11 minute read
A Letter from President Mary Dana Hinton
FROM THE
President
President Mary Dana Hinton pictured in a December 2021 video announcing Hollins’ record-breaking $75 million gift from an anonymous alumna donor. For the full video and many others, visit youtube.com/hollinsvideo.
Dear Friends,
I hope that the beautiful spring season has brought to you a spirit of rejuvenation, hope, and vibrancy. Certainly, were I to describe Hollins as I write this letter, those would be among the words I would choose.
As you may recall from my letter in the last alumnae/i magazine, I shared with the community, “My goal for our campus community this year is a variation of ‘only connect.’ I want us to look out for one another, to support one another, to lift one another. Our liberal arts education commands that we truly connect.”
Of course, my goal and my joy is facilitating that connection on campus. To witness eyes light up when an important theory is learned, a common experience shared, or a critical value uncovered, to see lives connect—faculty, staff, and students—is a powerful thing. Today we get to share that joy with you as you read this magazine and see the connection between mission, learning, professional endeavors, and civic engagement.
You see, our resonant and relevant mission has spawned such goodness as the Hollins Opportunity for Promise through Education (HOPE) Scholarship, which will allow selected students from the Roanoke Valley to attend Hollins tuition free for four years. Our ability to learn together is prominent in the story about our Imagination Campaign, our community effort to develop significant, mission-aligned, and revenue-generating programs to sustain Hollins well into the future. Likewise, we see the challenging and powerful work of Patrice Lawrence ’11 as a vibrant example of how Hollins alumnae/i engage with the world around them. Perhaps our greatest connective tissue of all may be found in the announcement of a $75 million gift from an anonymous alumna. This gift connects our mission with our people; the importance of women’s education with the need to give back—the ultimate form of civic engagement; and connects the past, present, and future.
As I have shared with Hollins alumnae/i groups with which I have had the pleasure of meeting, this gift signals to me that I, and all of us on campus, must work even harder to connect and to thrive. We cannot view this gift as a stopping point. Rather, it has crafted a runway for us to actively and aggressively plan for and live into the future—a future we will share together. It calls on each of us to ask what we can do to bring that future—our mission—into fruition. So, to me, the gift is a call to action; a call to lead; a call to connection.
May you see your best self in these pages.
Levavi Oculos,
Mary Dana Hinton President
Hollins Community Embraces “Equity, Accessibility, and Identity” at 2022 Leading EDJ Conference
Hollins students, faculty, staff, alumnae/i, and Board of Trustee members worked toward creating a more equitable and just campus community during the university’s second annual Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice (EDJ) Conference, held February 24-25.
Over 400 attendees participated in 37 virtual and in-person sessions united around this year’s theme of “Equity, Accessibility, and Identity.” Session topics ranged from “Broaching: Confronting the Uncomfortable Conversations in Systemic Racism” and “Examining Residential Segregation: Where You Live Determines Your Health and Quality of Life” to “Talking Back to Dad: Developing Pedagogies to Discussing Hard Questions in the Classroom and Community” and “Cultivating Inclusive Friendships: Real Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Starts in Our Social Circles.” Session leaders included current students and faculty as well as alumnae/i and guest activists and experts from the community at large.
Loretta Ross, a nationally recognized expert on racism and racial justice, women’s rights, and human rights, delivered the conference’s keynote address, “Calling In the Calling Out Culture.” Drawing upon 50 years of activism, Ross stressed the need to “create a culture shift” that consciously and deliberately moves away from “publicly shaming or blaming people for something that you think they have done wrong, for which you think they should be held accountable” to a process where “you extend to people love, respect, forgiveness, and grace.”
IN THE Loop
Hollins is one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review.
The education services company features Hollins in its website resource, The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2022 Edition, which is accessible for free.
The Princeton Review chose the 420 schools in the guide based on its survey of administrators at 835 colleges in 2020-21 concerning their institutions’ sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs.
“We strongly recommend Hollins to students who care about the environment and want to study and live at a green college,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor-inchief. “Hollins offers excellent academics and demonstrates a commitment to sustainability that is exemplary on many counts.”
Children’s Literature M.F.A. Student Wins New Voices Award
Malik
Maleeha Malik, a student in Hollins’ Master of Fine Arts program in children’s literature, is the winner of Lee & Low Books’ 22nd annual New Voices Award.
Established in 2000, the award is given annually by the children’s book publisher for a picture book manuscript by a writer of color or Indigenous/ Native writer.
A second-grade teacher from Baltimore, Malik was honored for At Home in My Skin. The manuscript features a child with vitiligo—a skin disorder that causes depigmentation— who embraces their individuality by drawing connections between their skin’s ever-changing patterns and the designs in nature.
Malik wrote the manuscript last summer in her African American Children’s Literature class at Hollins taught by Michelle Martin, the Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor for Children and Youth Services in the Information School at the University of Washington. The renowned author, essayist, lecturer, book critic, and community literary activist helped Malik shape the manuscript for publication.
In a statement, Lee & Low Books said, “Malik hopes young readers, especially those with noticeable skin conditions, will read At Home in My Skin and know they belong in this world—that there is space for everyone to love and thrive in their unique skin.”
Malik will receive a $2,000 cash prize and a publication contract.
IN THE Loop
KCACTF Region IV Awards Top Honors to Hollins Students for Playwriting, Stage Management, and Costume Design
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) Region IV has recognized Hollins graduate and undergraduate students for their creativity, both on the stage and behind the scenes.
Works by three student playwrights from the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins were chosen for the KCACTF Region IV Festival, which was held online in February. Mothers and Terrorists by David Beach M.F.A. ’21, which received the 2021 KCACTF Region IV John L. Cauble One-Act Play honor, was staged this year with a full virtual production. Sarah Cosgrove’s M.F.A. ’22 I Lived to Tell, a Cauble recipient for 2022, and Cherished by Rachel Graf Evans, winner of the KCACTF Region IV’s 2022 David Shelton Award (the region’s highest award for fulllength, student-written plays) were also performed.
Playwright’s Lab Director Todd Ristau said the selection of the three plays for this year’s festival “continues Hollins’ unbroken string of successes with KCACTF Region IV. Over the years, our student playwrights have garnered awards in nearly every category of playwriting at KCACTF.”
KCACTF Region IV also honored two Hollins seniors with prestigious awards in its Design, Technologies, and Management category.
Elizabeth Dion ’22 received the Stage Management Fellowship Award, while Nabila Meghjani ’22 won the Heart of the Art Award in Costume Design. Both were honored for their work on Hollins Theatre’s Main Stage production in October 2021 of Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker.
“According to the nominee list, 168 students in Region IV were nominated for the Stage Management Fellowship Award, and 71 were nominated for the Heart of the Art Award in Costume Design, so we’re extremely proud of both Liz and Nabila for their recognition,” said Assistant Professor of Theatre and Theatre Department Chair Wendy-Marie Martin M.F.A. ’14.
Student Researchers Earn Praise at Academic Conferences
From the social sciences to the natural sciences, Hollins student researchers are getting noticed and gaining applause for their work.
Working with Professor of Political Science Edward Lynch, Kayla Richardson ’24 spent last summer immersed in researching Catholic social thought and free market theory as one of just 12 students selected for Hollins’ Summer Fellowship Program. Their study resulted in a paper that the two presented at the annual conference of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists.
“The praise was universal,” said Lynch. “One participant, who runs a theology program at Franciscan University, said it was the best presentation she had ever heard. Another was convinced, from the quality of her presentation and her knowledge, that Kayla was a grad student and was shocked to learn she’s a sophomore undergrad. The experience confirms something I’ve said many times: When Hollins students bring their ‘A Game,’ they stun the world. We have a high degree of faith in our students’ abilities, and based on what I’ve heard from my counterparts, the intellectual bonds formed between faculty and students at Hollins are almost unique in higher education.” Two research projects conducted by three Hollins chemistry majors were recognized at the Virginia Academy of Science Fall Undergraduate Research Meeting.
Megan Brown ’23, Nupur Sehgal ’23, and Tram Nguyen ’24 earned the event’s top award in the Medicine category ($750 in research funding) for “Let’s Go Fishing: Catching Cysteine-Containing Proteins in Cytoplasmic Pools.” They also received honorable mention in the same category for “C-glycosylation Through Reductive Halide Atom Transfer Reaction with Photo-Irradiation.”
The three students are all enrolled in a research lab taught by Assistant Professor of Chemistry Son Nguyen. “I am so proud of Megan, Nupur, and Tram, and am lucky to have them in the research lab,” he said. “They work very hard and very productively.”
Nguyen and the three students also presented at the national American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego in March.
Kayla Richardson ’24 Tram Nguyen ’24, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Son Nguyen, Nupur Sehgal ’23, and Megan Brown ’23.
Hollins’ Dance M.F.A. Program Returns to On-Campus and Face-to-Face Study
Hollins’ M.F.A. in dance is resuming its on-campus engagement this summer following a year of remote instruction necessitated by the pandemic.
Yet the pandemic and global events have continued to challenge some of the program’s plans. Students were scheduled to travel to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, considered by many to be the nation’s cultural hub and in 2019 was named a European Capital of Culture; however, COVID-19 precautions and the geopolitical instabilities associated with the war in Ukraine necessitated a shift.
“We hope to go to Plovdiv in the summer of 2023,” said Jeffery Bullock, professor and chair of Hollins’ dance program. This summer, Hollins M.F.A. dance students will have the opportunity to join Maurya Kerr M.F.A.’17 and her San Francisco-based dance company for focused learning for three weeks at the end of the summer. “I am eager to connect Hollins dance with the exciting things happening on the West Coast,” said Bullock.
Hollins’ M.F.A. in dance is an innovative program in which students immerse themselves for five weeks during the summer in the intimate learning atmosphere on the Hollins campus, followed by three weeks of travel and immersive study. Entrepreneur and educator LaNita Jefferson ’07 assured Hollins students, “You can make your own tables. You don’t have to wait for someone to invite you to a seat at the table,” during the 10th annual Career Connection Conference (C3), September 30 and October 1.
It’s okay to find and create opportunity,” Jefferson, the keynote speaker for this year’s event, told students. “It’s okay to be you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Be yourself and believe in yourself. And don’t be afraid of the word ‘no.’”
C3 welcomed alumnae/i from across the country to showcase the lifelong power of a liberal arts education, share their insights on life and work, and help students connect to others in their networks. Thirty-five alumnae/i volunteered their time and talents to serve virtually as conference leaders.
“What a momentous and important occasion to celebrate the deep and engaging connection between the liberal arts and career success, and the critically important link between our alumnae/i and current students,” said President Mary Dana Hinton.
President Hinton Elected AAC&U Chair
President Mary Dana Hinton has been elected chair of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Board of Directors.
“I’m so grateful to the extraordinary group of higher education leaders who serve on the AAC&U Board of Directors,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella. “I look forward to working with and learning from this year’s board members as we strive toward our shared objective of advancing the vitality and public standing of liberal education by making quality and equity the foundations for excellence in undergraduate education in service to democracy.”
The AAC&U supports the educational mission of colleges and universities across the global landscape of higher education and partners with campus leaders and educators at all levels.
IN THE Loop
Students Gain Insight, Encouragement at 10th Annual C3
Mary Daley ’19
