Supreme Court, and she authored numerous articles on corporate tax issues. Tracy is survived by her husband, Harry Jones, her siblings, her children, three grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her dear son Schuyler Jones. Tracy most loved family events, expeditions, and simply driving. For the many years that her children participated in crew, she was a devoted member of the TC Williams Crew Boosters and was determined to watch as many races as possible, regardless of the weather, and even if it meant back-to-back red-eye flights to California to watch the NCAA rowing finals. Her early boating (and driving) skills came in handy when she was able to get behind the wheel of the judges’ launch at several crew races. In her spare time, she was an avid reader and enjoyed hours of walking the family’s various rescue dogs.

We all miss her great intellect, enthusiasm for life and family, 47

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and sparkle, but we are comforted knowing that she is now resting in peace.

Jane Elizabeth Murray, of Portland, Oregon, on December 2, 2019. Jane Elizabeth Murray, beloved sister, aunt, and great-aunt, passed away at age 69. She had fought valiantly against rheumatoid arthritis throughout much of her life and finally succumbed to a related infection. She attended St. Mary’s Academy and graduated from Scripps College with a degree in music history. During those college years, she enjoyed her junior year abroad in France and became fluent in French and a lover of the French culture. That love introduced her to her many “French friends” in Portland and gave her so much joy throughout her life. She was an inspiration to so many, even those she barely knew. Janie is survived by her brothers, her sister, nieces, and nephews. She also has two great-nephews. She will be dearly missed. Rest in peace, sweet sister.

1977 Susan J. Brant, of Austin, Texas, on October 7, 2019. With many loving friends with her, Susan passed away following a surgery in Austin, Texas, where she had lived since 1998. While in Austin, Susan held various positions in the Office of the Attorney General. Susan had attended Marlborough School, Scripps College, and held a law degree from Loyola Law School.

She was preceded in death by her devoted father, and leaves her mother, brother, nephews, greatnieces, and great-nephews.

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1981

1984

Laura Lee Frakes, of Los Angeles, California. Laura Lee Frakes passed away in Los Angeles. Born in 1959 to George and Catherine Frakes in Santa Barbara, Laura was active in sailing, swimming, and tennis in her school years, but especially enjoyed art, music, horseback riding, and spending time with close friends. Laura graduated from Scripps College with a degree in history (and also played on the tennis team). While an undergraduate at Scripps, she studied for a semester at the University of Oxford. She earned a master’s degree in library science at the University of Southern California and had a successful career as a professional librarian.

Laura worked for the last 31 years for the Los Angeles County Library system. She served at various times as director of the public libraries in Hawthorne, Culver City, Norwalk, and West Hollywood and was active in the American Library Association. She was dedicated to the mission of the public library of helping all people and enjoyed serving clients and supporting her staff. A private person, Laura enjoyed reading, films, and travel. She also was devoted to her pets and to animals in general. Laura was passionate about social justice issues and was devoted to serving her union (SEIU). She is survived by her father, brothers, two nephews, and two nieces. Her family and friends will dearly miss her.

Melissa Anne Wiges Howe, of Murrieta, California, in October 2019. It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the passing of my beautiful wife, Melissa Anne Wiges. She was a loving wife, a caring sister, and a proud mother.

She gave all she could to those around her. She was an introspective sort; but, as one of her favorite authors, Jane Austen, said, “It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.”

She loved, lived, and experienced life to its fullest. She had many creative passions, such as art, writing, photography, collecting, decorating, and baking, to name a few. This creativity had an impact on everything she did, and she created wholeheartedly. She was the type of person we need more of in this world. As I try to find meaning in this tragedy, I will take solace in all the good that she left behind, including the many family members she touched and who loved her, and I’ll do the best I can with the plans we had together. She will be deeply and sorely missed.

1994 Eve Stoddard, of Lexington, Massachusetts, on May 28, 2019. A clinical psychologist with training in neuropsychology, Eve was a graduate of Lexington High School, Scripps College, and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Drexel University in Philadelphia. She would always remember and be grateful to her teachers and supervisors in London, Ontario, Baltimore, at Drexel University, and in college and high school. In her practice, Eve cared and provided therapy for hundreds of adults, children, and members of

remembrances

the U.S. military at Hanscom Field.

She is remembered by her patients as an inspiring role model for women choosing careers in psychology. A film production major in college, she was also an avid reader. She texted or spoke of her latest favorites. In college, she reviewed films for The Student Life, and her literature professor said he always looked forward to them. Her thesis was on Margaret Atwood’s novels. Missed are her humor, her intellect, her compassion, and her unique way of being.

2000 Vaidehi Campbell Williams, of Santa Cruz, California, on September 2, 2019. Vaidehi Campbell Williams died as she lived, on an adventure. Always full of energy and light, Vaidehi was a world traveler who had dear friends on every piece of the globe she touched. Her love of water, the ocean, and sea life carried through all aspects of her life. Vaidehi grew up in Santa Cruz with her mother and sister, surrounded by a wide and loving extended family and community. Her father has always remained a loving part of her life, and they were especially close in the last few years. After attending Scripps College, including a semester studying the water systems in Madagascar, Vaidehi created a career for herself at the Soquel Creek Water District, where she remained for 18 years.

She sang with the Pacific Voices of Santa Cruz choir, participated in Leadership Santa Cruz County, and was a great fan of SambaDá.

Her love of music would take her to weekly beach concerts, Moe’s Alley dance shows, and wherever else friends were playing and dancing.

She started attending the

Strawberry Music Festival when she was 11 and remained part of that strong community. Vaidehi is remembered as a resounding echo of light and joy with an enthusiasm for life, friends, and family. Her love of good food, good wine, dance, song, and travel was contagious.

She was a vivacious, giving, and present friend. Vaidehi married her high school sweetheart, Sarma Williams, after he proposed in front of her whole family at her college graduation, and they have been together for 25 years. They have two amazing children who reflect her joie de vivre and sense of love and adventure. Donations in memory of Vaidehi may be sent to California Strong, www.californiastrong.org, which will be distributed to families who lost members in the Santa Cruz Island boat fire.

Vaidehi Campbell Williams ’00

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PARENTS

FRIENDS

2021

Paul Darrow, of Laguna Beach, on November 11, 2019. Born October 31, 1921, in Pasadena, California, to Frank and Ruth Darrow. Paul attended Pasadena City College, after which he joined the Army Air Corps. He moved to Claremont with his wife, Nadine Gunderson, who had been recruited to study art at Scripps College by Millard Sheets. Paul later studied under Sheets at Claremont Graduate School, where he earned his MA. Paul and Nadine divorced, and he married Sue Smith. He began to earn recognition after graduate school when his cartoons began appearing in the Claremont Courier, and he was a seminal figure in establishing Claremont as an important center of post-war modernism. He had numerous state and national accolades to his name, including lifetime achievement awards from the Claremont Museum of Art and the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance; a resident grant from the Ford Foundation; a National Endowment for the Humanities grant; first in the Los Angeles County Museum exhibition; and first in the Pasadena Museum of California Art exhibition, among many other honors. Outside of art and sailing, Paul loved jazz music (he was a jazz clarinetist and saxophonist), regularly practiced yoga, was a Tibetan Buddhist, and, of course, was a huge fan of baseball, especially the Dodgers. He taught and mentored students for 37 years at Scripps College, Claremont Graduate University, the Otis Art Institute, and the California Institute of Technology, among many others, where he taught mixed media, printmaking, and advanced drawing. He is survived by his children Chris Darrow,

Thomas B. Neff, of Atherton, California, on August 25, 2019.

Thomas B. Neff CMC ’76, P’21, a voracious learner and unorthodox thinker who long intended to improve our world through scientific discovery, has died. Neff, a member of the CMC Board of Trustees, was 65. His unexpected death on August 25 came a year after the global biopharmaceutical company he founded received approval for its breakthrough anemia treatment in China. Neff was chairman and chief executive officer of FibroGen, based in San Francisco. He founded the company in 1993 and was a named inventor on more than 130 U.S. patents, patent applications, and foreign counterparts. That Neff saw the world through his own wide and highly calibrated lens was fully evident during his days at CMC. A biology and political science student from Anaheim, Neff stayed an extra year on campus to take more classes, including Brain and Biology, Origins of the 14th Amendment, Modern Dance, and Piano. Neff was named a CMC trustee in 2002. Neff completed graduate studies in economics and finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

He received an MD honoris causa from Oulu University, Oulu, Finland, in 2009. Neff is survived by his wife, Donna Wengert-Neff, who serves on the Berger Institute Advisory Board and is a Scripps College trustee; children Maddy Neff ’21, Elena Neff ’21, Dylan Wengert, and Ally Wengert-Pierce; and his sister. His brother, David Neff CMC ’81, died in 2011.

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Joan Darrow Lindley and her husband, David Lindley, Elizabeth Darrow Jones, and Eric Darrow, as well as his wife, Rochelle Darrow, and his grandchildren, and he will be missed by the Claremont community.

Lucy Welles Harrell, of Haines, Alaska, on September 7, 2019.

Sister of Carlotta Welles ’39, philanthropist and adventurer Lucy Harrell died peacefully at Haines Assisted Living following a brief illness. She was 95.

Gloria Holden, of Los Angeles, California, on December 24, 2019.

Gloria joined Scripps College’s Board of Trustees in 1980 and became an emerita trustee in 2004.

As a trustee, she was a generous supporter of the College, providing valuable leadership on many essential enterprises, including the much-needed restoration of Scripps’ residence halls in the early 1980s, the creation of the Holden Maintenance Endowment, and construction of the Malott Commons’ Gloria McClintock Holden Court. Gloria earned her BA from the University of Oregon in 1950 and enjoyed a brief career as an elementary school teacher. She had a lifelong interest in education and a strong commitment to community service, which eventually led to her family’s establishment of the Gloria McClintock Holden Scholarship at Scripps College in honor of her transition to emerita status. In 1996, Gloria was honored with the Ellen Browning Scripps Association Award for her outstanding service to the College.

Gloria also served on the boards of numerous other organizations, including The Music Center in Los Angeles, the Preschool Learning Center of the Assistance League of

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Southern California, The League for Children, Pepperdine University, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She also served as president of the Glen Holden Foundation. Gloria is survived by her husband, Ambassador Glen A. Holden, their three children, nine grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.

Jacob Voogd, of Laguna Beach, California, on February 21, 2019.

Jacob (Jake) Voogd passed away on February 21, 2019, at his home in Laguna Beach, California, at age 90. Jake was born in the Netherlands to Maarten and Antonia Voogd and moved to California when he was seven years old. He attended Stanford University, where he studied history. After serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the Korean War, he earned a degree in chemical engineering at USC, after which he began his career with DuPont. In 1963, he returned to the Netherlands and launched his own chemical engineering firm, Kinetics Technology International (KTI). KTI grew to become a worldwide chemical engineering company specializing in process technology for the production of hydrogen and ethylene plants. In 1988, Jake sold KTI, but he retained Evergreen Oil, a company he had launched to pioneer the re-refining of used motor oil. His process employed hydrogenation to produce lube oil of equal or superior quality to virgin lube oil, while conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Throughout his career, Jake’s curiosity and vision led him to explore many promising business concepts. Through KTI, he was a pioneer in global sourcing and work distribution, finding ways to improve efficiency by coordinating work on large

engineering projects across multiple offices around the world.

Jake served on the boards of directors of various companies in Europe and Silicon Valley. He was a trustee at Loyola Marymount University and at Scripps College.

Jake enjoyed coaching young people, particularly about their careers. He was predeceased by his dear wife of 57 years and their daughter. Jake is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law, brother, grandchildren, and their families.

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POSTSCRIPPS

What Does It Mean to Be a Doctor?

By Kate Fehlhaber, PhD

When I was growing up, I always imagined I’d become a doctor because I wanted to help people. I worked toward that goal all through my time at Scripps, purposefully taking all the pre-med courses, joining the pre-med club, and volunteering in hospitals.

As a researcher, I learned how meticulously each experiment has to be planned in order to draw reasonable conclusions and how many hundreds of hours of work go into a single data point—all for the purpose of unraveling a mystery. I’ve always loved puzzles and spent many evenings with fellow Scrippsies solving crosswords, so when I realized that science is done at the literal edge of knowledge, like a pioneer discovering a new world, I was hooked. I embarked on my journey to become a scientist and contribute to our understanding of how things work.

Yet, to truly be a successful scientist, you have to do more than conduct really good experiments. You also have to convince other scientists, who represent the federal government and other funding agencies, why they should invest in your research. Moreover, and especially in today’s declining science funding environment, you have to convince the general public to invest in science.

I decided that I could do my part to make science digestible for the masses by becoming a professional scientific communicator: a person who translates 52

Illustration by Caitlin Cordtz

Why do I want to be a doctor, anyway?

I asked myself as I prepared for my Writing 50 final paper. We had spent the semester reading Frankenstein, Silent Spring, and Dark Remedy, and my mind was filled with images of “mad scientists” and scenes of unforeseen consequences and dystopian futures. Where were the stories about doctors saving people and making the world a better place? I wondered. Isn’t that what it means to be a doctor?

some of the most difficult concepts in science for a curious, but not necessarily scientifically trained, audience.

During graduate school, I started Knowing Neurons, a website aimed at making neuroscience accessible to anyone curious about the brain. The educational content we created as articles, infographics, videos, and podcasts was accurate but not dry, easy to understand but not oversimplified, exciting but not exaggerated, and all jargon free. With a worldwide audience, my heart was lifted every time a teacher asked if they could print our infographics for their classroom, or a student left a comment thanking us for helping them with their homework.

Through our website and social media, we were bringing humanity to science, and science to regular humans.

What I love about science is its power to change the world; what I love about science communication is its power to change minds. Now, I work for a medical education company, where I help create educational programs that teach doctors about new technologies, research, and best practices. We ask doctors about their clinical opinions and practice patterns before and after each educational program, and it’s exciting to see their increased confidence and understanding.

Through my work as a scientific communicator and medical educator, I am inspired every day to move the needle toward helping people and making the world a better place, because that is what it means to be a doctor.

“Especially in today’s declining science funding environment, you have to convince the general public to invest in science.”

Scripps-Pitzer Science Initiative

“The biggest issues facing humanity aren’t in just one discipline; they are at the interface of biology, chemistry, and physics. We train students to be interdisciplinary problem-solvers and to do things that benefit humankind: science for the good of the world.”

Ulysses J. Sofia, dean of W.M. Keck Science Department

Scripps-Pitzer Science is advancing science for the good of the world.

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