Hollins University Winter 2019 Alumnae Magazine by Hollins University

WINTER 2019

What It Really Means to Have It All

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Hollins

Hollins Magazine Vol. 69, No. 3 January - March 2019 GUEST EDITOR Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11 ADVISORY BOARD President Pareena Lawrence, Vice President for External Relations Suzy Mink ’74, Director of Alumnae Relations Lauren Sells Walker ’04, Director of Public Relations Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ann Atkins Hackworth ’82, M.A.L.S. ’95; Mary Ann Harvey Johnson ’67, M.A. ’71; Lucy Lee M.A.L.S. ’85, C.A.S. ’03; Linda Martin; Brenda McDaniel HON ’12; Sharon Meador; Kathy Rucker

The entire Hollins community plays an important role in helping our students and alumnae/i lead lives of consequence. By President Pareena Lawrence

PRINTER Progress Printing, Lynchburg, VA Hollins (USPS 247/440) is published quarterly by Hollins University, Roanoke, VA 24020. Entered as Periodicals Postage Paid at Roanoke, VA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hollins, Hollins University, Box 9688, Roanoke, VA 24020 or call (800) TINKER1. The articles and class letters in Hollins do not necessarily represent the official policies of Hollins University, nor are they always the opinions of the editor. Hollins University does not discriminate in admission because of race, color, religion, age, disability, genetic information, national or ethnic origin, veteran status, or sexual orientation and maintains a nondiscriminatory policy throughout its operation. For more information, contact the director of human resources/Title IX coordinator, (540) 362-6660 or hollinshr@hollins.edu. Questions, comments, corrections, or story ideas may be sent to: Magazine Editor Hollins University Box 9657 Roanoke, VA 24020 magazine@hollins.edu

We want to hear from you for the Letters to the Editor page, starting in the spring 2019 issue.

Building Creative Communities The work of Doug Jackson M.F.A. ’06 is revealing one of Roanoke’s previously hidden strengths: a love of books and the desire to talk about them. By Martha Park M.F.A. ’15

Striking a Balance: What It Really Means to Have It All What does it mean to lead a balanced life? Sarah Achenbach ’88 has been asking herself that question since graduation— and for this article surveyed alumnae, too.

Training Senior Officers for Difficult Jobs and Hard Decisions Two of the 21 female faculty members at the U.S. Army War College are Hollins graduates. By Beth JoJack ’98

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

It Takes a Community

The Many Moods of Moody A photo essay showing the wide range of activities that take place in the student center. Built in 1974 and adapted over the years to serve the community better, Moody is where students gather to eat, meet, play, dance, celebrate, and socialize.

From Mangoes to Blockchain With a “work-to-learn” strategy, entrepreneur Elizabeth Jose ’12 has developed her business acumen to tackle initiatives ranging from organic farming in India to launching a global financial technology company. By Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11

Of Donuts I Have Loved For Miranda Dennis ’08, Tinker Day was a delicious stop along the donut highway.

D E P A R T M E N T S 3

In the Loop

Alumnae Connections

Focus on Philanthropy

Class Letters, with profiles of Sarah Ellerman ’98 and Nessa Ryan ’07

WWW

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

FROM THE

President

It Takes a Community The entire Hollins community plays an important role in helping our students and alumnae/i lead lives of consequence. B Y P R E S I D E N T P A R E E N A L A W R E N C E

ollins University’s success is deeply and permanently intertwined with the accomplishments of our students and our alumnae/i. The transformative nature of our educational experience is clearly reflected by the enthusiastic support that our alumnae/i have provided throughout the history of Hollins, from generous financial support to providing career opportunities for current students and graduates. 2 Hollins

Through this lens, Hollins commenced its strategic planning process that will guide us over the next five years. Ensuring that the Hollins experience will thrive and evolve through changing times is this plan’s highest priority. This goal is one that can be achieved only if we help our students realize their full potential by designing and building lives of consequence. What do we mean by living a life of consequence? In describing the purpose of our curriculum and cocurricular programs, our mission statement defines it as leading “lives of active learning, fulfilling work, personal growth, achievement, and service to society.” Reinforcing our commitment to producing successful, well-rounded students with the knowledge, skills, experience, and relationships to prosper in their personal and professional lives is how we will propel our mission forward, build upon our reputation, grow our ranks of passionate alumnae/i, and bring a broader range of students into the Hollins community. Our new strategic plan is the foundation for this investment in our future, one that will: • Grow undergraduate and graduate enrollment • Improve first-year retention and graduation rates • Strengthen our overall student experience • Create a unique educational and professional experience with exceptional learning outcomes sought by prospective students and touted by our graduates In this issue of Hollins magazine, you’ll meet some of our students and alumnae/i who are fully immersed in building a life of consequence. Entrepreneur Elizabeth Jose ’12 has courageously and ingeniously introduced

a sustainable development project in India that is improving the lives of local farmers and their families. Jackie Whitt ’03 and Megan Hennessey-Croy ’07 are providing senior military officials with crucial training in foreign policy, international relations, and national security and defense. Doug Jackson M.F.A. ’06 is delivering strategic and technical help to communities, striving to revitalize their local economies and downtown districts. And students in Professor Kathleen Nolan’s Gothic Art class are creating a digital exhibit that will help expose a valuable medieval document to a wider scholarly community. These students and alumnae/i come from all walks of life and are engaged in a wide range of initiatives, but they all embrace challenges, overcome obstacles, and share a profound understanding that a life of consequence does not happen overnight; it is constructed brick by brick and lived day by day. With a holistic approach that touches upon every aspect of the student experience, we will continue to educate undergraduate women and graduate students who cherish their time at Hollins and value public citizenship, integrity, concern for others, diversity, and social justice. Every member of the Hollins community has a role in this process and an important contribution to make, whether they are students, parents, faculty, staff, trustees, alumnae/i, or other constituents. I look forward to joining you in this essential work and discovering the many ways in which our strategic vision can be realized and move us forward as a community. You can read President Lawrence’s tweets @PresLawrence.

IN THE

Loop Go green. Stay gold. Student interns drive sports social media s interns with the athletics program, sophomores Brie Faircloth and Charlie Vollmers are charged with using social media to increase audience enthusiasm and participation. Faircloth is in charge of the app SuperFanU, used by the athletics office, which announces game times and scores and, through points accrual, earns rewards for fans. Faircloth’s efforts during the first two months of fall semester increased the number of SuperFanU users by more than 100. Vollmers’ focus is on Instagram, Twitter, and a new Facebook page, launched last fall. “There’s a lot of back and forth,” she said about the work she and Faircloth are doing. “We push each other’s efforts.” For example, when they found that their audience prefers videos over photos, they created a stop-motion video promoting upcoming volleyball and soccer games, which they pushed on various platforms. “Analytics on Twitter showed us that the number-one interest is dogs,” says Vollmers, so she and Faircloth planned a “bring your dog to the game” day for a late-October soccer game. Sports fans and players themselves (both are on the volleyball team), they enjoy promoting Hollins athletics. Although neither has declared a major yet, they lean toward business. “I was intrigued by the opportunity to learn more about marketing and sports marketing,” says Vollmers of her internship. “I don’t know if I want to go into sports marketing, but it is something I would definitely consider.” The Hollins version of SuperFanU is free in the app store.

Sharon Meador

Sophomores Brie Faircloth and Charlie Vollmers, social media interns in the athletics office

More about Hollins athletics: www.hollinssports.com

Twitter: @HollinsSports

Instagram: hollinssports

Jodie Kantor on the power of journalism Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist helped spark the #metoo movement

Kantor

Sharon Meador

istinguished Speaker Kantor brought an important message to campus last fall: that journalism can be used for the public good. The investigative reporter and bestselling author helped expose Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual abuse allegations. Kantor and fellow reporter Megan Twohey broke the Weinstein story in October 2017 in The New York Times, and their work has played a significant role in shifting attitudes and spurring new laws, policies, and standards of accountability around the globe.

Winter 2019 3

IN THE

Loop

World class The class of 2022 boasts a range of accomplishments and unprecedented diversity

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his year’s first-year class is special for many reasons. There are at least six Girl Scouts, two high school class presidents, and three captains of athletic teams. One member of the class was a principal dancer with Nashville’s Centennial Youth Ballet, another produced a film that was accepted at the SXSW Film Festival, and a third hiked the entire Virginia portion of the Appalachian Trail. A former Miss Virginia’s Outstanding Teen is also a firstyear student, and one of her classmates completed a summer enrichment program with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Even more remarkable is the class of 2022’s racial and ethnic diversity. Approximately 40 percent of its members are students of color and/or are of Hispanic/ Latinx descent. The class features 20 international students, the most in memory for an incoming class. They hail from Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Taiwan. “Increasing the diversity in our student population enhances the campus culture in positive ways,” notes Jeri Suarez, associate dean of Cultural and Community

IN THE

Loop

Sharon Meador

Engagement (CCE), which works to cultivate a diverse and inclusive community at Hollins. “Our new students of color and international students are making their voices heard and they are providing leadership in student government, athletics, and the performing arts as well as in CCE programs and events. Their perspective has added depth to the discussions in our Face2Face diversity leadership series, and our cultural events have been enriched.” Hollins furthered its commitment to international students and to campus-wide globalization this fall when it joined the

#YouAreWelcomeHere scholarship initiative. As part of the program, which includes nearly 60 colleges and universities from across the country, the university pledges to create scholarships for international students to study in the U.S. “The #YouAreWelcomeHere scholarship at Hollins recognizes promising international students with a vision for enhancing intercultural understanding,” says Ashley Browning M.A.L.S. ’13, Hollins’ vice president for enrollment management. Two first-year students will receive an annual, renewable scholarship of $15,000

beginning in the fall 2019 semester. This scholarship is open to all academic majors and fields of study and is applied to tuition costs. To qualify, students must be first-year international applicants to Hollins. They are required to hold citizenship in a country outside the U.S. and not also possess U.S. citizenship or permanent residency. And they should demonstrate interest and personal initiative in activities involving intercultural learning and exchange.

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IN THE

Loop Students spend weeks researching book of hours

IMPACT grants promote faculty research

Class creates digital exhibit on one of the library’s most valuable documents

Funds for new or ongoing projects

rom 1926 until her death in 1941, Lucy Winton McVitty served as a member of the Hollins Board of Trustees. Two years after her death, her husband, industrialist Samuel Herbert McVitty, honored her memory by donating to the library an extensive collection of manuscripts and rare books. One of the treasures contained in the collection dates back to the late 15th century: a handmade French volume of prayer called a “book of hours.” Intended for use by laypeople of the day, books of hours were produced throughout the medieval period. In addition to devotional text, the books featured not just illustrations but “some of the greatest paintings and drawings of the late Middle Ages and early 6 Hollins

Renaissance,” according to Wendy A. Stein of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The paintings were intended to foster reflection and devotion.” Seventy-five years after its presentation to Hollins, the gift of what has been dubbed the “McVitty Hours” continues to resonate. Last fall, students in the Gothic Art seminar taught by Professor of Art Kathleen Nolan conducted original research on the book’s images, or “miniatures,” and created detailed catalogue entries for Wyndham Robertson Library’s Digital Exhibits website. “It’s unusual for an institution of our size to own a manuscript of this caliber, and while students here have worked with this book before, I wanted the students in this particular seminar to develop a visible record of their research and enhance the online presence of this gorgeous manuscript,” Nolan explains. “We want students to engage with the material and think about how new approaches to research can create new meaning for them and for the wider scholarly community with whom they are sharing their work,” says Taylor Kenkel, technical services and metadata librarian at Hollins. “This effort is usually teamwork-driven, with each person contributing a bit of their own expertise to create something that wouldn’t be possible if we were each going at it alone.” Clara Souvignier ’20, an art history major, says, “I never thought I’d have the opportunity to come into such a close encounter with a manuscript like this that isn’t behind glass in a museum. It’s a prize that we have something this old and this worthwhile. The trust that Professor Nolan and the library placed in us means a lot.”

ade possible by generous alumnae support, IMPACT grants provide funds for professors’ research and creative work. In their application for the grant, faculty members must explain the impact of their projects in the following ways: contribution to the discipline, expected outcome, effect on the institution, and recent record of scholarly or creative achievement. Selected by the university’s Faculty Development and Student Research Committee, the 2018 IMPACT grant recipients represent the breadth and scope of the liberal arts. Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Morgan Wilson spent a week during the summer of 2018 investigating the impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria on two invertebrate organisms that affect coral reef ecosystems in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. In addition, he partnered this summer with Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Elizabeth Gleim ’06 and Ciera Morris ’19 on research into tick populations in Southwest Virginia. Gleim and Madison Simms ’20 also worked together last summer to study the infestation dynamics of the emerald ash borer, which has killed millions of ash trees in the U.S. Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Renee Godard was also in St. John to study how a critically endangered species, Acropora palmate, responded to the same storms. This summer, she worked with Elaine Metz ’19 to examine if proximity to seagrass meadows can improve coral viability and health on the island. Through his IMPACT grant, Professor of Political Science Ed Lynch analyzed the United States’ response to the Arab Spring, while another grant supported Associate Professor of International Studies Jon Bohland with an extended book project linking research on collective memory along the historical Great Wagon Road (Philadelphia to Augusta, Ga.) and in Israel and Palestine. Bohland and his collaborator are examining issues of countermemory and how marginalized communities challenge dominant versions of history through a number of strategies and techniques. Associate Professor of Art Jennifer Printz used her grant for a project called De Rerum Natura.

ALUMNAE

Connections

Tinker Day goes global O

n campus, students headed up the mountain after fueling up on donuts and coffee, but they werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the only ones celebrating.

Alumnae from cities around the country and around the world

gathered to commemorate Hollinsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; favorite tradition.

Charleston

Jacksonville

Denver

Dallas

Boston

London

Hampton Roads

Winter 2019 7

ALUMNAE

Connections

Former Hollins swimmers connected during the summit: Danielle “Dani” Raymond ’18, Jennifer “Jen” Wallace ’92, Margaret “Megg” O’Brien ’15, and Pamela “Punky” Brick ’93.

Drawing inspiration from one another Leadership summit brings alumnae to campus

Attendees enjoying one of the afternoon workshops.

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he third Boyce Lineberger Ansley ’68 Leadership Summit kicked off a late-September weekend of connecting and collaborating. Alumnae across six decades came together to connect, learn from each other, and share ways to serve and lead in their communities and at Hollins. The summit was named in memory of Boyce Lineberger Ansley, a recipient of Hollins’ Distinguished Service Award. Ansley was a committed volunteer on behalf of Hollins and also in her hometown of Atlanta. Weaving together both leadership and volunteering, the theme of the September summit was “Designing a Life of Consequence.” Participants enjoyed a state of the university address from President Lawrence; an inspiring keynote address from Debbie Meade, a member of the Board of Trustees; and an afternoon of sessions designed to help them continue to build a life of consequence. Attendees called the day energizing, inclusive, and inspiring, noting that the best part was meeting and connecting with other alumnae.

FOCUS ON

Philanthropy Donor Spotlight

Vesta Lee Gordon: Inspiring classmates to support the “Class of 1964 House”

Gordon

Update on student apartment village Site ready for first phase of construction

hen Vesta Lee Gordon ’64 read about the new student apartment village, her response was to help make the village become a reality. Noting that having all students living on campus without the separation of Williamson Road, she immediately made a significant philanthropic commitment to a house, one she hopes will be called the “Class of 1964 House.” In making the gift, she challenges her classmates to join her in funding a house to honor, in her words, “a great class.” In her self-deprecating way, she noted she is not known for thinking or speaking much, but she hopes to inspire others to support a project to honor her class and to give students the opportunity to partake fully in campus life. Gordon graduated from Hollins with a degree in history, followed by a library degree, and began working with rare books and manuscripts. After many years of holding academic library positions in Virginia, Florida, and Georgia, she returned to her childhood home in Charlottesville and began an antiquarian book business called the Book Broker. Along with selling

books, she has conducted appraisals of gifts to institutions and other freelance research. As she said in her letter to her class on the occasion of their 50th reunion, “It’s hard to believe I am in my 28th year as a book dealer, appraiser, and researcher. This is the best of all worlds, as I work with a variety of interesting items, meet interesting and usually pleasant people, and get paid for it. … I appraised Thomas Jefferson’s library at Monticello for insurance; priced the papers of Tom Robbins, author of Even Cowgirls get the Blues, which made me blue after pawing through 12 totally unsorted boxes; authenticated a first edition of the King James Version of the Bible; and fell into exhaustion as I worked through 132 boxes of the papers of Julian Bond. In addition, I appraised an 800-volume collection, dating from 1726 to 2006, of Little Red Riding Hood stories and a 1,400-volume library of pop-up books.” Gordon enjoys listening to music, reading, and gardening, and she cares about the future of Hollins and about providing students a wonderful new place to live in the apartment village.

To begin building the first apartments, another half million dollars must be raised. The following opportunities are available:

ast Campus Drive, formerly known as Faculty Avenue, is completely prepared and ready for the construction of the first phase of the apartment village: four houses high on the hill overlooking Tinker residence hall. The new housing will complement the architectural beauty of the traditional campus buildings, harmonize with the Hill Houses, and provide a dynamic and vibrant core for our students. When completed, the project will consist of 10 apartment buildings housing 96 students, with a total cost of $10 million; $2 million has been received to date.

Name a building: Name an apartment: Name a common room: Name a kitchen: Name a porch: Name a bedroom:

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

For more information, please contact Suzy Mink, senior philanthropic advisor, at minks@hollins.edu or (202) 309-1750.

Winter 2019 9

FOCUS ON

Philanthropy

Last November, nearly 100 leadership donors and members of the 1842 Society and Miss Matty’s Circle joined President Lawrence and trustees for a weekend in Nashville. Special thanks to Wyeth Outlan Burgess ’80, former trustee Caroline Arnold Davis ’60, Lucy Davis Haynes ’84, Angela Howard ’86, and trustee Tracy Roberts Frist M.A. ’03, M.F.A. ’14 for serving on the planning committee and orchestrating a wonderful weekend. Gifts from the 1842 Society represent a large portion of total gifts from alumnae through the Hollins Fund. The 2019 weekend will take place in New York City. Shown left to right: Clark Hooper Baruch ’68, Anne Hipp Habeck ’68, Laura Burks Logan ’68, and Zelime Gillespie Matthews ’68.

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Hollins Fund challenge Goal: To increase participation

n December, an anonymous donor challenged Hollins alumnae, students, parents, and friends to boost participation in giving to the Hollins Fund. Supporters have the opportunity to acquire $100,000 for the Hollins Fund by increasing alumnae participation from 24 to 30 percent—or by reaching a total of 3,500 donors to the fund. An additional $100,000 can be earned if the number of donors giving $1,000 or more increases to 700.

The $200,000 can be earned only if these challenges are met. Participation is what counts, so every gift made to the Hollins Fund by June 30, 2019, matters. The Hollins Fund has a direct impact on current students because it provides scholarship assistance toward an exceptional education. To make your gift, visit www.hollins.edu/giving.

B U I L D I N G Creative

COMMUNITIES The work of Doug Jackson M.F.A. ’06 is revealing one of Roanoke’s previously hidden strengths: a love of books and the desire to talk about them.

B Y M A R T H A P A R K M . F. A . ’ 15

Sharon Meador

oug Jackson arrived at Hollins as part of what he describes as a “mid-career reboot.” He’d spent the previous decade in California, where he earned a master’s degree in urban and regional planning and spent five years running leadership, granting, and visioning programs for the Great Valley Center, a policy organization focused on the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the Central Valley. Before that, he’d served as a Naval officer in Scotland and Honolulu, and before that, he’d attended Duke on an ROTC scholarship. “I grew a lot at Hollins,” Jackson says. “I focused on fiction, and I still write. In fact, a novel-in-stories begun at Hollins remains a vessel for much of my thinking and exploration. Hollins is such a supportive environment, and I consider myself fortunate to have spent

Tapped to organize the 2018 Roanoke Valley Reads program, Jackson (right) and his committee chose Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa (left). Two author events took place on campus last fall.

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“That he stayed in Roanoke after being drawn here by the Hollins M.F.A. program means Roanoke is truly the cool city it’s been striving to become.” that time there. I jokingly asked someone recently if we’re allowed to do it again.” Professor of English Cathryn “Cathy” Hankla ’80, M.A. ’82 describes Jackson as “a rare combination of artist/writer, community organizer, leader in the arts, and entrepreneur. That he stayed in Roanoke after being drawn here by the Hollins M.F.A. program means Roanoke is truly the cool city it’s been striving to become.” Since graduating from Hollins, Jackson has spent the last 11 years working for the Commonwealth of Virginia through the Department of Housing and Community Development,

s he went about his day-to-day work, encouraging communities to inventory their assets, Jackson couldn’t help but take a mental inventory of Roanoke’s rich literary resources. This led him to his next project, Book City★Roanoke, an online resource linking local writers, book clubs, conferences, programs, libraries, reading venues, and literary events. “We really do have a lot here,” Jackson says, “from the long-standing excellence of the creative writing program at Hollins to more recent additions like Soul Sessions’ spokenword nights and writing workshops. The work of the Star City Reads collaborative is unparalleled. We’ve got a lot to be proud of. And there are around 80 writers now listed.”

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providing strategic guidance and technical assistance to communities as they work to revitalize their local economies and downtown districts. “As manufacturing and extractionbased industries diminished, we’ve had to start again with what’s at hand,” Jackson says. “A lot of that work requires reinforcing the authentic and distinctive qualities of place in order to attract and create new businesses.” One example of the kind of projects Jackson helped develop is the Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. “The Crooked Road is as much about recreating downtowns as cultural centers

as it is about preserving the heritage of traditional music,” Jackson says. “Rivers, historic towns, mountains, handmade crafts, oysters—they can all be building blocks for stronger communities and a more diverse economy. We can celebrate and build upon these elements to create quality places worthy of investment.” Jackson has also stayed engaged in local creative communities. “One of my first actions upon graduation from Hollins was to seek an appointment to the Roanoke Arts Commission,” he says. Jackson spent the next 11 years volunteering with the commission. “It helped me become more a part of Roanoke,” he says, “and the other way around.” Through the Arts Commission, Jackson met Lucy Lee M.A.L.S. ’85, C.A.S. ’03, a fellow writer and book lover. Lee was one of the founders of Roanoke Valley Reads (RVR) and helped run the program for several years. Blue Ridge Literacy coordinated the RVR for a couple of years and then asked Jackson to take over. Knowing of Lee’s earlier involvement, he invited her to join forces. For last year’s community reading project, RVR chose Sunil Yapa’s Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist [see sidebar].

Jackson thought a book-based conversation series would be a good way to demonstrate the value of Book City★Roanoke. “I had met musician Dar Williams through my friend Beth Macy [M.A. ’93],” Jackson says, “I’m a longtime Dar fan and I knew that she was working on a book about communities called What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician’s Guide to Rebuilding America’s Communities— One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and OpenMike Night at a Time. Williams committed to an event in Roanoke, and Jackson got to work, setting up nine evening discussion events leading up to her visit. Each event focused on a chapter of Williams’s book and was hosted by a community partner. “For instance, the discussion on the importance of local foods was hosted

by the Local Environmental Agriculture Project,” Jackson says. “We held one discussion on coffee shops as community gathering spaces at Sweet Donkey, [a coffee shop] in South Roanoke.” For the culminating event, Jackson brought in sponsorships from the Arts Commission and CityWorks (X)po and hosted 130 people at a dinner with Williams at a local restaurant. To Jackson, “Book City★Roanoke is really about creating the kind of city I want to live in—a city of readers and ideas. Readers and writers are good for community; a lively book culture in which ideas are batted about is good for a democracy. It’s the foundation of a creative community. Things only work in community when we know that our participation matters, that we have a voice and can effect change in our place.”

or better or worse, there is a public perception of writers as solitary creatures who retreat from the world for the benefit of their work. Jackson busts that stereotype wide open, allowing his writing practice and his work in community to influence and inform each other. “There’s a mystical component to writing for me, and I seek that to be a better human. I hope the result is that my writing is shaped by the interactions I have in communities. I also hope, in turn, that my work with others, these strategies and engagements, are grounded in a thoughtful approach underpinned with a deeper philosophy. On a very basic level, I love starting a community facilitation with a poem or, in my writing, seeing a character emerge who has some resemblance to a person I’ve encountered in a community.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

“It probably should have felt a little nutty to sell my house and leave what had been a dream job in California. But these big decisions for me tend to be made on instinct—gut; it was the right time. I would do it all over again. “Roanoke grabs hold of you. I stuck around after graduation largely because I was in a relationship. When that ended seven years later, I asked if I was in the right place. And the response is that there really is no perfect place, or a perfect place for us forever. The question just demands other questions: What can we do to make our place even better? What kind of community do I want? How should I be investing in this place? For me, Book City★Roanoke is an exploration of that.”

“Book City★Roanoke is really about creating the kind of city I want to live in—a city of readers and ideas. Readers and writers are good for community; a lively book culture in which ideas are batted about is good for a democracy. It’s the foundation of a creative community.” Martha Park is a writer and illustrator from Memphis, Tennessee. She received an M.F.A. from Hollins’ Jackson Center for Creative Writing and was the Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University’s Stadler Center for Poetry.

ne of the book-loving activities Jackson admires about Roanoke is the Roanoke Valley Reads (RVR) program. It was run by volunteers for five years, then by Blue Ridge Literacy for two. Last fall, Jackson and Lucy Lee M.A.L.S. ’85, C.A.S. ’03, who originated the program with a friend eight years ago, teamed up to run the 2018 program. “I had been retired from RVR for three years when Doug called to say he’d been asked by Blue Ridge Literacy to run the project under his Book City★Roanoke umbrella,” says Lee. “He asked if I would help, and I said yes because I knew it would be fun working with him. I also knew that he was creative, organized, and could make things happen. Once we selected the book, I pretty much sat back and watched his ideas hatch. It’s the easiest job I’ve ever had.” Even the ever-energetic Jackson looks for ways to work with existing partnerships. “This year we wanted to use RVR to connect with the steady work that the Jackson Center and Hollins do to bring authors into town,” he said. Two of the activities featuring Sunil Yapa, the author of Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, took place on campus: an evening lecture followed by a Q&A session the next morning. “The book takes place during an action that goes horribly wrong,” says Jackson. “It’s a fictionalized account of the 1999 World Trade Organization action/protest in Seattle,” told from the perspective of various participants: protesters, police, a representative to the meetings. “From that launching point, we can ask the question ‘What do we stand up for and how?’ We thought that the topic is relevant. It’s a good time to discuss how we raise our voice to effect change, and how we can better understand each other.”

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What It Really Means to Have It All

What does it mean to lead a balanced life, or in the words of one alumna, to “be in control of the chaos”? Sarah Achenbach ’88 has been asking herself that question since graduation— and for this article surveyed alumnae, too.

hen Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief financial officer, and writer Nell Scovell published Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead in 2013, I know exactly where I was. Maybe not exactly where, but I know exactly what I was doing. I was juggling several competing work deadlines, arguing with Son #1 to do his homework, planning a Cub Scout meeting, answering work emails, paying the pizza delivery guy, and picking dirt clods off the floor from Son #2’s soccer cleats. Mostly, I was wondering if the laundry in the washing machine from two days earlier was too mildewed to throw in the dryer. Embracing my female empowerment and leaning in? Yeah, right. I just wanted to lie down. My work/life struggle—muddled on a great day and mayhem most days—is not what I expected when I graduated from Hollins in 1988. My thoughts then were solely on my career. Soon after graduating, though, the joy and challenges of my nonwork life elbowed their way to the center of my days, where they’ve remained ever since. This past October, I returned to Hollins to participate in C3: Career Connection Conference, the annual career preparation symposium for Hollins students. I had been asked to be part of a four-person panel called “Chasing the Unicorn: Work/Life Harmony.” My panelists and I had lots to say on the topic and chuckled over the choice of the word harmony. Our lives are rewarding, but none of us described our work/life balance as harmonious. I left C3 impressed with the students I’d met and how much more together they were than I was at their age. But I also left with a few questions. By the time I graduated, the word supermom, which entered the lexicon in 1974, was a full-blown expectation. When I had my first child at age 30, I bought what my generation was told: We could “have it all.” Have we? Do younger generations feel this expectation? Are there new pressures to juggle it all seamlessly? And just how are we to strike a balance when our phones provide 24/7 access to us (for work and family) and the constant comparison to other seemingly perfect lives on social media?

needed answers and the kind of wisdom that can only come from HollinsSourcing (my word). First, the Hollins Alumnae Relations office conducted an email survey of alumnae from the classes of 1980 to 2016. An impressive 379 people Photos by Sharon Meador

Michelle Sprint Smith ’83

or the past 35 years, Michelle Smith has loved her career in research and development. As the associate research and development director for DowDuPont’s Corteva Agriscience Agriculture division, she leads the North America Regional Field Service team in conducting new crop technologies. She’s also raised two children and has lived through several shifts in work/ life balance. I knew I wanted to work when I got married. Having kids really changed everything and what it would mean to me and what the consequences were. I didn’t want to travel for work but had to. I always wanted to be where I wasn’t. I learned to be present where I am. Life was a lot easier after that. I slowed down my career progress when the kids were little. Now I am able to ramp back up. Parenting doesn’t end when your kids are 21, though. Our daughter has a disability and is independent but still needs support. My husband retired, so he does the heavy lifting. He’s always been understanding and ahead of his time [with household duties]. But that doesn’t mean I let myself off the hook. I fell for “doing it all.” I absolutely believe that [work/life balance] is a woman’s issue.

There are cultural and personal expectations that are different for men and women. It’s changing, though. I see more dual-career people than when I started. If there is a man who manages women, and his wife works outside the home, his perspective is different. I see millennials expecting better work life/balance. It’s healthy. There’s a man on my team who is taking several weeks’ paternity leave. You’d almost never see that before.

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Shaye Strager ’95

ashion stylist. TV personality. Branding expert. Wife. Mother. Road warrior. Shaye Strager wears a lot of hats and logs a lot of miles each month when she travels from her home in Atlanta to clients in New York City, Miami, and Washington, D.C. The shift in recent years has become harder to balance, but the key is being in control of the chaos—and keeping ever present about what is most important. I make sure that nothing gets in the way of things that matter to our family. Knowing, too, that it will all get done when it’s supposed to—or that it won’t, and that’s okay— keeps things in perspective. I make lists for everything: the house, groceries, clients, and goals, and one cohesive list every Monday of what must get done. I have a reality check on that list each Wednesday and Friday. Prioritizing deadlines and delegating are key. There’s a great deal of power and fulfillment in saying “no.”

My husband changed my ringtone to Meghan Trainor’s song “No.” It’s funny when it goes off but also very helpful to remind me to only do what I love—and what I can handle.

16 Hollins

responded with passionate, candid comments on work, family, hopes, regrets, joys, and more. For the survey, we purposely didn’t define work as paid work outside the home or family to mean being a wife and mother. What constitutes work and family are as varied as the paths Hollins graduates take. What did the survey reveal? Not surprisingly, most of us did not think about this issue at Hollins. Fifty-three percent never thought about it, while 33 percent did sometimes. Now the question is rarely far from our thoughts: 75 percent think about it often; 21 percent, sometimes; and a blissful four percent, never. Another nonshocker: Nearly everyone who answered the question about balance being a goal said “yes.” Both the recently graduated and retired expressed frustration at trying to find a healthy balance. Mercury Hipp ’15 admitted, “There is no balance. I work constantly out of financial necessity and the nature of my job. I am physically, cognitively, and emotionally exhausted.” Ellen George Smith ’80 was just as candid: “When I worked full time I did a poor job with balance. Now I am retired and doing a lot of volunteer work but doing a better job at balance—but maybe still tipped toward working.” Many spoke of their career having more weight on the scale, whether out of financial need, work demands, or pressure from society, themselves, or technology. Ane Turner Johnson ’98 explained that, while her younger self was excited about the prospect of work defining her life, “now that it does, I am less enthusiastic because I often feel that life lacks depth as a result.” Numerous women spoke of the paradox that wherever you are, you feel you should be somewhere else. Courtney Hamill ’05 said her life is in “a constant state of triage between family needs and career needs.” Lauren Clemence Casula ’04 agreed: “I don’t even have children and am often forced to choose between my career, my social life, my husband, my dogs, or my health. Just seems like there’s never enough time or energy to devote to all of it at once.” Susan Emack Alison ’86 got the message early that life beyond Hollins might not be what she thought it would be: “At graduation, news anchor Ann Compton ’69 said ‘Women can’t have it all.’ That sounded like blasphemy to us empowered, eager go-getters. … She explained that something has to give, that there are sacrifices to make when you balance a career with other life choices, such as marriage, children, and volunteerism. Over the last three decades, I’ve found her take to be true.”

needed an expert to help me wade through the challenges to find some clarity. Jill Weber, president and founder of the Center for Thriving, Inc., has devoted her professional life to helping others lead more balanced and centered lives. A former communication studies professor at Hollins—she’s currently the university’s special advisor for student well-being and teaches an undergraduate course on the topic— Weber explains that because of technological changes, “work seeps into after-work hours,” which means that “we need to move from human doing to human being.” It’s a top-down change, she says, starting with management creating clear lines and workers setting boundaries—that they will not answer emails after 7 p.m., for example. To Weber, equilibrium is important, although she knows that this is different for each person. “Workaholic is not a term of endearment,” she explains. “We have to identify priorities that matter to us and build our life around those.” To do that, Weber asks her clients or students who they are, what their purpose is, and where they want to spend their time. Then she leads them in defining what an authentic, meaningful life looks like, identifying what she calls “thriving ideals”—three words that become the compass. Then it’s about scheduling. Everyone, even the person working several jobs and raising kids (from the survey results, that’s plenty of us), has five minutes each day to work toward their identified goals. After speaking with Weber, for example, I now carry a journal to write essay ideas, rather than scrolling through Facebook while waiting at my son’s drum lessons. The bonus: a steady stream of ideas for my personal writing aspirations and fewer cat videos. Weber is a big fan of Brené Brown, noted shame researcher, who identifies 12 shame triggers for women (among them, body, career, parenting, and aging) and one for men (weakness). “I operate on no shame, no blame, no guilt, no judgment,” Weber says. “Putting yourself as a priority moves you toward a goal and gives you hope. I see so many people walking around without anchors, and as a result, they are absorbing other people’s anchors.” Again, she returns to societal expectations. “Women have been brought up to always be somebody’s something instead of being themselves,” Weber explains. “Our core value is helping others, Weber

Kismet Loftin-Bell ’03, M.A.L.S. ’04

aking juggling to an art form, Kismet Loftin-Bell, who has a law degree, founded Beyond the Box Consulting, is a Gallup-certified strengths coach, and serves as a political science professor and student life and engagement administrator at Forsyth Technical and Surry community colleges. She’s also a single parent who homeschools her teenage son. We do a disservice when we tell women that they can be superwomen.

I know that I don’t have to do all that I am doing. I ask myself if this is moving me in a direction I want to go. Young women need to know that if something is not working, you have the option of changing.

I’m an ideas person who can’t hold everything in my head, so I write it down. At Hollins I had a little pocket calendar, but now my Google

calendar is my best friend. My son knows if he doesn’t upload his calendar to mine, it doesn’t exist in my world. I use the Any.do app to schedule my tasks and maximize my productivity. Recently, I started taking a day of rest. It’s a day to stop and try my best not to do any work. And every day, my phone goes silent from 8:30 p.m. until 8 a.m. Only special people can get through during those hours. I have to create boundaries.

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Caitlyn Lewis ’17

art time is full time for Caitlyn Lewis, who dreams of a life in nonprofit management. She’s a part-time graduate assistant in Hollins’ Cultural and Community Engagement office, teaches physical education at the Gainsboro YMCA in Roanoke every weekday morning, is enrolled in the part-time, online Hollins M.A.L.S. program, and serves on the Girls Rock Roanoke board. As a dance major, I always assumed that I would juggle things.

Performing and teaching weren’t going to pay 100 percent of the bills. [As an undergraduate], the Hollins way is to do everything and anything all at the same time. It’s a great way to learn, but it can be damaging to self-care. I had to learn to prioritize. When I want to be by myself, I put my phone on airplane mode. That’s as good as it gets right now. Social media influences a lot of what I imagine I am supposed to be at my age [23]. It makes me idealize a certain image or thought

that I may not want for myself. The frustrating part is that I know that it’s 100 percent curated. I stopped posting as much. I need and want to establish boundaries, but it’s been challenging. I look at other generations and see the work involved. I don’t feel the pressure to have a perfect life. My generation has been able to see and hear about many different career paths. I hope my work will define me because of who I am: I work with women of color because I am one, and I work with LGBTQ issues because I exist in that space. My balancing act right now is allowing flexibility.

more comments from the alumnae survey at www.hollins.edu/magazine. WWW Find 18 Hollins

but we need to give ourselves permission to do what we need to do to live an authentic life.” Social media adds to the impression that people are not good enough, Weber explains. “I look at the ‘should,’ ‘supposed to’ and ‘have to’ statements that silence what we want to do. Social media amplifies these messages.” She notes that social media sites also offer a diversity of views and perspectives, but the trick is to curate the deluge purposefully and positively. “I encourage people to add to their feed content that is uplifting and unfollow what they don’t want to see,” she explains, noting that Facebook can include healthy communities around challenging issues, including the Hollins Life Support Facebook Group, which gives members a place to get support and advice. I go back to the 86 percent of survey respondents who admitted that finding balance in their post-Hollins life was something they either never (53 percent) or sometimes (33 percent) thought about during college. Not anymore. To date, Weber’s popular well-being elective at Hollins has had an impact on the lives, post-college plans, and happiness of more than 100 students. Undergraduates farther north are just as interested in the subject. A year ago, 1,200 Yale University students flooded the registration for the elective Psychology and the Good Life, the most popular class in Yale’s history. In a New York Times article, the course’s founder and teacher, psychology professor Laurie Santos, reasoned that students were so interested because, as high schoolers, they had “adopted harmful habits…of deprioritizing their happiness to gain admission to [college],” of “numbing their emotions” to focus on the next step, whether it was school or career aspirations. Weber agrees: “We are at a point in society where we can create our lives more fully, where people want to lead their lives instead of just doing.” This is certainly at the heart of the lives Hollins women are striving to lead. It was in the questions students asked at C3 and in the responses from the surveys, especially in the answers of what advice Hollins alumnae would give their 20-something selves to live their best, more balanced life. “Don’t try to be perfect at everything,” said Courtney Frankhouser Myers ’97. “That mentality will kill you.” Michelle Fellows Sayers ’07 added, “Don’t be afraid to say no. Make your own mental, emotional, and physical health a priority, and then it is much easier to balance everything else.” Sarah Achenbach is a freelance writer living in Baltimore.

TRAINING SENIOR OFFICERS FOR DIFFICULT JOBS AND HARD DECISIONS Two of the 21 female faculty members at the U.S. Army War College are Hollins graduates. BY BETH JOJACK ’98

s part of her audition for a position as assistant professor of educational methodology at the U.S. Army War College (USAWC), Megan HennesseyCroy ’07 was asked by members of the hiring committee to give a “job talk” to explain what she could contribute to the school’s mission of educating senior officers. Before Hennessey-Croy arrived at the Carlisle, Pennsylvania, campus, a faculty member involved with hiring got in touch with Jacqueline “Jackie” Whitt ’03, associate professor of strategy for USAWC, to tell her the school was considering a candidate who’d also graduated from Hollins. Of USAWC’s 211 faculty members, only 21 are female, according to Whitt. The fact that she might soon be teaching with another Hollins alumna blew her mind. Whitt, who’d never met HennesseyCroy, quickly tracked her down on social media to say she’d have a cheerleader in the audience during the job talk. “It can be sort of a nerve-wracking thing to do,” she says. Whitt’s messages put Hennessey-Croy at ease. “It definitely served as a warm

welcome and helped me feel like I would have an instant connection in [an] otherwise foreign place,” she explains. Hennessey-Croy nailed the presentation and got the job. “So now there are two of us from this women’s college working in this pretty specialized field,” Whitt says. The pretty specialized field is professional military education, which encompasses numerous schools and training sites designed to educate members of the military at different stages in their careers.

After completing a 10-month residential program, students earn a master’s degree in strategic studies. “The job there is to get senior officers, who have all been in the military for 18 to 20 years in some cases, to look at the bigger picture, at the international picture,” says Whitt, who wears a bold purple streak in her hair. While some students retire from the military not long after receiving their master’s degree, others will continue on in the highest ranks. “At the end of the day, we need them to go out and do

“I tell them my job is to scramble their brains up, explode their heads a little bit, make them think in really different ways, and really challenge them.” At USAWC the students are at the peak of their careers. They include senior military officers, typically at the lieutenant colonel and colonel rank, from the Army and all other branches of the armed services, members of foreign militaries, and civilians working in national security.

important jobs and difficult jobs and make hard decisions,” Whitt says. At USAWC, Whitt teaches history but also foreign policy, national security and defense, and international relations. “I tell them my job is to scramble their brains up, explode their heads a little bit, make them think in really

Winter 2019 19

different ways, and really challenge them,” Whitt says. “Then we’ll spend the rest of the year putting them back together.” If she does her job well, the students will think of her classroom when they have to make important decisions down the road. “I always tell them to imagine me asking them, ‘So what? How do you know what you think is right is right? Why does it matter? What are the implications of this? What would it take to change your mind?’” Whitt explains. “If they don’t remember a single specific reading, I want them to remember those kinds of really critical hard questions.” While Whitt stays busy guiding individual students, Hennessey-Croy spends her days looking at the big picture, searching for ways to improve educational outcomes. Many mornings, you’ll find her sitting in on a seminar. “That gives me the chance to interact a little bit with the students and see the faculty in action,” she says. “I see what they’re doing, what they could maybe be doing a little bit differently, how the curriculum is coming across to the students, that kind of thing.” Since many of the students already have master’s or terminal degrees, Hennessey-Croy says, they hold high expectations for their teachers. “We have a mission to meet, so we want to make sure the faculty are prepared.” In the afternoons, Hennessey-Croy typically works on programming. Right now, that mostly means developing the Center for Collaborative Education and Communication at the USAWC, slated to open in 2019. “We’re kind of combining communication skills development for both faculty and students with an educational methodology perspective,” she explains. “So [we’re] taking a look at how we can incorporate communication skills training into every facet of the curriculum. …Typically, civilian institutions keep faculty and student programming separate in these types of centers, so combining it is something a little innovative that I’m excited about.”

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SOMETHING TO CONTRIBUTE

s Hollins students, neither Hennessey-Croy or Whitt planned to have careers in professional military education. Her first year, Whitt, a North Carolina native, harbored vague ideas about one day working in Washington, D.C., possibly for the State Department. Spending a semester during her junior year studying in Vietnam firmed up Whitt’s career goals. There, she had a chance to hear survivors of the Vietnam War talk about their experiences. The picture they painted was starkly different from the accounts she’d heard in her U.S. classrooms. “The idea that there are really more than two sides to every story really stuck with me,” she says. Whitt returned to Hollins knowing she wanted to go to graduate school for history, and maybe end up teaching at a small liberal arts college. In her classrooms in Pleasants Hall, Whitt’s professors and peers never raised an eyebrow at her interest in war and foreign and military strategy. She didn’t know she was unusual. “I showed

to societies and civilizations. You can look at war from almost any lens and almost any angle.” When Whitt, who double majored in history and international relations, earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008, the Great Recession was in full swing. Jobs for history professors, which had been in short supply before the crash, became even more elusive. When Whitt was offered a spot teaching history at West Point, she jumped at it. She faced more than a few cultural differences. Everyone wore a uniform. Cadets stood at attention and saluted her at the beginning of class. “Even though I studied the military,” she says, “I’d never been in the military. I knew very little in practice.” Once she got used to her new setting, Whitt found she thrived in a military classroom. In 2012, she moved to Montgomery, Alabama, for a position teaching strategy at the Air War College, the senior professional education school of the U.S. Air Force. Although she went from teaching young cadets to experienced officers, Whitt doesn’t remember feeling intimidated. “They had hired me to do a job and to do a job that I was an expert in and that I did very well,” Whitt says. “I wasn’t

Everyone wore a uniform. Cadets stood at attention and saluted her at the beginning of class. “Even though I studied the military,” she says, “I’d never been in the military. I knew very little in practice.” up at grad school and, it turns out, there aren’t many women doing that,” Whitt says. As a war scholar, Whitt is less interested in weapons and tactics than in military and foreign policy, which explains her Twitter handle: @notabattlechick. “Wars have effects on every level of human existence,” Whitt explains. “All of the way from individuals to families, from governments and states

there to teach them to fly jets or to lead squadrons. That’s their expertise. I was there to teach them about military history and strategy, to get them to think about broader questions.” That doesn’t mean Whitt never feels like an outsider working in military education. “You still feel like an interloper sometimes, but that’s okay,” Whitt says. “Hearing from somebody from a different perspective who has maybe a

different worldview or a different background is actually really, really important.” Like Whitt, Hennessey-Croy had visions of a career in academia when she graduated from Hollins with a double major in English and religious studies. She completed her master’s degree in English at University College London. After graduation, she returned home to Arizona, where she took a job teaching high school English. When budget cuts eliminated her position there, Hennessey-Croy found a job running testing and evaluation exercises and creating marketing materials at U.S. Army Fort Huachuca in southeast Arizona. That work pointed Hennessey-Croy to the possibilities of becoming an academic within the professional military education setting. In 2010, she moved to Washington, D.C., to teach communications and critical thinking at the Marine Corps University. Next, she worked as a contract instructional systems designer for government agencies while earning her Ph.D. in education from George Mason University. The experiences she’d had working with the military made Hennessey-Croy think maybe she had something to contribute to the armed forces. In 2016, she was commissioned into the U.S. Navy Reserve through the Direct Commission Officer program, which is designed as an entry point into the military for those who’ve developed needed skills in the private sector. To do it, Hennessey-Croy had to complete an intensive 12-day officer course in Newport, Rhode Island. “It’s a lot,” she says. “You’re doing pushups in the sand pit and marching and having people yell at you and jumping off high dives into tactical pools.” One weekend a month and two weeks a year, Hennessey-Croy travels to Norfolk, Virginia, where she works as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Fleet Forces Command. “You have to really know why you’re doing it and be driven by patriotism or something more than just the money, because you certainly don’t get paid a lot,” she says. “I wanted to give back.”

Hennessey-Croy

Whitt

“Hollins made me absolutely unafraid to speak up and absolutely sort of fearless in terms of speaking my mind, doing it articulately and thoughtfully, but also to lead in a way that encourages collaboration and team building and consensus building.”

SUCCESS IN ANY ENVIRONMENT

hitt groans when recounting the number of times someone has assumed she’s the wife of a military officer during her tenure. When coming into a meeting at USAWC, she subconsciously counts how many other women are in the room. Attending a women’s college, the two women agree, prepared them to excel in this kind of male-dominated environment. Hennessey-Croy points to earning a leadership studies certificate through Hollins’ Batten Leadership Institute as a factor in her professional success. In her day-to-day work, she tries to remember the way Abrina SchnurmanCrook, executive director of the program, emphasized that “you have to find your own way of leadership.” “If you know who you are and have your own set of values and understand how you want to lead, lead in your own

life and lead others,” Hennessey-Croy says. “It can prepare you for any kind of environment.” Whitt recalls serving on an academic policy committee as a student, which required that she attend meetings with the vice president for academic affairs and the dean of academic services. Not only did they welcome Whitt’s input, they required it. That experience wasn’t any less intimidating, Whitt says, than sitting in on meetings with high-ranking officers. “Hollins made me absolutely unafraid to speak up and absolutely sort of fearless in terms of speaking my mind, doing it articulately and thoughtfully, but also to lead in a way that encourages collaboration and team building and consensus building,” Whitt says. “I’m not even sure any of that was explicit. It just felt like a part of the natural development of who I was by the time I graduated.” Beth JoJack is a frequent contributor to Hollins magazine.

Winter 2019 21

Many Moods Moody THE

The photos on these pages show the wide range of activities that take place in the student center. Built in 1974 and adapted over the years to serve the community better, Moody is where students gather to eat, meet, play, dance, celebrate, and socialize.

22 Hollins

1 & 6 Mealtime in Moody. 2 & 10 Students participating in the Career Connection Conference, or C3, held each October. 3

Students making purchases during a poster sale sponsored by the Hollins Activities Board at the beginning of fall semester.

Photos by Sharon Meador, Michael Sink, and Amy Pearman â&#x20AC;&#x2122;97

6 7

10 4

Last November, students danced to the music of Matt McGhee in a concert in the Rat.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine visited campus before last November’s election.

Now an annual event, Friendsgiving is a time to share food and stories, prompted by “table topics” provided at each table. Some of the dishes were from recipes submitted by students.

International Pronouns Day was sponsored by the office of inclusivity and diversity.

One of many Career Center workshops held throughout fall semester.

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From

M A NG OE S to BLO CKCH A I N

Jose

orn in India and subsequently a resident of Zambia, Elizabeth Jose ’12 spent a considerable part of her childhood in places where trees and foliage are abundant and her family grew much of their food. So moving to the urban landscape of Fort Lauderdale and later Chicago when she was still a girl was, she recalls, “drastic. The buildings were huge and sidewalks were everywhere. I used to tell my mother, ‘I’m going to take seeds 24 Hollins

Sharon Meador

With a “work-to-learn” strategy, entrepreneur Elizabeth Jose ’12 has developed her business acumen to tackle initiatives ranging from organic farming in India to launching a global financial technology company. B Y J E F F H O D G E S M . A . L . S . ’ 1 1 and plant them in the sidewalk cracks, and trees will grow.’” Jose never let go of that dream. Today, she is planting seeds both literally and figuratively that could have a profound impact not only in her native India but potentially around the world. From an early age, Jose felt an obligation to take care of her family, a commitment that evolved as she got older and began to think about what she wanted to do with her life. When she arrived at Hollins, “I was going to be a doctor. It was the best way I could help people.” But Hollins presented her with some unexpected yet welcome opportunities to ponder other paths she might take that could fulfill her desire to serve others. “The atmosphere was one where I could explore more of those things for myself that I had kind of put aside.” The summer before her senior year, Jose’s sister died. The loss in part persuaded her to do something bold. She was particularly moved by reports that farmers in India were committing suicide at an alarming rate: Raising crops had become such a hardship that many farmers concluded it would be more of a financial benefit to their families to kill themselves and have their survivors collect the insurance than try to continue to farm. “Genetically modified crops had been introduced to the area, but no one trained the farmers in crop rotation,” Jose explains. “So people would just push their land until it was depleted.” Jose concluded that initiating

an organic farming and sustainable development project in India would be a constructive way to help address the problem. The decision was not received well by her extended family. “They would ask, ‘What do you know about this? You’re a 22-year-old woman, you should get married.’” But during a fact-finding trip to India, one of Jose’s uncles witnessed firsthand her tenacity. “He asked me, ‘What do you even know about digging a hole to plant something?’ And I replied, ‘What do you want me to dig?’ And through dirt and rock, I dug two one-meter-cubed holes for a coconut tree. It started raining and my uncle said, ‘Okay, we can go back in,’ and I said, ‘No, I’ll just finish up and meet you inside.’ Later he told me, ‘No one should argue with you or your ability to do these things.’” Jose did agree with her family on one count: She would need a source of steady income to support her as she developed the farming project. Returning to Chicago, she took a job with a physicians group that was struggling. “They were about to go under because they couldn’t manage the business side of their practice.” To help turn things around, Jose devised a strategy that would serve her well not only in Chicago but ultimately in India and beyond. “I visited with a CPA and a few legal counsels, and I said, ‘I want to figure out how to resurrect this company. I’m happy to shadow you or even work for you for free so that I can learn how to do this.’”

The proposal worked. After three and a half months, Jose had the knowledge she needed to restructure the company’s business model and make it profitable. She also automated the company’s general and financial management system so that she could oversee it from anywhere, allowing her to return to her home country to continue her farming project while at the same time continuing to generate a salary for herself. In India, Jose approached the head of a company that produces biofertilizers and biopesticides and offers training in organic farming across the country. She made the same offer to work for free. “Their response was, ‘You’re young, you’ve been educated elsewhere, you don’t even speak Hindi well, what are you thinking?’ That’s when I said to them, ‘If everyone did that, if all of your children did what you’re suggesting, then who is going to continue the work you’re doing here?’ The woman who heads the company finally said, ‘Look, if you’re really serious, come back for two to four months.’” Despite a grueling daily routine that started at five or six in the morning and typically didn’t end until 10 at night, she impressed the company with her commitment to the farming project and discovered what she needed to know to get it under way. But Jose still faced formidable obstacles. Her family at last agreed to support the project, but with one condition: She must farm property they owned in India’s dry belt, where water issues are significant. Every bit as daunting was gaining acceptance into the local communities. “There was resistance because the residents believed I was an outsider coming in to take advantage of them,” Jose says. “They couldn’t accept that I wanted to help them.”

At one point, Jose was confronted by a group of citizens. “They demanded to know what I was doing there. They were threatening to damage my car and even to kill me. I did leave for a couple of days, but I came back. In essence I was saying, ‘I’m still here.’” Carefully building relationships and establishing trust, she has moved the project forward. Last summer brought the first harvest of mangoes, other plants have been introduced, and the soil is improving. Jose is focused on ways in which local farmers can avoid the economic pinch of middlemen and on building a larger team to manage the project on an ongoing basis. Jose is more devoted than ever to making sustainable farming a success in India, but now she is also setting her sights on another initiative that could have worldwide implications. She is excited about the potential for blockchain technologies in financial applications that would be more accessible to the average person. “Bitcoin has interesting technology behind it, but it’s completely decentralized and unregulated,” Jose explains. “If a tool could be developed that allows people to move money more easily, bitcoin could be more fully accepted and integrated into our economy.” Even though she was now living in New York City, a major monetary hub, Jose discovered that getting a financial technology company up and running would not be easy. Jose used up all her savings, the company’s cofounder withdrew, and she lost her development team. In the midst of these dire circumstances, her car was totaled. But the accident turned out to be the break she desperately sought. “I didn’t need a car, and I got a check for the value of mine. It was exactly the amount of money that I needed to get Flewid [her business] off the ground again.”

Jose also found crucial business and legal counsel. “I’d come back and forth to Roanoke several times, and what I liked about it was that the businesses and firms here have this global experience, but they care about their clients and people on a more personal level.” She met with the Roanoke law firm Woods Rogers and was introduced to attorney Beth Burgin Waller ’04, who recalls: “Here was this young woman, born a world away with our shared Hollins history, sitting on my office couch telling me about how she had an idea for a company. This was an international game-changer that could disrupt the entire financial industry. It had nuances of cryptocurrency, intense software, and serious economics. To everyone else it might sound impossible, but to me it sounded like an idea by a Hollins woman.” Waller connected Jose with RAMP, a regional business accelerator and mentoring program that focuses on startups with high potential. “I’m meeting so many people and getting the help I needed.” She believes Flewid Capital’s global payment system will be particularly appealing to immigrants and international students. “For people to have access to their money back home, or to enable parents to send students money without paying fees of anywhere from 7.2 to 9.4 percent, depending on where they are coming from, that’s huge. I’ve talked to over 200 people in person from around the world who have said, ‘We need a better way for our families to send us money so that we can use it in the U.S.’ “In five years, I want this working for people in the majority of countries, whether they are immigrants, international students, or travelers.” Jeff Hodges is Hollins’ director of public relations.

Winter 2019 25

Of Donuts I Have Loved For Miranda Dennis ’08, Tinker Day was a delicious stop along the donut highway.

rispy Kremes melt at the touch, are tender and loving, are used by my family to perform a wholeness we do not always feel. An aunt is in town. She arrives bearing bright pink lipstick for my mother and a flat iron, to make us less depressed, more stable, with tamer hair as the humidity reaches peak subtropics. My mom says, I’m gonna pick up some donuts. And she does, puts on a pot of coffee, Folgers, both bitter and flavorless. I want to shove every single donut in my mouth, every flavor, even the sticky jelly I am not sure I even like, to achieve the moment where the satisfaction melds with the body like water, holds steady this Saturday morning, in a city in Alabama where the women converge but do not cackle, do not coven. I show little resistance to my favorite sweet and sneak back to the box, guiltily, cutting a donut in half. I eat everything now by half, hoping to become whole.

At [Hollins], years later, classes are suspended for most of the day, usually after an autumn chill has swept clear the mountainside of snakes. Young women dress, to climb Tinker Mountain, in leotards and spandex, feather boas and glitter, perform skits mocking the administration, eat fried chicken, grow fat on cake. But before they do, Krispy Kremes are served alongside eggs, the kitchen staff having gotten up even earlier to cater to this tradition that cracks dawn and welcomes the sleepy 64 Hollins

brood. Before this, the students sense it coming, sometimes cruising around late nights before this day, searching out the Krispy Kreme truck’s 4 a.m. proximity to the campus. It’s important to be in the know. It’s important to signal this to one another, to herald the arrival of something important early; a prophet is only as good as her promptness. The donuts are the green light, and they say, “This morning the world is more magical than yesterday was or tomorrow will be. We promise you only that.” Though coffee served tastes like ash, as always, as expected. But for years we choke that down, always with the promise that if we can climb a mountain, fueled on sugar and youth, we can get through anything.

My friend Meghann, an illustrator based in Toronto, draws a pink donut inspired by me and sends it along with another print of hers I order. Later she asks for permission to sell prints of the donut, as if I were the creator. I am only the muse. If we live in a world where a donut still life, inspired by me, can generate income for my friends, then we live in a world better than the one I would have designed. We live in a world full of light. Imagine a hole so big your eye is visible on the other side, blinking with the speed and regularity with which you in particular blink. The person who faces you and the pastry framing your eye like a monocle must be delighted, or a type of dead if not. Holes within holes to let in light. “There is a crack

in everything,” says Leonard Cohen. “That’s how the light gets in.” Your iris constricting to keep you safe, to allow you to see the broad range of colors the world has to offer. Lavender, a shocking pink, or the warm khaki of a good glaze.

I’ve had my life wrecked and made better by a sour-cream donut at Peter Pan Donuts in Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s Polish neighborhood, where if I tried I could probably find pączki, and believe me, I will try. I’ve subsisted off Entenmann’s donuts and live now close to its factory in Queens—my life a series of gas-stationdonut moments, the comfort of junk. I think back to my sister buying me a donut before school, which is not the genesis of my love of them, but simply a continuation in the narrative. What is the narrative about any woman’s relationship with food? If you strip it of what gets projected onto a woman’s body, it’s simply joy. I earned this, I want to say, but I’ve nothing to earn. The joy is momentary, but it is there, unearned and unasked for, rising up like a balloon before it disappears. All I can say to this joy is thank you and goodbye. And so I do. Miranda Dennis works in digital advertising in New York City and lives in Queens with a fat cat and a messy, well-loved bookshelf. This is an excerpt from “Of Donuts I Have Loved,” first published in the online edition of Granta magazine: granta.com/of-donutsi-have-loved.

Q&A WITH

Cameron McDonald Vowell ’68

chemistry major at Hollins, Vowell earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She moved to Texas, where she worked on environmental issues and eventually earned a master’s degree in that field from the University of Texas at Dallas. She returned to Alabama in 1980. Her lengthy résumé includes serving as a founding member of the Freshwater Land Trust and the Women’s Fund, an organization that annually gives about a million dollars to projects that help women achieve economic security. Vowell also served on the Alabama Environmental Commission and the national board of the Nature Conservancy. In honor of her dedication to environmental and women’s issues, she received the 2014 Vulcans Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Vulcan Park and Museum. The Vulcans pay tribute to outstanding citizens of Birmingham. Vowell was a member of the Hollins University Board of Trustees. When did your interest in environmental issues begin?

In graduate school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, I became interested in environmental issues for several reasons. Birmingham had a big air pollution problem. U.S. Steel ran a mill with seven tall smokestacks, each billowing dark smoke. The biology course I took in the first year of graduate school helped me understand just how devastating the damage from that smoke is. As a result, I became very involved with GASP, the GreaterBirmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution.

What do you think is the most compelling environmental issue of the day?

The most important environmental issue now is water pollution. Every threat to a healthy planet is manmade. You have founded several organizations that benefit girls and women. You have served on various environmental boards and commissions. You have received recognition from a variety of organizations. Of what accomplishment are you most proud?

and perception. I would love to capture every word of their conversations, lectures, and Sunday school classes. If you could go back and do one thing at Hollins differently, what would it be?

I would have taken biology in senior year. The science “series” is usually biology, chemistry, and physics. It makes more sense to me to flip that series to physics, chemistry, and then biology.

I am endowing a professorship in LGBTQ health studies in the School of Public Health at UAB. I gave the first big chunk, and I am helping to find others who can become equally engaged.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

When and where are you happiest?

What’s one thing you’re really good at?

I am happiest at home or at our mountain house with my family, five dachshunds, and three cats. Which living person do you most admire?

I most admire Wayne Flynt, history professor at UAB and Auburn University. I also admire E. O. Wilson, professor of biology at Harvard. Both men have struggled through the problems of Alabama with kindness

The Red Sparrow trilogy by Jason Matthews. These three novels are full of past and current history of Russia and the U.S.-Russia relationship. Fun to read. My best trick is showing up.

What would you tell your 18-year-old self?

Looking back, I would say, “Don’t drink.” I wasted so much brain power. My hangovers were dreadful. Now that I am 72, I can tolerate only one glass of wine. That’s just age, but really, what’s the point now?

Kloe Borja ’21 HOME: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands MAJOR: Not yet declared, but probably biology or chemistry AT HOLLINS: • Member of ACCENT (Association of Countries, Cultures, Events, and National Traditions) • Peer mentor for ISOP (International Student Orientation Program) • Participant in Jamaica Cultural Immersion Program • Vice president of Carvin Global Village, the residence hall for students who value intercultural experiences AFTER GRADUATION: “I’m interested in the Peace Corps and a physician assistant program.”

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