Mount Holyoke sp r i n g 2019
Alumnae Quarterly
Acres to Learn Transforming the College’s natural and built landscape into a destination for research and teaching I N TH I S I SSU E NITA LOWEY ’59: THE MOST POWERFUL WOMAN IN CONGRESS WITNESSING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC INSIDE THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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President’s Pen
LEFT TO RIGHT: 2019 Preview speakers Madison Walters, Liz Brown and Donari Yahzid
tunities of their Mount Holyoke experiences. They shared their intellectual excitement, the role particular courses and the faculty had played in their growth — how, for example, a “fun course” on building a birdhouse unexpectedly led to a major in architectural
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studies — and their equally impressive plans for the future. The ways these students have used their experiences to teach and mentor others, to develop a sense of purpose and to apply their learning on campus, in public service, in non-governmental organization internships and in international settings is a tribute to their own curiosity, commitments and exploration, as well as to the adventure and opportunities that a Mount Holyoke liberal education offers. It was a joy to listen and to watch them awakening in the newly admitted students a sense of all that they might themselves do and become at Mount Holyoke, even as the seniors said in chorus that, when they accepted their place in the class of 2019, they could never have imagined themselves as they are now. The class of 2023 will, I am sure, live up to this promise, for these talented students were chosen from what we believe to be the largest applicant pool in the College’s history, which means that this incoming class is probably also among the most selective of classes. What is remarkable about this group of admitted students, too, is that so many of them (almost 200) chose Mount Holyoke last October, in the first round of Early Decision, indicating that the College was their first and only choice and that they are not only clear about what they want but already recognize what is special about Mount Holyoke. When they join the College, they will be the continuation of a lineage of extraordinary students and graduates who make it such a privilege to be a part of and to serve Mount Holyoke.
To experience a Mount Holyoke education is to free your mind: to explore the unknown, to integrate existing knowledge with the unfamiliar, and to challenge received wisdom. It is to do work that our students know how
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The ways these students have used their experiences to teach and mentor others, to develop a sense of purpose and to apply their learning … is a tribute to their own curiosity. — S O N YA S T E P H E N S
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to do, and to solve problems that they can solve, in order to reach toward higher-order questions whose answers both fascinate and elude. It is to live in ambiguity and to be challenged, to hold sometimes competing ideas in a tension that cannot easily, if ever, be fully resolved, with a faculty that has adopted such endeavor as a way of life, with a staff that is equally committed to this place and to learning experiences, and alongside other exceptional students who have made that same choice. All of this was so very evident in the journeys shared by Madison, Donari and Liz. Like the spring itself, this moment on campus is about growth and renewal — it is the moment we take to mark the self-actualization and achievements of our graduates as well as those of our incoming “firsties,” celebrating and imagining the new beginnings before each of them as their academic, personal and professional goals take shape. Like the changes in the light and landscape on campus (metaphorically, too), these stories are constant but ever-changing, they are full of hope and anticipation, and of what this intellectual community is and can do, and I never tire of them.
MHC Office of Admission
I T ’S T HAT TIM E in South Hadley when the crocuses and daffodils are blooming all over campus, which means not only that spring has finally arrived but that we are about to graduate the seniors — the class of 2019 — and enroll a new class, the class of 2023, sphinxes both. It’s all about yellow! The Mount Holyoke Preview for admitted students, which took place over the weekend of April 14–15, was a moment to behold the accomplishments of both the graduating and entering classes, as seniors Madison Walters and Donari Yahzid, along with junior Liz Brown, captivated admitted students (and the rest of us!) with all that they have done since they arrived at the College. From gap-year experiences in Kenya and the D.C. offices of Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Bernie Sanders to internship experiences at UNICEF in New York and study abroad opportunities in Ghana, South Africa, Samoa and Northern Thailand, Donari, Madison and Liz eloquently laid out the many oppor-
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Contents S PR I NG 2 01 9
VOLU M E 10 3
N U M BE R 2
F E AT U R E S
D E PA R T M E N T S
16 Witnessing an Epidemic
2 LYONS SHARE
The experiences of three alumnae touched by the opioid crisis speak of heartbreak and hope in the struggle to reverse an ongoing national tragedy
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Reflections on trauma, a disappointing obituary, signs of spring, alumnae sisterhood Careers in Public Service, Class-Color Cup results, VP of enrollment named, Kavita Khory ’84 to lead McCulloch Center, moon rocks research, an upward trend in applications
34 MoHOME MEMORIES
10 Female Gaze Authors Ayesha Attah ’05, Virginia F. Smith ’83 and Cindy G. Tether ’72
12 Ten Minutes With Editor and podcast host Allegra Frank ’15 13 The Maven Lili Vasileff ’77 on divorcing in midlife 14 Insider’s View Career Development Center
Cover: Ryan Donnell; Back cover: Sarah Hood Salomon ’79; opioid illustration detail; Stuart Bradford: flower show: Sage Shea/MHC Office of Communications; CDC: Deirdre Haber Malfatto
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5 UNCOMMON GROUND
Mount Holyoke afire; student-exchange program with Bennett College 36 On Display Yearbook sketches 37 Then and Now Student newspaper 38 A Place of Our Own Spring flower show
15 16 22 The Best Job
40 CLASS NOTES 80 MY VOICE
Susan Noonan ’75, “Healing Others. Healing Self.”
U.S. Rep. Nita Melnikoff Lowey ’59 is the most powerful woman in Congress
28 Acres to Learn
Transforming Mount Holyoke’s natural and built landscape into a destination for hands-on, multidisciplinary undergraduate teaching and learning
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L ET T E R S
EM A IL
FAC E B O OK
TW ITTER
I NSTAGR A M
L I N K E DI N
Lyons Share
ON TRAUMA AND HEALING This is such an incredibly well-written
DISAPPOINTED I was appalled to see in the latest issue
and thoughtful look at a difficult topic (“Trauma, Testimony, Healing and Resilience,” winter 2019, p. 80). I took the same class in the fall of 1993. Gretchen has put into words many of my thoughts about MHC, #MeToo and moving forward. Congratulations, and thank you, Gretchen. —Leslie Wolcott Lake ’84 via Association website
that Professor Virginia Ellis’ death was noted with two sentences (winter 2019, p. 8). How can you reduce 42 years of service to the MHC community to 39 words? I never had Professor Ellis for English class, but I’m sure that her thousands of hours of grading and teaching and serving on College committees warrants more than a mere mention of her work on Faculty Show. Our teachers are at the core of our Mount Holyoke experience; without their collective wisdom, expertise and institutional memory, the College would cease to exist. —Ann Romberger ’81 via email
Thank you, Gretchen, for sharing, inspiring and helping many more move forward. I carry a copy of [your 2015 blog post] “The Letter Your Teenager Can’t Write You” in my purse. —Jacqueline (Jackie) Chambers Phypers ’87 via Association website
PRAISE FOR TH E WI NTE R ISSU E @A AM H C
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M O U NT H O LYO KE ALU M S
Attorney Alison Lynch ’10
represents people with serious #mentalillness who live in psychiatric facilities, nursing homes and prisons; is a competitive runner; and also happens to be legally blind. #PoweredbyMountHolyoke
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@mhcalums Seen in the library today. #mohocares #mountholyoke #kindness
winter 2019, p. 10) and plan to purchase the book for my daughter. She loves to cook and already has a wonderful stash of great cookbooks. This will be a welcome addition. —Anne Brandon ’71 via Association website
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My new
#WonderWoman.
Join the Conversation
@H E LLO M I SS M IA
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M IA H OWAR D TAVAN ’99
quarterly@mtholyoke.edu
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facebook.com/aamhc twitter.com/aamhc instagram.com/mhcalums alumn.ae/linkedin
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Mount Holyoke
College Art Museum was incorrectly identified on the cover of the winter 2019 issue. We regret the error and offer our sincere apologies to our colleagues at the museum.
Kindness: Jennifer Grow ’94; Lynch: Rachelle Clinton; puzzle room: Marina Li; spring: Jessica Riel
PRAISE FOR “REPERTOIRE” I loved this article (“From Heart to Table,”
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Mohini Ufeli ’14 and Ifeoluwa Olokode ’13 have been featured in Techcabal’s AUDACITY series, a portrait series and exhibition of 50 of Lagos’ tech women. The exhibition opened on March 8, International Women’s Day.
WE SHARE D
Spring is finally here! Here are some signs of the season as seen this week around Lower Lake.
So very proud of my #MHC sisters —Rita MacRae ’00
What is your favorite memory about campus in the springtime?
RARE BOOK SPARKS FAMILY LINK TO COLLECTION My eye was caught by the photo of “The Poetical Works of Thomas
Moore” (“Cataloging the Collection,” winter 2019, p. 36). Moore’s best known work is probably his eastern romance, “Lalla Rookh.” I am not sure how this happened, but my great-grandmother must have read [this] because she selected the name [Lalla] for her first daughter, who gave the name to her daughter, and she gave it to her first daughter, me! I have long wondered if perhaps [my grandmother] was called something like Lalla and so the Moore Mogul princess appealed to her, but I never learned anything to corroborate this theory. Now I know about another lively link to Mount Holyoke and the Skinner collection. Many thanks to Phoebe Cos ’16, Jennifer Grow ’94 and the Quarterly! —Lalla Rookh Grimes ’65 via email
@mhcalums Do you recognize this inviting spot on campus?
Always looked for the lake to be defrosted. So beautiful there in the spring!! —Kathy Winslow Herzog ’66 Daffodils. —Marcy Wilkov Waterman ’71 It always seemed like little fairies had come in the night and painted everything green! —Abi Leaf ’85 No visit back to campus is complete without a walk around the lakes. —Elizabeth M. Stone ’75
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M OUNT HO LYO K E ALUMNAE QUARTERLY Spring 2019 Volume 103 Number 2 EDITORIAL AND DESIGN TEAM
Jennifer Grow ’94 Editor and Interim Senior Director of Marketing & Communications Millie Rossman Creative Director Jess Ayer Class Notes Editor and Marketing & Communications Associate Jessica Riel Digital Content Strategist for Alumnae Engagement CON T RIBUTORS
Alicia Doyon Emily Krakow ’20 Maryellen Ryan Elizabeth Solet
QUARTERLY COMMITTEE
Tara L. Roberts ’91, chair Lisa Hawley Hiley ’83 Perrin McCormick Menashi ’90 Susana Morris ’02 Carolyn E. Roesler ’86 Emily Krakow ’20, student rep
The Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly is published quarterly in the spring, summer, fall and winter by the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc.
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President Maria Z. Mossaides ’73 Vice President Susan Brennan Grosel ’82 Treasurer and Chair, Finance Committee Alice C. Maroni ’75 Clerk Markeisha J. Miner ’99 Alumnae Trustee Rhynette Northcross Hurd ’71 Young Alumnae Representative Tarana Bhatia ’15 Chair, Nominating Committee Danetta L. Beaushaw ’88 Chair, Classes and Reunion Committee Melissa Anderson Russell ’01 Chair, Communications Committee Marisa C. Peacock ’01 Chair, Volunteer Stewardship Committee Charlotte N. Church ’70 Chair, Clubs Committee Elizabeth McInerny McHugh ’87 Directors-at-Large Casey C. Accardi ’15 Eleanor Chang ’78 Executive Director Nancy Bellows Perez ’76 ex officio without vote
Spring 2019, volume 103, number 2, was printed in the USA by Fry PA. Periodicals postage paid at South offices. Ideas expressed in the Alumnae Quarterly do not necessarily reflect the views of Mount Holyoke College or the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College. The Alumnae Quarterly welcomes letters. Letters should run not more than 200 words in length, refer to material published in the magazine and include the writer’s full name. Letters may be edited for clarity and space. To update your information, contact Alumnae Information Services at ais@mtholyoke.edu or 413-538-2303.
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@aamhc A group of nine Philadelphia
area alumnae gathered for lunch/tea. Nine different
Communications, Inc., Mechanicsburg, Hadley, MA, and additional mailing
@mhcalums Thanks to the alum who left the Alumnae Quarterly in a waiting area at Faulkner Hospital in Boston (and to the alum who shared this cool photo)!
The Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc. 50 College St. South Hadley, MA 01075-1486 413-538-2300
classes from the MHC sisterhood!
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alumnae.mtholyoke.edu quarterly@mtholyoke.edu POSTM ASTE R
(ISSN 0027-2493; USPS 365-280) Please send form 3579 to Alumnae Information Services Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association 50 College St.
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South Hadley, MA
@NAN CY ROSO FF
01075-1486
NAN CY ROSO FF ’ 78
alumnae.mtholyoke.edu
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N EWS
FEM A LE GA ZE
TEN MINUTES W ITH
T H E M AV E N
I NS I DE R ’ S V I E W
Uncommon Ground Alumna named director of McCulloch Center
Lisa Quinones
KAVITA KHORY ’84 , Ruth Lawson Professor of Politics,
has been named the new Carol Hoffmann Collins Director of the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives. Khory follows Eva Paus, the current director, who is stepping down after serving as the center’s founding director for 15 years. Established in 2004, the McCulloch Center creates and fosters a vast array of educational programs, such as classes, conferences, lectures, internships, study-abroad programs, with the goal of developing knowledgeable leaders and responsible citizens of the global community. “I am delighted to hand the reins to my colleague and friend,” Paus said. “Kavita is committed to helping the Mount Holyoke community grow in intercultural competence and global knowledge, and to giving students opportunities to engage the world with purpose. The combination of her research focus — migration and diaspora — her rich, lived experiences in and outside the United States, her deep understanding of our community and her interdisciplinary outlook will make her an excellent director of the McCulloch Center.” Khory’s research interests extend around the world. A recognized scholar of migration and nationalism, with a focus on South Asia, she is also an expert on international security in South Asia, and on U.S. policy in Pakistan and throughout the region. She is currently working on a comparative study of refugee politics in South Asia. She served as the McCulloch Center’s acting director from 2009 to 2010. “As a former international student and now a faculty member, I am delighted to have this opportunity to continue the crucial work of the Center and build on its many successes,” Khory said. “I am very much looking forward to working with colleagues and students at the McCulloch Center and across campus.” Read more about the McCulloch Center at mtholyoke.edu/ global.
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Students travel to D.C. for career exploration opportunities with alumnae Well before she became deputy chief of staff for policy in the Obama Administration, Mona Sutphen ’89 found herself, at the start of her career, worrying about microphone placement. Years later at an important event, those early event-planner skills came in handy. The point, said Sutphen, addressing Mount Holyoke College students, is that “the first 10 years of your career are really about skills acquisition. Go out and get the skills, and don’t worry about where it leads.” As she learned from her colleague, former U.S. National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, “The hardest part of your career is figuring out what you want.” In March Sutphen was the keynote speaker at the College’s annual Careers in Public Service program, sponsored by the Weissman Center for Leadership. The competitive program brings students who are interested in public service to Washington, D.C., to meet and hear from inspiring alumnae who work locally and across the globe in the fields of politics, policy, advocacy and government. The day-long conference included panel discussions, networking sessions and the opportunity for students to shape — or reshape — their attitudes, assumptions and aspirations. The 10 alumnae, ranging from the class of 1973 to 2016, offered direct lessons about their professional journeys after leaving the College. Nada Al-Thawr ’19, a computer science and international relations double major from Yemen, said one of the big draws of the Careers in Public Service program is the chance to network. “I really wanted to meet alumnae who are here working in their fields,” said Al-Thawr, noting that she has accepted a job in software engineering at Macedon Technologies in Reston, Virginia, after she graduates. Thawr and the rest of the students enjoyed additional opportunities to network with more than 50 alumnae in the D.C. area at a reception at the University Club, co-sponsored by the Alumnae Association and the Career Development Center, that also featured a keynote address by Amy Celico ’91, principal at Albright Stonebridge Group, a business strategy firm for which she leads the China team. Read more about Careers in Public Service at alumnae.mtholyoke. edu/cps2019. — BY A N N M A R I E S A R S F I E L D E DWA R D S
TOP: Panelist Bassima Alghussein ’08 speaking to students, including Nada Al-Thawr ’19 (in glasses); BOTTOM LEFT: Amy Celico ’91; BOTTOM RIGHT: student participants Sabine
Afodanyi ’20 (left) and Romila Hussaini ’19.
Commencement 2019 speakers announced
Trailblazing activist Barbara Smith ’69, award-winning journalist Gary Younge and renowned philanthropist and business leader Adrienne Arsht ’63 (pictured left to right) will speak to the graduating class during the College’s 182nd Commencement. Learn more about the speakers, who will also receive honorary degrees from Mount Holyoke, at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/2019commencementspeakers.
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Recommend an alumna Each year the Alumnae Association recognizes the unique accomplishments of alumnae through several distinguished awards. By recommending an alumna, you can help the awards committees identify those in our community who are making a difference. For more information and to recommend an alumna for an award visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/award.
Dyar to lead team studying moon rocks for NASA
SAVE THE DATE
European Alumnae Symposium to be held in Greece “Changing Minds and Lives,” the 15th Mount Holyoke European Alumnae Symposium, taking place in Athens and
D.C. event: Sarah Hood Salomon ’79; Dyar: MHC Office of Communications
Fougaro, Greece, October 4–6, 2019, will offer participants an exciting opportunity for social and intellectual interaction among Mount Holyoke alumnae from all over the world. For more information, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/Greece.
Nearly 50 years ago, researchers at NASA sealed pieces of the moon to wait, untouched, until more advanced technology would allow a deeper look. That time has come. Darby Dyar, Mount Holyoke’s Kennedy-Schelkunoff Professor of Astronomy and chair of the astronomy department, will lead one of nine teams selected nationwide to look at samples from Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17 in order to study volcanic activity on the moon. They’ll specifically look at tiny glass beads that formed rapidly during an ancient lunar eruption. Dyar, who first studied lunar samples in 1979 as an undergraduate at Wellesley College, believes the glass beads provide a window into the interior of the moon and could answer fundamental questions about how the moon evolved. Learn more about this and other faculty updates at mtholyoke.edu/news.
Join the Alumnae Stay program
Alumnae Stay provides free, temporary and safe housing to Mount Holyoke College students or alumnae traveling to pursue academic and professional growth. Volunteer or find a room at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/alumnaestay.
Follow Reunion fun online! Check out Reunion coverage on social media by following #MHCReunion
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College admits competitive class of 2023
Mount Holyoke has admitted one of the most competitive classes in its history. From an applicant pool of 3,956 students — a record high and 8% increase from 2018 — the College intends to enroll 525 first-year students. The additional applications mean that the College’s acceptance rate has dropped 15 points, from 51% to 36%. “While each first-year class at Mount Holyoke is brimming with talent, this class faced the most competitive cycle,” said Robin Randall, vice president of enrollment management. Mount Holyoke’s applications have been on an upward trend over the past five years, seeing a 23.6% increase since 2014. “These remarkable results affirm the strong and growing recognition of the impact and value of a Mount Holyoke education,” Randall said. “We are excited to welcome such an accomplished group of students to the Mount Holyoke community, where we are confident they will find myriad opportunities for deep engagement, continued growth and success.” The students admitted to the class of 2023 come from around the country and around the globe. This year’s admitted class, yellow sphinxes, represent 1,025 high schools, 49 states and 42 countries. Nineteen percent are international, 32% identify as domestic students of color and 15% are first-generation college students. View a video shared with the admitted students at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ 2023admits.
Want to know what’s happening at Mount Holyoke College?
The College’s new calendar lists searchable events for the entire College community and the public. Learn more and find out what’s going on at mtholyoke.edu/calendar.
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Class-Color cup prevails The College’s second-annual Class-Color Cup and Purple Phoenix challenges were a huge success. This year’s Cup was held from February 28 (Mary Lyon’s birthday!) to March 1 (the first day of Women’s History Month), and in just over 48 hours, 2,954 alumnae gave $390,365 to The Mount Holyoke Fund.
Congratulations to the winning classes in each color and particularly to the classes of 1994 and 1982, which tied for the most gifts per class — 151 donors. Fifty-eight FP alums contributed $3,228 to the Purple Phoenix Challenge, earning them an additional $2,750 in challenge funds. See more Class-Color Cup results, including the winners for each class color, popular gift designations and the fundraising breakdown by color, at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ classcolorcup19. Show your class pride by making a gift to The Mount Holyoke Fund. The classes in each color with the most donors will win! mtholyoke.edu/go/classcolorcup2019
Founder’s Fund Your gift to the Founder’s Fund at the Alumnae Association helps us support the activities of alumnae around the world. Visit alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/ff.
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College hires vice president for enrollment management It made me feel appreciated. … I feel like I’m looking back on my past self and knowing that I walked these same spaces. … That I’m on the right path. — M E R L I V. G U E R R A ’ 0 9, I N T E R D I S C I P L I N A RY A R T I S T A N D FILMMAKER , ON BEING ONE OF THREE RECENT ALUMNAE R E C I P I E N T S O F T H E 2 0 1 9 M A RY LYO N AWA R D D U R I N G A C E L E B R AT I O N O F E XC E L L E N C E O N C A M P U S I N A P R I L . L E A R N M O R E A B O U T T H E 2 0 1 9 A L U M N A E A S S O C I AT I O N AWA R D W I N N E R S , I N C L U D I N G T H O S E H O N O R E D D U R I N G R E U N I O N , I N T H E S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 A L U M N A E Q UA R T E R LY
Boom 2019
Boom: Joanna Chattman; Randall: MHC Office of Communications
On April 9, the Mount Holyoke community came together to participate in the third annual BOOM! Building on Our Momentum Learning Conference, an opportunity to engage in the work of diversity, equity and inclusion. Writer, scholar, organizer and activist Barbara Smith ’69 was a featured speaker, participating in the keynote address “This Way to Liberation.” Learn more and watch highlights from the day at mtholyoke.edu/diversity/boom.
Robin Randall, an admissions professional with more than two decades of experience, was named Mount Holyoke College’s vice president for enrollment management in February. Randall had held the position in an interim capacity since September 2018. Randall was selected following a national search and will serve as a member of President Sonya Stephens’ cabinet. In a letter to the Mount Holyoke community, Stephens wrote, “Randall builds inclusive and collaborative relationships even as she asks difficult questions — questions that are already making a difference in the way we support applicants and current students.” Before joining Mount Holyoke in September, Randall worked at Wheaton College for 22 years, most recently as assistant vice president for enrollment and student financial services. She is a strategic analyst of admission data, as well as an accomplished leader in the use of technology in enrollment operations and recruitment strategy. Randall received a bachelor’s degree in communications from Ithaca College and an MBA from Simmons College’s Graduate School of Management, now known as the School of Business. “At Mount Holyoke I’ve found a community of thoughtful, engaged learners who are willing to challenge themselves and each other in order to excel,” said Randall. “Mount Holyoke’s commitment to leadership development, inclusion, global perspectives and environmental sustainability provides a shared foundation for individual and community growth that resonates for me personally. I’ve come to Mount Holyoke to challenge myself to dig deeper on the familiar and to grow and learn in new ways!”
Join an Alumnae Association trip abroad
Arctic Expedition Under the Midnight Sun June 21–July 1, 2019
We invite you to join one or more of the Alumnae Association’s travel opportunities this year, including an Arctic expedition or a springtime trip to France. For more information and to register, visit alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/travel.
Need a ride? Alumnae and students who need a ride to campus or are offering a ride to campus can reach out via a new Facebook group, MHC Rideboard. Join the group at facebook.com/ groups/mhcrideboard.
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FE M A LE G A ZE
NOVEL I S T
On Slavery and Strong Women: A Conversation with Ayesha Attah ’05 Ayesha Attah ’05 heard these words while working on a family tree with her father. She was stunned, and the seed of her latest book, “The Hundred Wells of Salaga,” was planted. Two years later, she began research for the novel. In early 2019, Attah returned to campus to discuss her novel, which focuses on Ghana in the 1890s and African internal slavery. The book weaves together the story of two women, Wurche, the daughter of a chief, who longs for power of her own, and Aminah, whose quiet life is destroyed when she is enslaved. Before an audience of students and community members in Hooker Auditorium, Attah spoke animatedly about the book and about Ghana’s history, gesturing to a large illustrated map before reading from the novel in her clear, quiet voice. The evening also included a questionand-answer period during which audience members asked Attah about the discovery of her own history, her research for the book and how she deals with contemporary issues when writing historical fiction. Before Attah came to campus, the Alumnae Quarterly spoke with her about her family, her inspiration and how her experiences at Mount Holyoke continue to shape her and her work.
What drew you to this story? “My great-grandmother had been enslaved. Nobody in the family knew much about her. She was just remembered as ‘the slave.’ She didn’t even have a name. Family would change the subject. I think there was an aspect of shame in her having been a slave. “Even in West Africa, a lot of readers say, ‘We had no idea.’ Slavery in Africa is
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not a part of history that is taught in our classrooms. There is an aspect of focusing on the glorious stories — the Asante putting up a good fight against the British, the Ghana empire, Mali empire. … Even with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, it was almost as if we didn’t play any role in it. This is how history was taught when I was growing
up. As I wrote this story, I realized our history is very messy, and we need to acknowledge all of it. We’re doing a disservice to ourselves by hiding the bad past, too. It keeps cropping up and we don’t understand why.”
What was your inspiration for the strong women in your book? “Wurche was born from one line in the book ‘Salaga: The Struggle for Power’ [a
TK
“AND THEN THERE’S THE SLAVE.”
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FE M A LE G A ZE
B OOKS
1968 history of the town] that said princesses from the region could choose their lovers. I thought, ‘What kind of woman would that be? She must have lots of freedom compared to a woman like my ancestor who had been enslaved.’ It became interesting to create a story and juxtapose her with my ancestor. “Once I started writing the story, the two women’s stories became very similar. It was interesting to watch them struggle together when they were united and for them to fight back against the really traditional system that wants them to stay in their corners and in their roles. “My maternal family especially has strong women. [Attah’s aunt ran for president of Ghana.] But on my dad’s side, I see a very quiet and internal strength that is tied into kindness. That’s where I drew Aminah’s strength from.”
The story rose out of a piece of your family history. Where did you start as a writer? “My parents were journalists. I had seen them write and go out and interview people. I interned with them. It was a nascent dream, and then I felt that I had to do a job that was important, that would save lives. Medicine seemed like the logical step. I took a lot of science classes and majored in biochemistry. “But at Mount Holyoke, when I started taking classes in writing, I realized that writing can have power, too. I had really
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My maternal family especially has strong women. But on my dad’s side, I see a very quiet and internal strength that is tied into kindness. That’s where I drew Aminah’s strength from. — AY E S H A AT TA H ’ 05
Itunu Kuku
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encouraging professors who thought I could write, and that was the push I needed — someone to believe in my work. I got that at Mount Holyoke. “Friends from Mount Holyoke have brought me in to talk to their students and come to my book stops. We’re a tightknit group. We are in different places all over the world, but we stay in touch. They come together for you in big ways.” — I N T E RV I EW BY SA RA H Y RY BA R RY ’ 94
A Scientific Companion to Robert Frost Virginia F. Smith CLE M SO N U N IVE RSIT Y PRESS
Born in 1874, poet Robert Frost lived through a remarkable period of scientific progress, including the development of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity and the beginnings of space travel. In her book Smith details the science, poem by poem, of each related reference. Virginia F. Smith ’83 is a professor of chemistry at the United States Naval Academy. Her interest in Robert Frost’s use of scientific imagery and language has led to three publications. She has also served as president of The Robert Frost Society. After earning a B.A. in physics and chemistry from Mount Holyoke, Smith served five years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, then worked in industry before earning a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Washington State University.
The Hair Book Graham Tether PE NGU I N R AN DO M HOUSE BOO KS FO R YOU NG RE AD E RS
After 40 years in print and with new illustrations, this simple, rhymed riff features a cast of human and animal characters sporting all kinds of hair —short, long, curly, straight, dark, fair, braided, tied, washed, dyed. Written for children learning to read on their own, it’s filled with words and concepts kids encounter every day. Cindy G. Tether ’72 lives in Bronxville, New York, and writes under the name Graham Tether. She loves to travel, snorkel and explore. Her curiosity about the world in which we live knows no limits.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
See more recent alumnae books at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/spring2019books.
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TE N M I N U TE S WI TH
ED I TO R A ND PO D C A S T HO S T
Gaming Changer ALLEGRA FRANK ’15 is the associate culture editor at Vox,
a news and opinion website. A film studies major, she began her career — almost immediately after graduation — at Polygon, a website that covers news, business, culture, reviews and videos related to gaming, where she served as deputy news editor until leaving for Vox in March. Frank is also co-host of the weekly podcast “The History of Fun,” which examines everything from Hello Kitty to presidential turkey pardons, and previously co-hosted “The Polygon Show,” a podcast about video games and the culture around them. In a profession where the subject matter has been dominated by white males, Frank is frequently the only woman in the room, as well as the only person of color. Learn more about Frank by following her on Twitter @legsfrank. On being a woman of color in the gaming world: Recently, I got a really racist, offensive email. That’s actually rare, but it reminded me that some people are reductive like that. It definitely has taken some time to be confident about being a person of color in this notoriously toxic industry, but I have a good team supporting me. And, when I go to bigger events, I know if I see that another woman will be on a panel with me, I get excited. I do feel a bit outside looking in, so I just have to be more assertive than I usually am in terms of saying, “Hey, I’m from a respected outlet, and I was trusted to come to this important event. That means I deserve to be here. I know that I do good work.”
—INTERVIEW BY SARAH ZOBEL ’88
On podcasting: A lot of video game podcasts are all male, very serious and have an aggressively boys’ club sense of humor. “The Polygon Show” is a funny, sweet show — I was one of four Meredith Heuer
On gaming and her job: I’ve always loved video games, but as a kid I didn’t have money to buy any, so instead I read news about them and stalked gaming forums and sites for hours and hours. I knew a lot about a lot of different games even though I had never played them — and still have never played [most of] them. I finally played Halo last year — that was a huge game when I was about 6 years old! I don’t think you have to be a video game mastermind to be okay at this. I have a pretty specific knowledge base, and it’s really just about being able to do research. [At Vox] I trawled around for news on Twitter, Reddit and YouTube. I had curated lists of different influencers and fan sites, player communities and other news sites, and I looked at those every day. I did a sweep of what’s the big thing everyone’s talking about: What’s getting a lot of likes? What do I find personally interesting? I had very specific beats — Pokémon and Nintendo — so I’d look at those communities a lot — also cartoons, animé, anything Japanese. I like artsy, weird, tiny games, but I only get to write about that stuff for my own sake.
women who sat at a table and talked about a specific theme or game. We’d have friendly, chatty conversations about games, movies and food. We did get serious sometimes, but we thought of it as friends hanging out, and we wanted people to come hang out with us. We had a great fan base — most of whom never really felt represented in the gaming world — and we were diverse women they could look up to. In January, we went to PodCon 2, which is a big fan convention for podcasts, hosted by [video blogger and internet producer] Hank Green. He came to me and said, “I want to do a skit with you in the closing show where you host an entire season of a podcast in 10 minutes and every episode’s one minute long. It’s called ‘One Question with Allegra Frank.’” And I said, “I’m totally in.” So it was pretty much me on this weird improv journey in front of the entire audience.
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Meredith Heuer
TH E M AV E N
FI NA NC I A L MAV E N
Protecting Yourself Financially during Divorce By LI LI VAS I LE FF ’77 I HAVE BEEN PRACTICING AS
a financial advisor in divorce for more than 25 years, and in the last 10 years the divorce rate in the U.S. for adults over the age of 50 has doubled. This sharp increase in breakup rates is in first-time, long-term marriages of more than 20 years. My parents’ generation had an estimated divorce rate of 2.8%, but today 24% of baby boomers file for divorce, the highest of any age bracket. Generally speaking, the older you are, the more complicated divorce is financially. At this stage, older adults face a lot of challenges, including holding demanding jobs, running businesses, paying for college tuitions, caring for elderly parents, managing increasing health care costs, supporting adult children and balancing lifestyle expenses with saving for retirement. The transition to and uncertainty of a divorce outcome on the cusp of retirement implies fewer years to generate savings or replenish assets. It also means fewer earning years and, eventually, reduced income, both of which are factors that may limit spousal support in amount and term. What makes divorce problematic for people in their late 50s is that each spouse may have very different expectations about their retirement. It is not unusual for one spouse to lack knowledge about retirement savings and resources, which typically makes them less prepared for divorce. This can create real fear and angst. Anyone contemplating or going through a divorce should prepare themselves by taking five key steps in order to address the five big questions:
1. Research. What kind of legal process is best for your situation: mediation, collaboration or litigation? 2. Gather and organize. Bring together in one place all of your financial information that will be necessary to
evaluate your financial lifestyle and needs. The more you can do yourself, the less expensive the discovery phase will be.
3. Make sure you have access to financial resources to cover bills and professional retainers up front. For example, identify which accounts will be used or, alternatively, agree to borrow as needed. 4. Check your own credit history and rating. Obtain a free annual credit report from all three agencies, and address any errors or problems. 5. Make a list of your priorities, concerns and challenges for the divorce outcome. For example, pay for college, retrain to re-enter the workforce, obtain health insurance, relocate, keep the house, etc. Finally, older divorcing couples may have adult children or elderly parents they want or need to support. A divorce agreement will sort out arrangements regarding minor children, but there is no legal obligation to pay child support past majority age. This is a big issue for baby boomers: How much will they continue to support young adult children? If you’ve been paying rent for your daughter in college, and you want to
continue to do so but your spouse does not, you may need to come up with that money on your own. The same applies for home health care for an aging parent, for instance. Divorce often lights a match to these stressors, exacerbating all financial issues by now dividing finite wealth into two households. Divorce is an everyday reality — and more marriages fail than succeed. Everyone is affected by the process. You can help yourself and your loved ones by learning about the divorce process and the tools necessary to navigate and achieve a long-lasting and holistic resolution. Lili Vasileff ’77 is a certified financial planner and divorce financial analyst with experience in divorce financial planning and wealth management. She is a trained mediator, collaborative financial specialist and qualified litigation expert and the author of three books, including “Money & Divorce: The Essential Roadmap to Mastering Financial Decisions.” Learn more at wealthprotectionmanagement.com. ARE YOU A MAV EN ? Pitch your area of expertise to quarterly@mtholyoke.edu.
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I NS I D E R’ S V I EW
Career Development Center T H E M OUNT H OLYOK E C A R E E R D EV E L OPM E NT C EN T ER is a hub for the
campus-wide efforts that support student preparation for life beyond graduation. Occupying the Jones building on the north side of campus, near the health center and Torrey Hall, the CDC is a vibrant place frequently filled with students for daily walk-in career advising, interviews and workshops, or meetings with employers and alums across a broad spectrum of career interests. Beyond career advising and networking connections, the CDC also provides a suite of resources to enable all students to successfully launch their careers.
Deirdre Haber Malfatto
#MyJourneyBegins: Now in its fourth year, this photo project celebrates the first destinations and aspirations of graduating seniors. Each spring soon-to-be alums are invited to create a sign that shares what they hope or plan to do after Commencement. The installation has grown to cover walls in the welcome area of the CDC and along hallways between the offices within.
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I NS I D E R’ S V I EW
Interview rooms: Two rooms are available for on-campus interviews between students and potential employers, who visit campus regularly. There is also a Skype interview room, for students who need a quiet and private space for remote interviews.
Suit yourself: First impressions are crucial. The CDC houses a collection of suits — updated regularly — for any student to wear for an interview or other professional event. Gender-diverse styles ranging from size 00 to 24 are available to borrow for free. LinkedIn photos: Students can take advantage of free professional photography services for online profile pictures during weekly walk-in sessions.
Library: The library is the hub of the CDC. Students meet with advisors during daily walk-in hours, access digital and print resources or attend career planning and development workshops. The busiest time is usually late afternoon, when students finish with classes.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Learn more about Mount Holyoke’s Career Development Center at mtholyoke.edu/cdc.
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Illustrations by Stuart Bradford
Witnessing an Epidemic The experiences of three alumnae touched by the opioid crisis speak of heartbreak and hope in the struggle to reverse an ongoing national tragedy
Written by Abe Loomis
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When she offers remembrances of her son, Zach, Leslie Liming Martin ’87 always returns to his gentleness and his willingness to help others. “Zach was the friend everyone longs to have,” she says. “His heart was big, but it was even bigger for the kids who didn’t quite fit in with the rest.”
Zach’s empathy was hard won; he didn’t fit in very well either. He tried to hide his anxiety, and he found places where his awkwardness lifted — on the ski hill with his snowboard in the Colorado mountain town where his family lived, absorbed in drawing a comic strip that imagined his pet hamster in a fighter jet, or parked in front of a new video game at home with a few close friends. But he faced bullying at school, and a reading disability made studying a struggle. Entering middle school only made matters worse. And the final months of eighth grade brought another kind of upheaval. “Moving to Texas was definitely a culture change for our kids,” Martin says. “Zach went from a class of 60 to a class of 700 kids.” For the tall, shy eighth-grader, the divorce of his parents and the move from the heart of the Rocky Mountains to the affluent Dallas suburb of Flower Mound, Texas, was a shock. Zach did his best, but his anxiety grew, and he found his own ways to relieve the stress. Unbeknownst to his mother, he started smoking marijuana before school. Before long, he had moved on to more powerful drugs. “He probably experimented with most everything,” says Martin, who at the time attributed Zach’s moodiness and recluse behavior to what she thought was typical teenage angst. Eventually, Zach found relief. “What Zach really gravitated toward with his drug use were opioids,” Martin says. “Because for somebody who has anxiety and who has depression … they want to take something to forget and zone out and hope
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to wake up the next day and whatever it was that was bothering them then is gone.” By the time he was 19, Martin says, Zach was seeing four different doctors. He was filling multiple prescriptions at multiple pharmacies, and he was paying cash, so that payments for the visits and the drugs wouldn’t show up on his family’s insurance. “I naively thought, well, he’s under the care of a psychiatrist, everything must be OK,” Martin says. “Now, I know that is something you definitely don’t want to take for granted.” In his quest for peace, in his subsequent struggle with addiction and in his accidental death in 2013 from a combination of prescription drugs that included the sedative Xanax, the muscle relaxant Flexiril and the opioid hydrocodone, Zach was hardly alone. That same year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 16,000 people died in the U.S. due to overdoses of prescription opioids. When overdose deaths from heroin are included, the number jumps to nearly 25,000, more than triple the figure for 1999. As Martin would learn, her son had been swept up in a lethal wave of opioid addiction — now often termed “opioid use disorder” — that continues to ravage communities across the U.S. In the years following Leslie Liming Martin ’87 (right) and her son, Zach, who died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in 2013.
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Zach’s death — and especially as potent synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and carfentanil gained wider use — fatalities from opioids surged at a rate that appeared to be exponential. In 2017, according to the CDC, more than 47,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses (a substantial majority of the more than 70,000 overdose deaths from all drugs). The Department of Health and Human Services reports that, for 2016–2017, more than 2 million people in the U.S. had an opioid use disorder. And since 1999, more than 200,000 have died from overdoses related to prescription opioids. A recent New York Times article notes that the increase in overdose deaths has been enough to reduce life expectancy in the U.S. over the past three years — “a pattern unprecedented since World War II.” For Martin, a quality engineer for a prescription benefit management company, few things are now more important than sharing her son’s story. In Flower Mound and beyond, she has become an activist for transparency, seeking to pull aside the veil often drawn over the heartbreaking consequences of addiction through her participation in forums and media. “Prior to my son’s death,” she says, “I hid because of the stigma. Back in 2013, the perception was that my son’s death was an anomaly, that it was because he was a rebellious teen, because I was a bad parent, whatever kind of label society would assign to that. And because that stigma was out there, I didn’t seek help. That stigma kept me silent. It also kept him silent. What I really have been doing over the last five years is making sure the conversation continues.” One of the things Martin talks about in schools and at conferences is the extraordinarily addictive nature of prescription opioids. She knows better than most that the reality of that risk has been tragically slow to enter the national consciousness. Stigma is part of the reason. But the delay in understanding and addressing the risks of such drugs also owes much to the marketing campaigns that promoted them. As The New York Times’ Barry Meier and others have documented in a flood of books and articles, and as a federal court found in 2007, Purdue Pharma, which released OxyContin in 1996, included in promotional materials for the powerful opioid highly misleading statements about its potential for addiction and abuse. Some doctors, faced with patients in pain, prescribed the drug freely, relying on false assurances that, because of its time-release formula (the Contin in OxyContin stands for “continuous”), the drug was less likely than other opioids to be abused. Miriam Aschkenasy ’94, a longtime emergency room doctor who holds a master’s degree in public health from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is now working on the Initiative on Institutional Anti-Racism and Accountability at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, was an early skeptic. “I didn’t believe it right from the beginning,” Aschkenasy says, “and I think most ER physicians didn’t. Because we saw what other physicians weren’t seeing. As front-line pit doctors, every day interfacing with patients who are clearly addicted to these drugs, it [was] much harder for us to swallow the story that these drugs aren’t that addictive.” Of the companies that pushed such claims — and made billions of dollars in the process — Aschkenasy says, “They knew. They knew and they lied to doctors.”
A movement in the medical field toward more-aggressive pain treatment compounded the problem. As journalist and author Beth Macy writes in her 2018 bestseller “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America,” “The 1996 introduction of OxyContin coincided with the moment in medical history when doctors, hospitals, and accreditation boards were … developing new standards for pain assessment and treatment that gave pain equal status with blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature.” “They made pain the fifth vital sign,” Aschkenasy says. “Which did not help.” Aschkenasy acknowledges the importance of relieving patients’ pain, but she also points to the risks inherent in opioids — risks she saw first-hand during her residency at Connecticut’s Hartford Hospital, from 1998 to 2001, when she learned to discern between patients legitimately seeking medication for physical pain and those driven to the ER by other motives. “Patients would come in with certain chief complaints that were kind of red flags for potential drug seeking,” she says. “If you came in with a kidney stone, a migraine headache, back pain — those were our three most common. … So even then, we already had ideas of what people were doing.” To get their fix, and to avoid the harrowing symptoms of withdrawal, some would invent an allergy to alternative painkillers. Others, an allergy to X-ray dye, hoping claims of kidney stone pain would be taken on faith. Some, like Leslie Martin’s son Zach, would fill prescriptions at multiple pharmacies to obtain as many doses of the drugs as possible. “The sad part,” Aschkenasy says, “is that you would have to sit there and say to these patients, ‘You’re the third person today that I’ve had this same conversation with.’ But at that time, it was just a part of doing business. You just had patients who came in and tried to get narcotics. And some of them used, and some of them actually took their pills and sold them on the street. And that was always another red flag. If a patient asked you, ‘can you please write “no substitutes,” or “no generics” on the script’ … If you asked me that, I took that script and threw it away right there in front of you. Because name-brand
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pills had higher value on the street. You just have to know this stuff when you’re a doctor.” Aschkenasy’s response to such tactics owed much to the public-health lens through which she has long viewed her profession. In deciding to administer or prescribe a drug to an individual, she looks first to that patient’s well-being. She notes that in many cases — patients with certain cancers or in end-of-life care, for example — prescribing powerful drugs is perfectly appropriate. But she also feels a responsibility to consider the larger implications for public safety and the common good. In light of the rise of so-called “superbugs,” for instance, she and many other doctors are wary of overprescribing antibiotics. And because relieving suffering is so fundamental to many doctors’ sense of their professional mission, the treatment of pain poses special challenges. “Physicians are humans, and we’re given guidelines,” she says. “But we are meant to — and it’s important, frankly — bring ourselves to our practice. And so you’re going to find variations in practice based on that. I have colleagues who [say] ‘I don’t ever want to not give somebody pain medicine who’s in pain.’ That’s their imperative. They don’t ever want to miss giving someone pain medicine who is in pain. So, they don’t try to guess. If the patient tells them they’re in pain, they give them the pain medicine. And my perspective is, I don’t want to do that either, but I’m balancing more on the side of, ‘I [also] don’t want to give someone pain medication and contribute to their addiction.’ So, you can fall on both sides of that wall, and not be wrong, necessarily.” Consistent with the work she is doing at Harvard, Aschkenasy is also quick to point out that racism continues to play a critical role in how drugs and drug users are perceived and treated. And while she welcomes the growing understanding of addiction as a disorder rather than a bad choice or moral failing, she also sees the current crisis as an opportunity to highlight disparities and demand consistency and equal treatment. “[Opioid addiction] was completely reframed from being a criminal problem to a public health problem,” Aschkenasy says, “when the truth is, crack cocaine and alcoholism are also public health problems. But crack cocaine predominantly affects black
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communities. Marijuana use is actually higher in white communities — but it’s criminalized if you’re black. So I think it’s an opportunity for us to really have a discussion about something that’s really clear when we look at addiction. Because opioids affect predominantly white communities, it completely changes the narrative: These aren’t criminals, this is a behavioral health problem, this is a problem of a system, these people need rehab, they need help, they don’t need to go to jail. I totally agree. But the same needs to be said about all addiction.” For Madeline Starbranch Welsh ’12, a public defense attorney who recently moved to the Charlottesville area from rural central Virginia, fighting in court for fair treatment of people with addictions has been part of the job. Her interest in the law was first sparked at Mount Holyoke by a class discussion on institutional racism. She earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, and she spent the past three years arguing on behalf of people from all backgrounds who were facing prosecution. She says the law, especially in rural areas with limited resources, has been slow to catch up with research about the nature of opioid addiction and the best approaches to treatment. “One argument I frequently made is that these mandatory minimums, these escalating punishments, are designed for professionals,” she says, referring to sentencing laws that can turn small-time offenders into felons and struggling opioid users into the perennially incarcerated. In parts of central Virginia, Welsh says, resources for dealing with addiction — other than jail or prison — simply don’t exist. And opioid dependence is “a terrible, terrible addiction. In the best of circumstances, people who do have access to resources still have a hard time overcoming the addiction.” Despite those odds — and a caseload steadily pushing 150 — Welsh tried to represent each client as well as she possibly could. But for those addicted to opioids, she knew from hard experience that the reality is unforgiving. “Without money or insurance,” she says, “intensive addiction treatment was almost impossible to access unless my client was sentenced to prison time and given a program. Lots of my clients were so desperate they literally chose to go to prison so they could get better. As an opiate addict, you either get better or you die. The lucky ones got sent to prison early in their addiction, and the unlucky ones did a slow, painful process of short jail stints until they either overdosed or finally went to prison. There were no good options.” Though most of her clients with opioid use disorders were hooked on heroin, Welsh sees a clear connection between that infamous drug (which was itself marketed in the early 1900s as a less-addictive alternative to morphine) and pharmaceutical opioids. “A lot of people did start with pills,” she says, “and it just kind of created the [new drug] culture a little bit. Even if I have someone who never was a pill user who uses heroin, I think that the access to the drug and how much of a demand there is, is because of the initial flooding of the market with the pills.” Welsh notes that heroin has become a much cheaper alternative to prescription opioids (a phenomenon explored in depth by the journalist Sam Quinones in his 2015 book “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic”). And she has seen the deadly fallout from the appearance of synthetic opioids: fentanyl — which can be more than 60 times as strong as Oxycodone — and carfentanil, an
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elephant tranquilizer that can in turn be more than 600 times as powerful as fentanyl. Also troubling, Welsh says, are the ways in which courts have been slow to evolve in their approaches to addiction. While some innovations — such as drug courts and “first offender” statutes that offer first-time drug offenders the option of intensive probation and treatment rather than jail time — can be helpful, even these measures
Opioid addiction was completely reframed from being a criminal problem to a public health problem, when the truth is, crack cocaine and alcoholism are also public health problems. — Miriam Aschkenasy ’94 often fall short. Such alternatives often include harsh penalties for any lapses in attendance, which can pose serious challenges for those in rural areas who can’t afford transportation. What’s still missing, Welsh says, is the institutionalization of new understandings of what it means to be dependent on a drug. “The law,” she says, “at least in Virginia and other conservative states, has no problem criminalizing and harshly punishing behavior that clearly stems from addiction. If someone relapses while on probation and starts getting lots of positive screens for opiates, I can stand up [in court] and explain, ‘Relapse is part of recovery and they learn from each relapse’ ... until I’m blue in the face, but that person is still going to do some jail time, [and then] possibly prison time for relapsing. So the medical model of addiction isn’t really catching on in the criminal context, in my experience. We still impart intention and fault to people who are hopelessly addicted and punish them as though things would’ve been different if they’d just really committed to recovery. It’s frustrating.” Aschkenasy shares Welsh’s frustration, but also her sense that some progress has been made and that there are hopeful signs. She cites increased media attention, new trainings for doctors, electronic systems that track patients’ consumption of pills and moves by states to more tightly regulate and monitor the use of opioids, as some of the developments that have begun to address the problem and, critically, raise awareness. Indeed, recent data indicate that fatal opioid overdoses may be leveling off, and in some places even declining. And a December 31 National Public Radio piece suggests that a wave of lawsuits in 2019 by state and local governments is likely to hit drug makers and retailers not only with massive financial liabilities but with the disclosure of internal company documents that could rapidly accelerate public understanding of the prescription opiates and the practices of those who have profited from them. Still, Aschkenasy was troubled by the recent approval of a powerful new opioid, Dsuvia, despite warnings that it might easily be abused.
And she notes that a host of other challenges remain — including properly understanding the recent history of the opioid epidemic. “We do need to keep this in the forefront,” Aschkenasy says, “both to solve the current epidemic and to take home lessons learned to prevent the next one. We need to look at some of the behaviors and policies that led to this: Taking research by pharmaceuticals at face value and letting them drive the train, morphing medical care into a service industry, and treating addiction like a crime rather than a health problem all uniquely contributed to this epidemic.” For Martin, learning that lesson means doing everything she can to prevent further tragedies like the one her family has faced. “It’s probably the most difficult thing a parent could ever really experience,” she says of her son’s death. But from personal tragedy, Martin has created a teaching practice that is both a beacon of hope and a source of illumination. Through the nonprofit with which she works in Flower Mound, WTF or Winning the Fight, she is working to break the silence around opioid use disorders and to help others do the same. “We can’t be afraid to pull our kids out of their bedrooms where they’re isolating and hiding,” she says. “It has to be talked about, and it has to be talked about openly and honestly, without the fear of coming forward. We need to make sure we are not putting addiction in a place where it is viewed as something bad, something immoral, something that should not be talked about and discussed. We need to understand what’s behind it. We need to talk about it. If we don’t, we’re going to continue to lose lives.”
Abe Loomis is a freelance writer in Brooklyn, New York. Contact him at abe.loomis@gmail.com.
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W R I T T E N BY
SARAH BUTTENWIESER P H O T O BY
LEIGH VOGEL
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THE
BEST JOB
For 30 years, Nita Melnikoff Lowey ’59 has served the people of New York, rising to become the most powerful woman in the U.S. House of Representatives
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It’s not the case for most people that a big burst of fame arrives at the age of 81.
But U.S. Representative Nita Melnikoff Lowey ’59 hasn’t done things the way most people do for a very long time. She first ran for Congress — and won — in 1988, which was before both the first Year of the Woman for elected officials (1992) or the second Year of the Women (2018). She was 50 at the time. She had never before considered running for office. Now in her 16th term in the House, Lowey, a Democrat, has become chair of the House Committee on Appropriations — and the first woman to become a ranking member on that committee. While she didn’t envision this crowning achievement when she was first elected more than 30 years ago, Lowey describes herself as someone who always seeks to make things better.
Mount Holyoke connections “When I was first elected, my political science professor Victoria Schuck came to the Capitol with a paper I’d written at Mount Holyoke in hand,” says Lowey of one of Mount Holyoke’s most beloved and inspiring political science professors. Schuck was responsible for establishing the first-of-itskind Washington, D.C., internship program in the 1950s and ’60s during which many Mount Holyoke alumnae got their start in public service. Last fall Lowey spoke to current students participating in Mount Holyoke’s Semester in D.C.
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program, which launched in the fall semester of 2018. The program combines classes, an internship and the chance to live in D.C. Run in partnership with a larger program through the California Universities Consortium, the program includes a Research Design course exclusive to the Mount Holyoke cohort. Beth Wagoner ’19 is one of five students to participate in the program, and she was very impressed with Lowey. “It was September, so she knew if the House flipped, she’d have a lot more power on Appropriations, but the election hadn’t happened yet,” Wagoner says. “I was blown away by her. She was charismatic and well spoken, curious about our impressions and interests. She loves Mount Holyoke and talked about how important her time there is to her. She has a caring quality to her, not so much grandmotherly as ageless. She made a really strong impression on me.” Wagoner tied Lowey’s agelessness to her ferocity. “She had to take a call in the middle of our time with her,” Wagoner says. “Instead of chasing us out of the room, she just took the call. She transitioned to being tough and serious, authoritative. It was kind of incredible to see her in action. She is fierce, sticks to her guns, clearly a powerhouse. I love her legislative record. She stands strong in her ideals.”
Early influences Lowey has always stood strong in her ideals. Growing up, she had a role model in her mother. Her parents were born-and-bred New Yorkers, who cared about their region. Her mother cared most deeply about what was closest to her: family and neighborhood. “My mother was upset about an asphalt plant proposed for next door to our family’s apartment building,” says Lowey, who was in elementary school at the time. “She cared about parks, kids and playgrounds. She wasn’t going to let this happen.” Lowey’s mother, Beatrice Melnikoff, who stayed home to serve as primary caregiver for the children — Lowey and her younger brother, Richard — organized the neighbors. “No asphalt plant was built,” says Lowey. “She made a powerful impression upon me: If you see something that isn’t right, you have to jump in.”
Women in the House In more than 30 years in Congress, Nita Lowey has witnessed the changing landscape for women. As recently as 1994, during Lowey’s third term, there was a Select Committee on the House Beauty Shop. In 1962, there was only one restroom for women, a women’s-only lounge on the first floor of the Capitol. Women didn’t have access to a bathroom off the House floor until 2011. While women were given a facility for exercise in 1965, it wasn’t an actual gym. They weren’t allowed in the formerly men’s-only gymnasium until 1985. Women weren’t invited to participate in the annual Congressional baseball game until 1993. And, women weren’t formally welcome to wear pants on the House floor until 1993. For the first time ever, as of February 11 of this year, House members are able to purchase menstrual products through the House’s office supply store and have those items covered under their Members’ Representational Allowances for “ordinary and necessary” expenses.
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Born and raised in the Bronx, Lowey graduated from the Bronx High School of Science before she attended Mount Holyoke. In college, Lowey studied political science and, like so many other Mount Holyoke students, she spoke up when confronting a problem. In the 1950s, Chapel attendance was mandatory for Mount Holyoke students. Lowey, one of “a small Jewish population,” got together with a group of friends and organized Friday-night services, fulfilling the requirement and organizing for change at the same time. “Some people see a problem and say, ‘I’ve got to do something about this.’” Lowey says, “That’s me.”
Public service beginnings After graduation, Lowey considered law school but changed her mind. She took a job at an advertising agency, which she describes as “challenging and fun.” She got married. When her children were in school, she became president of the parent-teacher association at their school, P.S. 178 in Queens. By then, Lowey had established a pattern of leadership wherever she went: president of her sixth grade class, president of her class at Bronx Science and Parent Teacher Association president. “At my kids’ school, there was the smart class and the dumb class, and I thought that was terrible. No one should leave elementary school with a label of being dumb. We worked to change that and bring all the kids together in class,” Lowey says. “And then we got a new principal.” “I have always felt a responsibility and obligation to do things that need to be done,” she says. In the early 1980s Lowey volunteered for her neighbor Mario Cuomo’s campaign for governor of New York and then served in his administration as an assistant secretary of state for more than a decade. “I’d go out in the community to represent the governor’s office,” she says, “be his representative, and see how we could help.” She became very interested in people’s lives, in helping them. To echo her mother’s sensibility, Lowey found herself a “person who gets things done,” and this suited her well. Then, in the 1988 election cycle for the 20th New York district of the United States Congress, some people approached Lowey and said they didn’t think the other Democrats running in the primary could beat the Republican incumbent, Joe DioGuardi. She had not considered a run, nor had she considered leaving her job with the governor’s office.
Lowey got her start in public office as a member of the Parent Teacher Assocation, an organization cofounded in 1897 by Mount Holyoke alumna Alice McLellan Birney, class of 1879.
“Let me think about it for a week,” Lowey says she told them. Then, when she decided to run, Lowey created a kitchen cabinet — for real. “My friends sat around my kitchen table. I made the soup. We made the calls.” She won, and she has continued to win for the past 30 years.
An elected official After she defeated her conservative Republican opponent by a small margin, Lowey held on to the seat, including through a redistricting change, to serve the 18th New York district. She won by greater margins each time she ran for office. In 2001 and 2002, after serving seven terms, she was the first woman and the first New Yorker to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In 2013, her district changed again; she now represents the 17th New York district. Now in her fourth decade since she first took a seat on the House floor, Lowey continues to make good on her intention to get things done. She did entertain a U.S. Senate run twice — in 2000, when Hillary Clinton decided to run for the seat, and again in 2009, when Clinton became U.S. Secretary of State and Kirsten Gillibrand was named senator. But by staying in the House, Lowey has accrued a great deal of power, arguably at least as much as if she had moved to the Senate. As the first to chime in about how America should spend $1.3 trillion, Lowey and the ranking Republican on the committee, Kay Granger of Texas, are the first female duo to have led a House Committee since 1977. (And that was the Select Committee on the House Beauty Shop.)
2018 campaign priorities Security and public safety Educational opportunity Defense & international affairs Economic growth & fiscal responsibility Quality, affordable health care
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A wide net During her time in the House, Lowey has taken on increasing responsibility in an environment that is more fast-paced than ever before. But Appropriations suits her, she says, because the net it casts is so wide. There are 12 subcommittees, and Lowey attends them all. She is also chair of the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. She is proud of the impact of her work in health care and the environment, including food allergies. Lowey says, “I was approached by parents whose children have food allergies and people
One of the
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18,657 of 19,168 roll call votes
with food allergies, and they explained how difficult it was to shop at the supermarket, because no ingredients were labeled. We changed that.” She soon came to tackle another health concern, the alcohol limit for drivers. “We passed the 0.8 limit,” she says, citing the support she and her team had from activists to do so. “It was so important. Now, we’re trying to take on e-cigarettes. Over 60 percent of kids in high school have used e-cigarettes. The cigarette companies are creating more addicts than ever before.” The breadth of issues Lowey addresses each day guarantees, she says, that the job remains fascinating and challenging. On one recent day in early March, Lowey says, she “attended a hearing about construction for the Veterans Administration and
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members of Congress*
TOP AND RIGHT: Lowey met with student participants and Professor Calvin Chen during MHC’s Semester in D.C. program in September. BOTTOM LEFT: Naomi Barry-Perez ’96
In Lowey’s first term, there were 25 women in the House and the Senate combined. In 2019 there are 127, more than 100 of whom serve in the House.
Are you running for office? Let us know at quarterly@ mtholyoke.edu
the particular health care challenges facing women in the military. “Then, I was in a foreign operations committee meeting. I have hopes for peace in the Middle East. I plan to continue to press hard for a two-state solution.” Lowey also spends time advocating for education, “with a special and longtime interest in Head Start,” she says, “because it’s so important that everyone get a chance right away.”
Women and family Lowey, grandmother to eight, has been married for more than 50 years. She and her husband, Stephen, have three children. When we spoke midafternoon, she said she’d been on the phone with her daughter, Jackie, “five times already today.” Jackie Lowey was a deputy director of the U.S. National Park Service when Lowey was first elected. “She loved her job and she was very much loved in Washington,” says Lowey. “When I first got here, I was Jackie Lowey’s mother.” She laughs. It was Jackie who helped her mother hire her first staffer in Washington. Lowey’s current chief of staff, Elizabeth Stanley, has been with her for 17 years.
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From January 1989 to April 2019, Lowey attended
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“I am very fortunate to have an extraordinary, responsive, thoughtful and capable staff,” Lowey says. “If I have an idea, the next day I’ll find a memo about the idea, and from there we can decide if it’s worth pursuing.”
Strong Mount Holyoke ties When she first came to Capitol Hill, Lowey recounts that she sought advice from everyone. Now it is Lowey who speaks to young people who are interested in a career in public office. “Representative Lowey made it clear that while it looks like, and is, a very contentious, partisan time and the tensions are there, people do reach across the aisle to get things done,” says Wagoner, the Semester in D.C. student. This sense that working in Congress is a collaborative exercise left an impression on Wagoner, whose experience as an intern in the Department of Labor struck her as quite collaborative, as well. Wagoner interned in the Civil Rights Center of the Department of Labor. MHC alumna Naomi Barry-Perez ’96 was her boss for the semester. “My boss was not a political appointee,” Wagoner said. “She was so skilled at collaboration. I learned a lot watching how people pull together constantly.” Wagoner wrote policy briefs, sat in on calls and meetings and took notes, answered phones and did a substantive report about workplaces and sexual harassment complaints when there aren’t material witnesses. Codirector of the D.C. program, Associate Professor of Politics Calvin Chen, sets up distinctive opportunities for the cohort to meet interesting people, like Representative Lowey, and learn some life lessons from them. Many, but not all, of the people the group visited were MHC alumnae. Chen is proud of the ways students grew over the course of their time in D.C. “They face challenges, and have to ask for help from their bosses or the additional mentor we set up for each participant. That mentor is a Mount Holyoke alumna. The mentors were members of an Advisory Council to the program. There was great enthusiasm from alumnae to connect with current students.”
advice, because … they want my support and for me to advocate for their issues.” Lowey welcomes this role. “They are quite a group,” she says. “They are so dynamic and smart.” No one, she thinks, should underestimate how tough these women are. On February 5 Lowey attended the State of the Union address dressed in white, joining more than 100 other women — of all ages and wearing suits, dresses, cape and hijab. Florida Congresswoman Lois Frankel, chairwoman of the Democratic Women’s Working Group, organized the event as a nod to the voters who elected Democrats to the majority in the House. Lowey’s place was prominent — in the front row. She beamed for the cameras. Lowey believes, as she did when she began in Congress, that she has “the best job.” She has no interest in slowing down. Recently, she says, she was cleaning out a closet and found a lone argyle sock she thinks she began knitting while she was at Mount Holyoke. She tossed the sock. Knitting doesn’t figure into her future. Serving in Congress does. “I can’t think of any other job I would love as much,” she says.
Sarah Buttenwieser lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. A Hampshire alum, she writes for several publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Voting margin
Lowey received
88 percent of the
VOTE in her most recent election
IN 2018
Lowey and other House Democrats wore white to honor suffragists at the February State of the Union Address.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Continuing the work In Lowey’s first term, there were 25 women in the House and Senate combined; in 2019, there are 127, more than 100 of whom serve in the House. “This was such an extraordinary election,” Lowey said. “There were women who were elected who were my age and there were experienced professionals, women who’d accomplished so much in the military — even commanded a ship — and mayors, activists and kids. … I’m impressed with everyone who is coming in. I work hard to work with them, to answer questions that arise. There are many people coming to me for Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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Ac r Transforming Mount Holyoke’s natural and built landscape into an exciting destination for hands-on multidisciplinary undergraduate research and teaching
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c res
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Kara Baskin ’00 PHOTO BY
Ryan Donnell
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Miller Worley Center for the Environment (2)
Deep in the woods on the path around Upper Lake students stretch and move, interacting with the landscape. On the other end of campus, students measure water levels of Stony Brook as another group meets to review energy use data from residence halls. All of these students are engaging — with faculty and staff — in the campus as a living laboratory.
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For the students in Terre Parker Vandale’s ’02 site-specific modern improvisation dance class, the Mount Holyoke campus transforms into a stage. Its quiet jewels, from crooked streams to the electric green expanse framing the library, become a platform for expression. Students roam toward any corner of nature that moves them, connecting with the earth and sometimes closing their eyes. The natural world becomes their partner, drowning out internal chatter or the hum of cars along Route 116. The course, Site-Specific Intermediate/Advanced Modern Improvisation, focuses on environmental dance, where students’ creativity is shaped, literally, by their surroundings. “The environment is dancing with us. It’s moving all the time,” says Vandale, a Five College visiting artist who began focusing on environmental dance while a student. “The landscape at Mount Holyoke is where I developed my practice, because it’s beautiful and inspiring,” she says. While the use of campus for applied learning resonates across disciplines — such as for students in Vandale’s dance class — it’s a crucial underpinning of Mount Holyoke’s robust tradition of championing the sciences. About 30% of students major in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — significantly higher than the proportion of women who major in math and science at comparable coeducational institutions.
In fact, the campus has a longstanding history of use as a field station for studying the physical environment and contains several environmental monitoring sites. Measuring everything from weather to forest health to water quality in the lake system, faculty, staff and students from departments such as biological sciences, geology and geography, and environmental studies integrate learning in these field sites into labs, course projects and independent research.
A student in Terre Parker Vandale’s ’02 (below left) improvisational dance class
A Place, but Also a Mindset The current vision for the Campus Living Laboratory (CLL) has been advanced by the Miller Worley Center for the Environment, which was established in 1998 and then endowed in 2010 with a generous gift from Leslie Miller ’73 and Richard Worley. Other alumnae were also instrumental in its founding, including Nancy Skinner Nordhoff ’54, Helen Appell Norton ’54 and Sarah Miller Coulson ’75. The Center was founded to make environmental literacy a central part of students’ education. The CLL crystallizes that vision. It is part of a campus sustainability initiative set forth by the Board of Trustees that, in addition to endorsing food justice and sustainability and the CLL as key priorities, established the goal of becoming a carbon-neutral campus by 2037. (Carbon neutrality is achieved by reducing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere — making the College a netzero contributor of greenhouse gases — and will be accomplished mainly by converting to renewable energy sources, increasing energy efficiency, energy conservation and supporting other local and regional efforts.) The CLL is a physical location — the campus as a whole — but it’s also a philosophy. It’s a strategic initiative for Mount Holyoke, focusing on experiential learning across the College’s 700 acres of natural and developed landscape for classwork, hands-on research and independent projects. Through this framework, the Campus Living Laboratory Initiative was born — manifesting in coursework, research projects and work on sustainability initiatives that unite students,
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faculty and staff in the limitless possibilities Mount Holyoke offers for academic exploration and rigor. Faculty devise lab exercises to study water levels at Stony Brook and Project Stream. Creative writing students use the campus to inspire descriptions of outdoor settings. Biology students study invasive species. And music students record the sounds of campus for a class on acoustic ecology.
Hands-On Research, Right Outside Your Residence Hall Geology professor Al Werner has taught at Mount Holyoke for 21 years, but the CLL provides a new and necessary framework for his longtime research. He works side by side with students researching campus streams and subsurface ground water. Alan Werner Lisa Quinones; food bank: Rob Deza
The Right Idea in the Right Setting The CLL comprises natural ecosystems, the built environment — buildings and infrastructure, a four-mile network of trails, and an online database housing decades of student and faculty environmental monitoring information culled from 15 permanent water sampling stations, five weather stations and ecological field sites across campus, such as the Restoration Ecology Program’s restored wetland site and the forest on Prospect Hill. Mount Holyoke is a wholly unique setting for the endeavor, says Leszek A. Bledzki, senior research associate at the Miller Worley Center. Bledzki, an ecologist, forester and limnologist, praises the CLL as a differentiator. At so many other schools, students travel to conduct fieldwork at remote venues. Here, rich opportunities exist right outside students’ residence hall rooms. “At Mount Holyoke, we have nine different ecosystems that you can reach within a 10-minute walk, from meadows and forests to lakes, streams, rivers and Students in Jennifer wetlands,” Bledzki says. Albertine’s environmental studies food justice class Faculty say that the CLL visit the Food Bank of combines Mount Holyoke’s Western Massachusetts most powerful assets — its in Hatfield. stunning campus and its research brainpower — at a pivotal time in history. “We’re providing an opportunity for faculty, staff and the community to use the natural and built environment for learning,” says Catherine Corson, Leslie and Sarah Miller Director of the Miller Worley Center for the Environment. “We have a strong emphasis on the undergraduate research experience, and the CLL provides opportunities for students to connect local classroom and research experiences to global problems such as climate change and water quality. This is an opportunity for students to do this work right on campus.”
Classes with Real-World Repercussions Students in visiting lecturer Jennifer Albertine’s campus sustainability class engage with the environment just as intimately as those in Vandale’s dance class. In this case, though, they’re not wrapping themselves around logs or wading into streams. They might, however, monitor water usage in residence hall bathrooms or pop into empty classrooms, determining where to recommend the installation of automatic light switches. With the carbon-neutral initiative in mind, Albertine wanted to give students a practical way to make a difference in service of a clear-cut, actionable goal. The spring semester kicked off with a critical reading of the sustainability initiative. Students highlighted where new technology could achieve the goals, focusing on topics such as energy use, water use and waste. “This is a problem-solving class, driven by students,” Albertine says. Budding researchers then conducted behavioral surveys by residence hall to assess sustainability practices: How long do students linger in the shower? Would they mind using community fridges instead of energy-sapping mini ones? Then they identified residence halls in need of more education, visiting in person to discuss techniques to reduce energy consumption. For example, students might explain to classmates how lower energy bills could translate to cost savings elsewhere on campus. They also staked out common areas such as the Community Center, talking to classmates about their consumption practices as they breezed through the space. “Students engage on a personal basis. In the past, other student groups on campus found that simply hanging signs on campus didn’t work. This is face-to-face engagement,” says Albertine, with real benefits. They are developing their projects with an eye toward implementation. Students will meet with the Center’s Associate Director for Sustainability Nancy Apple and others on campus as they develop their recommendations to discuss feasibility, costs and implementation strategies.
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Preparing Students for Careers The CLL also provides a framework for Mount Holyoke’s broader sustainability initiatives, allowing students to take on professionallevel responsibilities to meet important goals. Shannon Seigal ’19 graduates this year, but she already does professional-level work, in the past as a campus Eco-Rep and a student representative to the Sustainability Task Force, and currently as a sustainability fellow at the Miller Worley Center. In fact, it was Seigal who suggested that the goal year for carbon neutrality be 2037, the College’s bicentennial. One of her largest projects focused on greenhouse gas emissions. “Generating a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory allows us to look specifically at our climate impact and compare our emissions to those of other institutions and protocols like the Paris Climate Agreement,” she explains. As a student employee at the Center, Seigal worked with Apple to collect energy consumption data from Facilities Management; faculty, staff and student commuter and travel data from Accounts
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Payable and Institutional Research; and refrigerant and chemical data from Facilities Management and Dining Services. She compiled the data using the Sustainability Indicator Management & Analysis Platform, which calculates the specific greenhouse gas emissions associated with campus sources. It was a big job but a gratifying one, she says, because she was able to see her work’s direct impact: The updated inventory was presented to the Sustainability Steering Committee and the Board Student researcher of Trustees. Mount Holyoke will Shannon Seigal ’19 use this information, updated every year, to decide where to focus reduction efforts in order to have the highest impact and to measure progress on emissions reductions over time. Seigal has also been instrumental in developing the new Green Workplace Program that calls on all campus workplaces to commit to sustainable practices. “The Living Lab meant that I gained technical skills … in the environmental science field that complemented what I learned in liberal arts courses,” says Seigal. “Here, I got to take on a larger leadership role. I got to push myself — and push everyone else — in a way that undergraduate students don’t usually get to.” Local Action, Far-Reaching Benefits The CLL is also a crucial component of the South Hadley community. Through Associate Professor Kate Ballantine’s Restoration Ecology Program, students restored the long-neglected Project Stream, a waterway that feeds Mount Holyoke’s lake system and the Connecticut River beyond. The class found that the water quality of the stream was extremely poor due to nutrient pollution, so students
The heart of the College’s restoration ecology program, Project Stream is a waterway that feeds the campus’s lakes system. Students and faculty are working to plan and implement a full site restoration.
Lisa Quinones (2)
This year, he established an automated gauging station on Stony Brook, where a water-level sensor measures the stream’s height as it cascades over the dam by the Willits-Hallowell Center. This way, Werner is able to determine how the stream responds to rainfall and seasonal precipitation fluctuations. Werner works with a student to measure the volume of water tumbling over the dam to better understand the relationship between stream height and discharge. Other research sites include a 100-foot well behind the Kendall Sports and Dance Complex, where Werner monitors groundwater levels. “We can go out with a class, put a pump into the well, and pump water out and see how the well responds to that pumping. Depending on how much it lowers and the rate at which it recovers, it can be used to calculate the hydraulic properties of the aquifer,” Werner explains. The data is used in his Groundwater Geology class — collected right outside the classroom, not at some distant venue. “If you have a living lab facility located off campus, it’s less useful on a daily basis. [The CLL] makes it more accessible. It makes it more usable. And it takes advantage of our wonderful campus,” Werner says. Data from Werner’s work and that of other CLL projects is housed (and in some cases livestreamed) in the Institutional Data Archive (IDA) and the Campus Research Center, online resources full of environmental information, much of it publicly searchable. The IDA stores data from more than two dozen courses and independent student research projects on environmental phenomena — much of it spearheaded by Bledzki — focusing on monitoring, sustainability and history. Students can use it for their work and upload their own research, too. The Campus Research Center contains information from the current year, with frequently updated data sets from ongoing initiatives. It’s a concrete way to see — and leverage — research unfolding in close proximity.
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planned and implemented a large-scale restoration project. Today, the stream, surrounding wetlands and a new boardwalk function as a research site, outdoor classroom and a public walkway. The site opened to the public in 2016 with a ribbon-cutting alongside local officials, and students often lead tours for groups of all kinds, including field trips with school groups from inner-city areas such as Holyoke and Springfield. The class gives students the chance to interact with professionals. Students originally presented their background research and restoration proposal to the South Hadley Conservation Commission in 2013 and have since hosted several “Restoration Showcases” for the Commission, college leaders and the broader community.
Ballantine supervised Bartolucci’s thesis about greenhouse gas emissions in restored wetlands, which is currently in review for publication. “Having the opportunity to conduct independent research and to publish a first-author paper as a recent graduate from undergrad is rare, and I don’t think that I would have had the same opportunities at another school,” Bartolucci says. As a doctoral student, she’ll study how climate change and other anthropogenic impacts affect the biogeochemistry and ecosystem function of coastal wetlands. “I’m prepared for it because of the education, mentorship and opportunities I had at Mount Holyoke,” she says. “It makes science so accessible to everyone.” The CLL provides an edge for students because it provides practical, hands-on experience in Mount Holyoke’s Mount Holyoke aims to foster a healthy environment nurturing environment, Ballantine says. with equitable distribution of resources by reducing “When students consider Mount Holyoke, one of the major draws is the Campus Living Lab. It provides an the impact of human activity, implementing ethical ideal opportunity to help them bridge the gap from being economic development and promoting social justice. consumers of information to producers of original work,” she says. “The projects students have done in school until now often feel safe — students know the professor knows Meanwhile, a Restoration Ecology Summer Scholars Program the answer, or that there are no real-world consequences anyway. By (RESSP) finished its fifth year in 2018. The free summer program, contributing to real-world projects with real-world consequences, codeveloped by Jovanna Robinson-Hidas ’16, gives local high students are committed at a deeper level, and in doing so develop school girls hands-on experience in the field. Budding naturalists skills, confidence, relationships and habits they can build on in all work with faculty and staff to monitor water quality, analyze soil, their future endeavors. At this stage they have the full attention assess ecosystems for invasive species, tour local restoration of myself and other experts to guide them, but their work is truly sites, create an herbarium and work in small groups to design original, and the outcomes are real. A privilege of being at Mount restoration plans. Holyoke is interacting with experts on real-world projects in a Nia Bartolucci ’17 graduated with a degree in environmental deeply engaged and collaborative way.” studies and a concentration in ecosystem science, and she says the “The Campus Living Lab is powerful because we’re framing the hands-on training she received through the CLL and Restoration environment as the teacher,” says Vandale. Ecology Program prepared her for her first-choice Ph.D. program at While dance might not seem like an intuitive match for environBoston University. mental work, Vandale says it represents the inclusive, crossAs a student, Bartolucci collected vegetation, gas, water and soil disciplinary essence of Mount Holyoke. This broad appeal is data to inform the restoration of Project Stream. She also particiessential as Mount Holyoke strives toward sustainability, she says. pated in RESSP, where she led tours, helped young students work It’s important for everyone to in vegetation labs and staffed feel connected and invested in a booth at the local farmthe campus. ers’ market, sharing Mount “How do we get the motivation WEB EXCLUSIVE Holyoke’s restoration projects to deal with issues like climate Learn more about the with residents. change? It stems from a personal Miller Worley Center for the Environment “I learned to convey the connection to the environment. and the Campus Living research we were doing to a People will work hard for someLaboratory Initiative, wide array of audiences in an thing they love,” Vandale says. including interactive engaging way. Learning to At Mount Holyoke, that love — maps and water, climate not only conduct research but 700 acres’ worth — is abundant. and forest monitoring also to explain it and teach it data at.mtholyoke.edu/ Kara Baskin ’00 is a writer for the has been an invaluable skill mwce. Boston Globe and a contributing that has made me a stronger editor at Boston magazine. scientist,” she says.
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F R OM T H E A R C H I V E S
ON DI S PL AY
T H E N A N D NOW
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MoHomeMemories
What Was Lost Mount Holyoke afire A W IN TER EX HIBITION in Hinchcliff Reception Hall at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum examined three devastating blazes that had a significant impact on the College. The exhibition reconstructed what daily life was like in campus buildings and
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contextualized what was lost during three fires over a period of just 26 years by examining photographs and objects, including letters from students, now housed in the College’s Archives and Special Collections. “I suppose by this time you have heard of the fire,” wrote a Mount Holyoke student in a letter dated September 28, 1896, one of the objects on display. The writer and her roommate had just returned from a walk and entered the dining room before supper when the sound of running feet rang through the hall.
Courtesy MHC Archives and Special Collections
Ruins of the original Seminary building, September 29, 1896
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FR OM T HE AR CHI VES
Readily Welcomed
“The thought of fire struck me at once,” she wrote, “and glancing out of the window I saw smoke pouring out of the gymnasium windows.” As the fire spread, the letter detailed, students tied wet handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths and tried to save what they could from their rooms until the smoke became unbearable. Five hours after the fire began, the building was in ruins, though firefighters had managed to save the library by tearing down the corridor that connected it to the main building. Students and faculty spent that night and those to come rooming with locals who opened their homes. Classes resumed on Monday. “There was never a minute from the time the fire began that we were not brave and calm and hopeful,” wrote Henrietta Hooker, professor of botany, several days after the blaze in a 21-page letter sent to Marion Gaylord Atwell, class of 1879, president of the New York Alumnae Association. “There was never a moment of panic.”
Student exchange program with Bennett College Students from Bennett College, a historically Black women’s college in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Mount Holyoke participated in a two-week exchange program each February from 1958 through 1963. Students attended classes together, lived in dorm rooms with host-school roommates, ate in the dining halls and took part in student clubs and social activities. The exchange program offered each community the opportunity to observe, engage and interrogate differences perceived and experienced between the campuses, courses and cultures. During the years of this exchange program, national news was made local as the student-led Greensboro Sit-Ins to protest the segregationist practices in public spaces took place in February 1960. In the photo shown here Anita Duckett, left, of Bennett College, and Pauline Ham Johnson, MHC class of 1960, share a dorm room in Mead Hall, February 1959. Keep up with Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections at mhc-asc.tumblr.com or follow them on Instagram and Snapchat at mhcarchives and on Twitter @ASCatMHC.
Mount Holyoke Afire was curated by Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts Robert Herbert, Digital Project Lead, Digital Assets and Preservation Services James Gehrt and Associate Curator of Visual and Material Culture Aaron Miller
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Vincent S. D’Addario/Courtesy MHC Archives and Special Collections
—BY JESSICA RIEL
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O N D I S PL AY
ART IFAC T
Illustrated Idioms Yearbook sketches T HE 1919 LLAM ARADA showcases two pages of illustrated
—BY JENNIFER GROW ’94
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idioms, including this one: Her pen ran out in the middle of class. The uncredited images are shared as part of the “Random Memories” section of the nearly 300-page yearbook. Other drawings appear throughout the book, but there is no reference to the artist or to the names of the editorial staff who assembled an impressive volume. In a preface titled “Frame” the presumed editor shares, “We want you to realize that these reminiscences of our combined efforts have been subjected to outward influences totally different from those which affected the older canvases in former years. We hope you will view it from every angle and try to understand its lights and shadows, its deeper as well as lighter tones.” Indeed these idioms and much of the rest of the content reads with a kind of tongue-in-cheek sense of humor during a time on campus and beyond the gates that was more often defined by the current war. View this and other yearbooks at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ yearbooks.
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TH E N A N D N OW
Student Newspaper T HEN
choragos
MHC Archives and Special Collections
After 50 years of publication, the 51st editorial board of the Mount Holyoke student newspaper made the decision to change its name from Mount Holyoke News to choragos. They felt the newspaper was not meeting the needs of students and that its tradition had ceased being meaningful or relevant for students. The March 1, 1968, issue set forth a new path for the newspaper. “Quite simply, we are changing from passive reporters to active initiators of change with the goal of improvement. We no longer view our role solely as a mere commentator, a transmitter of information about what is already happening here. Rather, we see ourselves in a leader’s position, as an active force, an innovator. We will be talking about what could, and perhaps should, be happening here. Thus the name News, with its connotations of reporting only what is already being done by others, has become ill-fitted to our purposes. Choragos, the leader of the chorus in Greek drama, the one who asks questions and provokes discussion, is more in keeping with our new self-image.”
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NOW
Mount Holyoke News For more than 35 years the student newspaper has been published as Mount Holyoke News, after the 66th editorial board made the switch in the February 17, 1983, issue. “Our name change stems not so much from philosophical reasons, but practical ones. We are a newspaper, and should identify ourselves as such. The change back to Mount Holyoke News reflects this. The name choragos, though aesthetically appealing, sounds too much like a literary magazine. As the College’s main vehicle of communication and expression of opinion, our name must reflect our role. In this role, we will actively report news, raise questions, and propose answers; the role of any good newspaper. We hope to evoke response and initiate change. By our name change we mean not to revoke the ideal of an effective newspaper, but by overturning a 12-year-old [sic] tradition and reinstating a 51-year-old one, to better state and assert our purpose in the College community.” — B Y E M I LY K R A K O W ’ 2 0
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read the Mount Holyoke News online at mountholyokenews.com and access all past issues of the newspaper at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/mhnews.
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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A PL ACE O F OU R OWN
“
We wanted it to connect to the campus experience. … To map the seasons but also transitions of the academic year.
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—D E B O RA H KO R BO E ’21, A N A RC HIT ECTURE M AJOR AND MUSIC MINOR FROM GHANA AND ONE OF THREE STUDENTS WHO WORKED ON THE TEAM T H AT D E S I G N E D T H E S C U L P T U R E T H AT W A S TH E CEN T ERPIEC E O F T H IS Y EA R ’S F LOWE R SHOW. R E A D M O R E A B O U T T H E P R O J E C T AT A L U M N A E . M T H O LY O K E . E D U / 2 0 1 9 F LOW E R S H OW.
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Sage Shea/ MHC Office of Communications
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Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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M Y VO I CE
E S S AY
Healing Others. Healing Self. By S US AN NO ON AN ’75
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issues to anyone for fear of being considered too weak and impaired to continue in the program and thus lose my cherished spot. I could not open up to my fellow classmates, residents or supervising attending physicians. The attendings were my teachers in substance and also by example, showing me how to be a caring and functioning physician with the requisite qualities of knowledge, strength and empathy. It was ironic that I did not feel able to approach them for the help I needed. Student health services was definitely off limits for treating my depression, for I feared that my condition would leak out to the dean’s office. Therapy was unheard of and perceived as unnecessary by my family, who didn’t acknowledge my illness as legitimate and thus were not willing to finance expensive treatment. Given the culture of the medical profession at the time, I could never have asked for the time off from my duties to attend even one mental health appointment. My only choice was to be hypervigilant, lest my secret be exposed and held against me. The reality of no support and no treatment was very isolating. And another 20 years would pass before I received my first evaluation and treatment at age 45. While the hallmark of my professional life has been compassion and understanding toward others, for years I could not expect to receive the same in return. I felt private emotional pain and simultaneously found myself caring for and counseling those who had the very same illness as I. I’m better now. I survived, thanks to a team of extraordinary and dedicated mental health professionals who work overtime on my behalf. Although stigma still exists around depression, the medical profession and society in general have become more open and accepting of those who have a mental illness. But we’re not quite there yet — our progress is not enough.
Susan J. Noonan ’75 MD is the author of “Take Control of Your Depression: Strategies to Help You Feel Better Now” and a consultant at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital.
Juliette Borda
AS A D O CTO R-IN -TRAIN IN G in the late 1970s, I sat in a room on the inpatient psychiatric unit with a man who was clinically depressed. It was my duty to work with him, listen to him, offer him what I might and report back to my supervising physician. Yet all I could do was feel sorry for him for being assigned to me. What could I possibly offer this unfortunate man? Unlike most of my medical school colleagues, I imagined, I knew firsthand what he was feeling. I was not yet learned enough in my clinical skills to be able to separate my personal self from the patient. I dragged myself to each session with him, putting on a brave and moderately neutral face, while underneath I was sinking, hoping that no one would notice. Then I would return to my apartment at night and curl up in a ball, waiting to be relieved of this rotation and my time with this patient. I was 25 and thrilled to be in medical training — my lifelong dream. I could not understand how I could possibly be depressed when I was doing something that I so loved and strove for. As I know now, but did not appreciate then, those two experiences can coexist. Treatment options for depression in the 1970s were markedly different than they are now. Mental health services have historically been reflective of our understanding of mood disorders. We now recognize depression as a biologically based illness of the mind and body that has a genetic basis and that can be managed over a lifetime. In contrast to what was offered decades ago, there is an array of new medications and psychotherapists skilled in talk therapy, such as cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness, and somatic treatments, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroconvulsive therapy. As a trainee, receiving any mental health treatment was unimaginable. I quickly learned that I should not speak of these alumnae.mtholyoke.edu
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“
Mount Holyoke has been the foundation for a meaningful, long and fulfilling career in biotechnology and drug development. I appreciate the ways my charitable gift annuities benefit my retirement planning and pay it forward so that Mount Holyoke women in STEM get the support they need. – DIANA BRASSARD ’90
”
Giving back. And paying it forward. Charitable gift annuities: a gift that pays income. Explore how charitable gift annuities can benefit you and Mount Holyoke. Contact giftplanning@mtholyoke.edu or 413-538-2637.
1
Irrevocable gift of cash or appreciated assets to Mount Holyoke
Read Diana Brassard’s story and learn more at mtholyoke.edu/go/brassard
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• Tax deduction • Payments for life, starting immediately or in the future
3
Remainder to Mount Holyoke for purposes designated by donor
Gift Planning
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50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075
“The first 10 years of your career are really about skills acquisition. Go out and get the skills and don’t worry about where it leads.” —Mona Sutphen ’89, former deputy chief of staff for President Obama, who gave the keynote address to student participants at Careers in Public Service in D.C. in March. Read more on page 6
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